Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A formidable businessman, former MP, decorated British Army officer, and polyglot who rose from a poor Czech childhood.
On the island
Eight records
Symphony No. 40 in G minor, K. 550: I. Molto allegro
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karl Böhm
They contain uh memories. They have moved me when I first heard them, and I'm happy to take them along as loving companions on to the desert island with me, and I can listen to them.
Summertime (from Porgy and Bess)
As a youngster we were all very crazy about jazz, or at least I was, and then one day I heard Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, and I found that to be a marriage of the classics and jazz, which made an indelible impression on me.
We Shall Fight on the Beaches (Speech)
This one I would like to choose is Winston Churchill's speech about we will fight on the beaches, which not only inspired millions of people in Britain, but I, for one, was one of those who, because of that speech, which we heard, although I didn't understand a word what he was saying, chose to come to Britain to f help Britain fight Germany rather than accept an offer of a scholarship to go to America.
Don Giovanni, K. 527: Batti, batti, o bel Masetto
Mozart's opera Don Giovanni, which I'm very fond of.
It's cheerful. I hope you will agree.
This time, the great Beatles. She loves you. I don't think I need to add anything to that.
Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Václav Neumann
This is Smetana, a Czech composer, part of his Voltava, which is the river that flows in Prague, played by the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Wáclaw Neumann.
In conversation
Presenter asks
5:06What effect did [your poor background] have on you in later life when you look back at that background?
All I remember is being hungry most of the time. It has had no effect on me in any way.
Presenter asks
5:23When did you discover that you had this gift [for languages]?
I discovered that I had a gift quite early on in life. I could learn a language very quickly. ... When I landed [in Britain] I didn't speak a word of English, but yet within about six to eight weeks I spoke it as well as I do now.
Presenter asks
9:10What was life like in those days under the Germans?
Dangerous but very exciting for me I until I got caught. ... I was tortured and beaten up. Sentenced to death. as a spy.
Presenter asks
15:57How do you feel about [the war] now? It must be difficult to lose that kind of hatred.
The keepsakes
The book
Great Books of the Western World: Plato
Plato
That's a man who lived before Jesus Christ and who posed all of the questions about how humanity should govern itself. And what are the alternatives?
The luxury
Those losses are ever before me. ... I don't hate as I did during the war, but I cannot forget or forgive.
Presenter asks
23:30Is there a trick to making money?
There is no trick other than hard work. Creativity. Care. and recognizing that duty is more important than love.
Presenter asks
25:00Doesn't [putting duty first] involve though of necessity sacrifices to family and that sort of thing?
It does involve, above all, sacrifice to yourself. I regret not having gone to university, which I could have gone after the war. I have not seen as much of my family as I really should have done. But all life is a choice, and if you want to succeed, then you have got to commit yourself to getting things done.
“I came from a very poor family indeed. My father was an unemployed farm labourer. We didn't have enough to eat. I've only had three years primary education.”
“I chose to come to Britain because I had heard that Mr Churchill was going to lead the British people into a continuing battle against Nazi Germany.”
“My family were wiped out with millions of others. in Auschwitz, and I had a determination to kill Germans, which equalled the horrors that they were inflicting on a lot of innocent people.”
“It separates the achiever from the talker. It's the doer that I mean, a lot of people will talk to you about what they want to do, but never really do it. If you want to do it, you must get on with it, and be single minded.”
“The achievement at the end of it is that I feel that my life, which I am continuing to live to the full, and will do so until the day I die, I will have left the world a slightly better place. by having lived in it, and have influenced few things in people in the right direction, rather as if it hadn't mattered whether I was born, lived, or died.”