Rt Hon. George Thomas

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 October 1982

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Lord Tonypandy, George Thomas, now Chairman of the National Children's Homes, was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1976 to 1983. He was invited to choose the eight records he would take to the mythical island, and he also talked to Roy Plomley about his childhood in Wales and about his parliamentary career which he began when he won the Cardiff Central seat in 1945. Book: The Methodist hymn book Luxury: Writing materials

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Christy Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.
0:05.8	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:08.8	The program was originally broadcast in 1982, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.
0:31.0	Our cast away this week is the speaker of the House of Commons, the right honorable George Thomas MP.
0:37.0	Mr. Speaker, you're a Welshman, so I assume that music plays a big part in your life, does it?
0:43.0	From my early youth, I've grown up with choral music, great emphasis on choral music and wheels.
0:50.0	Although we are now very proud of our orchestra, national orchestra, but the main emphasis in every village and valley.
1:00.0	Is the choir.
1:01.0	Do you sing?
1:02.0	Well, I used to sing in the chapel choir, and the tonopandi method is chapel, but I enjoy music.
1:10.0	Do you play an instrument?
1:12.0	No, I play the piano one finger with the tunes that I know.
1:16.0	Do you play records a lot, ordinarily?
1:18.0	No, but I listen a lot.
1:21.0	I like hearing them, but I have to confess I haven't got a recorder, so I must get one.
1:29.0	That's a very good reason for not playing records.
1:32.0	Was the first one you've chosen?
1:34.0	Well, recently, very recently, I paid an official visit to the Netherlands Parliament.
1:40.0	And I went to a delightful town, Maastricht, in Limburg, in Holland, and the choir sang for me the hallelujah chorus.
1:50.0	I would like to hear that because it inspired me.
1:54.0	And you'd like to hear it sang by that choir?
1:56.0	No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no
	...

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