Private Passions

[Northender]

The man surely needs a series -- we might even hear him singing Siegfried!

..or 'Climb Every Mountain'. (He'd have no trouble keeping 7 children in order)

[Mary Chambers]

I find his voice (not what he says) irritating in the extreme, but I enjoyed his choices and his reasons for them.

[aka Calum Da Jazbo]

i failed his first sentence getting too irritated at about 3' 50" and turned the radio off ....... the ensuing silence was blessed .....

[Richard Tarleton]

Heard a bit in the car as he was talking about Branwell Bronte, his father weeping, and Sibelius 2 - there was a connection but not sure what. I was trying to picture the expression on Michael Berkeley's face while this was going on.

His 3 greatest TV roles (Z Cars apart) - Porthos, Reuben Starkadder and chairing HIGNFY.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

His 3 greatest TV roles (Z Cars apart) - Porthos, Reuben Starkadder and chairing HIGNFY.

I'd (readily) swap the noisy self-parodic self-indulgencies of the HIGNfY appearence for his Augustus in Hi, Claudius!

[amateur51]

Heard a bit in the car as he was talking about Branwell Bronte, his father weeping, and Sibelius 2 - there was a connection but not sure what. I was trying to picture the expression on Michael Berkeley's face while this was going on.

His 3 greatest TV roles (Z Cars apart) - Porthos, Reuben Starkadder and chairing HIGNFY.

I'd be keen to include his subtle assumption in Flash Gordon

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxaVxF1D0XM

How did 007 get in there?

[aeolium]

I'd (readily) swap the noisy self-parodic self-indulgencies of the HIGNfY appearence for his Augustus in Hi, Claudius!

, fhg. I love the scene where he goes down the line of his daughter's lovers.

[Richard Tarleton]

I'd (readily) swap the noisy self-parodic self-indulgencies of the HIGNfY appearence for his Augustus in Hi, Claudius!

I'd forgotten that.

[Nick Armstrong]

Great programme with Brian Blessed... One struggles to believe some of his stories, as if it were a 1 April edition thick with tall stories: that he was almost recruited by Birgit Nilsson and Nikolai Gedda to become a dramatic tenor, but decided to stick with acting... that he has recently completed 800 hours of training at the Moscow Space Centre and is a fully qualified cosmonaut

All his music choices exactly what one might expect!

[Carmen]

He's bonkers, but in the best possible way. I loved it. If I had been someone who had never heard a piece of classical music, I'd have been a more than willing acolyte. On the other hand, if I'd been someone who'd never heard a piece of classical music, I wouldn't have been listening to "Private Passions". Anyway, what a hoot! And lovely music too.

[Anna]

A little bit of The Blessed Brian goes a very long way when he is in OTT mode. But I loved it (I don't usually listen to PP), his stories were wonderful if slightly of the 'do I really believe that?' variety, but I loved his choice of music. How about he does a Saturday Classics?

[pursuivant]

moving on a few days I like the programme and enjoyed Mark Wallinger today (July 15) but why when ending with a discussion of Whiter Shade of Pale did they merely refer vaaguely to Bach when the thing that really shouts at the listener is that the melody is a direct crib from Poeme by Fibich (with a bit of When a man loves a woman by Percy Sledge thrown in). I like sixties poular music but not when it is stolen from classical composers without acknowledgement.

[JFLL]

moving on a few days I like the programme and enjoyed Mark Wallinger today (July 15) but why when ending with a discussion of Whiter Shade of Pale did they merely refer vaaguely to Bach when the thing that really shouts at the listener is that the melody is a direct crib from Poeme by Fibich (with a bit of When a man loves a woman by Percy Sledge thrown in). I like sixties poular music but not when it is stolen from classical composers without acknowledgement.

But would Procol Harum ever have heard Fibich's Poeme (I certainly haven't) or even heard of Fibich (I hadn't in 1967)? And if not, could A Whiter Shade of Pale really be called a direct crib? (More a case of great minds thinking alike? )

[Richard Tarleton]

But would Procol Harum ever have heard Fibich's Poeme (I certainly haven't) or even heard of Fibich (I hadn't in 1967)? And if not, could A Whiter Shade of Pale really be called a direct crib? (More a case of great minds thinking alike? )

There was a lawsuit about who composed it!

[pursuivant]

But it is worse than you might think because years ago sundry artists certainly knew about Fibich and took hold of his Poeme and sang crass words to it by some hack (whose name I can't be bothered to look up). If you want to be appalled just type in 'Richard Tauber Fibich' and at the top of the list you will find his recording of this monstrosity on you tube. Tauber should have known better but plenty of others did likewise (some of those are on you tube too). Procul Harum's rendition was at least used to create an original sort of number cleverly orchestrated therefore it is easier to forgive them the element of theft because they were creative with the melody.