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Professor Raymond Tallis

Kirsty Young's castaway is writer and poet Professor Raymond Tallis.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the physician, philosopher, novelist and poet Professor Raymond Tallis. His specialism is the care of elderly patients - it's an area that he combines with his philosophical interest in considering what it is that makes humans unique - all part, as he says, of 'unpacking the miracle of everyday life'.

He was one of five children brought up in modest circumstances in Liverpool. A bright child, he studied at Oxford and then St Thomas' Hospital although he acknowledges that his father was always disappointed that he had become a doctor - thinking it rather a shabby profession compared to his own preference for mathematics. Throughout much of his working life he rose before dawn in order to squeeze in time for his writing before he started his clinical work and in 2000 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to medical research.

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

Favourite track: The first movement of String Quintet in C Major by Franz Schubert
Book: Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
Luxury: A video of a day in the life of his family.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 30 Mar 2007 09:00

Music Played

  • Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina

    Kyrie (Missa Papae Marcelli)

    Choir: Tallis Scholars. Director: Peter Phillips.

    Choir: Pro Cantione Antiqua Conductor: Mark Brown

    • A Palestrina Celebration. Pro Cantione Antiqua.
    • Allegro.
  • Gabriel FaurΓ©

    Berceuse (from Dolly Suite)

    Soloist: Katia and Mariella Labeque

    • Bizet: Ravel/Faure/Katia and Marielle Labeque.
    • Philips.
  • The Beatles

    Hey Jude

    • The Beatles: 1967-1970.
    • Apple.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Suite for Solo Cello No. 6 in D major - 1st movement

    Soloist: Paul Tortelier

    • Bach: Cello Suites/Paul Tortelier.
    • EMI.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    String Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59/1 'Rasumovsky' - 1st movement

    Orchestra: The Hungarian Quartet

    • Beethoven:String Quartets.
    • EMI.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Franz Schubert

      String Quintet in C major - 1st movement

      Soloist: Mstislav Rostropovich Orchestra: Melos Quartet

      • Schubert:String Quintet.
      • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    The Marriage of Figaro Act 2 Finale

    Soloist: Lucia Popp, Samuel Ramey Orchestra: The London Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Sir Georg Solti

    • Marriage of Figaro.
    • Decca.
  • Mikis Theodorakis

    Echo mia agape (I have a love)

    • Politia A and Politia B.
    • EMI.
  • Book Choice

    • Being and Time - Martin Heidegger

  • Luxury Choice

    • A video of a day in the life of his family

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Raymond Tallis

Broadcasts

  • Sun 25 Mar 2007 11:15
  • Fri 30 Mar 2007 09:00

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