Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A woodsman and renowned expert in bush craft, wild cooking, and survival techniques who has trained elite troops and tracked fugitive killers.
On the island
Eight records
I need some music that I could work to while I'm building my island and I envisage putting up a flagpole. I want to put up a British flag on this island. So I wanted a very British anthem that reminded me of my youth, that also might act as a kind of a repellent for any of those nasty cruise ships that might try and turn up and bring tourists with them.
I was thinking about surviving on a desert island and there's one factor that very often is forgotten by all the experts and that is what brings people back. … I've chosen this song, which is By the Jam. I think it really says that. Of course, it's English Rose.
Well, I think one of the things that's really important when you're on an island is imagination. And one of the things that concerns me about a desert island is it can be a little bit confining. So the ability to drift off in your imagination and go to new places is really important. And I think this song really sums that up.
This is uh Annie a Song by John Denver. Whenever I hear this song, it it reminds me of why I like for me, Annie is nature, and the song captures for me the the feeling I have for being in wild places.
MariaFavourite
Well, I mean, I thought if there was, you know, a partied ship, they might, by perusing my island through their binoculars, decide that there's no reason to come and stay because it would be in such good order. They'd see the flag flying there and a nicely ordered shell turn, the beginnings of a boat being constructed. So I thought, well, what better than to have some sort of party anthem to draw them to shore? And what I've gone for is this song by Blondie, which to me is one of the most amazing rock anthems. It's Maria.
Well, this reminds me of seeing Ruth and it's a fantastic piece of music, it's very important to both of us. It's Suddenly I See by Katie Tunston.
Well, I think it's very easy to lose sight of nature when you live in an urban setting. And there's one particular song that always reminds me of that, and that's Mona Lisa's and Mad Hatters by Elton John.
This song means a lot to me. This is my my evening music, my night music. I'm going to wait for one of those times when the wind stops and the sea goes absolutely calm and the palm fronds stop moving. Then I'm going to turn the volume right up and play this amazing song which is called Feeling Good by Nina Simone.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:27When you are out there immersed in nature, what is it you feel?
It's hard to explain you feel totally alive. … If you take the time to understand how things fit together, the the uses and the meanings of the things around you, it's like you plug into nature in a very deep and profound way.
Presenter asks
1:57How do you think [being immersed in nature] affects you as a person?
I think it's very good for you. I think we have a lot of latent abilities that our evolution has provided us. Hand eye coordination, sensory awareness, perception. There are so many qualities that we have. They're part of our makeup, and we there's a frustration that comes from not being able to use them. And in teaching others about the outdoors, all I have to do is unlock the gateway to those latent abilities and they come flooding forwards and the joy of using them is then revealed.
Presenter asks
2:32I wasn't sure how to introduce you. In the end I plumped for the word woodsman because it is the word you yourself use. Why is it that you choose that word?
Oh, because I like forests. I love trees. I can't be very far from trees. And forests are very they're quite difficult places. … They're very secretive places. As habitats, they are full of nooks and crannies. And it takes a long while to develop the skills to actually find what's living there.
The keepsakes
The book
Could I take an empty book so that I can make notes of what I learn while I'm there? ... Because I think that would be really interesting.
The luxury
Do you know, I think I can manage without. So what about a really big pair of speakers so I could pump up the volume?
Presenter asks
5:52You helped the police track down Raoul Moat. What was it that you were using that other people and the police officers themselves might have missed? What did you bring to them?
40 years of tracking animals and tracking I track people as well, I track anything that moves. I'm looking for tiny disturbances. The things that are very, very small disturbances in nature are significant to me. I'm not following footprints, anyone can do that. So bruises to leaves, tiny dead twigs that may be broken and with experience you can look and know how long they've been broken.
Presenter asks
25:57What was the helicopter crash like? What do you remember of it?
looking out the window thinking we're very low. Looking out again thinking we're going to hit the ground. And as I thought that the alarms went off inside the helicopter and I took a brace position and we impacted on my side. … I remember that helicopter seemed like it was clawing the air. It came down on the tail rotor. The tail rotor snapped off, flew over the top, then the helicopter upended. We somersaulted, impacting three times before it skidded to a halt. And I remember the sound of the aluminium … grinding as we as we did so. And then the fuel which had come out of the back of the helicopter landed as a cloud on top of us.
Presenter asks
27:22Just a day after the crash you got word that your father had died. How on earth did you deal with it all?
Mm. I don't know. You just do. You have no choice. It was it was very, very difficult. Um it was a it was a lot all at once, yeah.
“If you take the time to understand how things fit together, the the uses and the meanings of the things around you, it's like you plug into nature in a very deep and profound way.”
“Deassimilate from the cyber hive. It's wonderful. It's great to just, you know, switch off from all of that.”
“It's one of those things that we have to deal with and you hope you never experience it.”
“You have to make a fresh start. I think that's really important. But otherwise you just drift on.”
“The hardest things to deal with is overwork. … That's a much more difficult thing to deal with.”