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Vintage Bond interviews: BBC Desert Island Discs

rightsmartdanrightsmartdan
edited June 2013 in Actors Posts: 38

Free BBC podcasts of 30 min interviews from iTunes of significant Bond personalities

Ian Fleming (incomplete)

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/8c008dff

David Niven

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida80/dida80_19770430-1900a.mp3

Deborah Kerr (Casino Royale 1967)

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida80/dida80_19770820-1900a.mp3

George Macdonald Fraser (Octopussy Screenwriter)

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida80/dida80_19780318-1815a.mp3

Alec McGowen (Q - Never Say Never Again)

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida80/dida80_19790519-1815a.mp3

NSNA scriptwriters Dick Clements and Ian La Frenais

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida80/dida80_19790721-1815c.mp3

Roger Moore

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida85/dida85_19810725-1815a.mp3

LALD score composer George Martin

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida85/dida85_19820731-1825a.mp3

Topol

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida85/dida85_19831015-1825a.mp3

Marvin Hamlisch

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida85/dida85_19831203-1825a.mp3

Kingsley Amis

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida86/dida86_19861109-1215a.mp3

Joanna Lumley (1987)

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida86/dida86_19870913-1215a.mp3

Joanna Lumley (2007) so nice, they did her twice. Can't blame them.

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida/dida_20070513-1115a.mp3

Steven Berkoff

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida91/dida91_19920112-1115a.mp3

Robbie Coltrane

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida91/dida91_19920209-1115a.mp3

Britt Ekland

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida91/dida91_19940522-1115a.mp3

Christopher Lee

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida91/dida91_19950226-1115a.mp3

Don Black (song lyricist)

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida91/dida91_19951022-1115a.mp3

John Cleese

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/did96/did96_19970105-1215c.mp3

John Barry

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida/dida_19990613-1115a.mp3

Ken Adam

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida/dida_20040523-1115a.mp3

Sebastian Faulks

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida/dida_20090329-1115a.mp3

Lewis Gilbert

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida/dida_20100620-1115a.mp3

Jonathan Pryce

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida88/dida88_19900520-1115a.mp3

Charles Dance

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida88/dida88_19881211-1115a.mp3

Rowan Atkinson

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/radio4/dida88/dida88_19880515-1115a.mp3





Comments

  • Sir_James_MoloneySir_James_Moloney
    Posts: 388
    Thanks @rightsmartdan. Phenomenal links.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    Very nice. Thanks for the hard work @rightsmartdan.
  • NicNacNicNac Administrator, Moderator
    Posts: 7,570
    Excellent stuff. Do we assume that some of the obvious missing names have simply never been asked? Or the interviews are missing? Or they refused?
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    Thanks for the links. I have an unedited transcript of the Ian Fleming Desert Island Discs interview somewhere - it makes for very interesting reading.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    That's a great service. Thanks for those links!!!
    The first link, the Fleming link, is mandatory listening. It was done coincident with Fleming having just handed over YOLT to the publishers in 1963.
    Fleming is very polite to the interviewer,but it does seem that he wearies of the predictable nature of the questions.
    At one point he suggests that maybe the interviewer hasn't read many of the books.
    IMO quite likely the interviewer has read none. He doesn't come across as a fan of Fleming's brand of thriller-fiction.
    Fleming nevertheless endures and still manages to give us actual readers-of-the-books much to savour.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited June 2013 Posts: 17,809
    timmer wrote:
    That's a great service. Thanks for those links!!!
    The first link, the Fleming link, is mandatory listening. It was done coincident with Fleming having just handed over YOLT to the publishers in 1963.
    Fleming is very polite to the interviewer,but it does seem that he wearies of the predictable nature of the questions.
    At one point he suggests that maybe the interviewer hasn't read many of the books.
    IMO quite likely the interviewer has read none. He doesn't come across as a fan of Fleming's brand of thriller-fiction.
    Fleming nevertheless endures and still manages to give us actual readers-of-the-books much to savour.

    Yes, the interviewer Roy Plomley had a reputation for being rather dull and condescending even. I have a few of the books he wrote on Desert Island Discs which after all is the longest running radio show in the world - its been going since 1942 and is still going strong with Kirsty Young the current presenter.
  • Samuel001Samuel001 Moderator
    Posts: 13,350
    Kirsty Young, not Wark. :)
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    Thanks for the link @rightsmartdan
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    I met Steven Berkoff once in Oxford at a Premiere. Very intimidating man, very smart though and a great actor.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    007InVT wrote:
    I met Steven Berkoff once in Oxford at a Premiere. Very intimidating man, very smart though and a great actor.

    Intimidating? How do you mean? It sounds like he still thinks that he is General Orlov!
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    Samuel001 wrote:
    Kirsty Young, not Wark. :)

    Sorry. I wasn't sure of the name. I stand corrected. I wrote all of this in a buit of a hurry and it shows. Kirsty Young has interviewed Sebastian Faulks - he briefly talked about DMC - in early 2009.
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    Dragonpol wrote:
    007InVT wrote:
    I met Steven Berkoff once in Oxford at a Premiere. Very intimidating man, very smart though and a great actor.

    Intimidating? How do you mean? It sounds like he still thinks that he is General Orlov!

    Well, he doesn't suffer fools and doesn't smile much, but did have a sense of humor. Very interesting Desert Island Disc too.

    I just finished listening to his, Kingsley Amis', Roger Moore and Christopher Lee's (excellent by the way).

  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    edited June 2013 Posts: 893
    10 minutes to the end, Faulks talks about writing Devil May Care.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    007InVT wrote:
    10 minutes to the end, Faulks talks about writing Devil May Care.

    Yes, I knew it was near the end. Still quite interesting, though. I liked the song 'Just Go' that he chose. I have the interview on tape somewhere.
  • rightsmartdanrightsmartdan
    Posts: 38
    You may, after all the opera, jazz and classical people usually seem to pick, be pleasantly surprised by the genre David Niven prefers as his Desert Island Discs...
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    edited June 2013 Posts: 893
    John Cleese is always very thoughtful.

    Love his final record choice - Louis Armstrong's 'What a Wonderful World'.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    edited June 2013 Posts: 17,809
    rightsmartdan wrote:
    You may, after all the opera, jazz and classical people usually seem to pick, be pleasantly surprised by the genre David Niven prefers as his Desert Island Discs...

    I'm intrigued already. I'll have to get them a listen - sadly no sound on my computer currently. Part of the Fleming Desert Island Discs interview appears on the Ultimate Edition DVD of From Russia with Love of course. Also, I think that Kingsley Amis was interviewed on it in 1979 too, if memory serves.
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    I've been working to them today, quite a DID marathon!

    Thanks again @rightsmartdan
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    007InVT wrote:
    I've been working to them today, quite a DID marathon!

    Thanks again @rightsmartdan

    I wish I could hear them all. Oh well.
  • timmertimmer
    edited June 2013 Posts: 4,622
    The David Niven intv with Plomley was OK I guess, but there was nothing about Bond. He plays bits from favourite musical selections and chats about his career.
    I didn't find it very interesting. Others might though.
  • rightsmartdanrightsmartdan
    Posts: 38
    timmer wrote:
    The David Niven intv with Plomley was OK I guess, but there was nothing about Bond. He plays bits from favourite musical selections and chats about his career.
    I didn't find it very interesting. Others might though.

    I guess I should have mentioned that these are mostly career overviews rather than specific Bond related interviews.
    I thought it interesting that David Niven thought the worst film he'd ever made was Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948). One can only assume he'd never seen Casino Royale (1968), which - whilst not a terrible film technically - is almost certainly one of the weirdest, most confused missed opportunities of anyone's career.
  • 007InVT007InVT Classified
    Posts: 893
    The Robbie Coltrane one is great.

    John Barry is a bit dour but has nice classical music choices as you would expect.

    Rowan Atkinson is entertaining too.
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 17,809
    rightsmartdan wrote:
    timmer wrote:
    The David Niven intv with Plomley was OK I guess, but there was nothing about Bond. He plays bits from favourite musical selections and chats about his career.
    I didn't find it very interesting. Others might though.

    I guess I should have mentioned that these are mostly career overviews rather than specific Bond related interviews.
    I thought it interesting that David Niven thought the worst film he'd ever made was Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948). One can only assume he'd never seen Casino Royale (1968), which - whilst not a terrible film technically - is almost certainly one of the weirdest, most confused missed opportunities of anyone's career.

    Agreed on Casino Royale '67. Maybe he was just being polite that day and hiding his true feelings.
  • timmertimmer
    Posts: 4,622
    rightsmartdan wrote:
    I guess I should have mentioned that these are mostly career overviews rather than specific Bond related interviews.
    I thought it interesting that David Niven thought the worst film he'd ever made was Bonnie Prince Charlie (1948). One can only assume he'd never seen Casino Royale (1968), which - whilst not a terrible film technically - is almost certainly one of the weirdest, most confused missed opportunities of anyone's career.
    And his favourite was Around the World in Eighty Days, which works as that's a classic of it's era.

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