Jack Vettriano

Jack Vettriano

Author: BBC Radio 4 March 28, 2004 Duration: 34:12

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Jack Vettriano.

Jack Vettriano is the painter of Britain's most popular work of art. More than a million prints and posters have been sold of his work The Singing Butler since the original was bought for just over £4,500 in 1991. It shows a glamorous couple dancing on the beach while a maid and butler hold umbrellas over their heads to shield them from the rain. The original is due to go under the hammer, once again, in April and this time is expected to fetch hundreds of thousands of pounds. Vettriano has enjoyed painting since he was in his 20s after a girlfriend gave him a set of watercolours. But he did not devote himself full time to art until the late 1980s when he was nearly 40. Since then, his rise has been meteoric and the public have clamoured both for his romantic, nostalgic views of a world gone by and for his far darker works that depict the sexual tensions between men and women.

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

Favourite track: Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan Book: SUMO by Helmut Newton Luxury: Triptych, May - June 1973 by Francis Bacon


The Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005 podcast opens a unique window into a pivotal era, drawing from the BBC Radio 4 archives. This isn't just a collection of interviews about music; it's a deeply personal exploration of life, ambition, and memory through the voices of the early 21st century. Each episode presents a guest from this period-be they an artist, a politician, a scientist, or an activist-facing the program's enduring and revealing premise: selecting the eight pieces of music they would take if stranded alone. The conversation that unfolds around these choices is where the magic happens. The host gently guides them from their selections into stories of childhood influences, career-defining moments, personal triumphs, and profound losses. You'll hear the crackle of a vinyl record lead into a confession, or a symphony cue a tale of resilience. Listening to this podcast feels like uncovering a time capsule of cultural and emotional history, where a pop song can explain a political stance and a classical adagio can frame a love story. It’s an intimate study of character and a testament to how the soundtrack of our lives shapes our identity. These archived conversations, preserved in this podcast, remain compelling because they bypass the superficial, using music as the key to unlock genuine human experience.
Author: Language: English Episodes: 100

Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005
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