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 2007. My castaway this week is an entertainer so central to British popular culture he can be

identified by the outline of his glasses alone.

He is Ronnie Corbett.

For more than 50 years and from late night reviews to prime time sitcoms, his comic talents

have made us laugh and made us love him, and Natalie turned out

national treasure with a quick wit and a ready smile. His success is due, of course, to his own

ability, but also to two enduring and remarkable partnerships.

Along with Ronnie Barker, he formed one of the great TV duos of all time.

Whilst his 40-year marriage to his wife Anne saw her abandon her

flourishing showbiz career to sustain him through the vicissitudes of

fame and family life.

Ronnie I feel as though you should be sitting here in that leather chair

with the chrome arms. It almost seemed like it was

attached to you. Do you know what it is now? No I don't. People often say, by the way, we've got your chair. And I said, oh, I I look forward to it and it's never the same

chair they keep getting various versions of it so and it's never the original one I

don't know where that's gone. The monologues that we watched in our millions

that appeared to be so rambling and appeared to be it almost seemed like you know you

in a cozy sweater at the 19th hole just just chatting but of course it was it wasn't that at all was a carefully crafted

Monologue

carefully carefully written in the first case by you spite Mullins and then later by

...