Desert Island Discs

[shane]

Seeing Alex's post about The Music Group on Radio 4 reminded me, the BBC have a new website for Desert Island Discs, which lists every guests' choice since the programme began in 1948, and alows you to listen to the most recent 500 episodes.

Fascinating stuff! http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs

[Tim]

Seeing Alex's post about The Music Group on Radio 4 reminded me, the BBC have a new website for Desert Island Discs, which lists every guests' choice since the programme began in 1948, and alows you to listen to the most recent 500 episodes.

Fascinating stuff! http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs
Wow, back to 1948 :stalks: I'm off over there now, thanks for the link :thumbsup:

[Alex_UK]

Fantastic site, Shane - thanks for that.

[Thing Fish]

Sweet. What a brilliant site. You can even listen to them.

[Alex_UK]

I found the Betty Driver (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/4c524fd7#b00xp1fc) one fascinating when it was first broadcast - tragic, at the same time - but what a magnificent lady she is. Well worth a listen - I promise...

[Alex_UK]

PS Dave (Thing Fish) - my little girl thinks your new Avatar is hilarious - me, I'm a little freaked-out if I'm honest, but very good nonetheless! ;)

[Thing Fish]

I hope she doesnt have nightmares...:wowzer:

[MartinT]

the BBC have a new website for Desert Island Discs

Thank you for that - until recently it was virtually impossible to access the DID back catalogue.

[Neil McCauley]

Here’s a link to one of my now deceased customers on the BBC DiD site. A charming man. Although fascinated by technology, his love of music was even greater. Thus his musically state-of-the-art audio system contained nothing from Linn nor NAIM. Obviously he saw through all the bullshit and hype. Speakers were Magneplanar Tympani IV.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/1d016bb1#p0093qxj

[MartinT]

Wow - Ligeti's Requiem is a masterpiece. Who would have thought the same man who created the invasion force that got swallowed by a small dog - due to a massive error in scale - would have listened to that music? Amazing.

[Neil McCauley]

Here’s a link to another of my now deceased customers on the BBC DiD site. And yes, he too was a charming man. He gently and patiently expanded my classical music horizons beyond the ‘popularist’. I was grateful then, and I remain so.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/d6db08e5#p009mvbs

He was a meticulous listener. And at that time only to vinyl. He compared an up to date Linn LP12 with Ittok and Supex SD 901 to a Logic DM-101 with identical arm and cartridge. Then we compared two Linns, one with Ittok and the other with a Zeta. He preferred the Ittok. The 901 was compared to the Asak, both using an Ittok on an LP12. The Asak was tolerated by him for less than half of one track. He opined that anyone who attended live opera could never have thought the Asak was a serious contender!

Preamp was a Meridian 101/b with special module customised for the Supex 901 with a very slightly rising top-end engineered in to compensate for the (then) slightly recessed top end of the ATC SCM-50s he bought from me.

As an aside, he was in the main utterly delighted with the tonal quality of the reproduction. He loved the sound of the Logic DM-101 particularly. Nevertheless, he and I both concluded that curiously the overall sound in the voice region was just a bit muffled after about 3 years of use.

Eventually, on a whim and on my part desperation I decided with his agreement to remove the wool damping inside the ATC carcasses. We removed what at the time I felt, but didn’t say (but he did) was about two entire sheep’s worth! For both he and I the sound improved in vocal credibility terms rather significantly. My understanding is that he continued using this system until his sad and painful death.