'Honest' Ed Mirvish
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.4 • 13.7K Ratings
🗓️ 24 March 1984
⏱️ 32 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
'Honest' Ed Mirvish is a Canadian high-school drop-out who became a multi-millionaire by running a discount house selling goods at bargain prices. When he was offered the run-down Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto at a bargain price he could not refuse, and before long it was paying its way. His latest venture was to buy the Old Vic in London, which he has restored beautifully.
In conversation with Roy Plomley, he talks about his various enterprises.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Mona Lisa by Nat King Cole Book: Complete Webster's English Dictionary Luxury: Barbeque
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. |
| 0:05.0 | For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:08.0 | The program was originally broadcast in 1984 and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. Our cast away this week is the Canadian businessman and theatre owner, Edwin Mervish. |
| 0:35.5 | Honest Ed. |
| 0:37.5 | Ed, you spent your life collecting crowds of people into the same place and getting them to spend |
| 0:41.8 | their money. |
| 0:43.0 | We're now condemning you to isolation on a desert island. |
| 0:47.1 | How well could you adapt to loneliness? |
| 0:49.4 | I don't think I could adapt too well to loneliness, but if I have no alternative, I guess that's where |
| 0:56.1 | I'll have to be. |
| 0:58.0 | You have just eight discs to keep you company. |
| 1:00.7 | Is music important in your life? Well, I'm in the theater and we do have quite a bit of music. |
| 1:07.0 | But I really regard myself as a storekeeper, but even there we're constantly playing music and for bargains we play a certain kind of music. |
| 1:18.0 | If it's slow and dreary they won't pick up those bargains. |
| 1:21.0 | So you need a certain tempo to tempt people to buy. Have you any |
| 1:25.3 | musical skilled you sing or play the piano or anything else? No I do not. No my wife |
| 1:30.2 | sings but I really do not. Did you find it hard to choose these eight records? |
| 1:36.0 | No they came very easy to me. I like them and I enjoy them. |
| 1:42.0 | What's the first one? |
| 1:43.0 | The first record is Mona Lisa by Nat King Cole. |
| 1:47.0 | And I think to be on a desert island, |
| 1:50.0 | the soothing voice of Nat King Cole, I think I'd really enjoy it. |
... |
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