Andy McNab on Desert Island Discs

[Dave Farrant]

Being an old fogey I was listening to Radio 4 this morning and heard that next Sunday Andy McNab will be on Desert Island Discs!

Sunday 9th January (Repeated Friday 9.00am)
11:15am Desert Island Discs
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is former SAS soldier turned author Andy McNab.

What do you think his Luxury would be?

Big Knife/Beverage of some kind/Typewriter???

And what about the Book?

Any suggestions?

Should be a good listen anyway.

 

[Andy]

A woman

IIRC he has at least three ex wives and that was only up till bravo two zero

 

[Dave Farrant]

Sorry Sue Lawley would not allow it!

 

[Ahjno]

Sounds great! :biggthump

Do you have a frequency, so I can tune in on my worldreceiver??

Cheers,

 

[Dave Farrant]

The World service is on...
MW 648 24, SW 6.195
But I don't know if you can get it where you are or if the programme schedule is the same.
You could look on the BBC Website.
:biggthump

 

[Ahjno]

Thanks Dave :biggthump

I'll check it on their website!

Cheers,

 

[Great Pebble]

Ahh.. this should be interesting, I take it it's the postponed show, due to air while Ken Bigley was being held.

Will be interesting to hear what "McNab" said that was worthy of a ban. I've heard it alleged that it was simply because he mentioned knives....

 

[Dave Farrant]

I was not aware that this was a delayed/banned piece. Maybe it was edited?

 

[Dave Farrant]

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the former SAS soldier turned author Andy McNab.

After being abandoned as a baby he was adopted and was brought up in the Peckham area of South London. A life of minor crime followed until he joined the infantry with the Royal Green Jackets in 1976 progressing to the SAS. In the Gulf War, McNab commanded the Bravo Two Zero patrol, given the task of destroying underground communication links in Iraq and mobile Scud launchers. Three of the eight man patrol were killed, one escaped and four were taken prisoner by the Iraqis and tortured over a six week period. He's been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and the Military Medal and was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he left the SAS in 1993.

His book Bravo Two Zero became a bestseller and this was followed by his autobiography Immediate Action. Since then he's published seven novels about a former soldier who then works for British Intelligence.




1.Should I Stay or Should I go
Performer The Clash

2.In the Air Tonight
Performer Phil Collins

3.Sweet Thing
Performer David Bowie

4.Baggy Trousers
Performer Madness

5.Battle March Medley
Performer The Pogues

6 Mirza Part 2
Performer Panjabi MC

7.Californication
Performer Red Hot Chilli Peppers

8.The Swan from The Carnival of Animals
Performer Ensemble musique oblique
Composer Saint Saens

Record: Sweet Thing-David Bowie
Book: Any Dickens book
Luxury: A gollock


What is a gollock?

:yikes:

 

[Great Pebble]

A large machete type thingy.
Think that was the postponed show and the choice of luxury the reason.
They can be quite sensitive at the Beeb.

 

[beachlover]

Isn't it repeated sometime?
Just checked and it's a yes - 0900 on Friday coming.

 

[tenbears10]

I thought it was a good program. He was an interesting bloke. Also a multimillionaire now. On his fifth wife now Andy.

Beachlover It is the only program in the list on bbci which you can't listen to again don't know why that is.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/progs/listenagain.shtml

Bill

 

[EdS]

The BBC don't own the right to the programme.

They belong to the family of bloke that thought it up/ first presented it. Huge Plumley or some thing.

 

[Dave Farrant]

So did anyone listen to this?

 

[Moonraker]

It was interesting enough. But as Sue Lawley commented on, he was very adept at 'guiding the interview' at which he agreed, wryly

Pretty amazing life story, from being abandoned as a baby to multi-millionaire. He seemed comfortable talking about all aspects of his life, from ' having to clean a latrine with his bare hands and lick them clean, and being tortured with cigarette lighters'; to listening to 'Californication' by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers (one of his choices) during filming on the USA of one of his books (I assume) in the back of a stretch limo, sipping a drink and thinking to himself something like " this is all right John!"


It was not one of the better DID as he did control his emotion so it was convivial without letting much out.

The reason his appearance on Desert Island Discs was suddenly pulled, was apparently because the BBC judged that a discussion with Sue Lawley about hostage-taking might be upsetting in the wake of the kidnapping of the CARE director Margaret Hassan in Iraq(the British citizen, from Iraq married to an British husband who was later executed on video)

There was an interesting article in The Independent' last year. One part I thought gave a good feel from where his writing comes from:

McNab was, one assumes, never involved in an attempt to assassinate Mladic; but one also assumes that he has spent days on end lying flat in a camouflaged scrape in a padded sniper-suit, defecating into plastic bags and feeling his body-heat being sapped by the cold earth. He talks a lot about getting the sensory details right - smells, tastes, physical sensations.

When he started writing Bravo Two-Zero, his agent advised him to read Touching the Void, Joe Simpson's gruelling tale of bare survival in the Andes, and that became "the template, the Bible". He says that "The things that come out for me from it, number one, it's as if he's talking to you, so he's in a pub and he's telling you a story... so it's at you. Number two, you have got the cold and pain, all those sensations."

If you have read Joe Simpson's book or saw the film you can see how it influenced him.

The article is here:

Andy McNab: The hidden face of war

Finally he chose the Gollock to take to the Desert Island. In fact I think he referred to it as a machete and something like 'what the army call god' because it is an indispensable tool. Sue Lawley said he really should not have it as it was too practical and not a luxury as is the rule ( actually, 'a luxury which must be inanimate and have no practical use'). He just gave a small chuckle and said he would use it to build a shelter to relax in

And BTW EdS, the programme creators name was Roy Plomley, unless you know something I don't

 

[beachlover]

Beachlover It is the only program in the list on bbci which you can't listen to again don't know why that is. Bill

Mea culpa. Well, me and the sloe gin!

 

[Dave Farrant]

I thought the whole show was a little stilted, though still enjoyable. :biggthump

The comment saying
"he was very adept at 'guiding the interview'"
Said a lot about what was going on.

As far as the Gollock was concerned
Sue Lawley said he really should not have it as it was too practical and not a luxury. Then she let him have it anyway. :shock:

Maybe she was "told" to be careful how she spoke to him (He did admit to still being available for a job if the price was right. :yikes: ) If it was me I would have let him have whatever he wanted.

I still can't work out why it is not available on "listen again" on the BBC. :?:

 

[Moonraker]

I thought the whole show was a little stilted, though still enjoyable. :biggthump

The comment saying
"he was very adept at 'guiding the interview'"
Said a lot about what was going on.

As far as the Gollock was concerned
Sue Lawley said he really should not have it as it was too practical and not a luxury. Then she let him have it anyway. :shock:

Maybe she was "told" to be careful how she spoke to him (He did admit to still being available for a job if the price was right. :yikes: ) If it was me I would have let him have whatever he wanted.

I still can't work out why it is not available on "listen again" on the BBC. :?:

For the reason Bill gave I believe:

http://www.bushcraftuk.net/community/showpost.php?p=62923&postcount=13

The copyright belongs not the the BBC but to the estate of Roy Plomley who created the series in the 40's. Hence why they can not provide it for Listen Again.