BBC's Desert Island Discs

[crisp]

I don't think it's really about the music.

I tend to hear it by chance. It often seems to be some (to me) obscure civil servant, 'arts' administrator or scientist.

The show has declined very badly. Like the BBC, sadly.

[sidewinder]

I liked John Le Mesurier's choice of a luxury item: a small distillery.

He was another jazz fan, allegedly he cried during the blitz when he arrived back at his digs to find all his 78 records destroyed. There's a great clip of him in the BBC studio's in the audience of a MJQ concert.

Big fan of Bill Evans, I've heard. As mentioned, he's also in the audience on 'Jazz 625' footage. He was in the specially invited studio audience too for the Rendell/Carr 'Live' at Lansdowne, apparently.

I don't think it's really about the music.

I tend to hear it by chance. It often seems to be some (to me) obscure civil servant, 'arts' administrator or scientist.

The show has declined very badly. Like the BBC, sadly.

Too many C-listers and full-of-themselves paper pushers on the show these days. Sad.

[BillF]

I liked John Le Mesurier's choice of a luxury item: a small distillery.

He was another jazz fan, allegedly he cried during the blitz when he arrived back at his digs to find all his 78 records destroyed. There's a great clip of him in the BBC studio's in the audience of a MJQ concert.

Big fan of Bill Evans, I've heard. As mentioned, he's also in the audience on 'Jazz 625' footage. He was in the specially invited studio audience too for the Rendell/Carr 'Live' at Lansdowne, apparently.

Yes, his Wikipedia entry includes the following: "Le Mesurier's favoured pastime was visiting the jazz clubs around Soho, such as The Establishment or Ronnie Scott's, and he observed that 'listening to artists like Bill Evans, Oscar Peterson or Alan Clare always made life seem that little bit brighter.'"

[crisp]

Then there is the wonderful death notice he wrote himself and arranged to have posted in The Times: