Desert Island Discs Revisited: Lost Gems - Dudley Moore CBE

DESERT ISLAND DISCS REVISITED: LOST GEMS - DUDLEY MOORE CBE (320kbs-m4a/67mb/29mins)
BBC Radio 4 Extra broadcast: 25th December 2022

From Blood, Sweat & Tears to Ludwig van Beethoven.

Comedian, composer, pianist and actor Dudley Moore shares his castaway choices with Roy Plomley.

Born in Dagenham, Essex, Dudley recalls how his gift for music won him an organ scholarship to Oxford's Magdalen College. He left in 1958 as an accomplished jazz pianist, performing with Johnny Dankworth and touring the US for a year with the Vic Lewis band.

On his return, he met the late Peter Cook and was asked to join the Edinburgh Festival comedy revue, Beyond The Fringe in 1960. Also starring Alan Bennett and Jonathan Miller, the extended show went on to run for four years in London's West End and on Broadway in New York.

Dudley explains how his partnership with Peter led to the creation of their classic characters Dud and Pete for BBC TV. Writing film scores also kept him busy.

Dudley Moore went on to pursue a successful career in Hollywood, starring in a number of hit screen comedies. Most memorably he played alongside Bo Derek in the movie 10 in 1979. His role as a hard-drinking millionaire in 1981's Arthur won him an Oscar nomination.

By the late 1990s, Moore endured a number of illnesses – developing the rare condition Progressive Supranuclear Palsy. He revealed how the affliction sadly robbed him of his greatest pleasure - his ability to play music.

Married and divorced four times, Dudley Moore was awarded a CBE in 2001.

Born in 1935, he died aged 66 in 2002.

BOOK CHOICE - Study of psychology
LUXURY CHOICE - Piano
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE - Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 in E flat major, Op. 55 "Eroica" Philharmonia Orchestra (Conductor: Otto Klemperer)

Producer: Ronald Cook

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 1969.

Maria Stader And Hertha Topper With The Munich Bach Orchestra - Bach's Mass In B Minor
Blood, Sweat & Tears - Spinning Wheel
Kathleen Ferrier With The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (Conductor: Bruno Walter) - Mahler's Nun seh' ich wohl, warum so dunkle Flammen (from Kindertotenlieder)
Dudley Moore - Little Miss Britten
Duke Ellington And His Orchestra - Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue
Pro Arte Quartet - Webern's Bagatelles For String Quartet
Dudley Moore - Lilian Lust (from Bedazzled)
Philharmonia Orchestra (Conductor: Otto Klemperer) - Beethoven's Symphony No. 3 In E Flat Major, Op. 55 "Eroica"