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

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

The program was originally broadcast in 1993 and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a politician born Born and brought up in South London, he started his career as a Lambeth Councillor,

where for a while one of his fellow representatives was John Major. There, however, the similarities end.

He's always supported left-wing causes vigorously, so much so that as leader of the GLC in the early 80s he was known by the tabloid press as Red Ken.

But far from being a strident revolutionary, he argues for change with an

almost unnerving affability. Consequently, although he may not have as many

political supporters as he'd like, he has plenty of fans. He is the Labour MP for Brent East, Ken Livingston.

How much did that ability, Ken to be popular, take you by surprise when it first happened back in the early 80s when you began

to be invited on to all the television programs and the talk shows.

It took a little time to get the popular side, I remember the odious side, but much more clearly at the beginning but I think I'm perfectly

trained for this I grew up watching television I'm the first generation of people that grew

up stuck in front of a box. I mean I'm used to sound bites. I mean I can remember the days

when a documentary like this week would have five or six items if you couldn't get it down to five minutes.

So I mean...

So you taught yourself to speak in a sound bite?

Yes.

You taught yourself to be quoted.

I learned in sound bites.

You know, it was all self-taught.

I never went to university, so I was never sort of trained to develop a long case or balance arguments

and therefore I think it's much easier for people in my generation and younger to actually adapt to television for people who grew up in a different world.

...