Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A diplomat and climate expert, best known for negotiating Britain's EU entry, restoring UK-Argentina relations, and mediating the Iran-Iraq ceasefire, now UN am
On the island
Eight records
Gérard Calvi and Les Compagnons de la Chanson
a song that he was very fond of, called Le Prisonnier de la Tour.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 (Emperor)
some of my earliest memories are hearing him practising very successfully the last movement of the Beethoven Emperor Concerto
String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96 (American)
one of the most beautiful of the string quartets by Vorjak, which is the American quartet
El Zapateado (Veracruz Carnival Music)
harp music, which is played at the festival at Veracruz on the coast, meant for light-heartedness and dancing
based on the noises made by whales when they communicate under water … a very beautiful piece of music
String Quartet No. 1 in C minor, Op. 51 No. 1Favourite
among the most subtle and interesting pieces of music ever invented … give me boundless pleasure
a particularly beautiful piece of music
shows a very healthy scepticism about what higher authority … like to tell people
In conversation
Presenter asks
10:39Define for me the qualities of a good diplomat. What's your personal definition?
I think that it's very wrong to think that a diplomat is sent abroad to by someone to lie for his country. I think it very important the diplomat should be straightforward. … they should understand the other person's point of view, but never at the cost of abandoning their own. … I found many times in negotiation that at a difficult point, if you can turn the conversation onto things that don't seem to be connected but sometimes are, it very much helps you towards a conclusion.
Presenter asks
15:29You took a sabbatical from the FO and an undergraduate course at Harvard in what, in meteorology, in astronomy, what was it?
I went to Harvard, as you say, a sabbatical year, and there I was singing for my supper by giving seminars on arms control and the European community and those kinds of things. But I wanted to study climate change and world affairs because I've always been interested in the relationship between science and politics, and this seemed a good subject. Not everyone else thought so. I had a certain amount of arguing to do before this particular thought was accepted. But once it had been accepted, of course, the first thing I had to do was to find out about climate.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
Isaac Asimov
I can think of no better, compendious volume which brings up to date everything that is happening across the entire scientific spectrum.
The luxury
a solar-powered telescope with a star handbook
And so what I want to choose is a telescope. And a telescope by itself isn't very much good unless you have some means of powering it, and therefore I'd like a solar powered telescope and of course a little star handbook to accompany it.
You gave a lecture last year at the Royal Society, in which you envisaged a world in turmoil, with huge numbers of refugees displaced by the climate. Can you explain that?
I think that the world is moving into a very serious condition with the changes that are taking place in climate. … What is, I think, serious is the combination of factors. … The first is human population increase … the factor of environmental degradation … and on top of those two factors, you have the prospect of climate change caused by our placing in the atmosphere of a number of gases … All these things could mean that you could get a world on the march.
Presenter asks
23:37You are the man credited with the greening of the Prime Minister. You it was, they say, who persuaded her that environmental matters mattered. Do you take that credit?
I don't take that credit because the Prime Minister was trained as a chemist and she understands these issues better than anyone. It is true that I have spoken to her about these things on a number of occasions, but she, I think, is the person who makes the decisions and she understands this problem better than anyone else.
Presenter asks
27:18Something else rather impressive happened to you while you were our man in Mexico. You were knighted. Can you describe the scene?
It was the scene was very simple, which was that after the Falklands War, the Queen made a visit to Mexico … Her Majesty's yacht Britannia came to Acapulco. … The queen signified her intention of knighting me. And I was very embarrassed because it being unexpected, I hadn't got with me the kind of clothes that one normally associates with these ceremonies. … I had only an open-necked shirt with short sleeves and a tropical sun outside to accompany me. But Her Majesty was kind enough to knight me in the drawing room of Britannia.
Presenter asks
30:21Will you survive, Sir Crispin, on your desert island? Are you at root a practical man?
I am not a particularly practical man, but I have usually discovered that if I have to I can manage like anybody else.
“He gave me a very special present, which was a fellowship of the London Zoo when I was something like six or seven or eight … I used to go into the cages and look play with the baby chimps.”
“I think that it's very wrong to think that a diplomat is sent abroad to by someone to lie for his country. I think it very important the diplomat should be straightforward.”
“I think that the world is moving into a very serious condition with the changes that are taking place in climate.”
“I think the science … all points towards climatic warming with largely unpredictable results.”
“an earthquake indeed took place, which lasted for about three minutes. And it was quite an experience.”
“And what I shall choose is Asimov's Guide to Science, because I can think of no better, compendious volume which brings up to date everything that is happening across the entire scientific spectrum.”