0:01

BBC Sounds, music, radio,

0:03

podcasts. Lauren Laverne

0:06

here. We're taking our Easter break, so

0:08

until we're back on air, we're showcasing

0:10

a few programmes from our archive. As

0:12

usual, the music's been shortened for rights

0:14

reasons. This week's guest

0:17

is the broadcaster Annie Nightingale, who

0:19

very sadly died in January. It

0:21

was my pleasure to cast her away in July

0:24

2020. My

0:47

cast away this week is the broadcaster

0:49

Annie Nightingale. Always forward facing,

0:51

she's remained at the sharp end

0:54

of popular culture for over half

0:56

a century. Searching for new music,

0:58

spearheading new movements and supporting emerging

1:00

artists, from David Bowie and Ian

1:03

Jewry to Acid House, Breakbeat and

1:05

Beyond. As well as breaking

1:07

artists, she's known for breaking boundaries.

1:09

She was a music journalist when

1:11

the BBC created Radio 1, their

1:13

all-male response to the hugely popular

1:15

pirate radio stations of the 60s. She

1:18

called them out on their sexism in

1:20

print and they finally gave her a

1:22

show, becoming Radio 1's first female DJ

1:24

in 1970. 50

1:27

years later, she remains their longest-serving presenter

1:29

and has won a host of accolades,

1:31

including a CBE in this year's New

1:34

Year's Honours list, which she describes as

1:36

the coolest big up ever. She

1:39

says, I didn't get on the radio to be

1:41

famous. I only wanted it as a medium to

1:43

get the music out there. It's like calling someone

1:45

up on the phone and playing the record for

1:47

them to say, hey, I just heard this. What

1:49

do you think? Annie Nightingale,

1:51

welcome to Desert Island Discs. Thanks,

1:54

Lauren. Thank you so much for

1:56

joining us. So you spent 50 years at Radio

1:58

1. How's the role of... a

2:00

DJ changed over that time. It

2:03

hasn't yet, it hasn't. I think

2:05

you would agree that we are there

2:07

because of our love, our passion

2:09

and enthusiasm about music. And so in that

2:11

sense, it hasn't changed. The ways of doing

2:13

it and the technology have

2:15

obviously changed immensely and their social attitude.

2:18

But basically, I think it's a very

2:20

simple thing. And of

2:22

course, you're hungry for new music. That's remained the

2:24

same throughout your life. And that's not the case

2:26

for everyone, is it? What are you looking for

2:29

when you're listening to new music? Well, I have

2:31

to quote Del Piel because he put it best,

2:33

which is, you want to hear something you've never

2:35

heard before. And I couldn't put it

2:37

better than that. Something that surprised you.

2:40

And the more music we have, I think it's

2:42

actually more difficult. And you get people saying, oh,

2:45

it's all been done before, or that was a

2:47

copy of something else. And people

2:49

get very jaded. They lose that

2:51

excitement of finding the freshness in

2:53

new music. It was somehow, I

2:55

seem to hang on to. And

2:59

is that what it's about? It's a

3:01

feeling, that excitement. Well, it's absolutely so

3:03

exciting. I actually get

3:05

a physical sensation. I get shivers

3:08

up and down my legs when I

3:10

hear something that becomes very successful. And

3:13

that is why this thing about wanting to play

3:15

it to somebody else and say, is

3:17

it just me? Do you like this

3:20

as well? I think we're going to dive into

3:22

the music then, Annie. I mean, how on earth

3:24

have you chosen your discs today? All very, very

3:26

different means. So the first one, because I think

3:28

young people know music, they

3:31

cut through all the, I

3:33

don't know, the publicity and the promotion

3:35

and stuff. So my first disc is

3:38

by Billy Eilish, who was

3:40

introduced to me by a 13-year-old girl. And

3:43

I think she and her brother Phineas, once

3:46

in a lifetime, can't come here.

3:48

I'm going to say it and spit it out.

3:51

But is it exactly? You're playing this

3:53

thing I'm hoping and you're out

3:55

on my satisfactory. Today I'm thinking

3:57

about the things that I do. I'm

4:00

gonna end. Billie

4:23

Eilish and Barry a friend. So

4:26

Annie Nightingale, you've spent your life in radio.

4:28

What part did it play in family life

4:30

when you were little? Absolutely

4:32

huge. I grew up

4:34

in World

4:37

War II and post World War

4:39

II and all I had

4:41

was the radio and all

4:43

I had was the BBC and

4:46

so it was Children's Hour and it was

4:48

music and it had such

4:50

an effect for me. And

4:53

I tried to say was music

4:55

but I said Musgeek because I didn't have to say

4:57

it. And violins I'm

4:59

still scared of because they affect

5:01

me so much. So

5:04

you're very sensitive to music then? Right. You've

5:06

got exactly the right word though. I was sensitive

5:09

to music overly much and there

5:11

are tunes I can't listen to now because I

5:14

get too emotional about them. I have

5:16

been DJing the festival in the Isle

5:18

of Wight in the middle of a

5:20

massive storm on people dancing in the

5:23

rain and I've been so

5:26

emotional about that and the music that

5:28

I've been to over

5:30

it just because we were sharing that.

5:32

I mean that's ridiculous. That's

5:35

how I've always been. You

5:38

were the only child of Basil and Celia

5:40

and you've said you couldn't have had a

5:42

more suburban semi-detached experience in post-war Twickenham. What

5:45

kind of neighbourhood was that to grow up

5:47

in? Well it's now quite

5:49

posh but it didn't seem to me then.

5:52

But I was no child but not only

5:54

that my father was on a floor and

5:58

none of the other three had

6:00

any children. So it

6:02

was a bit like having five parents. And

6:05

it was like the madhouse's tea party every time

6:07

you went to their house. Would you like some

6:09

more tea? Have you got enough cake? Are you

6:12

warm enough? I mean, people were wonderful. They were

6:14

kind of sent to it. And

6:16

I'm sure those people have an influence on

6:18

you that you don't realise for a long,

6:20

long time. Yeah, what about

6:22

your dad because he inherited his father's

6:24

wallpaper business, but it wasn't something that

6:27

he enjoyed. No, it wasn't. And

6:29

my father should never have been made to do

6:31

it. He was not happy. My

6:33

mother was not happy with him. They were unhappily

6:36

married. You know, that's how the way

6:38

it was. And prior to her marriage,

6:40

your mother had trained as a chiropodist with Dr.

6:42

Shaw, I believe she'd had the opportunity to go

6:44

and work with him, I think in the States.

6:46

He wants to take her to America is what

6:48

she's telling me. And her

6:50

mother said, no, you can't go. Now, I

6:54

used to say, why didn't you

6:56

just go? Because I felt that,

6:58

you know, she's had missed opportunities. They had to

7:00

bring me out of the small charge during World

7:02

War Two. And at the end

7:04

of that, my mother had lost her confidence

7:07

in becoming a working woman again. And

7:09

that I feel very strong. I think

7:11

that's influenced my life of wanting to

7:14

encourage women to feel confident,

7:16

particularly on working and have that

7:18

fulfilment. Annie, it's time to hear

7:21

your second disc today. What have you chosen and

7:23

why? Why this goes back a long time. So

7:26

this is a song from a

7:28

musical called Gypsy, which I

7:30

think appeared on Broadway, 1959, 1960.

7:32

And I had a friend who went to New York and brought the album

7:39

back to me. I played it. I

7:41

mean, I knew every single song on it.

7:44

And the main singer in it

7:46

was Ethel Merman, very, very strong voice.

7:48

And there's a song on there

7:50

which really got to me. And

7:52

what it did for me was it sparks a

7:54

feeling of, yes, you could go out and do

7:57

things you want to in the world. Ethel

8:33

Merman singing Some People from the musical

8:36

Gypsy composed by Julie Stein with lyrics

8:38

by Stephen Sondheim and performed by the

8:40

original Broadway cast. So Annie Nightingale, I

8:42

want to ask about your time at

8:44

school. Now your parents weren't Catholics, but

8:46

you attended a Catholic school. How did

8:48

you get on there? Well, I was

8:51

sent to a convent when I was

8:53

five and I think they

8:55

sent me there because they thought it turned out nice

8:57

and spoken young girls. I went

8:59

crazy with it. There were

9:01

statues everywhere of Jesus and pictures

9:04

of Jesus. We didn't have pop

9:06

stars then. So Jesus was a

9:09

pop star, Virgin Mary's a pop

9:11

star. We collected pictures of them.

9:13

We collected rosaries. We had

9:15

them blessed by the local priests. They were

9:18

our pop stars and I

9:20

think my parents were alarmed. So

9:22

I was on my way to becoming a nun

9:24

by the time I was seven, eight or nine.

9:26

So that and the fact that I

9:29

had become so obsessed with telling the

9:31

truth. We had this jingle especially with

9:33

dying until the lie and

9:35

I had to tell some little white

9:37

lie and I thought that was

9:39

it. It was all over for me. I think

9:41

my parents realized I was taking it

9:43

all terribly seriously. So then I took

9:46

an ancient exam to a

9:48

school called Lady and the Hollis which is very

9:50

posh and very academic and I

9:52

won a scholarship there which was probably

9:54

just as well because my parents

9:56

had never been able to afford to see. So

9:58

you were off to public school. your reputation there

10:00

apparently was flighty. What did that mean in

10:03

practice? Well yeah, I was very keen on

10:05

movies. I would go miles to see movies

10:07

on my own. I was very keen

10:09

on music and very close to

10:11

me was a place called Eel Pie

10:14

Island. Now this was no choice. It

10:16

was very influential. It was on a

10:18

little island in a Thames and

10:21

I wasn't actually allowed to go but the

10:23

influence is there and people

10:25

like the Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd,

10:27

everybody went and played there and

10:30

that and a coffee bar in

10:32

Richmond called Low Bears. That's

10:35

where my life changed. I became this

10:38

beatnik as a real

10:40

teenage rebellion and that

10:42

is why they did not consider me. Oxied

10:44

in the table at school and

10:47

very disappeared to me. It

10:49

was interesting when you were introducing the

10:51

track by Ethel Merman. You described the

10:53

feeling of music making you feel brave.

10:55

Did you feel like that as a

10:57

teenager when you were taking in all

10:59

of these incredible artists playing in a

11:01

club, you know in touching distance of

11:03

where you were growing up? Well yes,

11:05

I mean there were massive influences early

11:07

on BBC radio. That's all there was.

11:10

Then we discovered radio Luxembourg and

11:12

that changed everything for R&B,

11:14

that's Domino and Little Richard

11:17

and I was listening to that on my own

11:19

and so were a whole generation all

11:22

over the UK including

11:24

four guys in Liverpool and

11:26

that music was not being played on

11:29

the BBC. It was our secret world

11:31

and it was incredibly exciting. Annie

11:34

it's time for your third disc today. What are we going

11:36

to hear next? Well obviously most

11:38

people say you're going to do desert island, which

11:40

Beatles track you're going to have. It's

11:43

impossible. So I've gone

11:45

to John Lennon track which he made

11:47

after the Beatles. I mean I feel

11:49

I almost apologize here as if it

11:51

matters but they changed my life to

11:54

Beatles and I'm in depth

11:56

to them and so I would say

11:58

sorry Paul and Ringo and George. to

12:01

choosing a genre song every time you

12:03

hear them. Opening moments of it, it

12:05

lifts you up. I like beat

12:07

positive music and so that's why this is

12:10

Instant Karma. So,

12:46

Annie, you'd

12:49

set your heart on becoming a journalist. You took

12:51

a course in central London, though you spent most

12:53

of your time hanging out in Soho. What was

12:55

it like at the time? Well,

12:58

this was realising my bohemian life

13:00

and I mean the people

13:02

who really lived it properly. I hadn't

13:04

got the nerve to go that far. I

13:06

was still the suburban ex-school girl

13:08

at Harp. I didn't know much about life and

13:12

doing this journalism course

13:14

right beside Broadcasting House.

13:16

I never imagined in a million years

13:19

that I would end up working at

13:21

the BBC. The BBC was a kind

13:23

of remote, rather foreboding building

13:25

and the music

13:27

led me to Soho and I used

13:29

to hang out at a coffee bar

13:32

that had a wonderful dukebox and the

13:34

people there were hardcore people,

13:36

sex workers and so on. And my innocence

13:38

guys, I think, protected me. You know, they were

13:40

kind of respectful for my innocence

13:43

but it helped me grow up. While

13:46

you were working as a trainee journalist, you met your

13:48

first husband. He was married at the time but the

13:50

two of you set up home in Brighton and then

13:52

subsequently you got married and you got a job. You

13:54

were the only woman working on the evening Argus where

13:56

you began reviewing records. So this would be the early

13:59

stages of the film. 60s and your

14:01

column was called spin with me.

14:03

Yes, I

14:05

don't think I'd say that. Well, I

14:07

did a general report on I'd done

14:10

everything and they said they wouldn't have

14:12

me because I hadn't got the right

14:14

background. But it just is why

14:16

they gave me an opportunity because it was

14:18

the most wonderful training you could have. You

14:20

didn't think at the time, covering

14:22

things like Paris Council Meeting, or

14:26

council meetings covering court

14:28

reporting, but I was

14:30

learning so much to make something out of one

14:33

paragraph. It's much more difficult. The big

14:35

stories about themselves, but I still

14:37

didn't know what was coming. I was thinking

14:39

I'm 19 and my life is ebbing away.

14:41

So, you know,

14:44

I'm quite impatient person and you don't know what

14:46

might be around the corner. I tried to hang

14:48

on to that, but I think you

14:50

have to believe in yourself and try and follow your

14:52

dreams. Time for your next disc. And

14:54

he tells us about this one. What are we going to hear

14:56

next? Well, this represents

14:58

a big important time in my life

15:00

and in music because I was a

15:03

journalist and had a record column. I

15:05

had access to be able to interview

15:07

people, all the bands to it,

15:09

and they all came to my room. So

15:11

I had a very good opportunity to go

15:13

and interview them and meet them. And that

15:15

is how I met the Beatles. And

15:18

I was able to interview Dusty Springfield in Brighton

15:20

where I lived. And I went back

15:22

to stage after the show and Dusty

15:24

said, oh, this is Vicky Wickham. Oh,

15:27

you're the very person I want to meet

15:30

because I knew that Vicky Wickham was the

15:32

editor of Ready, Stay, Go!, the first really

15:35

brilliant pop TV show that

15:37

brought Motown. It brought

15:39

black music, who else, which we'd never

15:42

heard before. And what changed

15:44

me was I was part managing a

15:47

band and I said to Vicky,

15:49

oh, I'd love to get our band on when she

15:51

said to go. So she said, well, bring

15:53

the record to me in London. So I did.

15:55

And they went, well, okay, we'll think about that.

15:57

But actually, we're looking for... presented

16:00

for a new show, a sister show to

16:02

Ready, Say, Go. Would you be interested? Well,

16:06

imagine. Yes. So

16:08

suddenly I was involved in that world and

16:10

it's produced by the same people that made

16:12

Ready, Say, Go. And then I used to

16:15

go every week to this live show and

16:18

you'd be in the studio in the

16:20

audience and Stevie Wonder would be Aneesha

16:22

Away From You, all the Supremes, it

16:24

was unbelievable. Anyway, every Friday night after

16:27

Ready, Say, Go, we

16:29

would go to Soho and

16:31

have dinner. And after

16:33

that, we went to the ad lib

16:36

club and this is where you would

16:38

hear this Motown music being played. But

16:41

this is one which, again, the world's got

16:43

to me and it's by the

16:45

marvellettes that it's called Too Many Fish and a Food. The

17:04

marvellettes and

17:06

Too Many

17:09

Fish in

17:11

the Sea.

17:23

Annie Nightingale, in your autobiography, you describe

17:26

hanging out at the Beatles Apple Studios

17:28

and there was quite a lot of

17:30

hospitality on offer. How hedonistic was it

17:32

down there? Well, they had this office,

17:34

a white building, Jordan Building in Soho

17:37

Road, and the creators company,

17:39

all the carpets were apple green and it

17:42

was very smart and elegant. And they

17:45

began to sign other artists.

17:48

And I thought they've already helped me. How

17:50

could I give something back to them? And

17:52

so I would interview all the bands that

17:54

they'd signed and so I started to spend

17:57

more time there and I was accepted. I

18:00

also knew that they

18:02

had a kind of code that

18:04

sort of once striking you out, you

18:06

know, you let them down, you break that

18:08

trust and that's it, it's over. And I

18:10

thought that was perfectly fair. I knew

18:13

about John and Yoko before it was announced and

18:16

had a newspaper column and this was hugely

18:18

big news at the time. And

18:21

I thought, well, I'm not going to say anything. I

18:23

won't break their trust. If that story breaks, then

18:25

they'll think, oh, yeah, it's awful. And

18:27

it wasn't. So when they did go

18:30

public, it was a great release because sometimes, you know,

18:32

it's not going to be the right place at the

18:34

right time. And I wasn't hanging out there the whole

18:36

time, but it wasn't an

18:38

extraordinary atmosphere. Laura McCall

18:41

was coming there and Jimmy Webb,

18:44

the songwriter, people just appeared. And

18:46

I took my son to the Apple Christmas

18:49

party and John Lennon was Father Christmas

18:51

and Yoko was Mother Christmas. They

18:54

did extraordinary things that I

18:56

felt very, very previously allows

18:58

in. It's time to take

19:00

a break from some music, Annie. Disc number five. What is

19:02

it and why have you chosen it? This was 1969. So

19:05

it took me years before I

19:08

could persuade anyone to let me have a go. So

19:10

I was still writing my musical. And

19:13

then this record came along and

19:15

it's at the time of the first

19:18

moon shots. And so we were all

19:20

obsessed with space. And the tune came

19:22

along called Space Odyssey by David

19:24

Bose. And I had never

19:26

heard anything like that before. And

19:28

by this time, the Beatles, the

19:30

cracks will begin to show. And we begin to

19:33

be aware that they want to go their different

19:35

ways and that they were not going to last

19:37

that much longer. And everyone was

19:39

saying, oh, so what group

19:41

is going to follow the Beatles? And

19:44

I thought it's not going

19:46

to be necessarily another band.

19:48

This guy, David Bose, I

19:50

was absolutely convinced. You

20:01

really made me great

20:06

I'm not a paper You're

20:09

a human So

20:13

it's time to leave the

20:15

castle if you dare This

20:22

is Major Tom's ground

20:24

control David

20:26

Bowie and Space Oddity I've

20:55

never experienced this before In

21:34

1969, a new controller at Radio 1,

21:36

Douglas Muggeridge arrived and asked Derek Taylor,

21:38

the Beatles publicist, if he could recommend

21:40

a female DJ and he said you.

21:42

What do you remember about your first

21:44

broadcast? It

21:48

was a disaster. It

21:50

was a complete disaster. I still

21:52

didn't know what was going on technically. So

21:54

there was this vinyl in those days, so

21:57

these records were going round and round and I thought, well it's

21:59

not going to be a real thing. doing anything so

22:01

I'll press the stop button and

22:04

it didn't stop. It

22:06

ground slowly to a halt.

22:09

So I brought the network to

22:11

a halt on my very first show

22:13

and I thought well that's it.

22:15

You had your chance, you've

22:18

been passed through them all the time and now you've

22:20

burned it and they were

22:22

very forgiving and let me carry on.

22:24

You were the only woman and you would remain so

22:26

for the next 12 years until 1982 when Janice Long

22:30

arrived. What was the atmosphere like at

22:32

the place at the time you joined? Well it was

22:34

all boys. They were very

22:36

competitive with each other so I was

22:38

kind of extraneous really. I don't know what they

22:40

thought of me really but it was kind of

22:43

locker room humor. I wasn't really, I didn't

22:45

feel very involved with them but

22:47

most of them. Johnny Walker was always very kind to

22:49

me. I know that you said

22:52

you did endure chauvinistic attitudes from engineers in

22:54

the studio. From the studio next door they

22:56

would criticize the music while you were playing

22:58

it out so you could hear it in

23:00

your headphones. That must

23:03

have been difficult to read on. Very

23:05

daunting. Yeah and I felt that the

23:08

technical guys were waiting for me to

23:10

fail. There was very much I felt

23:12

like the woman driver. I think actually the

23:14

BBC also wanted it to

23:16

fail. I think they thought okay

23:19

we've got to do this pop radio and we'll

23:21

give it a year and I think they were

23:24

you know would be quite happy if it had

23:26

not worked out. So you know a huge pressure

23:28

on all of the people who worked in

23:30

radio once to make it happen. So they

23:33

made their DJs super famous.

23:35

You know 20 million listeners. There

23:37

was no commercial radio so they

23:39

had no competitors.

23:41

You've been so encouraging and supportive to me and

23:44

many other women who've gone on to follow

23:46

in your footsteps Annie. I wonder who supported

23:48

you during that period because that must have

23:50

been difficult at times. Well

23:52

I suppose your friends, your family, I've

23:56

some very good producers and you can pull out

23:58

your worries and troubles for them and say. I'm

24:00

so worried, I made a mistake. You know, you

24:02

play the record at the wrong speed. You

24:05

play it so I see Swayster at 45. Or

24:07

you played the wrong album version, which

24:10

got the swearing on it as all

24:12

live. So there were

24:14

a lot of mistakes that could be made,

24:16

and I made a lot of mistakes. But

24:18

then I began to feel as the 70s

24:20

happened. There were these programs

24:22

in the evening called Sounds of the

24:25

70s with John Peel and others. And

24:27

I didn't see myself as being

24:30

the daytime DJ. I

24:32

wanted to be there to play the music

24:34

that I cared about, not to become a

24:36

celebrity. And I could feel

24:38

that these daytime guys were, I know

24:41

guys were being groomed to be big

24:43

service stars because they really weren't needed them

24:45

to be. I said to the

24:47

boss, I said, can I be on

24:49

in the evening? And it was the best question,

24:51

the best decision I ever made. It's time to

24:53

go to the music and he disc number six.

24:56

Well, obviously I've had this long

24:58

career. I've witnessed changes in music,

25:00

which have been quite a bit

25:02

exciting. And one of

25:05

the biggest step changes ever was that

25:10

and how that took over America and

25:12

the world and has

25:14

brought about people who've become

25:16

so important, like Beyonce. We

25:20

love, we love my cable, we

25:23

love my milieu, oh, hey. We

25:26

love, we love, where are you? I

25:29

need real food, I'm bringing in my

25:32

heart, I said, oh, I'm

25:34

bringing in my freedom right in there,

25:36

oh, hey. I'm

25:39

gonna keep on running, cause I'm waiting for you

25:41

to come down. Beyonce

25:50

and freedom featuring Kendrick Lamar.

26:00

How did you manage? I bring them with me

26:02

whenever possible. I was

26:04

doing it Sunday after Sunday evening,

26:06

so they were comfortable casting house.

26:08

They couldn't do it now. And

26:10

I'll go, okay, run around, have

26:12

fun, don't do anything terrible. And

26:16

then we'll drive back and then we'll do rehearsing,

26:18

the times tables on the way home. And I

26:21

can't help. We have

26:23

au pairs and people, probably the same age as me. And

26:26

so I go, oh, look, there's this great gig, let's

26:28

take this gig. And then we have to

26:30

find somebody else to be the babysitter. So,

26:32

for them, because I want them to have a good

26:34

time as well. Tell me about

26:36

your approach as a journalist,

26:39

balancing your own personal feelings

26:41

and morals with covering stories.

26:44

You mentioned earlier, not spilling the beans about

26:46

John and Yoko being a couple. How

26:48

do you strike that balance? When it

26:50

comes, for example, to getting a great

26:53

interview but not invading someone's privacy? Well,

26:55

I'm chicken. I'm glad you asked me

26:58

that. I realised in my

27:00

very, very early days, going out on a

27:02

raging story with a microphone, trying to get

27:04

a quote from somebody. It's a very tough

27:06

job. And it got to

27:08

a point where I was being pressured

27:10

by a fleet suit to write things

27:12

about people I wasn't comfortable with. And

27:15

I can't do it. I can't. So

27:17

that's why my involvement with the

27:20

BBC, I'm forever grateful for because the

27:22

BBC was not saying, right, you'd rather

27:24

go and chop somebody and tell us

27:26

the inside story of their marriage breaking up. I

27:29

knew I couldn't do that. So it saved

27:31

me. It saved my, you

27:33

know, it just did

27:35

because I was not good at that. I didn't

27:37

want to think of it either. You're

27:40

a very private person too as well, Annie. Why

27:42

is that important to you? I

27:47

don't know, really. You

27:49

don't want to hurt other people, I guess. You

27:53

might talk about somebody else and they go, how could

27:55

you say that's about me? And you think, I didn't

27:57

mean it in a bad way. because

28:00

I appreciated all that. When it

28:02

came to me to be in the public eye, I

28:04

feel like I was more conscious of

28:07

the damage that you can do. I

28:10

wonder if it's an important discipline as well to

28:12

hold something back because, you know, as a broadcaster,

28:14

you've got to go on. No matter what's happening

28:16

in your personal life, you're going to go up

28:18

to show up and do your job for your

28:20

listener or your viewer. Absolutely. I could not have

28:23

put that better. And actually, if

28:25

you're feeling ill, it's a great thing to

28:27

be on air because all your symptoms you

28:29

got through or something will go away because

28:31

it generally takes us away while you're on

28:33

air. I think the concentration level

28:36

is so important that you can actually blossom anything

28:38

else in your life. And that is a kind

28:40

of escapism. And I've always found

28:42

that if I was going to a bad time in my

28:44

personal life, then once I was

28:46

on air, it's a magic that takes over

28:48

and you're with your listener. Annie,

28:51

we've got to take a break for some music. This

28:54

is your penultimate disc. So

28:56

this is a little different. It's actually

28:58

introduced to me, I think, by Robert

29:00

Fripp, who's a dear friend.

29:02

And I think he introduced me to

29:05

Eric Sartan. And this is a

29:07

series of music called A Twat, Zoonopides. And

29:10

when I couldn't become a dancer, which I

29:12

would have loved to have done and didn't

29:14

have the physique for, I could

29:17

waft around to this.

29:19

And then when my last relative died,

29:22

my uncle Bill and I

29:24

organised this funeral. And this

29:26

was my most daring thing

29:28

to have played at this funeral. And

29:31

people came up to me asking me, oh,

29:33

very good, really like the music. And it's

29:35

a beautiful piece. Eric

30:38

Satie's Ginopadhy, number one, performed

30:40

by the Slovak State Philharmonic

30:42

Orchestra conducted by Peter Briner.

30:45

Annie Nightingale, every radio station refreshes its

30:47

line-up from time to time, but you're

30:50

still at Radio 1, the longest serving

30:52

DJ there. What's your secret, I wonder?

30:55

I don't know. I'm deeply grateful

30:57

for the continuing opportunities to

31:00

do what I love doing. Young music is

31:02

for young people, and as they grow up

31:04

and they grow older they'll have other things

31:06

come into their lives. But for me it

31:08

carried on. What's going to come next? And

31:11

I feel if I can help anybody

31:13

get a foothold on the ladder of

31:15

recognition, because there's so much music now,

31:18

you can make music at home in

31:20

your bedroom, and you can put it

31:22

on all these different digital platforms, but

31:24

who is going to take notice of

31:26

it? And so I know what

31:28

it means to get your tune played on

31:30

national radio. So Vicky

31:32

Wichem, who I mentioned earlier, I said to her,

31:34

I owe you so much, she said, pass it

31:37

on. And I think that's true. And

31:39

if I've been able to do that, then great. Just

31:42

one more disc before you go, what's it

31:44

going to be? So the story about this

31:46

is it's an old song given

31:48

a punk cover by Sid Vicious. So

31:51

it was a song called My Way. I was never

31:53

very keen on it. I could

31:55

see that it has a very strong lyric.

31:57

Sid Vicious came along and deconstructed it completely.

32:00

and I loved it.

32:02

Why it's resonated more recently is

32:05

this, that friends of mine are Promise

32:07

Cream and the

32:09

wife of fair guitarist Andrew

32:11

Innis, her name is Alison, and

32:14

her birthday of mine on the same day April

32:16

1st and we tend to hang out together and

32:18

do something, so a few years ago Promise Cream

32:21

would play at the London Palladium on April 1st

32:23

and we sat in a royal box and

32:25

at the end of their set they're

32:28

going out music when everyone leaves the

32:30

theatre was Sid Vicious' version of

32:32

Mine Way and I thought it would be

32:34

so good. Passers,

33:01

Sid Vicious' My Way and we couldn't play

33:04

the whole thing because in the true spirit

33:06

of punk not all the lyrics are playable

33:08

on day time radio 4. Annie,

33:11

nice and gil, it's time to send you off to

33:13

the island. We'll give you the books, the Bible, the

33:15

complete works of Shakespeare and a book of your choice.

33:17

What would you like to take with you? I'd

33:19

say, do you know, I'm a big Shakespeare

33:21

fan so I'll enjoy Shakespeare. I think the

33:24

book I would take would be Catch the

33:26

22. Just go on. It made me laugh.

33:29

What about a luxury item for pleasure or

33:32

sensory stimulation? I

33:34

think a saxophone. Ah, can

33:36

you play? No, but

33:38

I can learn and it

33:40

would catch the sunlight so it might

33:42

act like an SOS and I love

33:45

the sound of it. And finally the

33:47

most difficult question of all for you Annie, if

33:49

you had to save just one of these eight

33:51

discs from being destroyed by a tropical storm which

33:53

would you go for? I

33:56

think because of what was to

33:58

become the longevity. of

34:00

his career and all the things he did

34:02

and the changes that he made. The thrill

34:04

that I got and I still get from

34:06

first hearing of Space Odyssey, it would be

34:09

that. I never get tired of hearing it.

34:11

And it's kind of about a castaway too, so it's

34:14

perfect. Annie Nightingale, thank you

34:16

very much for sharing your desert island discs

34:18

with us. Thank you, Lauren, very, very much.

34:30

Thank you. Thank

35:00

you.