Lord Stevens
Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010
BBC
4.4 • 804 Ratings
🗓️ 17 November 2006
⏱️ 38 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the former head of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Stevens. Although he was to become known as 'the policeman's policeman', it was not his first career choice - as a child he wanted to be a pilot but was told that his eyesight was not good enough for him to make it his career.
His first beat, more than forty years ago, was on Tottenham Court Road in London. He soon moved over to CID and earned the nickname 'Swifty Stevens' for his impressive arrest record. When he took over at the Met in 2000, it had just been branded 'institutionally racist' and the morale and reputation of the force was at rock bottom. He's credited with turning it around and regaining public confidence. Even in his retirement, he's continuing to head two major investigations - one into the circumstances around the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and the second into football bungs.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Reach for the Sky by Central Band of the R.A.F. Book: Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader by Paul Brickhill Luxury: Cellar of champagne
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | You're about to listen to a BBC podcast, but this is about something else you might enjoy. |
| 0:05.4 | My name's Katie Lecky and I'm an assistant commissioner for on demand music on BBC Sounds. |
| 0:10.7 | The BBC has an incredible musical heritage and culture and as a music lover, I love being part of that. |
| 0:17.4 | With music on sounds, we offer collections and mixes for everything, from workouts to helping |
| 0:22.7 | you nod off, boogie in your kitchen, or even just a moment of calm. And they're all put together |
| 0:28.7 | by people who know their stuff. So if you want some expertly curated music in your life, |
| 0:34.9 | check out BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Krista Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive. |
| 0:41.8 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:45.0 | The program was originally broadcast in 2006. |
| 1:09.4 | Music My castaway this week is the former Metropolitan Police Commissioner John Stevens. |
| 1:12.8 | As a fresh-faced Bobby on the beat in the early 60s, |
| 1:17.8 | he patrolled London's Tottenham Court Road with nothing more than a whistle and a truncheon to keep rascals at bay. |
| 1:22.8 | In the 70s, the hard-working and hard-drinking culture of the Flying Squad suited him well. |
| 1:27.1 | His impressive ability to nail the villains won him the nickname Swifty Stevens. |
| 1:30.2 | He took over at the Met in 2000. |
| 1:33.2 | It had just been branded institutionally racist, |
| 1:35.9 | and the morale and reputation of the force was at rock bottom. |
| 1:40.4 | He's widely credited with turning it around and regaining public confidence. |
| 1:43.7 | Even in retirement, though, he's heading two major investigations, |
| 1:44.6 | one into the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, and the second, due to report any week now, on football |
| 1:50.0 | bungs. But one of the most extraordinary tasks he's faced was in the aftermath of 9-11, |
| 1:55.0 | developing our own response to terror attacks. So, Lord Stevens, how on earth do you start |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.