Hello, I'm Kristi 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 1979, and the presenter was Roy Plumley.

This week, our cast away is the actress, Sean Phillips.

Did I pronounce your question name right?

You did, Roy, and you're about the only person who ever dies.

I don't know why it's so difficult, but if I'd known it was going to cause problems all my life,

I would have changed it many, many years ago.

In fact, it's Welsh for Jane. It's as simple as that.

S-I-A-M.

Many of my oldest friends in the theatre call me by the unbecoming name of Stan,

because the GPO on opening nights looks at these telegrams, and they look S-I-A-N.

No, that's impossible. That must read S-T-A-N, so the telegrams arrive Stan Phillips.

I got a few last week.

Now, you were born in Wales. Was Welsh your first language?

Yes, it was. Yes. I mean, I knew how to speak English through listening to the wireless,

but nobody in my neighbourhood or at school spoke English.

Which was your neighbourhood?

It was West Glamorgan and Camarthenshire, which is basically a rural district,

in spite of being near the industrial south.

Yes, and of course you grew up with a musical background.

Yes, I did. My father was very musical, and he was a trained singer.

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