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 1994, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is a sportsman, the son of a jockey, he resisted all attempts to be turned into an estate agent

and followed in his father's footsteps. His determination and innate understanding

of horses horses horses

1,678 National Hunt victories

and the title of Champion Jockey

a record eight times.

Having broken nearly every bone in his body,

he retired last year while still only 34 and

now follows the horses as a journalist known throughout the racing fraternity as

school he is Peter Scudamore. So if your parents had had their way, Peter, you'd have ended up in an estate agent's office, not in the saddle, would you?

If my mother had had her way, she, even when I was going well, she used to, when I came home for Sunday lunch, she used to ask me when I was going to get a proper job

But my father always said if he had his time over again he would do exactly the same

But your mother tried really hard to dissuade you didn't she feed you up so you'd be too fat to be a jockey?

That's right.

She used to give me plenty of good food, but time I got to a teenager I was cutting on what was happening

and already then people were saying to me,

oh you'll be too big to be a jockey,

so that immediately you were fighting that you wouldn't be

and I used to cut back on my food.

But of course, what would have motivated your mother, I suppose fear for you really wasn't it fear that you would fall?

...