David Dimbleby

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2008

⏱️ 37 minutes

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Summary

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster David Dimbleby. When he was born, in 1938, his father Richard was already a national institution. Richard recorded reports from bombers flying over Germany, went to Belsen at the end of the war and, of course, commentated on the funeral of King George VI and subsequent coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. In Desert Island Discs, David tells Kirsty how his father had tried to steer him away from journalism. But he believes that it is a job that is addictive and so it was perhaps inevitable that he would become part of the fifth generation of Dimblebys to pursue a career in the media.

He is best known for the big state events - he has anchored the BBC's general election coverage since 1979 and commentated during the funerals of both Princess Diana and the Queen Mother - throughout them all, he says, his method is not to think of the audience of millions, but instead to imagine himself sitting on a sofa, next to just one viewer, saying as little as he needs to in order to explain what is happening.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Song that You'd Like by Kate Dimbleby Band Book: Collected essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: A collection of drawing books, pencils and varnish.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 2008. My castaway this week is David Dimbleby. At a time when broadcasting standards are being called into question as never before, he is regarded
0:34.8	by many as that rare thing, the trusted voice of a nation.
0:39.1	From the Queen Mother's funeral to the Golden Jubilee and every election since 1979. His presence has seen us through grief,
0:46.1	celebration and uncertainty, marshalling the facts that matter, handling chaos with
0:51.1	enviable ease, and crucially, knowing when to shut up and let the
0:55.0	pictures do the talking.
0:57.0	Although he claims never to have planned a career in the media, his credentials are top drawer.
1:01.8	From a long line of broadcasters and journalists his great-great-grandfather
1:05.5	was in the local newspaper business, his grandfather was a lobby correspondent, and his father,
1:10.6	Richard Dimbleby, was the very personification of the
1:13.5	Reithian Broadcasting Principal. Indeed even the neighbours were in on the act.
1:17.4	When David was a little boy, John Logan Beard popped round to visit and planted a
1:22.2	friendly peck on his head. He kissed me like the
1:25.0	wicked fairy and that's what got me started in broadcasting. It is of course the live
1:30.0	events that you're known for, these huge set pieces. I was wondering about the funeral
1:34.8	of Diana, Princess of Wales that happened just over ten years ago. It must have been very
1:40.1	difficult to properly prepare for that. First of all of course it was unexpected and
1:44.0	secondly plans were changing right up to the last minute.
1:48.0	It was a strange event because the BBC were obsessed by what tone to set and I kept saying stop talking about
1:59.4	what tone you should set I'll take my cue from the crowds and from the feeling on the day. I don't
	...

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