Hello I'm Kirstie Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

The program was originally broadcast in 1981 and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. Our castaway this week is a Scott, he's a farmer, a soldier, a first-rate golfer, and a leading politician. In fact, he's the Home Secretary

and he's member for Penrith and the border, the right honourable William Whitelaw.

Mr Whitelaw, can you think of one thing you would be particularly happy to have got away from in your

isolation?

No, I actually can't, for the curious reason that I do enjoy being with people.

I simply hate being alone. Nothing I hate more.

Right. How much does music mean in your life?

Well it's meant more as time has gone on. Initially I didn't think much of it. I not musical I can't sing in fact my family say

under no circumstances must I ever open my mouth and indeed I open my mouth for the

national anthem on popular cases but very little noise ever comes out.

Is there a musical member of the family or wife for one of your daughters?

My father was musical, so I understand he was killed in the first war but also my family have some music

and written them but none of my children were musical none of my four girls nobody

else and quite suddenly my granddaughter now age 13 is very musical.

Do you ever play discs yourself?

Yes I do.

And the more I live, the more I enjoy and the more I find the relaxation of music

and therefore I do play quite a lot now.

Was there any kind of guiding principle that you adopted in choosing your eight records for solitude?

Yes, I said at the start that I hated being left alone and I made up my mind that the only

thing I could then do was to have records which would remind me of people and of many

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