Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Media executive central to the development of independent television in the UK; first producer of What the Papers Say and originator of The Jewel in the Crown.
On the island
Eight records
Opening Chorus from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
Berlin State Opera Orchestra conducted by Leo Blech
The first record I'd like to play is rather a special record. … the very first record I got was the opening chorus after the overture. … recorded in 1928 in Berlin. … the excitement of that opening chorus still lives with me.
Piano Concerto No. 21 in C major, K. 467: II. AndanteFavourite
Mario Pariah (piano and conductor), English Chamber Orchestra
I want to take with me something that reminds me of all Mozart's piano concertos. … I've picked the slow movement of the C major piano concerto, the big one, and it's played by Mari Pariah, who for me is the most perfect exponent of Mozart.
This is a record I want to take with me to remind me of the underdog composers. This is John Field. … This is a nocturne of John Fields and if I didn't tell you that I'm sure a lot of people would think it was Chopin.
English Suite No. 2 in A minor, BWV 807: Bourrée I & II
Bach you see I must take some Bach to the island with me and um I've chosen this one because … it's wonderfully played by Marta Argerich, who plays the piano almost as if it was a harpsichord.
This record is a one-off really. … He got together about 55 of the best wind players in Britain … I'm left with one of the most wonderfully extravagant records. To hear this is a real joy.
Così fan tutte: 'Soave sia il vento' (trio)
Margaret Price, Ivan Minton, Hans Sortine, New Philharmonia Orchestra, Otto Klemperer
This is the trio when from Cosifantuti where the two girls and uh Don Alfonso are waving goodbye to their two boyfriends … Mozart makes you feel that it's absolutely real.
This is a piece composed by Wally Badaroo. He's a an African living in Paris, and he composed this on two small computers. And it's a piece that I play a lot.
Brian Gascoigne (after Handel)
This last one comes from the Messiah, but it's not the usual version of the Messiah. It's uh a rock messiah, and it's sung by a coloured lady called Madeleine Bell, and this particular number I find very moving.
In conversation
Presenter asks
5:36Where and how did you first discover that trait in your character [of needing an audience]?
Well, I think it's true to say that I discovered it in the servants' hall, in the house where I was brought up. … That was my first audience. And they were a very tough audience. You had to be good, first of all, to get their attention. And if you could get a smile from them, you were beginning to win. And if you could set the table in the raw, that was absolute glory.
Presenter asks
7:44Isn't it also because you have a dread of being boring and because your own boredom threshold is very low?
Yes, I think of all things in life I dread most it's boredom.
Presenter asks
10:43Who was your best friend amongst them when you were small? Who did you turn to in times of greatest misery?
Well, I've had a strange um habit, before going to sleep at night, of putting in pecking order the people I didn't want to die, with the one I didn't want to die most as number one, and that was usually my nurse, the head nurse, who was called Nan. … and those were the three that used to be the top three.
The keepsakes
Presenter asks
16:08Can you describe what happened at the Battle of Monte Cassino and how you were wounded?
Well, what happened briefly was this, that um I was sent halfway up the hill. … And as they retreated, I took my lads to chase them out. And I said to my batman, Let's make for that shell hole, I said, because I just saw an empty smoke canister land there, and a shell never lands twice in the same place. So we went there, and a shell did land twice in the same place. It landed in my foot. So that was the end of that. … I don't remember much about it.
Presenter asks
18:05What did you think and feel when you realized you'd lost a limb?
Well, first of all, uh enormously thankful. because uh I was going to live and I was going to go home. And a huge effort. Of um keeping up the fighting front which has to go on, that was over, and so the first one was was a relief. … After that, I think fairly fatalistic acceptance that this had happened and it wasn't as bad as all that.
Presenter asks
33:43Is there a part of your life's work of which you will be proudest?
I don't think I'm proud of any part of my life. I think some parts of it have been less unsuccessful than others, and I think there are bits of things that have come off fairly well. But I'm not I have not got any glow of satisfaction. I feel that I would like to keep on fighting to do something a bit better, rather than contemplate what was good in the past. Divine dissatisfaction haunts me all the time, and I just feel I wish things had gone a little bit better.
“Yes indeed. I got uh to know the Beethoven symphonies very well indeed. … And when I used to go fishing I could actually play through a movement and was quite cross if I got stuck somewhere.”
“Yes, I think of all things in life I dread most it's boredom.”
“Well, there were two options in the infantry. One was to be killed and the other was to be wounded. They were the only two options.”
“Well, first of all, uh enormously thankful. because uh I was going to live and I was going to go home. … After that, I think fairly fatalistic acceptance that this had happened and it wasn't as bad as all that.”
“Divine dissatisfaction haunts me all the time, and I just feel I wish things had gone a little bit better.”