Interviewing my dad about his life story through his favourite pieces of music.
“Marooned with my Music” is an interview concept based on a popular and long-running BBC Radio programme called “Desert Island Discs”. In that BBC programme, celebrities and noteworthy people are invited onto the show for an interview. They imagine that they have been stranded on a remote desert island and are only allowed to take certain items with them, namely: 8 pieces of music, one book and one luxury item. During the programme, the interviewee is asked about their life and their musical choices. Desert Island Discs remains one of the BBC’s most beloved radio programmes and has been broadcast on the radio for many years. In my version, “Marooned with my Music” I have decided to interview members of my family: My Dad, my Mum and my Brother. [Download this episode]
Welcome to Marooned With My Music. My castaway today is my Dad Rick Thompson. Rick has been working in broadcast journalism for over 45 years, including nearly 30 years at the BBC where he worked as foreign news editor, and editor of the UK’s flagship daily news programme the 9 O’Clock News. He now runs his own broadcast training company called T-Media, which helps to bring BBC-standard television broadcasting to other countries around the world. Along the way he has become something of an expert in the art of efficiently and effectively delivering information to viewers on television and radio; something which requires a combined interest in all the big stories of the day as well as the values of language and public service. Rick is a man of broad interests and talents, having been a musician, a sportsman and a bird-watcher throughout his life, amongst other things. Last but by no means least, Rick has also been a devoted husband to his wife Gill and father to his two children James and Luke, from Luke’s English Podcast.
Dad’s Choices
1. I Saw Her Standing There by The Beatles
2. So What by Miles Davis
3. Route 66 by The Rolling Stones
4. Far More Drums by The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5. The Planets – IV. Jupiter, The Bringer of Jollity by Gustav Holst
6. All Along The Watchtower by The Jimi Hendrix Experience
7. Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks
8. Fixing A Hole by The Beatles
Book choice: A History of Europe
Luxury item: A never-ending set of paints and canvasses
