Author Archives: The Voice

To finish our special presentation today, here’s a reprise of our post on the complete Charles Kennedy Desert Island Discs appearance.

The BBC’s Desert Island Discs has a wonderful archive of most of their past programmes. Charles Kennedy appeared on the show on Sunday 26th October 2003, in conversation with Sue Lawley. It’s a fascinating dialogue, with some very searching questions from Ms Lawley and excellent answers from Charles.

You can listen to the programme on the BBC’s Radio Player here. And here’s what the BBC said about the programme:

On Desert Island Discs, Charles Kennedy chose, as his one disc to take onto the island, his father, Ian Kennedy, playing “The Cameron Highlanders”. We were unable to find that version of the tune, so posted a version by someone else earlier. To make up for that, here’s two clips of Charles’ father, Ian, playing the fiddle.

Firstly, here’s Ian Kennedy from 2011, introducing and playing “The Dark Island”

Here are a few available clips of Charles Kennedy on Have I got news for you.

Firstly, this was when he presented the show in 2002, courtesy of the Guardian:

As a mark of respect, today we’re devoting the site to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

Disc number eight is Toploader and “Dancing in the moonlight”. Charles recalled going with Sarah to a pop concert at Buckingham Palace for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee. Toploader came out, he said, and sang “Dancing in the moonlight” and “the whole place just took off – it’s just a very happy memory of something that we really enjoyed – and it’s a good song.”

Bless the BBC. They’ve put together this fantastic selection of clips from Charles Kennedy’s incredible 42 – yes 42 – appearances on Question Time. It’s well worth a watch.

As a mark of respect, today we’re devoting the site to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

On the programme, Charles mentioned that he preferred the Rolling Stones to the Beatles, as he introduced Mick Jagger and gang with “Waiting on a friend”.

As a mark of respect, today we’re devoting the site to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

Disc number five: “Praise my soul, the king of heaven”, which Charles’ fondly recalled being sung at his wedding to Sarah. He said that Sarah and him were standing at the altar and the congregation of their family and friends “just went full whack” singing this as the opening hymn. He said it sends a “tremor” down his spine everytime he hears it.

Below the video we have reproduced the words of this hymn. They were written by Henry.F.Lyte.

As a mark of respect, today we’re devoting the site to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

Disc number four is “Fly me to the moon” by Frank Sinatra. Charles said about it: “When I’m carried out of the church in a box one day this is what I’d like to be played”. The song also brought up the subject of astronomy, as Charles was a very keen astronomer.

This seems very appropriate indeed for today. As part of our tributes, here is a video prepared for Charles’ election campaign in April this year. The accompanying text reads:

Over the last thirty years, Charles has fought hard to stand up for the Highlands. On a local, national and international stage. He has fought to protect local services and bring in investment to create jobs.

He has worked hard to deliver more devolution to Scotland and to the Highlands and over 30 years, Charles has helped tens of thousands of people with their problems. Everyone knows someone Charles has helped and he is the best person to stand up for the Highlands in Westminster.

As a mark of respect, today we’re devoting the site to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

Disc number three is ‘Vissi d’arte’ from Tosca, sung by Maria Callas with Paris Conservatoire

As a mark of respect, today we’ll devote the site, among other Charles Kennedy related things, to playing Charles Kennedy’s Desert Island Discs in hourly portions.

Here is his first choice of “The Cameron Highlanders”. Charles chose a recording of his father, Ian Kennedy, playing the tune. We could only find a version by the Fradley Fiddler. We’ll make up for this with a bonus musical offering at the end of the eight discs.