Peter Bull

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 August 1983

⏱️ 40 minutes

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Summary

Peter Bull has become known in recent years as a teddy bear expert and the owner of Aloysius who appeared in Brideshead Revisited, but he has also had a long career as an actor, notably in plays such as Luther and Waiting for Godot. He has also made several forays into theatrical management. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he talks about his diverse career and chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.

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

Favourite track: Slowly Slowly by Lola Tsakiri Book: Brideshead Revisited (in Greek) by Evelyn Waugh Luxury: Crystal ball

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.
0:05.0	For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.0	The program was originally broadcast in 1983 and the presenter was Roy Plumley. On the desert island this week is Peter Bull, who's an actor, author,
0:34.4	autobiography, and an authority on Teddy Bears.
0:38.0	Peter, how well could you stand up to loneliness?
0:42.0	I don't think very well, frankly, I have a great many friends. I'm
0:46.2	very fortunate in my friends and I find that when I am alone for more than about two
0:51.6	days I am apt to start talking to myself and a good deal of rubbish at that.
0:56.5	Do you think music would be helpful? I think music would be extremely helpful, but only certain types of music.
1:02.6	Normally is music important in your life?
1:04.8	You have to have a ration of it every day.
1:07.6	Yes I do but I'm afraid it's on rather a low brow key.
1:11.6	I'm not a great classical addict. Have you any musical skill yourself do you play an
1:16.7	instrument? I play the pianoo beautifully. Do you sing? I'd rather not discuss that. Right. Did you find it difficult to choose just
1:27.0	eight discs that may have to last a long time? Yes I did. I spent really about..., you think I was the Adrian, I spent almost three weeks on it.
1:37.0	Have you a big collection of discs? I got enormous collection of discs and I played them a very great deal for a short time and I didn't want to hear them again for a long time and I like playing them again.
1:50.0	So what's the first one you would play on your island?
1:53.0	Well, the first one I'd play is really a kind of sentimental thing because I fell in love with the
1:58.3	theatre at a very early age.
2:01.0	And in the holidays I thought about nothing except going to the theatre and it was musicals that really attracted me because it was the day of the great stars.
2:09.0	And in those days you cued outside for your seat for the pit or the gallery which was all I could afford.
2:16.0	And I sat on something called a camp stool and sometimes it was a first night I used to cue from 7 in the morning until the actual doors opened.
	...

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