Irene Thomas
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.3 • 14.3K Ratings
🗓️ 26 January 1997
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
She's an expert on sauce bottles, remembers the small print on British Rail timetables, and for 30 years she was a regular contestant on Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz. This week on Desert Island Discs, Irene Thomas tells Sue Lawley what she will do with her phenomenal memory now the programme is no longer broadcast. She recalls how she moved from opera singer, to the Black and White Minstrels, before becoming queen of the quiz shows at the age of 41.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Cosi fan Tutte Soave Sia Il Vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Complete score of Fidelio by Mozart Luxury: Teddy bear stuffed with tea and lily of the valley
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive for rights reasons |
| 0:06.1 | We've had to shorten the music |
| 0:08.1 | The program was originally broadcast in 1997 and the presenter was Sue Lolley |
| 0:31.0 | My castaway this week is a quiz show contestant |
| 0:34.0 | If that sounds an unusual career, it's only because she's a most unusual person |
| 0:38.0 | Clever at school, she never went to university |
| 0:41.0 | She became a singer first at Covent Garden and then in films and variety shows |
| 0:46.0 | In 1960, at the age of 40, she entered a BBC radio competition |
| 0:51.0 | and the following year won it, becoming the brain of Britain |
| 0:54.0 | She's been proving herself to be one of Britain's brainiest ever since |
| 0:58.0 | For 30 years, on round Britain quiz, she's routed academics and specialists alike |
| 1:03.0 | As her astonishing command of general knowledge enabled her to answer the upstruse questions |
| 1:08.0 | sent in by listeners determined to get the better of her |
| 1:11.0 | They rarely did and doubtless they'll miss her as much as the rest of us |
| 1:15.0 | Now that the program has been laid quietly to rest |
| 1:18.0 | She is Irene Thomas |
| 1:20.0 | Are you quietly crossed that it's been asked Irene? |
| 1:23.0 | Well, I'm not saying I'm rather sad, yes |
| 1:26.0 | We had a lot of devoted listeners, you know, just as endless questions |
| 1:30.0 | And yes, it will be a very sad loss for us and for them |
| 1:34.0 | But are you missing it? |
| 1:36.0 | Oh yes, yes, I loved it |
... |
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