As you appreciate, it's difficult to have detailed recall of all the
castaways but I certainly remember meeting your father. He was rising 91
at the time and I recall he wanted to know all the questions I might ask
him in advance so that he could be properly prepared. This was difficult
(and indeed didn't happen) because his life was so varied and long that
it was impossible to know, until we talked, which areas he might be most
entertaining about.
He boasted, justifiably, that he had had seven
careers in all. But he was undoubtedly strongest, I felt, on the vast
breadth of events that he had witnessed - from seeing soldiers marching
off to war in 1914 (his memory of the Ist WW was vivid), to meeting
President Truman and, at another point, entertaining the Duke of
Edinburgh! But there were jokes too - how he only played cricket once at
Sedburgh School but went bird watching instead. Of his eight records, I
recall most clearly his choosing "Der Vogelfanger bin ich ja" from
Mozart's Magic Flute. He told me it reminded him of birdwaitching with his
great friend, the distinguished naturalist Ludwig Koch - it was Koch's
favourite tune, he said.
Looking through my research notes, I see that he talked admiringly about
his parents - their influence was vital, he said. "I'm a great believer
in heredity - I think we exaggerate the importance of individual
personalities - essentially each of us is just carrying on someone
else's line of genes."
I come across another quote about his time at the Ministry of Shipping
during the war and having to travel between Europe and the United
States: "One minute I would be in the world of black-outs and rationing
and next I'd be in a country where the steaks fell over the edges of the
plates and the lights were on all day and night. I oscillated between
two worlds."
He talked about how astonished he was that Prince Philip wanted to
become involved with the WWF. "He'd been getting fed up with inspecting
factories and so a friend of mine told him he'd have the perfect excuse
for getting out of it all if he was prepared to learn a bit about
ornithology. And he leapt at it!.
He also talked about excluding reptile skins from a WWF resolution at
one point because the Queen of The Netherlands came up to him in tears
because she wouldn't be able to use her lovely new crocodile handbag
again! "So we came to her rescue - for a time. All these royals were a
Godsend!"
He was modest and only ambitious for the greater good. He told me:
"Talking to me is an incidental proceloss on the way to doing something.
But if it's an end in itself, I have no time for it. I
don't regard myself as personally ambitious. Gongs mean very little to
me. All my life is about improving, learning and understanding - and
then applying that understanding to correct the many horrible things I
see in the world"
See also the transcript of the broadcast of Max on Desert Island Discs
