Hello I'm Kristi Young and this is a download from the Desert Island

Discs archive. This edition may be slightly different from what was

actually broadcast but it's the only version we have. It comes from the

British Library's radio collection. It was

archived without the music, so although the Castaways choices are introduced,

they're not part of this recording. Full details can be found on the Castaways page on the Desert Island Discs website.

The program was originally broadcast in 1981.

And the presenter was Roy Plumley.

This week, our cast where is the actor Alan Howard.

Alan, is music important in your life?

Yes, yes it is.

You play the piano?

I used to play the piano, but sadly I don't anymore. I learned from the age of six and then it came and went and then I went through a bad period of just not practicing and I never had a piano at home.

So actually, sadly, I can't really play at all well now.

Do you play discs a lot?

Yes, quite a lot.

Quite a lot.

Now, you spent a large slice of your life with the Royal Shakespeare

company playing mostly in London and Stratford upon a even does this mean that you

have to keep two homes going with the result that when you want to play a disc it's always in the other home.

That's one of the problems. I used one time to try and actually have two places to live in in London and in Stratford and then I couldn't make that work out

I know logistically or economically so I if I go out to Stratford I have to

...