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Christopher Frayling

Sue Lawley's castaway is Rector of the Royal College of Art Christopher Frayling.

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is Professor Sir Christopher Frayling the Rector of the Royal College of Art and a champion of popular culture. He was born into an affluent family living in London. His father, Major Arthur Frayling, was a successful furrier, and his mother was fascinated by the arts and cars - she won the RAC Rally in 1952. At six he was sent to boarding school, which he hated, and it was there that he developed his life long love of film acting and design. He studied history at Cambridge and did a doctorate on Jean Jacques Rosseau and the French Revolution. He fought his father's ambitions for him to enter advertising and chose an academic career path, becoming a lecturer at the Universities of Exeter and Bath in the 1970s. At that time he worked on the programme The World at War and he's since become an accomplished broadcaster known for his work on Radio 4. He won an award at the New York Film and Television Festival for a six-part Channel 4 series about advertising called The Art of Persuasion.

He's published 13 books to date with an eclectic range of titles from spaghetti westerns to The Face of Tutankhamun and Clint Eastwood - a critical biography. As well as being Rector of the Royal College of Art, Sir Christopher is also the longest serving Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and is Chairman of the Design Council.

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

Favourite track: Il Triello by Ennio Morricone
Book: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Luxury: V & A Museum

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 7 Nov 2003 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Ian Dury

    Reasons To Be Cheerful Part 3

    • The Very Best of Ian Dury & The Blockheads.
    • EMI.

  • Royal Scots Grey Band

    Gypsy Love Selection

    Artist: F W Frayling - PRIVATE TAPE

  • Audrey Hepburn

    Moon River

    • Music from the films of Audrey Hepburn.
    • Giant.

  • Kurt Weill

    Ballad of Mack the Knife (from The Threepenny Opera)

    Orchestra: State Opera Orchestra Berlin Conductor: O. Klemperer

    • Die Kroll-Jahre.
    • Symposium.

  • Jean-Jacques Rousseau

    J'ai perdu tout mon bonheur

    Soloist: Ana Maria Miranda Orchestra: Orchestra de chambre

    • Le Devin du Village.
    • Arion.

  • Howard Davidson

    Title music from The Face of Tutankanum

    • Clockwise Music.
    • Boosey & Hawkes.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Ennio Morricone

      Il Triello

      Orchestra: Orchestra U.M.R. Unione Musicisti di Roma

      • Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo.
      • GDM.

  • Gabriel FaurΓ©

    Cantique de Jean Racine

    Orchestra: Cbso Conductor: Louis Fremaux

    • Faure Requiem.
    • EMI.

  • Book Choice

    • Don Quixote - Miguel de Cervantes

  • Luxury Choice

    • V & A Museum

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Christopher Frayling

Broadcasts

  • Sun 2 Nov 2003 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 7 Nov 2003 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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