Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A British politician and member of the House of Lords.
On the island
Eight records
I Dreamt I Dwelt in Marble Halls
I remember her singing it. And she had a very nice voice. She wasn't not a wonderful singer. She was a beautiful woman, I will say that.
Intermezzo from Cavalleria Rusticana
I like the operatic music, particularly the Italian music. And I remember one of the opera Cavalleria Rusticana and the intermezzo, which I think is a lovely piece of music.
Maybe It's Because I'm a Londoner
I think we should have something lively. Now, see, I was born in London. Born in London. So I think something about London. What about Bud Flanagan?
I Belong to GlasgowFavourite
I would like something to remind me of Glasgow. And if I am to be reminded of Glasgow, I must remind myself of one of the greatest comedians and vocalists that Scotland has ever produced, and that was William Fife.
I've also had the opportunity and the privilege of listening to some of their vocalists, like that famous John McCormack. I could remember that wonderful song of his, Mother Machree.
Prize Song from Die Meistersinger
I listened to a wonderful song, The Prize Song, and I've always remembered it, and I think it's one of the finest pieces of music.
I have listened to the Durham dialect. Sometimes it's almost impossible to understand it. But there's one song that I've heard several times that I like, and there's a man I met... Owen Brannigan.
Opening of the last movement of Symphony No. 9
If there is one symphony that I could listen to throughout the whole of my life, over and over again, to be repeated, it's the Ninth Symphony.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:45How did you set about choosing your discs for the desert island? Are you choosing nostalgically?
I've tried to associate them with my experiences. To associate them with where I was born, where I lived, where I worked, the people I met, and so on.
Presenter asks
4:10You were one of millions of rather underprivileged children, and one of the few who set about educating himself. What inspired you to do that?
I think I have to thank my mother to a large extent, because she was inclined to refuse to read those penny novellas. She was a bit romantic and sentimental. He said, Edmund, I used to read whenever I got an opportunity. My father had a workshop in Glasgow and quite a number of Irish people used to come in, and there was one man who was a schoolmaster it was a cousin of my father's, and he took an interest in me. He suggested I should go to the library and read books. I never bothered about that. I was interested in sport, I was interested in boxing, in sprinting, in football. But I took his advice and I went along to the central library in Glasgow and I looked at the catalogue and I picked out some of them on philosophy, on science and so on. Darwin. Oh no, I started with H. G. Wells, somebody's science fiction, that sort of thing. That gave me the opening gambit.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Oxford Dictionary of Quotations
I've got to have a book which will occupy me two or three years. Now it must be then the Oxford Dictionary of Quotations. ... It's got almost everything, it's got poetry, it's got prose. It would take me at least two or three years to get through that book if I really want to apply myself, 'cause I don't want to memorize it.
The luxury
I was advised by a p a professor of medicine that I ought to take medicine every four hours. ... Brandy should be as
How did you get on with the generals [at the War Office]?
Wonderfully well. The most of the happiest time in my political life was when I was at the War Office. It was alleged that my colleagues wanted me to go to the War Office 'cause they were quite sure I'd have trouble with Montgomery, who was regarded as a very difficult person to cooperate with. On the contrary, I no sooner got first of all, I had a letter from him extending a welcome. But at the same time General Steele was the adjutant general informed me that the generals were going to resign because I had arrived, because of my reputation. I had a reputation for being rather blustering and dictatorial, and they were going to resign. But the remarkable thing is that when I had to leave the War Office in nineteen fifty to go to the Ministry of Defence, the same General Steele came to me and he came to him and said, you know, when you came here, we were going to resign and now that you're going to leave us, we're threatening to resign.
Presenter asks
20:31You'll never have notes. What's the secret of being able to speak like that?
I haven't used a note for speaking either in the commons or the lords or at a function, whether dinner, or whatever it may be, for must be forty five, probably fifty years. Occasionally I would when I was a minister, of course I had to use a brief very often. I always found it an encumbrance to be using notes, and to read a speech was against my principles. I would just get up and talk. I have to get two or three clear ideas in my head. If my ideas are clear to me, then I can express them.
Presenter asks
27:21What would you say to a case or two of scotch [as a luxury]?
I know you're talking, I know, of course, now I know we're pragmatic. Some considerable time ago I was advised by a professor of medicine that I ought to take medicine every four hours. Every four hours.
“I think I have to thank my mother to a large extent, because she was inclined to refuse to read those penny novellas.”
“I had a reputation for being rather blustering and dictatorial, and they were going to resign. But the remarkable thing is that when I had to leave the War Office in nineteen fifty to go to the Ministry of Defence, the same General Steele came to me and he came to him and said, you know, when you came here, we were going to resign and now that you're going to leave us, we're threatening to resign.”
“I always found it an encumbrance to be using notes, and to read a speech was against my principles. I would just get up and talk.”
“I think the first thing I would do would go I would reconnoitre. There might even be a bottle about there. If I saw a bottle and a piece of paper, I the first thing I would do, I would write in my name and say where I was, and then I would throw it into the water in the hope that it would return some day.”
“I've never wanted luxuries. I've what I will want is necessaries, not luxuries.”