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Sir Antony Beevor

Sir Antony Beevor, historian, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is military historian, Sir Antony Beevor. His books about some of the key battles of the Second World War are best-sellers and have been credited with reinvigorating the whole genre. There was little indication of this future success while he was boarder at Winchester public school where he failed to pass either his History or his English A levels.

During the five years he spent in the army, including two years at Sandhurst for officer training, he studied history under the great military historian, John Keegan. On deciding he wanted to be a writer, his first three novels had limited success, and he was encouraged by his publishers to draw on his experience of army life and turn his talents to military history.

His ground-breaking work Stalingrad was based on what he discovered in the Russian military archives and won him the Samuel Johnson Prize, the Wolfson Prize for History and the Hawthornden Prize. In his book Berlin: the Downfall 1945, he wrote about the mass rapes of German women committed by the Red Army at the end of the war. He was knighted in the 2017 New Year honours list. He is married to the writer Artemis Cooper.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Available now

38 minutes

Last on

Fri 24 Feb 2017 09:00
ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Clips

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Music Played

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Antonio Vivaldi

      Concerto in C major RV 537

      Performer: Crispian Steele‐Perkins. Performer: Alison Balsom. Performer: The Parley of Instruments.
      • The FamΒ’d Italian Masters.
      • Hyperion.

  • Blondie

    Union City Blue

    • Blondie: Greatest Hits.
    • EMI.

  • Jeremiah Clarke

    Trumpet Voluntary

    Performer: Philip Jones Brass Ensemble.
    • Music From the Court of Queen Margarethe II.
    • Classico.

  • Michael Haydn

    The Regimental Slow March of the Royal Hussars: Β‘CoburgΒ’

    Performer: The Regimental Band of the Royal Hussars. Conductor: Sergeant Major Michael Davidson.
    • The Regimental Band of The Royal Hussars.
    • Bandleader Military.

  • FrΓ©dΓ©ric Chopin

    Concerto No. 1 in E minor, Op. 11

    Performer: Elizabeth Sombart. Performer: Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Pierre Vallet.
    • The Art of Chopin: The Piano Concertos.
    • Fondation RΓ©sonnance.

  • Blondie

    Dreaming

    • Blondie: Greatest Hits.
    • EMI.

  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Mandolin Concerto in C major RV 425

    Performer: Christian Schneider. Performer: Danielle Meyer. Orchestra: Ensemble Instrumental de Grenoble. Conductor: Kurt Redel.
    • Vivaldi: Concertos for Mandolin.
    • Forlane.

  • Joseph Haydn

    Trumpet Concerto in E flat

    Performer: Alison Balsom. Performer: The Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen (Bremen German Chamber Philharmonic). Conductor: Thomas Klug.
    • Trumpet Concertos.
    • EMI Classics.

  • BOOK CHOICE

    Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

  • LUXURY ITEM

    A fishing rod and tackle

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Antony Beevor
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Broadcasts

  • Sun 19 Feb 2017 11:15
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 24 Feb 2017 09:00
    ΒιΆΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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