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Professor Ralf Dahrendorf

Sue Lawley's castaway is former German Foreign Affairs Minister Professor Ralf Dahrendorf.

The castaway in Desert Island Discs is a German politician who became an English academic. The Germany of Professor Ralf Dahrendorf's youth was that of the Third Reich but he, like his family, was fiercely opposed to the Nazi regime, and suffered imprisonment for his views. After the war, his career took him from Minister of Foreign Affairs under Willi Brandt, to the European Commission in Brussels, and then to London, where he was Director of the London School of Economics during a particularly turbulent era of its history.

He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his academic and political career as well as his formative years in Germany; years which he believes shaped his subsequent stern and much-admired defence of libertarian principles.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Blueberry Hill by Louis Armstrong
Book: A book of Greek poetry
Luxury: Dice to test the luck of a ship rescuing him

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 8 Feb 1991 09:05
±«Óătv Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Lotte Lenya

    Surabaya Johnny

    • Berlin & American Theatre Songs.
    • CBS.

  • The German Workers

    Wann Wir Schreiten

    • Vorwarts & Nicht Vergessen-Speakers.
    • Eterna.

  • Joan Baez

    For Sasha

    • Honest Lullaby/Joan Baez.
    • Portrait.

  • Sidney Bechet

    Basin Street Blues

    • Sidney Bechet/ Jazz At Storyville.
    • Black Lion.

  • Django Reinhardt & StĂ©phane Grappelli

    Night And Day

    • Swing From Paris.
    • ASV.

  • George Gershwin

    Summertime (from Porgy & Bess)

    Soloist: Harolyn Blackwell Orchestra: The London Philharmonic Orchestra

    • Gershwin: Porgy & Bess.
    • EMI.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Louis Armstrong

      Blueberry Hill

      • Louis Armstrong/Golden Greats.
      • MCA.

  • L Statham

    Pipers Lament

    Soloist: Solo Bagpipe

    • Great Britain!/ Mood Music.
    • Weinberger.

  • Book Choice

    • A book of Greek poetry

  • Luxury Choice

    • Dice to test the luck of a ship rescuing him

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Professor Ralf Dahrendorf

Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Feb 1991 12:15
    ±«Óătv Radio 4
  • Fri 8 Feb 1991 09:05
    ±«Óătv Radio 4

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