Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A painter, expert restorer of pictures, and authority on the techniques of painters of the past.
On the island
Eight records
London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Georg Solti
I got Marla because I came to Marla many years ago, out of the blue. I think he's a... composer who was given by a God or something a little gift... I find that different musicians, different music... Creates the mood to help work.
There's no serious business about this, except I met him and he was a very kind man... and he gave me five Bob.
I've always had a soft spo, it's a very good singer, you know... And this particular song I heard him sing... In the war. And it has a kind of lovely memory.
Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104
Pablo Casals with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by George Szell
Pablo Casal is playing the Vorjak cello concerto, it's very beautiful.
Symphony No. 8 in B minor, D. 759 ("Unfinished")
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Karl Böhm
There's something nice about unfinished work.
There's dear old Bing, lovely man. This he reminds me of the thirties, the Depression, and this Black Moonlight is, I'm told, the story of a black man who's gone to commit suicide in the despair in America of the thirties and... I like the underdog, I like the spec cord, it's good music.
Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 43Favourite
Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan
I play this when I'm making landscapes, genuine ones I mean.
I Can't Give You Anything but Love
Louis Armstrong and His All-Stars
Sashma, you dead man. Louis Armstrong.
In conversation
Presenter asks
3:29What job did your father do [and what happened to him]?
He was a house painter... my father worked for thirty seven years... without... losing a day's work or pinching a penny worth of nails... And... the governor died and the son took over and... Just sacked the old boy on the spot because he was gassed and couldn't go up a ladder. Uh he came home and cried. They gave him one and sixpence in wages.
Presenter asks
4:57What was your first job?
I was a lava boy... In a barber shop... I drew the customers, same as Turner. I sold the pictures the same as Tam. But I wasn't as good as Tam, of course.
Presenter asks
7:38Why did you get into trouble in the destroyer [during the war]?
I hated the Navy. Um the reason is I tried to educate I'm still trying to educate myself. I had Des Capital, the History of the Italian Renaissance, the Bible. Mein Kampf, Ruskin's modern paint... I used to alternate reading and the officer of the watch caught me reading Das Capito and accused me of being a communist and one word led to another. I got fourteen days, you know, punishment, and the day I finished that I got another fourteen and so on.
The keepsakes
The luxury
Well, I mean, I need someone to dig trenches for you know what and stuff. You've got to keep clean. And protect yourself with it. And carve with it the rocks and things and wood. Use it as an eds.
Presenter asks
16:28Why do you think you failed to get your diploma at the end of your course [at Goldsmiths College]?
There's several reasons, but the the reason is mainly was that at the penultimate year I was there, they discovered that I hadn't got school certificate, you see... Oh yes, you're not allowed in university without A levels, O levels, school certificate or whatever. And I didn't have them... the Ministry of Education came down like a ton of bricks and said they've got to get rid of me.
Presenter asks
22:21How many of these pastiches [or "Sexton Blakes"] have you painted?
I don't honestly know, it runs into thousands. Yes, of course. I'm very prolific even now. They're not major works of art. Good gracious, some are little sketches.
“I didn't believe in ghosts till I went up [to Scotland].”
“I've tried to emulate the Masters myself. More or less knowing all their secrets... but... you can't do it, and the reason you can't do it is between the moment you put your brush on the palette, onto the canvas or panel... something happens, a kind of magical bit you can't fake. Because I haven't got what this man had for breakfast, his wife, his environment, you know, you know, the physical things of his life that make up the psychological and the metaphysical. You can't fake that kind of thing.”