Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For Wright's reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1980, and the presenter was Roy Plumley. On our desert island this week is the general administrator of the Royal Opera House

common garden, Sir John Tooley. Sir John I believe he once had ambitions to be a

singer yourself. Oh yes I did and they were very strong but fortunately I came to a conclusion

earlier enough that I hadn't sufficient talent to have a successful career and

abandoned it. Did you get as far as singing in public?, not professionally, but I did sing in public purely as an amateur during the time that I was having singing lessons and so on.

Did you play an instrument as well? Well, I used to play the oboes, and I've been through two phases in my life.

One when I took up the oboe, I suppose, at the age of 13, I decided this was absolutely to be my life.

I was going to be the second lay on Guzons. But then somehow rather

got caught up with the human voice and that took over and brought me to the point I'm

afraid of a negative decision. You have a miserly allowance of just aid records. Was it very difficult narrowing them down?

Oh, absolutely impossible. It's one of the worst tasks I've ever been given.

What's the first one on your list? Well the first one is a work by Michael Tippid whose music means a great deal to me and the work that I've chosen is the concerto for double-string

orchestra and part of the last movement. And I've chosen this because I find it music with a strong visionary sense,

a music with great spiritual joy, and above all optimism.

And I feel maybe I should have that in my solitude. Oh, The The The closing passage of Tippets Concerto for Double String Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the fields directed by

Neville Mariner. What part of the country do come from? I was born in Kent and if I get it right since I was born east of the River Medway I'm actually a man of Kent.

I see. You were at Repton, then Mordlin.

What did you read?

Well I read classics to start with and then turned over to history rather later.

Did you take a lot of part in the musical activities of the college?

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