Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week, a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley*
It used to be one of my favourite programmes until it went the way of most BBC shows ie from a meritocracy of achievement to an aristocracy of celebrity. The BBC has now reversed Huw Wheldon's famous mission: "Make the popular good, and the good popular." Now the meretricious is wildly popular and the popular is hopelessly meretricious. Tragic. Never mind; encouraged by a black Inspector Javert in the BBC version of Les Miz (!!), I'm very optimistic for my idea of a remake of the classic BBC version of Trollope's 'Pallisers' saga starring a one-legged, transsexual Chinese lesbian playing the Duke of Omnium.
These choices are not 'my favourite music ', as that changes from day to day. For example, today is actually a toss-up between 'We're going wrong' by Cream ( if only for Ginger's astonishing drumming) and 'Klavierstück X' by Karlheinz Stockhausen. In the spirit of the original concept, they are picks that bring back memories of events and people.
The first choice is not music, but speech. In 1995 I made a series of taped interviews with my father about his early life and wartime experiences. They were digitised and placed in the Sound Archive of the Imperial War Museum, which had featured his 'Tea Chest ' escape from Colditz in their popular 'Great Escapes' exhibition (2004-2006). The tapes were created for his great grandchildren, so that they would have a better understanding of him, and the times he lived in: https://www.thedominiclagangallery.com/the-medium-sized-man-speaks
Prospero's last speech from 'The Tempest'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTKgfd8rdBE This is a fond reminder of the only stage acting I ever tried. I was Prospero in the school production, which I also designed and co-directed. I was seventeen, and the Surrey Comet loved it.
Callas as Desdemona singing Ave Maria from Verdi's 'Otello'. These were my mother's last words. https://youtu.be/qkC1bDBXuAM
The medley from the second side of "Abbey Road' by the Beatles: You Never Give Me Your Money/Sun King/ Mean Mr. Mustard/Polythene Man/She Came In Through The Bathroom Door/Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/ The End https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6CVsBOjeDzk&list=RD6CVsBOjeDzk&start_radio=1 (it could just as easily have been " Let It Be " or 'Here Comes the Sun' or 'I am the Walrus' or 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps' etc etc). The world's greatest band, ever, and forever.
"This England" from Act 2, Scene 1 of William Shakespeare's 'Richard II' spoken by Leslie Howard https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggMwq0nCHEE (patriotism is not woke now, but I am intensely proud of being English).
'Stay, Fred'ric stay!' from Gilbert and Sullivan's 'Pirates of Penzance'. G&S are no longer part of English culture, as the music establishment has cancelled them. Radio 3 and Classic FM actually banned the playing of their wonderfully witty (and satirical) operettas. Decline and fall looks like this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RlhD1aGbEPg&list=RDRlhD1aGbEPg&start_radio=1
"Tomorrow never knows" from 'Revolver' by the Beatles. That this was written and recorded in 1966 (when the big hit was “Strangers in the Night” – Frank Sinatra) is nothing short of amazing. This is artistry of a very high order, and the start of modern pop music, where creative artists took over from performers, e.g. Dylan from Elvis. This is why (like stage actors versus film actors) the performers will fade away over time, while the creative artists will live on. In 500 years time the Beatles will still be famous, while Elvis will be at the same level of fame as Sinatra (who at least made better films). The only artist worth comparing to the Quatre gars dans le vent is Brian Wilson, whose 'Good Vibrations' narrowly failed to make the list. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHNbHn3i9S4
'For Free' by Joni Mitchell, as performed at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. I was there that day, and this started a lifelong love affair with Joni, the greatest singer-songwriter of the twentieth century. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaOSbBcPlfY
'Ombra mai fu' from Handel's 'Serse', as sung by the great Lucia Popp. The opera was a commercial failure, lasting only five performances in London after its premiere. In the 19th century, however, the aria was rediscovered and became one of Handel's best-known pieces. Originally composed to be sung by a soprano castrato, it is typically sung in modern performances of Serse by a countertenor like Andreas Scholl. Handel may not be Mozart (both "Soave sia il vento", the trio from his opera 'Così fan tutte', and 'Contessa persono' from 'The Marriage of Figaro' just failed to make the list); but there is something more affecting about his music. With Mozart one is amazed, but with Handel one is deeply moved. I have taken steps to make sure there is no public or private ceremony post my mortem, but if there were, this would be played. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ6udPPsMss
Book: 'The Sword of Honour' trilogy by Evelyn Waugh, who is the greatest writer in the English language of the twentieth century (got to be Middlemarch if we are talking nineteenth century, far superior to the fashionable Austen).
Luxury: an unbreakable mirror. On March 6th, 1954, I climbed up on a stool and first recognised myself in the bathroom mirror (instead of the more traditional reflecting pool). This began a lifelong love affair with the person staring back. I have never experienced loneliness (or boredom) because this fascinating and entertaining person has always been by my side. Most of the really interesting and amusing conversations I've ever had were with him, and he is unfailingly enthusiastic, supportive and loyal. I used to think that I (like Montaigne) didn't care what anybody thought of me, but gradually I realised that he was the exception. And, while they may frighten some people,** I just love those pale sapphire eyes staring back at me. When my elder sisters, having their breakfast in the dining room, heard me coming downstairs in the morning, they would break out into a little song "Here he comes, here he comes, Bendy bun, full of fun'. That's a pretty good description of the face in the mirror: 'full of fun'. In short, he's just like me, except that for some inexplicable reason he parts his hair on the other side.
*We were both members of the Lansdowne Club, which is why I get an extra track (plus some leeway over the mirror, which could be used to signal to passing boats)
** which is fair enough because for millions of people all over the world, eyes like those were the last thing they saw before they died a very violent death, killed by Vikings, Normans, Anglo-Normans, English, and British (which are all pretty much the same thing). btw Bruce is not Scottish, as most people think, it's a town in Normandy.
° Cat Stevens formally changed his name to Yusuf Islam following his official conversion in December 1977, and dedicated himself to causes wholly within the Muslim community. This was a tragic mistake. Instead of normalising the concept of Islam, he adopted Arabic clothes and culture. An extraordinary opportunity to explain and popularise Islam was lost. Instead, he exemplified its 'otherness ', handing a victory to its enemies.