Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
Pianist, conductor and radio commentator, best known for BBC programmes such as Housewives' Choice and Any Questions.
On the island
Eight records
I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover
I'd not heard the tune and I wouldn't have known how it began or ended... and I remember wondering what it would be like to be able to play a tune like that. And I thought 'well, if I could ever play that on a piano, I shall be completely satisfied with life.' And I've never been satisfied since, but that was the ambition. It's a record that doesn't often appear but when I hear it I think of the child that I was listening to the next door neighbour's piano.
[No quote given in transcript for this disc]
The 'Jazz' Suite – first movement
A remarkable musician who wrote that piece about 30 years ago.
That is the piece that for me has never lost its magic. I've been listening to it for 40 years, it still has the same excitement for me.
A voice which is unique and I suppose I love this disc because of that quality — a warm and living personality.
In the Wee Small Hours of the Morning
He has such a quality in his voice and he's such a fine musicianly singer.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:57What was the very first professional job you ever did?
Well, if professional means playing for money, it was at a church hall in Lincoln. I remember it particularly because the drummer… it was the drummer who contacted me to form this trio to play at St. Botolph's Church Hall. He was the organiser, yes. And I later discovered to my anger that whereas I had received five shillings for it, he took seven and six for the organiser.
Presenter asks
1:31When you were in the RAF, were there opportunities for making music?
Yes, I had bands and groups at various camps. Sometimes they were rather curiously made up due to the exigencies of the service. I remember one band I had for some months, which consisted of a very, very raucous trombonist, a violin, piano and drums. And how you orchestrate for that group, I still don't know to this day.
Presenter asks
3:06What was the next exciting thing to turn up after the war?
It was an offer from the BBC. Those were the immediately post-war days and all kinds of entertainers were coming out of the forces and were wanting to appear in television. And I was offered the job of resident accompanist to the BBC Television Auditions Unit. And I did that three or four mornings a week from 1946, I suppose, till about 1950. It wasn't always easy, because one person would come and throw me perhaps an excerpt from [Viocek]. And the next person would say, 'I sing in three choruses of Bye-bye Blues and go after Dixie and two in the key of E flat,' you know the kind of thing. I did my best for them.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Presenter asks
5:41Was the heart attack caused by overwork?
Partly, yes, I was under fairly considerable pressures, but then one is in this business as a freelance. And of course, the thing which I think is so much part of it, I used to smoke thirty cigarettes a day… for getting on for 25 years. And you cannot abuse your body in this sort of way without paying the price. And I paid the price.
“I can't remember a time when I didn't play the piano. In fact, one of my earliest memories is actually playing the piano and wishing I could reach the pedals.”
“My mother… realized that she had this strange thing in the family, a budding musician. And although in my day and in the city where I came from, it was scarcely even heard of somebody being a professional musician, nevertheless she realised this had to be.”
“I never was particularly in love with the piano, Roy. The piano to me was a means to an end. It was a way into music, into the musical profession. And once the keyboard had done its bit for me, then I wanted to get away from it and become a commentator on music.”
“I had a heart attack. A coronary while actually seated one day at the microphone. I was weary and ill at ease, as the song almost goes.”