Felix Dennis
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 12 August 2007
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the publisher Felix Dennis. He blossomed among the flower power generation, finding fame as one of the defendants in the notorious Oz Magazine obscenity trial in 1971. It fired his loathing of the establishment but instead of dropping out he opted in and beat them at their own game. For the past 30 years his talent has been spotting a niche in the magazine market and launching a title to fill it - his success has made him one of the richest men in Britain.
For many years his life was one of addiction and excess - but latterly the only thing he feels compelled to do each day is write poetry and he's become one of a very rare breed - a best-selling poet.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: One Too Many Mornings by Bob Dylan Book: The Dictionary of National Biography Luxury: A very long stainless steel shaft to encourage pole-dancing mermaids!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela, Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, |
| 0:24.7 | history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. |
| 0:27.8 | Listen on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:30.3 | Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:35.3 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:38.4 | The program was originally broadcast in 2007. |
| 1:01.1 | Music My castaway this week is the publisher Felix Dennis. |
| 1:07.6 | For the past 30 years, his talent has been spotting a niche in the magazine market and launching a title to fill it, |
| 1:12.8 | but he is far from your typical sober-suited corporate hotshot. His life is lived in vivid technicolor, an apparently chaotic explosion of success, excess, and outrage. He blossomed |
| 1:20.5 | among the flower-power generation, finding fame as one of the defendants in the Oz magazine obscenity |
| 1:25.6 | trial, charged with conspiring to corrupt the morals of the young. It fired his loathing of the defendants in the Oz magazine of sanity trial, charged with conspiring |
| 1:27.5 | to corrupt the morals of the young. |
| 1:29.6 | It fired his loathing of the establishment, |
| 1:31.7 | but instead of dropping out, he opted in |
| 1:33.5 | and beat them at their own game, |
| 1:35.2 | becoming one of the richest men in Britain. |
| 1:38.2 | He's twice faced |
| 1:39.2 | life-threatening illness. After the first, |
| 1:41.9 | he developed a rampage in crack cocaine addiction. After the second, he developed a rampaging crack cocaine addiction. After the second, |
| 1:45.7 | he started writing poetry. An engaging monster full of contradictions and reeking of sulphur. |
| 1:51.3 | That's what they said about you in the times, a little harsh maybe. Is it about right? |
| 1:56.6 | Hmm. One hates to say so, Kirsty, but I don't think they're too far off the mark. |
... |
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