PROMS PLUS LITERARY - Gavin Maxwell
Arts & Ideas
BBC
4.2 • 599 Ratings
🗓️ 15 August 2014
⏱️ 23 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Nature writers Miriam Darlington and Horatio Clare join Rana Mitter to discuss the Scottish author of Ring of Bright Water Gavin Maxwell on his centenary. Readings by Scott Handy. This programme is presented by Rana Mitter and was recorded in front of an audience at the Royal College of Music as part of the BBC Proms. To find out further information about the events which are free to attended go to bbc.co.uk/proms
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, it's a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that at some level of genius. It also helps |
| 0:21.2 | that it's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream |
| 0:26.1 | van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds. Hello, the summer |
| 0:33.3 | of 1914. A bad time for the future of European harmony, but an excellent time for otters. |
| 0:40.3 | The reason? That summer, a boy was born named Gavin Maxwell, who would go on to write one of the |
| 0:45.3 | century's most beloved books of nature writing, Ring of Bright Water. Maxwell's classic tale |
| 0:50.9 | of the trials of running an otter sanctuary in the wildest parts of the West Highlands was published in 1960. |
| 0:57.0 | It sold over two million copies and even got the dubious tribute of being turned into a rather saccharine film by Disney. |
| 1:05.0 | To accompany tonight's prom by the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, we're going to re-examine the life and legacy of Gavin Maxwell, |
| 1:12.6 | one of Scotland's greatest nature writers and conservationists. |
| 1:16.4 | My guests tonight are the writer Horatio Clare, |
| 1:19.7 | himself an acclaimed writer on nature, |
| 1:21.9 | whose most recent book is Down to the Sea in Ships |
| 1:24.8 | of Ageless Oceans and Modern Men, |
| 1:27.4 | and Miriam Darlington, whose book Otter Country is a travelogue that down to the sea in ships of ageless oceans and modern men, |
| 1:31.4 | and Miriam Darlington, whose book Otter Country is a travelogue that brilliantly takes up the baton left by Gavin Maxwell. |
| 1:35.3 | And to read for us, we will hear from the actor Scott Handy. |
| 1:39.6 | Miriam, it's over half a century since Ring of Brightwater was published. |
| 1:43.7 | Why do you think it remains such a classic? Well, I think for me since Ring of Brightwater was published. Why do you think it remains such a classic? |
| 1:46.1 | Well, I think for me, Ring of Brightwater is the story of one man's flight from society to commune with the wild places, the rocks and rugged coastline, the wild creatures of the west coast of Scotland. |
| 1:59.5 | And for me, this is really all about, the story is all about the human need for wild places |
| 2:05.9 | and wild creatures. |
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