Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A Welsh naturalist who always wanted to live on a small island.
On the island
Eight records
Choir of St John's College, Cambridge
it goes far back to my childhood. When we were six young children, Brought up more or less single handed by mother. And We lived very frugally ... she couldn't afford to give us presents, but we had a fairy godmother ... who each Christmas sent us wonderful presents ... my true love she was in those days. And when I hear that record I can hear the days of my youth.
Ilse Hollweg with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
Sometimes I would find mother weeping in those early days, because of the problem of bringing up us six children on very little and struggling to make a school. And I thought it pictured when I first heard that marvellous song I thought, well, there's mother, that's mother, waiting and longing for her Harry to come back and look after her.
Paris Conservatoire Orchestra conducted by Peter Maag
I think this was a very early favourite in my discovery. of what I call classical music. It had happy and uh Nostalgic overtones for me. We used to, we sometimes still do, dance impromptu. to its marvellous rhythm.
Prélude à l'après-midi d'un fauneFavourite
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir Thomas Beecham
For me it brings a a vivid picture of days spent in the forest, quiet music, looking for roe deer fawns in in Devon, where I was living, and in Scotland. And for me I can hear the rustle of the trees and the magic of the woodland and birds, flowers and so on.
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
When we were living on Ireland Farm, Dennis Cross, we had a lot of people helping us to recover this derelict farm and in the evenings we used to play waltzes and all kinds of music and we all loved Strauss waltzes. We'd clear up the big the Gegenwa, the big kitchen, and we'd start dancing lads, lassies, land girls, prisoners of war, and one of the favourites were these naturally the Strauss walzes.
since I'm living in New Zealand, I would like a song sung by somebody from New Zealand. And what better could you have but kiriti kanawa?
Harry Secombe with the Welsh Festival Orchestra and Chorus
I remember in my upbringing in Wales and the singing of miners in the valleys above Cardiff and uh also particularly of uh A young Welsh man who was working on my farm, he had the most wonderful voice. I would like a Welsh song, David of the White Rock.
another song we used to sing collectively in youth, middle age, any time in fact, It hums in my head as I think of it. If you are going to isolate me on a desert iron I want something to remind me of the Kindliness of man, the warmth of woman, and the happy consequence of an agreeable occasion.
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:56How did you become a naturalist?
I was a weakly character, or physically very weak, and uh I had two serious accidents. which meant that I had to sit very still for three months, on both occasions. ... I was put in the summer days to sit in this chair. very bored with myself, and slowly I began to look at birds and keep records and wildflowers. And I think it was from the accident almost of keeping a record, a diary, that I became interested in writing and in nature, and I've kept it up ever since. I suppose that's how I began to become a naturalist.
Presenter asks
8:15Why did you choose to live on an island [Skokholm]?
I was always and always have been an escapist and uh After reading Thoreau's Walden, I thought, well, there's a man who expresses everything I really want in life. I want to get away, live simply. Find my own food. And uh as I say, I was fortunate when I was twenty three, I think, to find the little island of Stokeham, off the coast of Wales.
Presenter asks
17:02What did you do in naval intelligence during the war?
I went to the Naval Recruiting Station in Milford Haven. And out walked a friend of mine, a bird watcher. who is head of naval intelligence in Riffenhaven, Commander Wilson. And he said, What on earth are you doing here? and I said, Well, I thought I'd try to do something useful in the Navy. You're the very man I want. I want you to go around the coast of Wales and Ireland, for my service, disguised, and report on places where the German submarines are coming in ... So I had a very lucky three summers of the war Going round the coast, disguised as a fisherman, test making a list of places where the Germans might come.
The keepsakes
The book
The Natural History of Selborne
Gilbert White
those who study one place, one region, are likely to advance knowledge far more than a person who wanders around the world
Presenter asks
21:00What were your principal Conservancy projects while you were at Orielton?
because of this outbreak of mix matosis in England in 1954. The nature conservancy fear that all the rabbits are going to be swept away from their reserves ... So I was invited to make a study of rabbits because I'd studied other animals living in burrows, shearwaters, puffins and so on. and I saw the opportunity to enclose part of the estate in front of the house and conduct this study, which ended up, as you know, in the book The Private Life of the Rabbit.
Presenter asks
23:37Why did you decide to move to New Zealand?
my daughter, born on Skokum, brought up on Skokum till the war started. She got an agricultural diploma and went out as herd tester in New Zealand ... got married and I went out to see her twenty years ago. I liked New Zealand so much. Ten years ago I decided that this marvelous place to end my days. ... I think the main thing was to be near our daughter and uh grandchildren. But also the climate where I live, near Auckland, is marvellous.
“I think it was from the accident almost of keeping a record, a diary, that I became interested in writing and in nature, and I've kept it up ever since. I suppose that's how I began to become a naturalist.”
“I was always and always have been an escapist and uh After reading Thoreau's Walden, I thought, well, there's a man who expresses everything I really want in life. I want to get away, live simply. Find my own food.”
“I want something to remind me of the Kindliness of man, the warmth of woman, and the happy consequence of an agreeable occasion.”