Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
First Minister of Scotland and SNP leader, best known for championing Scottish independence.
On the island
Eight records
He found kiss and then we severed If it waved our loss forever Deep in hell tears I'll pledge thee Warling Sun.
Chet Allen and Rosemary Kuhlmann
A Mile in the Night Visitors this is a an opera from Juan Carlo Minotti, the Italian-American composer. So it's about a a peasant boy and a single parent mother in in Palestine towards the birth of Christ and uh he's he's a cripple, they've got no food in the house, no wood for the fire, things are really bad, and then events take a a magical turn.
This is uh Jerry Rafferty in Baker Street. Uh Jerry Rafferty died uh very recently and was a wonderful, wonderful musician. Uh it's uh it's a haunting, haunting tune and it was la my last year at university when I when I heard this first, when the album came out, it's that sack solo which uh everybody knows.
Well, there's a connection between Jay Rafferty and the proclaimers who we're about to hear, and that's that Jay Rafferty produced uh their their first uh big hit, Letter from America, the album. And it's just a good example of uh you know a great musician helping the the next generation to come along. And I'm gonna be Five Hundred Miles. Every Scott and lots of other folk as well, they rock to Five Hundred Miles.
Joe HillFavourite
When I was a boy soprano, my hero was Paul Robeson, the greatest bass voice of the twentieth century, in my view. And I was so uh impressed by uh not just the singing but the whole story of Paul Robeson that I demanded my my singing coach that I I should be able to sing Paul Robeson songs. But can you imagine a boy soprano singing Old Man River? And uh but Paul Robeson is the the great rallying figure of black emancipation and uh they also had uh the voice of the century, a voice in which deep bells ring.
What we're about to hear is uh Carl Matheson, just a voice to dream about, with Capper Kayleigh. Th this track's famous because this was the the first Gallic song which made it into the charts, and it's a wonderful song.
Well it's Johnny Cash in San Quentin. This is just the most electric. I think I think I'm right. There certainly was a either World in Action or Panorama did a programme on this way, way back. We're talking end of the sixties. And I watched it one night and ever since I've thought this is just the most amazing live performance. This is Johnny Cash, the man in black, going to San Quentin, the toughest nut jail in the United States of America, and laying it on the line.
Well I'm going to hear something really emotional. This is Caledonia with Dewey MacLean. It's an anthem. It's an anthem about Scotts Returning Home. This is a song for Scots coming home.
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:09Do you think [being half bully, half charmer] is the sort of balance you need to be a successful man in politics?
Oh no, sure surely more more charmer than uh than than bully. I I I think politics y you're doing a combination of things and uh I I think uh charm is uh more essential than bullying.
Presenter asks
1:45What does [politics] do for you? Where's the thrill?
Well there's a a lot of thrill in the in the game. You know, I I think most politicians, uh certainly good politicians, like the the game, you know, they like the chase, they like the activity, they like the the art of politics. But, you know, unless you're you're aiming for a goal, it's all meaningless. And I think a lot that's wrong with politics now is it's not the standard of politicians, it's the standard of ideas, that uh there are very, very few politicians who actually have a goal in mind. … So if you lose your end goal, then it does make the art a bit meaningless.
Presenter asks
5:05What were your feelings [on the day you were sworn in as First Minister]?
When you get s you know, something that you've thought about for a long time, but it's never happened and then it happens, it's a sort of strange almost uh I mean, I apparently according to everybody I looked very calm and collected and cool. I wasn't feeling particularly calm and collected. … All my political life was uh racing before me, you know, but uh but it was just a great moment. It was a chance for a new direction in Scotland and a a chance to strike out for the future.
The keepsakes
The book
The Complete Works of Robert Burns
Robert Burns
complete [works of] Robert Burns just amazing and uh uh there's enough in there to keep me going for years
The luxury
if I get a sand wedge and it says Desert Island. When I'm rescued, I'll be Gary Blair
Presenter asks
8:23Do you think [singing as a boy soprano] built your nerve up at a crucial stage, the idea that you can stand out there in front of people and not be terrified of an audience?
This is the most important thing. If you can sing in front of thousands of people when you're ten or eleven, then you're speaking in the Westminster Parliament is nothing. Being a Scottish First Minister is nothing in comparison to that.
Presenter asks
25:14Do you regret the decision [to free Abdelbaset al-Megrahi]?
No. I I think if you take a decision for the the right reasons then you you shouldn't regret it. And and certainly in terms of forecasting how long anybody's got to live with terminal cancer, every person listening to this programme knows that it's the most difficult thing. I mean people understand that.
“If you can sing in front of thousands of people when you're ten or eleven, then you're speaking in the Westminster Parliament is nothing. Being a Scottish First Minister is nothing in comparison to that.”
“When you lose your mother there's nothing, nothing in life ever prepares you for that.”
“I think the real regret is what you didn't do often and uh and that's the same for everyone.”