Have you ever listened to the BBC Radio programme “Desert Island Discs”? Invented by Roy Plomley, it has been broadcast regularly since 1942 and is timeless, with a simple format that does not age. The programme’s host invites a guest to imagine that they are are castaway on a desert island and to pick which eight records they would take with them. Listeners hear the music as the presenter gently interviews the ‘castaway’ further, probing into their life story. At the end of the programme the “castaway” is told that they have a copy of the Bible and a volume of Shakespeare with them and asked what additional book they would like to take. And finally, what luxury item?
So, what would be your choices? And, for that matter, what would I choose? How would I sum up my eight decades with only eight records? A truly daunting task.
I was hopeless at music at school, constantly being told that I was “singing flat” and to this day I have no idea what that means. And my singing sounds okay to me. I do have a very clear memory of the songs we sang at Infant and Junior school. So many of them were traditional folk songs such as “Oh soldier, soldier won’t you marry me” and “One Friday morn when we set sail. . .” or hymns and Christmas `Carols.
For my first record I should like to take a recording of the hymn , “The Lord is my Shepherd” which not only reminds me of the church school where I spent my junior years but also of all morning assemblies I sat through at schools I attended either as a pupil or later, as a teacher. We learnt two versions at St John the Baptist Junior school in Leicester: “The Crimond” and “Brother James Air” and I found the Crimond easier to sing. I would take “Brother James’ Air” because the music is less of a dirge and there is a descant. Of course I have absolutely no hope of reaching the high notes myself!
I was a teenager when “Rock and Roll” exploded onto the scene and every dance I attended as a student at Capetown University was mostly jive interspersed periodically with a Waltz or Quickstep. My boyfriend, later my husband and I were so hopeless at jiving: completely unco-ordintaed! But my feet still twitch when I hear a rock tune. My second record has to be “Rock around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets.
It was at this stage I first took an interest in classical music. My Father brought home a gramophone and often played Ravel’s “Bolero”. Then at University my boyfriend took me to a friend’s flat where the friend played his new record, “The Emperor Concerto” by Beethoven. The music swept me away. It still does, So for my third record I shall have Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the Emperor Concerto.
As my children grew up they introduced me to the music they enjoyed and I became aware of a Group called the Beatles. Then in 1978 the recording of “War of the Worlds” by Jeff Wayne came out. At that time we had a neighbour who persisted in practising his organ every afternoon. My younger son’s retaliation was to put on the record of “War of the Worlds” and play it as loud as he could. “War of the Worlds” its my fourth choice.
The choice of my fifth record is proving so difficult. So many tunes from the time after my sons left home float into mind. How do I choose? Songs from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Jesus Christ Superstar” remind me off my first visit to a London Theatre. Then there is the song “I closed my eyes drew back the curtain” from Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat ” that takes me back to a school production. No. For my fifth record I pick “Chariots of Fire’ which not only reminds me of when I went to see the film but also when I heard my future daughter -in -law playing it in her student room at uni in preparation for going out on the river for a row.
I have chosen records that bring back so many memories and mainly in chronological order, but my next choice dates from 1967 and I am unsure when I first heard it. It is Miriam Makeba singng “Pata Pata” which brings back associations of all my time in Africa – as a visitor to West Africa when my Father worked there and as a youngster living in what is now Zimbabwe and as a student in Capetown.
My seventh choice is another piece of music that still stirs up strong feelings, “Sailing By” was composed by Ronald Binge in 1963, and performed by the Alan Perry/William Gardner Orchestra which is the version used by the BBC for its late night Shipping Forecast. Every time I hear its haunting rhythm I am taken back years to my student days and when my late husband and I were courting and he took me to dance lessons to learn the Waltz and the Quickstep.
For record number eight it has to be something sung by a male Welsh voice choir. The sound of their unaccompanied voices can make me weep with emotion. Especially “Myfwanwy” sung in Welsh. And that would be my choice if only allowed to take one record. The deep, resonant voices of the choir would be a reminder of human contact.
What book would I choose to take along with the Bible and a volume Shakespeare’s plays? What book would I be able to read and re-read and still enjoy? I think something written by Charles Dickens. His detailed portrayal of Victorian life would give me lots of think about and I would take “Great Expectations”.
My Luxury Item? Assorted lead pencils ranging from B to 3B, a pencil sharpener , an eraser and stacks of writing paper. With all that time on my hands I could not only indulge my love of writing I could try really hard to finally master the art of composing poetry.

The links below lead to some of the music but first you may have to watch the ads.

My Eight Records:
1.”Brother James Air”
2.”Rock around the Clock” by Bill Haley and the Comets.
3.Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony, the Emperor Concerto.
4. “War of the Worlds” by Jeff Wayne
5. “Chariots of Fire’
6, “Pata Pata” by Miriam Makeba
7. ”Sailing By” by Ronald Binge in 1963, performed by the Alan Perry/William Gardner Orchestra
8. “Myfanwy”

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