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Ian McMillan

Poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan joins Kirsty Young to choose his Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan.

Thirty years ago he was working in a factory gluing together tennis ball halves. Then he got a grant, chucked in his job and devoted himself to writing and performing.

These days he's known as the Bard of Barnsley and his appeal stretches from the terraces of his local football club to the balcony of the London Coliseum... he is poet in residence at both Barnsley FC and the English National Opera...

He still lives in the village where he was born and he considers and analyses British culture from his very particular vantage point in south Yorkshire.

He says: "You can do the universal in the local, I always think. You can see all the changes that have happened all over the world in the 20th and 21st centuries in microcosm."

Producer: Leanne Buckle

Record: 4' 33" - John Cage
Book: The Long and The Short of It: Poems 1955-2005 by Roy Fisher
Luxury: A tandem bike with wooden models of his family on the front.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 12 Nov 2010 09:00

Music Played

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis

    Artist: Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Herbert Von Karajan

    • Herbert Von Karajan/Philharmonia Orchestra: Handel….
    • EMI.
  • Andy Stewart

    Donald Where's Your Troosers?

    Composer: Stewart/Grant

    • The Andy Stewart Collection: 20 Scottish favourites.
    • Music for Pleasure.
  • Doris Day

    The Black Hills of Dakota

    Composer: S Fain/P F Webster

    • A Portrait of Doris Day.
    • Stylus.
  • Love

    Alone Again Or

    Composer: Bryan MacLean

    • Forever Changes.
    • Elektra.
  • Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

    Moonlight on Vermont

    Composer: Captain Beefheart

    • Trout Mask Replica: Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band.
    • Reprise.
  • Bing Crosby

    White Christmas

    Composer: Irving Berlin

    • Bing Crosby: The Best of Bing Crosby.
    • MCA.
  • Leonard Bernstein

    Rhapsody in Blue

    Composer: George Gershwin

    • Gershwin:Rhapsody: Bernstein.
    • CBS.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • John Cage

      4'33"

      Artist: Amadinda Percussion Group

      • Amadinda Percussion Group: Works by Varese, Chavez & Cage.
      • Hungaroton.
  • Book Choice

    • The Long and the Short of it: Poems 1955-2005 - Roy Fisher

  • Luxury Choice

    • a tandem bike with wooden models of his family at the front

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Ian McMillan

Broadcasts

  • Sun 7 Nov 2010 11:15
  • Fri 12 Nov 2010 09:00

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