Guy Gibson: Desert Island Discs
Moderator
Thread Starter
Guy Gibson: Desert Island Discs
I just spotted that "This episode will be available soon" - I think it's part of a BBC search of old archives and updating of the online archive for DID...
BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC DSO DFC
(I'm sure that every regular here has read it already, but just in case not, Winkle Brown's is up there and well worth a listen. Also Douglas Bader seems to have appeared since I last looked: BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sir Douglas Bader )
G
BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Wing Commander Guy Gibson VC DSO DFC
(I'm sure that every regular here has read it already, but just in case not, Winkle Brown's is up there and well worth a listen. Also Douglas Bader seems to have appeared since I last looked: BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sir Douglas Bader )
G
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: flyover country USA
Age: 82
Posts: 4,579
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
Genghis has uncorked the genie's bottle.
Mine would certainly include 3 B's, Dvorak, and Elgar.
And also the recently departed, endlessly clever Stan Freberg and his henchman Billy May.
Mine would certainly include 3 B's, Dvorak, and Elgar.
And also the recently departed, endlessly clever Stan Freberg and his henchman Billy May.
Moderator
Thread Starter
"I want it all" by Queen
"Rocket Man" by Elton John
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver
"All around my hat" by Steeleye Span.
Book's a lot tougher. Does anybody do a bound complete works of Nevil Shute?
G
"Rocket Man" by Elton John
"Leaving on a Jet Plane" by John Denver
"All around my hat" by Steeleye Span.
Book's a lot tougher. Does anybody do a bound complete works of Nevil Shute?
G
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 60
Posts: 12,649
Received 309 Likes
on
171 Posts
For the book I would very likely ask for "Throw Out Two Hands" by Anthony Smith. Not sure how many times I've read it, but still enjoy it very much...
Thanks for the heads up!
Thanks for the heads up!
Join Date: Jul 2013
Location: UK
Age: 68
Posts: 736
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes
on
0 Posts
I once played Eric Coates' The Dambusters Suite with a semi-pro orchestra, I was on timpani. Towards the end there is a solo Forte > piano > Fortissimo roll on a timp for a whole bar, before the famous theme comes in slower and louder.
I hit hard, let the sound die, then started building up the crescendo. The conductor looked at me and with his hands indicated "more, more, more" and kept me building for a whole extra bar with a wicked smile. The rest of the orchestra were turning around and laughing as I just had to clobber away with all my might. Happy days!
You only realise how stirring that music is when you hear (or perform) it live.
The biggest timpani is 32" diameter I made one 40" and a long roll on it sounds like approaching Lancasters!
I hit hard, let the sound die, then started building up the crescendo. The conductor looked at me and with his hands indicated "more, more, more" and kept me building for a whole extra bar with a wicked smile. The rest of the orchestra were turning around and laughing as I just had to clobber away with all my might. Happy days!
You only realise how stirring that music is when you hear (or perform) it live.
The biggest timpani is 32" diameter I made one 40" and a long roll on it sounds like approaching Lancasters!
Originally Posted by Genghis the Engineer
Does anybody do a bound complete works of Nevil Shute?
Moderator
Thread Starter
I have a complete set, including quite a few first editions - it's just what I can get away with as my "one book" on the island 
It would be a fair swap for the complete works of William Shakespeare at the very least.
Incidentally, I discovered the other day that somebody recently (well, 2002, but I'd not been paying attention at the time) published a "lost" Shute which he never published in his lifetime - called "The Seafarers", another on the theme of how WW2 affected the young people who served then returned to a new civilian life after the war, not unlike "Requeim for a Wren".
It's on my coffee table to be started shortly, after finishing the new biography of him last week: "Parallel Motion" by John Anderson which was, incidentally, very good.
G
It would be a fair swap for the complete works of William Shakespeare at the very least.Incidentally, I discovered the other day that somebody recently (well, 2002, but I'd not been paying attention at the time) published a "lost" Shute which he never published in his lifetime - called "The Seafarers", another on the theme of how WW2 affected the young people who served then returned to a new civilian life after the war, not unlike "Requeim for a Wren".
It's on my coffee table to be started shortly, after finishing the new biography of him last week: "Parallel Motion" by John Anderson which was, incidentally, very good.
G
Paxing All Over The World
For others, like myself, who are fans of Nevil Sute Norway, this group are a not for profit 'fan' organisation that cover the globe:
Nevil Shute Norway Foundation Home Page
They will know of there has been a complete works. If there is not, then I'll have Requiem For A Wren.
Nevil Shute Norway Foundation Home Page
They will know of there has been a complete works. If there is not, then I'll have Requiem For A Wren.
A few years back there was a dramatic performance of Requiem for a Wren at Exbury Gardens (NSN was serving there (in HMS Mastadon?) when he wrote the book). Historic military vehicles provided seating for the audience (although Elf and Safety required disembarkation and being transported by coach between scenes). Spookiest bit was being in a 12x12 on Lepe Beach on a drizzly evening of 5 June watching a dramatization of the D-Day outload. The whole evening was brilliantly done and hugely atmospheric.
Genghis, the Seafarers is a very enjoyable read if you ask me. It was one of the studies for Requim for a Wren of which there were several versions. This one definitively deserved to be published and fits well in between his other stories. I have yet to get a copy of Parallel Motion, it's been on my wish list for quite some time now... you may have just tipped the scales.
I don't have any first editions but I do have all his titles apart from Vinland the Good. I might one day order it from the website I linked to above. Having read it years ago I remember it as a continuation of the theme of An Old Captivity but different again in some ways.
I don't have any first editions but I do have all his titles apart from Vinland the Good. I might one day order it from the website I linked to above. Having read it years ago I remember it as a continuation of the theme of An Old Captivity but different again in some ways.
Getting back to the original thread, does this episode actually exist? There was a debate on this some 10+ years ago and the conclusion was that it was either lost, or was never recorded. IIRC the BBC admitted as such. Be great if it does resurface, here is hoping!
