Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A British politician and Chancellor of the Exchequer.
On the island
Eight records
A Shropshire Lad: Captain Webb
Well, I'd like to start off with something which reminds me of my childhood. I lived in a village in Yorkshire between Ilkleymoor, Bartet, and the Leeds Liverpool Canal, where I used to catch tiddlers and fall in and cycle up and down the coal tips at the edge and my first record is called a Shropshire Lad.
I particularly enjoyed the Balium Music Society, and there was a young man my age called George Malcolm in those days covered with puppy fat who's become the greatest British harpsichordist and I think I'd like to choose as my next record him playing on the harpsichord a piece called Bach Goes to Town.
Well, the next record really is Tino Rossi singing a Neapolitan song, Cattari, which is a love song. And it reminds me of the war in Italy and it reminds me of my honeymoon with my wife Edna because I got married just at the end of the war.
Messiah: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth
Heather Harper, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis
the next record I'd like to choose is uh for my mother-in-law who's a a lady of ninety-five who lives in the forest of Dean and who was called the Nightingale of the Forest when she was younger because she used to sing all over the area and surprisingly Jimmy Young's mother used to play the piano for her.
Bailero (from Songs of the Auvergne)
Well, I'd like to choose as my next record something which reminds me very much of my human private family life because uh ever since I got a car, which was when I was thirty five, much later than most people these days, we had our holidays with the children camping in Europe, in France, the Alps and in Italy.
London Sinfonietta conducted by David Atherton
Well, I felt I ought not to be on a desert island without a record, which reminded me a little bit of the political and economic uh problems I'd had to cope with, so I Chose uh a little bit of The Weil Brecht opera, the Thratny opera
Così fan tutte: Soave sia il ventoFavourite
Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, Christa Ludwig and Walter Berry
The re last record I played, as I say, described a mood of cynicism. The next one is from an opera which is often called a very cynical opera by Mozart. Uh which is called uh that's what all women are like, cosie fantutte.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 ('Emperor'): III. Rondo: Allegro
Artur Schnabel with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Frederick Stock
Well, I thought I ought to finish with something which is, you know, robust, glorious, triumphant and Full of assertion and positiveness. And I also wanted something from Beethoven, so I've chosen. The opening of the last movement of his Emperor Concerto
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:33What would you be happiest to have got away from [on the desert island]?
I think really from the sort of life I live today, but I doubt if I'd be happy away from it for more than a month or so at a time. … I think it's basically hard work and not having enough time to do and think about the things which you would otherwise do and think about.
Presenter asks
7:08Why did you join the Communist Party [at Balliol]?
Well, basically I didn't think at that time that uh Any other party was doing anything about the coming war and about Hitler. The bulk of the Labour Party at that time was pacifists, the Conservative Party was appeasement-minded
Presenter asks
8:14What were you planning to do when you came down [from Oxford]?
Well, at that time I wanted really to write the best book ever written on aesthetics, the sort of theory of beauty and art. But I don't think I shall ever do that now. Uh I think it was the war basically that uh made me choose a political career instead and on the whole I've not regretted it
The keepsakes
The book
W. B. Yeats
He's my favourite poet this century. I think he's one of the greatest poets in the English language ever. He can tell you anything you want to know about life, love, or politics.
The luxury
Painting materials (paints, canvas, brushes)
so that I could uh do some painting while I was on the island.
Presenter asks
14:53Did being Minister of Defence clarify some of the inexplicable things that had happened to you when you were in uniform?
I wouldn't quite say it that way round. I'd say much more that uh having been an ordinary soldier and junior officer in the war, clarified a lot of things I might have found difficult to understand as Secretary of State for Defence.
Presenter asks
21:06How resourceful would you be as a castaway? Could you look after yourself?
Oh, I'm a great do it yourself, Jack. Yes, I love uh making uh … I've invented, incidentally, a new piece of furniture called a welly box. Which, if you live in the country, is a big box in which you can put all the Wellingtons. … And put your shoes above, and it's a magnificent piece of architecture
“I always felt slightly ashamed when I became Defence Secretary that I started off as a pacifist, but I think I was pacifist for all the right reasons.”
“I left the army, got a job at the Labour Party and got married all in the same week at the end of 1945”
“Do you know the best way of killing a centipede? … You ask it which leg it first moves when it starts walking and it dies of a nervous breakdown. And I feel a bit like that when you ask me to choose uh one particular record.”