Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The programme was originally broadcast in 1988, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson.

Writing about our cast away, one critic said, she booked paid to the myth that, to be good,

her soprano, had to look like a Hoffnung cartoon. In the 50s, she was a glamorous,

golden voice singer who became the youngest member of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden.

In the other 60s, she became a television star with shows like All Kinds of Music,

and appearances on Eric Robinson Music for you. In the late 60s and 70s, she became the

Toast of Vienna, where she joined the Vienna Folk's opera. She married a diplomat,

retired from singing until last year, when she returned to the West End stage in the current

successful production of Stephen the Songhaves musical Follies. She is Adele Lee.

How did you come back to England this last time? What made you return?

Well, it was because my husband had died two years ago, and I was feeling very sad and in Vienna,

and afraid to come back to England because, well, you know, why? I used to come on holidays

to see friends, and that was lovely. But when I had the phone call from my agent who said,

Cameron McIntosh, she's interested in having you for Heidi Schiller in Follies. I said,

to sing again on the stage, you mean? And he said, yes. So I said, I couldn't do that. I'm

too old now to go back on the stage. And he said, oh, don't worry, the party's of a very old lady.

So they persuaded me to fly over, and I met them all, and they seemed to be confident of the fact

that I could do it. So I had to go. And I must say, I don't regret one single minute.

Were you frightened? Yes. I was terrified. What were the fears mainly? I mean, was it that you'd

forgotten how to do it or your voice had gone over? Well, no, no, no, no. It was the question of,

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