Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Co-owner of the UK's biggest private theatre collection, with Joe Mitchenson.
On the island
Eight records
Ride of the ValkyriesFavourite
It'd it'd wake us up if we were sleepy.
Noel Coward and Margaret Leighton
Noel was a a tremendous friend to us, and I think I would certainly have to have his voice with us. And Shaw, of course, is our God.
The Fly Duet from Orpheus in the Underworld
Joan Brownhill and Eric Shilling
I love opera, we both love opera, but we always longed for Offenbach to come back.
National Philharmonic Orchestra
That would remind us of all our visits to Bally right from seeing Pavlova, wouldn't it?
We've chosen cabaret. I think it sums up a lot of things we think about life being a cabaret.
I remember seeing her first in Tons of Money as a child, and that wonderful laugh, that wonderful chuckle, it was irresistible.
Hamlet - Suit the action to the word
If you don't tingle, then it's a bad Hamlet.
Gilbert Vinter and his Orchestra
I think the overture to the Arcadians, 'cause you get all those lovely numbers, and I'd almost be getting the entire show.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:28Raymond, where do you come from?
Oh, I'm a Londoner. I've always been told I've got a cockney accent. I can't hear it myself, but I do a little bit of a cockney draw, shall I say, at times.
Presenter asks
4:33When and how did you start in the theatre proper as a professional?
Well, I answered an advert in the stage and said would I go up to the old interval club in Dean Street and there I met the manager that was opening a rep in Bedford. I told him I'd done a lot of things, he didn't believe me, and off I went.
Presenter asks
7:38Where did you and Raymond first meet up?
That was very strange because I suddenly got a card to the door asking me if I could, at the last minute, dash down and do a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor to play Fenton. Someone had fallen out or something, and I had about a long weekend in which to learn the part. I got to the rehearsal rooms, and there I met Raymond Mander. He was also in the cast. One performance. A very good date. That was 1939, too, before the spring before the war.
The keepsakes
No book or luxury recorded for this episode.
Presenter asks
Now, in what way is it [the collection] used?
Oh, it's used in many ways, Roy. I mean, it's used a tremendous lot for research, of course, from broadcasting, from television. And it's used a lot for books, of course. We help authors a great deal. They come down, they've got an idea of writing a book, say, on Edmund Keene or something, and they use us as a research centre. And you provide the illustrations. And we provide the illustrations.
Presenter asks
20:37Which of you is the practical one? Who's going to build a hut?
Oh, I'd have to do that. Joe can't hit a hammer with a nail. ... Well, I would enjoy the cooking, Roy. Definitely I'd do some wonderful things with my bit of vegetarian background.