Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Soldier and lieutenant general, best known as Glubb Pasha.
On the island
Eight records
Wings (The March Past of the Royal Engineers)
Band of the Corps of Royal Engineers
I put the March Pass of the Royal Engineers first, because I started my life as a regular officer in the Royal Engineers.
I've chosen a rather sentimental one, the Rustle of Spring, by Sinding, because my mother used to play this at home when I was a child.
John Reed and Elizabeth Harwood
Well, I put down I have a song to sing oh, from the Yeoman of the God. It's rather an early romantic one.
Home to Our Mountains (Ai nostri monti)
Charles Craig and Patricia Johnson
Well I've chosen another youthful one, home to our mountains, from Chovettore by Verdi. ... I always liked this tune.
Well, I rather like some of these old English songs. I've chosen Sweet Less of Richmond Hill this time.
What Is Life to Me Without Thee? (Che farò senza Euridice)
Well this is uh these are the likings of my rather later life. What is Life to Me Without Thee? comes from Glux Orfeo.
Eine kleine Nachtmusik (A Little Night Music), K. 525: II. Romanze
English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim
I've chosen Eineklein and Achmusik by Mozart. ... Well, because I think it's lovely music.
Well the last one I've chosen is Jesus Joy of Men's Desiring by Bach, sung by Harry Seacombe.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:39Sir John, have you ever experienced loneliness?
I don't think so, no. Of course, if you're a soldier, you aren't lonely. The great thing about soldiering is comradeship.
Presenter asks
1:01Does music mean a lot to you?
Well, when I was a boy at school... Boys weren't taught music. It was looked upon as rather a sissy sort of occupation and so I never have been taught anything about music. but I have derived a very great deal of pleasure from it.
Presenter asks
3:21Your father was a major general in the Royal Engineers. How early in life did you decide you were going to be a soldier?
Oh, there was never any question of my being anything else. The thing was never discussed, it was assumed.
Presenter asks
4:21It must have been rather curious feeling to look back on those diaries [from the First World War]. Where had you kept them? Had you read them through the years?
The keepsakes
The luxury
a packing case of foolscap paper and a hundred ballpoint pens
I am going to keep a diary and write a book.
No, I hadn't seen them for fifty years. ... and this diary, written in a number of old copy books, was in a trunk with our stored possessions. ... About ten years ago, I suppose. I was looking through some of these old family boxes, and I came across this diary.
Presenter asks
20:18You had built up this very successful and considerable force [the Arab Legion], then suddenly in nineteen fifty six, on an obviously trumped up charge, you were fired. Now, in your opinion, why?
Oh, it was solely due to NASA. who was then President of Egypt. and was at a stage when he had ambitions to be. The Emperor ought to take the place of Britain, we'll say, in the Middle East, and control all the Arab countries. And uh He ran subversive campaigns. In several Arab countries, including Jordan. and I was one of the targets for his subversive campaign.
Presenter asks
27:43Since 'Into Battle', your most recent book. What's the new one you've started?
Well, I've written an account of my ten years in Iraq. which is called Arabian Adventures. It's going to come out, I think, in October of this year.
“Oh, there was never any question of my being anything else. The thing was never discussed, it was assumed.”
“No, I hadn't seen them for fifty years.”
“I was almost bilingual. I was as fluent in Arabic as I was in English, I think.”
“Oh, it was solely due to NASA. who was then President of Egypt.”
“Well, excuse me, but they had an empire which was half as big again as the Roman Empire, and lasted for hundreds of years, and nobody in England had ever heard of it even.”
“Well, I don't know if this is a luxury, but what I'd like to have is a packing case full of foolscape paper and a hundred ball pointed pens.”