Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Former chairman of British Steel and the National Coal Board, known for controversial industrial restructuring during the Thatcher era.
On the island
Eight records
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards
I must have a sort of theme song, and I suggest that we play a passage from Amazing Grace, performed by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
The Hebrides, Op. 26 (Fingal's Cave)Favourite
Well, I think that we'll stay with the Scottish theme. How about Mendelsohn's overture, The Hebrides? This one is played by the Scottish National Orchestra under the direction of Sir Alexander Gibson.
I've often listened to Handel and I think the water music is one of the favorites that I have. Here's a sample played by the English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Raymond Lepard.
Luciano Pavarotti has of course uh got quite a reputation here in Britain. But I heard him once singing in Montreal on a Christmas Eve, and I think this particular rendering of Panus Angelicus from Caesar Frank is worth listening to.
Piano Concerto No. 2 in A major
Well, I'm a great uh an enthusiast for piano concertos. And uh here's one, list concerto number two, and it is played by Claudio Aran and the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis.
Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra
Well, uh, this time I would like Smeten as The Moldow. This is played by the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Rafael Kubelet.
Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat major, Op. 73 (Emperor)
Well, I go back to another piano concerto. This is The Emperor, number five, by Beethoven. And uh it's played by Vladimir Ashkenazy together with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by George Salte.
Polovtsian Dances (from Prince Igor)
The last one is an example of something produced by a fellow engineer. What's that? Mr. Borodin, that great uh Russian chemist, engineer, and composer. And uh the opera, he wrote, Prince Igar, has one very interesting and stimulating passage, and I think we should play the Palozzi and Dances.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:58What sort of a community was [Kinlochleven]?
I was born in a place called Kinloch Leven, which was a little enclave at the head of a fjord, if you will … in which there was a factory for the production of aluminium … and the community was more or less totally isolated … like a mining camp in the back woods.
Presenter asks
2:10Was it a very strict upbringing [in that tight little community]?
Oh, yes. Well, I Parents were quite heavily involved in the community affairs … It was literally a company town … My Early education and upbringing was much influenced by not only the Reverend John McCaskill, But by his housekeeper, who was a very severe lady.
Presenter asks
5:12How bad were [the depression years]?
Well, they were very bad indeed. We moved from the Highlands to Glasgow. And I lived there until the early thirties. The depression in that area was um very, very dramatic and tragic.
Presenter asks
The keepsakes
The book
One should always be learning. and the encyclopedia contains vast sources of knowledge. As long as uh one lives and uh has an interest in life, you continue to learn.
What were the circumstances [of your leaving Scotland for America in 1940]?
Well, after the uh evacuation of Dunkirk, The government became concerned about the loss of equipment which was left behind in Europe. I was working at William Bairdmore's in Glasgow, engaged in the production of tanks, tank parts, guns and armor plate … and the work I'd been doing I was, if you will, conscripted by the uh Ministry of Supply. and made part of a mission that was sent to North America … to try to get a program of tank building started.
Presenter asks
11:53What made you look to Britain [after being so successful in America]?
Well, it uh seemed to me that when I got to uh retiring from active business … I found that my visits here indicated that Britain wasn't making quite as much progress as I had hoped. And certainly during the seventies this country was the victim of a terrible scourge of inflation. And I was absolutely appalled at the way that this demolished the industrial capability of the country.
Presenter asks
14:29Why was the quality not right [at British Leyland]? What's the root of it?
Because the fundamental, I think, was that people felt that uh it wasn't really their responsibility to worry about … We had this terrible problem of lack of interest in the product. People had lost the connection between themselves and the customer. And uh, you know, I think that it's part of a general syndrome that invaded the whole of British society.
Presenter asks
19:29Was there a certain kind of inevitability about the fact that you and Arthur Scargill would meet in a head-on collision?
Yes. I got the impression from Scargill's utterances after the nineteen eighty three election. that he felt he had a mission. A personal mission to try to find some way to undermine the. Elected government. I was quite honest about it, to give him credit, he was quite public in his statements. But it identified the threat that was ahead of us.
“I found myself competing with people and I thought my British education stood up well in comparison with other people who were technically trained in the United States that I met who were competitors.”
“Politics today has become increasingly a matter of expedient solutions to problems.”
“I enjoy it. find that to be a very practical way of life. Certainly doesn't seem to do any harm to work. As a matter of fact, I think probably the greatest danger that uh faces us is changing our lives from one of activity to one of inactivity.”