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 1994, and the presenter was Sue Lawley. My castaway this week is a painter. He found being a school boy too restrictive and ran away from both his prep school and Eton.

Art was always his passion and gradually he developed the representational style for which he is famous, always painting on wood and

building up his pictures with many different layers of paint. His road to

recognition has been hard. Being a painter in England he he says, is like being in enemy territory.

But now at the age of 62, he's achieved fame, fortune and somewhat reluctantly a knighthood.

He is Sir Howard Hodgkin. Two years ago you got the

knighthood Sir Howard but you were in two minds about accepting it won't you?

Yes and in fact I'm still perhaps rather into minds having accepted it because I didn't really want a

knighthood, but they don't give things like that to artists very much and so I thought oh well all right but of course I'm not for

a second suggesting as some theatrical nights have done that they were I was taking it

for the profession I mean it's a entirely selfish thing to have but do you enjoy

having it do you enjoy being called to Howard not a bit which is very irritating it is

useful getting tables and restaurants and it is useful on airplanes.

But its recognition is what you imply for a group of people who are not much recognized

this enemy territory business?

Yes I think it is and I don't really think I got it for my work. I think I got it because I designed a

mural for a British council building in Delhi.

But why? So why wouldn't you get it for your work? Why don't artists you say get nightwoods?

I think really we're not taken very seriously socially.

If I go into some social situation and people say and what do you do and I say I'm an artist

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