Sir Terence Conran
Desert Island Discs
BBC
4.3 • 14.3K Ratings
🗓️ 1 September 1996
⏱️ 37 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the designer and entrepreneur Terence Conran. He first came to fame with the Habitat store which introduced British shoppers to consumer delights like the chicken brick and the duvet. Now considered one of the country's most successful restaurateurs - he currently owns seven restaurants and is involved in designing another 17 - he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his original foray into the restaurant world. His first venture was called The Soup Kitchen - and, misled by its name, attracted all the local tramps on its opening night.
He'll also be describing how Picasso bought one of the first chairs he designed. Finally, he'll be talking about how, after a somewhat tumultuous personal life, he now feels he has achieved some sort of equanimity.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert Part One by Keith Jarrett Book: History of the World by H G Wells Luxury: An endless supply of A4 paper and 4B pencils
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Krestey Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive. |
| 0:05.0 | For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music. |
| 0:08.2 | The program was originally broadcast in 1996, and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a designer and entrepreneur. His skill as a businessman is founded on his skill as a craftsman, |
| 0:35.4 | as well as his abiding belief that people deserve quality in abundance in their everyday lives. |
| 0:41.1 | He first came to fame with the Habitat store which introduced |
| 0:44.1 | British shoppers to the chicken brick and the duvet. His retailing empire grew |
| 0:48.0 | into a multi-million pound conglomerate called Storehouse, which included mother care |
| 0:52.2 | and British home stores. |
| 0:54.0 | But he was to leave that business and habitat behind him. |
| 0:57.2 | Nevertheless, his flare for design and his eye for what the rest of us want has kept him in |
| 1:01.6 | shops and brought him back into restaurants. |
| 1:04.4 | He now owns seven and is currently designing another 17. |
| 1:08.8 | With three ex-wives and five children, he's said to be a better friend than a husband or father he's |
| 1:14.4 | ridden the storms to a point where he's achieved personal equanimity. I have the |
| 1:19.2 | ideal life he says practically everything I do I really enjoy he is Sir Terence Conran and |
| 1:25.4 | and is that in the main work Terence practically everything you do? |
| 1:29.3 | Yes it is I don't play golf. I love drawing, writing, thinking they are my hobbies. |
| 1:37.6 | You are driven by them your son, Jasper. |
| 1:39.6 | Oh, driven is, I don't agree at all,'m not driven I just enjoy doing it and get a great deal of |
| 1:46.8 | pleasure and satisfaction but the work you describe is is design not business |
| 1:51.4 | that's the emphasis isn't it of what you enjoy doing yes |
| 1:54.8 | it's designing I suppose to create something new a new project to me is a really |
... |
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