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 1991, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is a politician. In many quarters he's now seen as the

opposition's strongest weapon in the forthcoming electoral battle with the

government. It might not have been so. Two and a half years ago he was struck down by a heart attack which could have ended his career,

but he returned to the political fray, trimmer, fitter, and some say even more incisive than before.

His principles may be those of a good Scottish socialist,

but his talents are those of a barrister.

Supporters chuckle and opponents wriggle

when he puts his inquisitorial skills into practice.

He is the Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer, John Smith.

Simply that, John Smith, no more or less.

No, I was called after my grandfather, who was a fisherman in the village of Tarbert and Argyll, and it was a family tradition to call the

eldest boy after the father's father and the eldest girl after the mother's mother.

It's not very original, but I suppose it meant that the same

names kept repeating throughout the generation. But has it been an advantage or

is it a bit of a disadvantage in life? It's never worried me. I must say I think my

parents had a bit of courage actually not even putting a middle name of any kind in between and in the sort of

Confaternity of John Smith's I don't count the people with middle names. I don't think they're really full strength somehow

But there's quite a lot of us about.

And of course if you open a telephone book you see nothing but it.

And every time you see how to fill in a form there is your name, Smith John. The distinguishing factor also though of course is your

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