Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A politician who has been the youngest MP, youngest member of the Privy Council, and leader of the Liberal Party.
On the island
Eight records
The first one is one to remind me of the borders of Scotland … It's the Flowers of the Forest. And this was a lament for the loss of so many of the Lowland Scots at the Battle of Flodden. The forest was Ettrick Forest, the area that I represent in Parliament.
Well, the second one takes me back to those school days in Kenya because I happened to be at school with Roger Whittaker … And I thought he's got a nice new album out of all about Kenya, which is a beautiful country. And this song, I'm Back Where I Belong, could apply to any country you like, but in his case, of course, it applies to his native Kenya.
Symphony No. 3 in C minor, Op. 78, 'Organ' (Second Movement)
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Louis Frémaux, with Christopher Robinson (organ)
Well, record number three I've chosen simply because I like it. It's one of the tapes that I've been listening to recently in my car. And it's the Saintson Third Symphony. I think the reason I like it is that in the second movement … is the massive introduction of the organ and, I think, two pianos into this symphony. It's very unusual and very dramatic.
Let's Do It (Let's Fall in Love)
George Melly with John Chilton's Feetwarmers
Life in the House of Commons can be fairly dreary, and one of the things that lightens it is the possibility of going off after the ten o'clock division to somewhere like Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club … and one of my regular visits is in the Christmas period when George Melley is singing.
Well this one is Andrew Lloyd Webber's variations which I think is just again something I like. This particular one features his brother Julian playing the cello and the one I've chosen is the last one, the twenty-third variation.
Sampson: Let Their Celestial Concerts All Unite
Well, because of my background, I'm particularly enthusiastic about church music and organ music. And one of my pleasures as leader of the party … is attending the great national occasions at Westminster Abbey … this next record is is actually a recording taken from Princess Anne's Wedding
Some years ago we went on a visit to Bulgaria … And there was a choir singing, and it was the most beautiful unaccompanied singing I've ever heard, and I commented on it so often that they gave me a recording of this choir, and this particular track is in fact the Paternoster, Our Father, sung in Bulgarian by a bass and a choir, unaccompanied.
Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125, 'Choral' (Ode to Joy)Favourite
New York Philharmonic, conducted by Leonard Bernstein
You'll have detected, I think, all through these records that I like loud, noisy, joyful music of whatever kind. And my last is simply Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and in particular from it, the Ode to Joy in the Last Movement, which not only is wonderful music … but also has connotations because it's been adopted very much as the European anthem.
In conversation
Presenter asks
4:22Did the church attract you [as a youngster]?
Yes, it did at one time. I mean, when I was in my mid-late teens, I thought briefly of going into the church and teaching. Now, some people might say, Well, perhaps being a member of parliament is a strange combination of all these things. I I like to draw a parallel between the parochial work of the parish minister and the constituency work of a member of parliament.
Presenter asks
4:55You didn't see much of your parents, obviously, as a youngster [while they were in Kenya]?
No, I was actually separated from my parents for four years. I saw my mother once in that period when she came home to visit us. … So uh myself and my next brother were sent home to school and um we depended on ourselves and on the goodwill of our various relations.
Presenter asks
8:52Who made you a Liberal?
I don't think any one person made me a Liberal. I became a Liberal almost by accident. … But I joined the Liberal Society at Edinburgh University … without any deep sense of conviction, but really by process of elimination, I felt more comfortable there. And the more I listened to visiting speakers and the more I met Liberals, the more I became convinced that this was the political movement for me.
The keepsakes
The book
David Steel
it would be self-indulgence to take my new book on the border so that I could look at the pictures and think of home.
The luxury
the largest possible cathedral organ
I would have a lovely time learning how to play the organ properly.
Presenter asks
20:45What was your best success [in speechmaking]?
Well, it depends on what you call success, because I can remember particularly um important speeches for me which were in a sense failures. … The one which I was most satisfied with, whether it's a success or not for others to judge, was my very first one [as leader] in 1976 when I sought to say to the Liberal Party, well, you know, we've been around for a long time, got a great history, great tradition, but we really ought to start thinking about bringing liberalism back into the processes of government
Presenter asks
28:15Do you think you could live off the land [on a desert island]?
This was the question I've been dreading you going to ask all through the programme, because I think I would have the greatest difficulty, and I hope it doesn't destroy my political image for good, but I think I would be thoroughly incompetent.
“I like to draw a parallel between the parochial work of the parish minister and the constituency work of a member of parliament. There are parallels there. Somebody once said, You're nothing but a glorified social worker. I took it as a tribute rather than a condemnation.”
“I was a very bad student, I have to confess, because I was too interested in student politics and indeed party politics. I was developing my interest in that, and found that much more absorbing than the dry Scots law, I'm afraid.”
“I don't think any one person made me a Liberal. I became a Liberal almost by accident. That sounds terrible now, looking back on it.”