Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Castaway
1 appearance
A writer, novelist, biographer, essayist, and playwright.
On the island
Eight records
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Carl Schuricht
He used to play an old honky tonk piano, as if it were a complete orchestra, and he did succeed, in my childish imagination, in filling that hall.
Romeo and Juliet (Fantasy Overture)
Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Lorin Maazel
I was young and I was romantic and I was driving in an open car and the hay smelt good and the moon was high. And that magic moment of first romantic love overtook me
Overture to The Marriage of FigaroFavourite
BBC Symphony Orchestra conducted by Colin Davis
It seems to me to express very much a vivid affirmation of life
Concerto No. 2 in G minor, Op. 22
Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
this was closely connected with a novel I wrote called Acquaintance with Grief… the music completely represents the atmosphere of the novel
String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135
this kind of music would replace the missing intellectual life to some extent. There's a kind of highly developed counterpoint in these late quartets which is like an intellectual conversation.
Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night
this particular record I think would recall those Bohemian nights we spent together
This always conjures up for me a a life of gaiety which I never managed to achieve, but always hoped to.
Bertrand Russell talking about Bernard Shaw
I'd like to think that I had as a companion through this record that wonderful old man with his cool, precise, wise voice encouraging me to keep alive at any cost.
In conversation
Presenter asks
0:30Have you ever endured loneliness?
Well, I suppose I would say that uh loneliness is the occupational hazard of the writing game, you know, you're forced into it daily.
Presenter asks
0:49What would you be happiest to have got away from?
Noise. importunate landlords. But you know That question's rather odd for me because I'm a Philistine type. I like urban life, and there are not too many things I would have liked to have got away from.
Presenter asks
5:15Were you a bookish boy?
Uh, yes, I'm afraid, very so lost at it, my brother thought I would go mad.
Presenter asks
5:51Did you visualize becoming a professional writer?
Very early on that was my ambition, and even more exclusively, to become a novelist, yes.
The keepsakes
The book
A History of Western Philosophy
Bertrand Russell
Oh, inevitably I come back to this man I over-idolize, uh Bertie Russell. Uh the book would be the history of western philosophy.
The luxury
an inflatable woman with a surface to write on
My idea of the perfect luxury would be an inflatable woman, preferably with a surface on which you could write.
Presenter asks
6:53Was anybody encouraging you?
One man I met by accident in a rather dubious club, he turned out to be my surrogate father, and he certainly encouraged me by buying a short story from me for twenty five pounds, a sum unheard of, in my limited income.
Presenter asks
18:24What are your writing habits? Do you work regular hours, or a certain number of words, every day?
Yes, I am almost a city clerk in this matter. Uh I if I am writing, I write six pages, full scap, long head, every day, and even if the last word is and on the sixth page, I stop.
“loneliness is the occupational hazard of the writing game”
“I ran away from home at about fifteen and a half or sixty, only to find what a hard world it was.”
“Biography is slavery in my view. It's tormenting, it's full of hazards, there's every kind of danger surrounding you.”
“My idea of the perfect luxury would be an inflatable woman, preferably with a surface on which you could write.”