Barbara Hosking
Michael Berkeley’s guest is 92-year-old civil servant Barbara Hosking. With music by Elgar, Strauss, Schubert and Britten.
Barbara Hosking was born above her father’s dairy in Penzance, back in the 1920s, and ended up in the corridors of power serving two British prime ministers. Two years ago, at the age of 90, she decided to come out as gay, which, she says, is the best thing she’s ever done.
Barbara Hosking talks to Michael Berkeley about moving from Cornwall to a new world in London after the War, meeting Eastern European emigres and discovering lesbian clubs where women could dance together openly. All sorts of women were there, from the posh to the very poor, from “respectable” women to prostitutes. Despite her early Labour party affiliation, she found herself working for Edward Heath, whom she admired greatly, and who she persuaded not to wear a terrible old cardigan when he was conducting with the London Symphony Orchestra. She talks too about finding happiness late in life with her partner Margaret.
Music choices include Edward Heath conducting Elgar, Strauss’s opera Ariadne Auf Naxos, Schubert’s Winterreise, and Britten’s Billy Budd. And a love song in Yiddish, a language she taught herself and which she loves.
Producer: Elizabeth Burke
A Loftus production for ѿý Radio 3
Last on
Music Played
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Malcolm Arnold
The Padstow Lifeboat
Performer: Grimethorpe Colliery Band. -
Camille Saint‐Saëns
L'amour viens aider ma faiblesse (Samson et Dalila)
Orchestra: Orchestra of La Scala, Milan. Conductor: Georges Prêtre. Singer: Shirley Verrett. -
Jacob Jacobs
Bei mir bistu shein
Ensemble: Budapest Klezmer Band. -
Richard Strauss
Grossmaechtige Prinzessin (Ariadne auf Naxos)
Orchestra: Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. Conductor: Kurt Masur. Singer: Edita Gruberová. -
Edward Elgar
Cockaigne Overture
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Edward Heath. -
Franz Schubert
Der Leiermann (Winterreise)
Performer: Anna Tilbrook. Singer: James Gilchrist. -
Benjamin Britten
Epilogue (Billy Budd)
Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra. Conductor: Richard Hickox. Singer: Philip Langridge.
Broadcasts
- Sun 5 May 2019 12:00ѿý Radio 3
- Sun 22 Nov 2020 12:00ѿý Radio 3
Podcast
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Private Passions
Guests from all walks of life discuss their musical loves and hates