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

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

The program was originally broadcast in 1983 and the presenter was Roy Plumley. On our Desert Island this week is the actor Ian Richardson.

Ian could you face... On our Desert Island this week is the actor Ian Richardson.

Ian could you face up to isolation?

Not very well, I'm afraid.

I don't operate at all well on my own

and I think I'd probably have a great deal of trouble adjusting to my own loneliness.

How much do you think eight records would help?

The ones I've chosen would help enormously enormously which is precisely why I've chosen.

Good. Have you any musical skill yourself? I play the piano and I use the piano

exclusively for my own amusement I don't ask people to listen to it because

that will embarrass me and indeed I don't play it all well if I'm aware that people are listening.

I use it also to unwind after stage play or more particularly now a long stint at the studio's

television or film.

Did you find it hard to narrow your choice down to just eight that miserable limit you were said?

Yes, extremely hard. In fact, I'm grateful for the warning being in good time that you were going

to honor me by inviting me to be here because it took good time

and my choice actually doesn't necessarily represent the music that I

doesn't necessarily represent the music that I most love love. On the contrary it represents music that I'm deeply

fond of but which provokes in me a series of thoughts, emotions, states of mind that I think would probably be helpful and conducive to

keeping me sane on the desert island. What's the first one? Well there there was a splendid lady, a resident of Stratford-upon-Laven, where it all kind of began for me.

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