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Desert Island Discs

Lord Montagu

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Music, Personal Journals, Society & Culture, Music Commentary

4.314.3K Ratings

🗓️ 30 August 1987

⏱️ 34 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

"Music is one of my great passions" says Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, "my taste is wide-ranging; from Wagner to Jazz". In conversation with Michael Parkinson, he looks back on his career, focusing particularly on running the stately home, organising jazz festivals and being Chairman of English Heritage. He also undergoes the agonising task of narrowing his musical choice to eight records.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Symphony No 2 by Gustav Mahler Book: The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien Luxury: Windsurfing board

Transcript

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0:00.0

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

0:05.0

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

0:08.0

The program was originally broadcast in 1987 and the presenter was Michael Parkinson. A castaway could justifiably claim to have invented the modern stately home industry.

0:34.3

From the moment he let the public into his home in 1951, he's shown himself a master of mixing

0:39.2

a concern for conservation with a love of Razzamataz.

0:43.2

His gifts are now equally employed between looking after the 600,000 people who visit his home

0:47.4

every year and being the energetic chairman of English heritage.

0:51.4

He is Lord Montague of Bueley. Lord Montague of beauty.

0:53.0

Lord Montague, music obviously has played a tremendous part in your life.

0:57.0

How significant has it been?

0:59.0

Oh, it is one of my passions really.

1:01.0

It's very wide. I like everything from say Vargna right down to pop and

1:06.1

jazz in fact I had enormous difficulty choosing these records has been the

1:10.5

greatest dilemma my life it would be much better than one's

1:12.8

hundred best tunes I think. But how you chose them? I mean are they all memories are

1:18.0

they points in your life or what? They are slightly points in my life yes in order to really mind me of as parts of my life and

1:25.9

also have a balance of I'm a Libra too so I suppose that suits my star sign.

1:31.4

What then about the the first record I mean what part does that play in your

1:34.4

life in your memories? Well I think the first classical music I really had any impact was

1:38.3

Beethoven and I've had a great difficulty in choosing something from this period

1:41.9

whether it's Mozart or Bach or what.

1:45.3

But in my early life I suppose Bechtem was my great passion, especially when I was at Eaton and

...

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