Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Educationalist and writer, former headmaster of Wellington College and biographer of four British prime ministers.
On the island
Eight records
Pupils of Wellington College and Wellington Academy
it's that idea of everyone being in it together
MiserereFavourite
the first piece of music that I remember... that sense of mystery has enchanted me all my life
an optimistic Upbeat Beatles because so much of my life is about happiness... our children loved
Mira Steenbrugge and Simon Williamson
the Holocaust has been a powerfully shaping factor in my life... I feel such hope when I listen to this recording, Hope for the Future
Lisa Gerrard and the Lyndhurst Orchestra
Hans Zimmer, Lisa Gerrard, Klaus Badelt
this song reminds me about getting back in touch with myself and doing the things that allowed me to feel that deep inner peace and harmony
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43: IV. Allegretto
I took Joanna on a mystery tour... I played the same music to her that we played on our honeymoon
I played it behind lots of the different dramas that I directed
I've always had a big thing about the First World War... walking the Western Front as a memory of where war leads
In conversation
Presenter asks
1:55You say if we show youngsters respect, they always rise to the occasion. Do you think it's really true?
Absolutely certain that it's true. It's always the case that your most difficult child in school is difficult because they feel bruised and rejected, but you give them something to do, maybe look after a younger child, and it brings out something totally different in them. So I'm a supreme optimist about human nature. And I think that there is goodness in every single child, and especially perhaps those who are most awkward and cussed.
Presenter asks
4:01What is it about leaders that interests you?
I think it is that they are all damaged in different ways. Churchill, terribly damaged, had his depression in the nineteen thirties, his Black Dog. And anybody who is going to make these supreme sacrifices for them and their families. interesting. And and the times that they live through, the decisions they have to make, the fact that every moment of every day is shaped for them. I'm just mesmerized by Prime Ministers and and that building Downing Street and what happens minute by minute and room by room.
Presenter asks
6:37Wouldn't it honestly be better for everyone across the board if the playing field was levelled and fee-paying schools were abolished?
The keepsakes
The book
Joanna's poetry and short stories
Joanna Seldon
I'll read both of those every day, and the book would be Joanna's poetry and short stories, if I'm allowed that.
The luxury
But it would be a yoga mat and prayer mat which I could also sleep out at night under the stars on and I'd love that.
Well, I think that if the quality of education was as good as it is at the best independent and the best state schools, then that might well be the ideal. Though I still think there's a role for a different sector that challenges, which doesn't have to be subject to the same governmental regimes as the rest. But, you know, all my life I've been very conscious of the way that education entrenches divides in our almost uniquely divided society in Britain and have tried to find ways to bridge those divides. And setting up now two academies at Wellington is one of those ways and having a whole variety of outreach programmes that many state and independent schools are involved with. The most important predictor of anyone's behaviour is the expectations that their superior have of them. And so I think it is raising expectations which is at the heart of good education, good schooling, good universities.
Presenter asks
19:37There was a moment of crisis when you went to the United States for your research. Just explain to me what happened.
Well, in the early stages of writing it, I went off to the libraries of Presidents Truman and Eisenhower, and I found myself in the middle of the United States, miles from anywhere, and I just had a total collapse of confidence. And Oxford was over. Nobody, frankly, could care less about my doctorate. And I had to put myself together and I started meditating and practising yoga. And enormously helpful too was meeting Joanna and my life I realized needed the bad times. We all go through bad times. Often they're bad because part of us is saying that we need to change and we can use these opportunities to learn and to grow.
Presenter asks
27:28Can you explain that apparent paradox of being able to live happily in such a very difficult situation [your wife's terminal cancer]?
Yes, it is odd, isn't it? But she has been incredibly uh strong ever since this incurable cancer was diagnosed uh four and a bit years ago. And um it it's I think, Kirsty, it's about making the most of the time that you have and there's something about the prospect of mortality and there being a finite time no one knows how long that we're together with each other and with the family that makes us want to celebrate everything. So little things that would constantly make her cross like me not putting the breakfast things in the dishwasher. Actually that still gets her a bit. But in general it's the little things which are swept away and we just love being together. And I can see her more clearly as she is than I ever saw her before. I just love her for what she is. So I think that's why I feel so happy.
“I'm a supreme optimist about human nature.”
“I'm just mesmerized by Prime Ministers and and that building Downing Street and what happens minute by minute and room by room.”
“I drank too much, I smoked very heavily, I fell in love with lots of girls, but they didn't really fall in love with me? I wore black every single day of my university career and looked frankly totally ridiculous.”
“I started meditating and practising yoga... my life I realized needed the bad times.”
“it's about making the most of the time that you have... I just love her for what she is.”
“Our children? Staying married? helping some people along the way.”