BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Dr Jonathan Miller (original) (raw)

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Dr Jonathan Miller

Sue Lawley's castaway is director Dr Jonathan Miller.

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Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Dr Jonathan Miller. Jonathan Miller has been an influential and prolific force in British intellectual life since the 1960s. A writer, theatre and opera director and explainer of science to the public, he's had not one career, but several, and is seemingly capable of endlessly reinventing himself - as a scientist, a director, a television presenter, a writer, a film-maker and, more recently, a sculptor.

Whilst still a medical student he received an invitation which changed the course of his life and career - to take part in a sketch show called Beyond the Fringe, which was to go to the Edinburgh Festival. Jonathan was never to return to science full-time, as invitations to direct began to come in. He went on to become a leading theatre and opera director, celebrated for productions which included Tosca, set in Mussolini's Italy, and a mobster Rigoletto. This career alone would be regarded by many as more than sufficient, but Jonathan Miller combined it with making films and presenting television programmes.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Aria from Goldberg Variations by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: The Invertebrates by Libbie Henrietta Hyman
Luxury: Canvas roll containing dissecting set

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Bobbie Gentry

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Performer: Eric Coates Orchestra.
Artist: Chappell recorded Music Library

• Nostalgic Themes Revisited.
• Chappell.
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Anton Karas

Harry Lime Theme (The Third Man)
Performer: Anton Karas.

• Soundtrack from the Third Man.
• Definitive.
• 

Dinah Shore

Yes, My Darling Daughter

• Living Era: Blues in the Night. A Tribute to Dinah Shaw.
• ASV.
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Comedian Harmonists

Wochenend und Sonnenschein (Happy Days are Here Again)

• The Comedian Harmonists.
• Hannibal.
• 

Ravi Shankar

Music over closing credits

• Alice in Wonderland - BBC ARCHIVE.
• 

The Beach Boys

Surfin' USA

• Surfin’ Safari.
• Capitol.

• Castaway's Favourite

  • 

  Johann Sebastian Bach

  Goldberg Variations - Aria
  Soloist: Glenn Gould
  * Goldberg Variations.
  * CBS.

• Book Choice

  • The Invertebrates - Libbie Henrietta Hyman

• Luxury Choice

  • Canvas roll containing dissecting set

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Archive 2005-2010—Desert Island Discs

Guests are invited to choose the eight records they would take to a desert island

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