Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A well-known actor, active in theatre, film, and television.
On the island
Eight records
Piano Concerto No. 20 in D minor, K. 466
the guest's reason/quote (verbatim):
The keepsakes
The luxury
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:00How much does music mean in your life?
A very great deal. I like almost every form of music.
Presenter asks
1:09How did you set about this problem of selecting just eight records?
Well, first of all, I thought of it as a sort of series of evocations, I think the word is [—] I wanted to have music which would remind me of people and of places that I'd been to. But the snag there was that that excluded all classical music, which does not fulfill any of those requirements … so I had to, you know, [scrap] that plan and start afresh.
Presenter asks
3:57What part of England do you come from?
The Black Country.
Presenter asks
4:09Did you see a lot of theatre as a child?
Yes, quite a lot. I think really from a very early age I was taken to the theatre. And I remember seeing Chu Chin Chow with Oscar Asche.
Presenter asks
4:19How early do you think you decided you wanted to be an actor?
Oh, very, very early. I was always dressing up and all that sort of thing, and I wrote my first play when I was six.
Presenter asks
6:26How did you eventually get on the stage? Did he help you?
He did indirectly because his wife had heard that at the Croydon Repertory Company they wanted men and they were offering free tuition for a term … and I borrowed fifty pounds from my father and I went.
“I couldn't. I would hate it. I dislike loneliness. I think I'm sort of, oh, far, a lonely person. Rather frightened of people. I was learning to cover that up.”
“I wanted to have music which would remind me of people and of places that I'd been to. But the snag there was that that excluded all classical music, which does not fulfill any of those requirements.”
“I think it's an enormously serene and attractive piece of music, and I do remember my father trying to tell me that one probably had to become a little older fully to appreciate Mozart. And to me, he's gone from sort of being boring pump room to probably really the most marvelous musician of them all.”
“It's the achievement of a you know, it's the dream of a lifetime. I think I'm twenty years too old, but I've done it. And lucky chap playing opposite Dora Bryan … we make each other giggle far too much.”