Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a download from the Desert Island Discs archive.

This edition may be slightly different from what was actually broadcast, but it is the only version we have.

It comes from the British Library's radio collection.

The recording didn't contain the guest's eight music choices so we've rebuilt the original show

by using discs from the BBC Gramophone library.

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

Full details can be found on the Castaways page on the Desert Island Discs website.

The program was originally broadcast in 1979 and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. This week our castaway is the actor Robert Stevens.

Robert, what part of the country do you come from?

Bristol. Any tradition in the family for the arts?

None whatsoever.

But I believe an uncle of mine was a Vodaville comedian.

How did you get hooked on the theatre?

Because it's the only thing I can do. I can't do anything else. I couldn't be a plumber.

So what did you do about it when you left school?

I got a grant from the education committee and I won a free scholarship to a drama school in Bradford.

In Bradford that's a rather a long jump from Bristol.

Yes it was. How did that come about?

Because the man I worked with, a Anthony Thomas encouraged me to be an actor.

And he said there are two schools you can go to, the Bristol Little Vic school or the drama school in Bradford.

Those he thought were the best?

Yes.

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