DESERT ISLAND DISCS...John Thaw

Hello Everyone

I've just found my audio tape of this radio show and it got me thinking while listening to it of something i could put on my blog for you all to read, so here it is. Enjoy!

DATED: 9th October 1990

Description: John talked about his life & work including references to his wife Sheila Hancock and his roles in Inspector Morse & The Sweeney and choose 8 records to take to a desert island (see below).
Interviewer: Sue Lawley.

1. Sibelius - Fifth Symphony in E flat Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan. [John started to love classical music while at RADA and it was here that the breakthrough piece was Sibelius' Fifth Symphony - the first record played on the programme. John was playing Mephistopheles in a student production of Goethe's Faust and becoming anxious about the role and his ability to identify with it. Tom (Courtenay) advised him to listen to the Sibelius which he thought might help his friend and flatmate to work out something in the Mephistopheles persona. 'I was skeptical at first, but the moment I heard that music, I was transfixed and everything fell into place,' Thaw recalled.]

2. Puccini - 'In Questa Regia' from Turandot, sung by Dame Eva Turner, London Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli (Covent Garden 1937). [John first heard this while vacuum cleaning his Kensington flat, as a young actor. He was bowled over by the power of the singing which he could hear coming from the radio above the noise of the Hoover.]

3. Elgar - Cello Concerto (Opus 85) Jacqueline Du Pré, London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir John Barbirolli.

4. Schubert - Adagio from Quintet in C major (Opus 163) Pablo Casals, Isaac Stern, Paul Tortelier, Alexander Schneider, Milton Katims. [Like the earlier Sibelius and Puccini pieces, records three and four are profoundly moving. 'Your choices are likely to make you weep as much as to bring you comfort,' observed Lawley dryly. 'Yes,' was Thaw's simple answer. 'More than likely. There are buckets of tears there waiting to be shed if I'm caught unawares.']

5. Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin - 'Little Girls' from Annie, sung by Sheila Hancock. [Lawley talked at some length about Thaw's long and happy second marriage to actress Sheila Hancock. Unsurprisingly, the only record chosen that was not classical was one by his wife singing 'Little Girls' in the musical Annie.]

6. Mozart - Overture to The Magic Flute Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Otto Klemperer. [John fell in love with The Magic Flute the first time he saw it, and therefore it's no surprise that he wanted part of its overture with him.]

7. Richard Strauss - Four Last Songs Elizabeth Schwarzkopf Berlin Radio Symphony Orchestra con¬ducted by George Szell. [He laughed, too, about his imagined affair with Elizabeth Schwarzkopf, saying, 'Sheila and I always say that Schwarzkopf is the only woman in the world who could ever rival Sheila as far as I'm concerned'.]

8. J. S. Bach - 'Erbarme Dich mein Gott' from St Matthew Passion Marga Hoffgen Stuttgart Radio Orchestra*. [John Thaw's final record choice was the searingly beautiful and poignant contralto aria 'Erbarme Dich mein Gott' from St Matthew Passion. 'It makes me cry,' he said, adding that if he could take only one record to his desert island, it would be this one.]

There was nothing shallow, brash or aggressive about John Thaw, as this revealing interview made very clear. He was privately much further from some of the abrasive characters he immortalized than many of his admirers realized at the time.

(*John Thaw's single choice was he reduced to only one record)

Book - apart from the Bible and Shakespeare, The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame. [John would often read this book to his children and hoped when his grandchildren were old enough to understand it he would read it to them. sadly, as we know that wasn't to be.]

One luxury - a comfortable armchair. [John joked about the quality of the soft furnishings in the matrimonial home, 'Sheila and I always had stiff necks and sore backs by Sunday evening after a day spent sitting over the Sunday papers. Then one day, we realized that we were probably sitting on the most uncomfortable chairs in London - so we bought six lovely new ones,' John said, explaining why his chosen desert island luxury would be a very soft, very comfortable, armchair.]

The above in bold is taken from the book - John Thaw 1942-2002 An Appreciation by Susan Elkin

NEW DVD...RELEASE!

The Grass is Singing 1982 (American title Killer Heat), has been released on dvd here in the uk, it is available from an Amazon seller for £20.23 including postage and is exclusive to Amazon. The dvd has been released by NU Metro in South Africa, so unknown to me, but it's genuine release as i bought it first before posting this so i could tell you all. It arrived this morning, so going to watch it tonight. Click on 'new dvd..release' at the top and it will take you to the page.

Slide Show update!

In time for John's anniversary tomorrow (21st Feb), i have updated the slide show which can be found at the bottom of this blog, hope you all like the new photos.

As always my thoughts are with John's family at this time. RIP John you were and still are to me simply the best.

John Thaw Foundation - Fund Raising Successes

I just thought I'd let you all know about this, and if you all want to help raise money for the foundation then click on the everyclick.com link on the right, and use it as your search engine and help raise money for this wonderful charity that helps young people less fortunate then ourselves.

Little Actors Youth Theatre based in Neston is pleased to announce some recent fund raising successes.

The John Thaw Foundation headed by his widow Sheila Hancock and daughter Joanne Thaw, has generously given a third donation to help subsidise the costs for the young people in the community. We can offer substantial discounts on the fees for young people from low income families.

John's birthday

Well hello everyone!

Sorry for not being around much, it's rather nippy here at present, and my leg doesn't like it, never mind.

Hope you all celebrated John's birthday last Sunday by watching something, i'd love to hear what you all watched. I myself watched three episodes of Redcap series 2, in fact the first three from this series, as i'd heard that Garfield Morgan had died and so i wanted to mark it in some way and didn't at that point want to watch the Sweeney, so i thought Redcap fits the bill. He's very good in the episode he's in called The Killer, sadly he gets killed before the first break, but it's lovely to see him in it. His character calls John's character Daniel for some reason, instead of John!

I've got some idea's that i want to add to the blog and one of them is changing the photos in the slide show, which i'll try and do before John's anniversary next month, though not easy as i'm rather uncomfortable sitting at my laptop, not to mention freezing!

Well that's all for now, take care everyone if the weather is bad where you are, and if you have to go out to drive or walk do it safely till next time bye for now.

Morse writer Colin Dexter cracks the crossword code

Just thought some of you might like to read this, which i got this morning.

Thursday 10th December 2009
By Reg Little

INSPECTOR MORSE creator Colin Dexter has revealed he has had to end his 60-year love affair with crosswords because of failing eyesight. The author, who is approaching his 80th anniversary, was a cryptic crossword addict, but his failing vision has meant he can no longer complete the puzzles.

Mr Dexter, of Banbury Road, Oxford, suffers from a heart condition that has led to trips to the doctor and a recent short spell in hospital. He is also unable to follow TV screenings of Morse and spin-off series Lewis because of his deafness, and is now unable to accept many of the invitations he receives.

He recently had to pull out of a talk, and said: “It is the first time I have ever had to cancel any engagement.” Despite his vision problems, the author, who killed off Inspector Morse 10 years ago in his novel The Remorseful Day, has compiled a book of tips for tackling crosswords called Cracking Cryptic Crosswords, available in shops now.

“It’s only a slim volume, and a few friends have encouraged me to write it before my light goes out forever,” he said. “In addition to the real possibility this pastime offers of escaping the anxieties of Alzheimer’s, it is the most serene and civilised way of wasting time that I, now nearing 80, have as yet discovered.”

The idea for the book came from Mr Dexter’s friend Jackie Gray, a former city councillor and now a successful publisher, who saw the crime writer getting stuck into a crossword on an Oxford to London train. “He completed The Times cryptic crossword in the 15 minutes it took to reach Didcot,” she recalled. “I was in awe. Colin assured me that I could do it too, and then proceeded to tell me how.”

Despite passing on his passion for crosswords to Morse, Mr Dexter revealed he could not persuade John Thaw, the actor who played him, to become an enthusiast. Mr Dexter recounted their last conversation a few days before Thaw died of cancer. “He said, ‘I can never understand why I’m thought of as such a good actor. What I can do much better than others is learn my lines’. It was such a wonderful self-effacing view of his own talent. I loved him for that.”

DVD NEWS!!

Just thought i'd let you of the following dvd's that are due for release next year (2010), these are all UK and they are...

15th February 2010

THE AVENGERS series 3 (John is in an episode called Espirit De Corps) available from play.com for £42.99 and Amazon for £42.98

THE RIVALS OF SHERLOCK HOLMES series 2 (John is in an episode called The Sensible Actions of Lt. Hoist available from play.com for £29.99

22nd February 2010

SGT MUSGRAVE'S DANCE available from play.com for £9.99

If and when i hear of anymore titles being released i will add them to this list, until next time take care everyone.