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Professor James Fenton

Sue Lawley's castaway is poet and writer Professor James Fenton.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the poet and writer James Fenton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life as a boy chorister, the death of his mother when he was just 10 and about his experiences as a foreign correspondent. It was in this capacity that he travelled with the Viet Cong when they captured Saigon, and fled from the Khmer Rouge when they entered Phnom Penh.

He has also worked as a political and literary journalist and as a theatre critic. He'll be ruminating on the joys of his present incarnation as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

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

Favourite track: Requiem Dies Irae by Giuseppe Verdi
Book: Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri
Luxury: Snorkel, mask and harpoon

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 7 Oct 1994 09:05
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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Mary Stott

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Jeanette Winterson

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Music Played

  • John Gay

    Fill Every Glass (The Beggar's Opera)

    Orchestra: The Broadside Band

    • Gay: The Beggar's Opera/The Broadside Band.
    • Harmonia Mundi France.

  • George Frideric Handel

    Let the bright Seraphim (from Samson)

    Soloist: Wynton Marsalis, Kathleen Battle Orchestra: Orchestra Of St Lukes Conductor: John Nelson

    • Classic Songs - Take 2 More Instrumental Hits.
    • Sony Classical.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Geistliches Wiegenlied, Op. 91/2

    Soloist: Phyllis Spurr, Kathleen Ferrier, Max Gilbert

    • Kathleen Ferrier: Works By Brahms And Mahler.
    • Decca.

  • Jessye Norman

    There Is A Man Going Around

    • The Jessye Norman Collection.
    • Philips.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Giuseppe Verdi

      Dies irae (from Requiem Mass)

      Choir: Ernst-Senff Choir Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Conductor: Carlo Maria Giulini

      • Verdi Requiem/Carlo Maria Giulini.
      • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Nahum Tate

    While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks

    Choir: Taverner Choir & Players Conductor: John Parrott

    • The Christmas Album - Parrott.
    • EMI.

  • William Shakespeare

    Fear no more the heat o' the sun (from Cymbeline)

    Artist: Edith Evans

    • The Voice Of Poetry.
    • Columbia.

  • Martyn Hill & Graham Johnson

    A Chloris

    • Reynaldo Hahn: Songs - Martyn Hill & Graham Johnson.
    • Hyperion.

  • Book Choice

    • Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri

  • Luxury Choice

    • Snorkel, mask and harpoon

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Professor James Fenton

Broadcasts

  • Sun 2 Oct 1994 12:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 7 Oct 1994 09:05
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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