Sir John Burgh
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.3 • 14.3K Ratings
🗓️ 8 December 1984
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Sir John Burgh is the Director-General of the British Council, which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. In conversation with Roy Plomley, he recalls how he worked his way from an aircraft factory, through the Board of Trade, the Colonial Office, the Cabinet think tank and other Civil Service appointments to his present position, and he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Le Nozze Di Figaro Act 2 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica Luxury: Transistor radio
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. |
| 0:05.0 | For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:08.0 | The program was originally broadcast in 1984 and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. On our Desert Island this week is the Director General of the British Council, Sir John Berg. |
| 0:35.9 | How well could you endure solitude, Sir John? |
| 0:38.9 | I would find it very difficult. I would have to train myself to bear it. I think it would probably be very good for me. |
| 0:45.0 | Would music help? |
| 0:47.0 | Music would be essential. I don't think I could bear it without. |
| 0:50.0 | Do you have any musical skill yourself? I know you appreciate and love music. Do you play an instrument? |
| 0:55.4 | I play the piano without skill. So the answer to your question is partly as partly as partly no. |
| 1:06.0 | Was it a very difficult job to get down to just eight? Quite impossible. I only managed to delete the last one just before our recording of this and really it's today's choice it might |
| 1:15.1 | be slightly different tomorrow quite likely yes or what's the first one where do we |
| 1:19.0 | start well the first one takes me back really to my childhood because I was brought up in a very musical family. |
| 1:26.6 | My father played the piano and the violin and my mother played the charrow and piano and |
| 1:31.7 | so we had quite a lot of chamber music in the house. So the first thing I've |
| 1:35.6 | chosen is the Schubert piano trio in B-flat major. The The The The The opening of the second movement of Schubert's first piano trio in B-flat major played by the trio Santo Lacuido. |
| 2:37.0 | Now you were brought up in that musical family, where was it? |
| 2:40.0 | It was in Vienna before the war. |
| 2:42.0 | And your father was a barrister,'s right yes who died when you were quite young yes he died when I was 11 just 11 how much |
| 2:50.2 | Notice was there how much did you expect the Nazi invasion? |
| 2:55.0 | It was I think becoming pretty clear towards 1937 and of course early 1938, but everybody hoped that it wouldn't take place. |
| 3:05.0 | When I say everybody hoped certainly those in my particular circle because I came from a Jewish |
| 3:09.8 | background and one knew of course the degree and the extent of anti-Semitism in Germany, and one feared a German invasion enormously. |
... |
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