Britain's Best

Kirsty Young is my first girl crush in an age! 

No one does radio like BBC Radio 4
Yesterday I listened to the latest Desert Island Disc programme, which is now in it's 75 th year!
The velvet voiced Kirsty Young was interviewing the International Welsh rugby referee Nigel Owens.
It was a rollercoaster ride of an interview.
With quiet diligence Young gave Owens space to talk, and boy did he talk!
With incredible candour and emotion, he described the difficulties of accepting his alternative sexuality within a tight knit rural Welsh community and without pulling a punch, shared a somewhat harrowing suicide attempt with a shotgun and a packet of pills on the mountain over looking the family farm.


Owens came out gay to his family and the rugby world soon after and it is a testament to both that he was embraced and supported in his new life.
Rugby men and their supporters seem more accepting than most sports people I think!

It was an inspirational and at times tearful interview.
I wept, standing at the kitchen sink listening to it all.

This track was one of Owen's chosen discs, it's a version of The Sound Of Silence which I have never heard before .
It's wonderfully dramatic even though the lead singer scares the begeebers out of me!
Enjoy!



55 comments:

  1. As a life long Simon and Garfunkel fan I never thought anyone could do The Sound of Silence like they do. Today John you have proved me wrong. That was awesome. Loved it.
    Thank you for sharing.

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  2. I'm going to have to find and listen to that interview! And I'll give the song a listen when I'm not at work.

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  3. Yes, that was a great interview. I started off thinking 'another bloody sportsman', but then changed my mind. Shame about the choice of music, though...

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    1. Yes it went a bit to chaz and dave ( welsh) but I AM WHAT I AM was a rousing finish

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    2. Yes, he had to save the tranny, gay caberet, kareoke number for the end. At least it wasn't, 'I will Survive'.

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    3. I did wince slightly but with a smile

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    4. He is obviously a really kind and caring man to have recounted all that personal stuff in public, and it was even more helpful that he happens to be involved in such a macho sport. He could be forgiven for Whistling Roger Whitaker as far as I am concerned.

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    5. I hated RogerWhitaker and his big paedo beard

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  4. I'm with Sheila--that is the finest Sound of Silence I've heard since the S&G days, when we waved our lighters like all those cell phones. And, I'd give a lot to have that coat. I can imagine the intensity of the interview.

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  5. I'll have a listen to that interview.

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  6. My son introduced me to the music of 'Disturbed' about a year ago, and I love them....I have very eclectic musical tastes!
    Their version of 'Sound of Silence' is amazing, and is frequently on in our car, very, very loudly, nothing silent about it!
    I really like David Draiman's voice, it has a weird but wonderful and very powerful quality.
    He doesn't scare me at all, he seems to be a very nice man. He does have some fairly extreme views regarding the Israel/Palestine problem, but he's the grandson of holocaust survivors, so that may explain some of that.

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  7. So much admiration and gratitude to Owens and those in his circle.

    That's one of the most moving songs I know and a powerful rendition, but why did he have to dress like The Undertaker?!?

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  8. Must be my disfunctioning ears, I prefer Simon and Garfunkel.

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    1. Anonymous6:33 pm

      I am with you two, don't like it at all.

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    2. A very powerful rendition, but I still prefer Simon and Garfunkel.

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  9. i love this guy! i actually posted his version on my blog last year. he is a trained cantor.

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  10. here's his original version. check it out. it's way more intense:

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9Dg-g7t2l4

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    1. Yes i wanted to post this one but it wouldnt show on my blog search list

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  11. I like that version. Actually I think we're getting closer and closer every day to living within the sound of silence....everyone glued to their texts and no one talking.

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  12. What a wonderful version of "The Sound of Silence", a song I have always loved. But this version re-colours it and helps listeners to appreciate the haunting lyrics in a different way. Thanks for sharing it John.

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  13. D.I.D. has been compulsory listening for me for over 50 years, so of course I heard this programme yesterday. Didn't know much about the castaway, hardly anything in fact apart from his 'coming out' in this most macho of sports, even though 'only' as a ref. But listening to him talking about his growing up and family experiences was an education for me (though now and then I did keep wishing that he'd speak up).

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  14. I was listening as I drove to pick up my outrageous potty mouthed 91 year old aunty from Swansea for one of our surreal lunch outings, and was greatly moved. 10 mins after this wonderful programme ended I was having to bite my tongue (for 2 hours) as my aforementioned 91 yo aunty Dot spouted forth on a host of favourite oft repeated subjects, principally immigrants coming to the UK just to use the NHS, the sudden increase in POOFS in Swansea, a corresponding (but presumably unrelated) increase in the number of DWARVES currently to be seen around Swansea and her current favourite pun, as we discussed the shortage of certain mainly salad vegetables due to the floods in spain "Well we may be short of iceberg lettuce but let's hope we dont run short of French letters" (see what she did there? Immediately on my return home I listened to Desert Island Discs again on iplayer as therapy.

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  15. I was already having a crap day.
    Now you've made me cry.

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    Replies
    1. Why so bad sweetie?

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    2. Some days dealing with my
      husband's Alzheimer's
      are just harder than other days.
      Sort of like living on the
      edge of a cliff.

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    3. Can you escape just for an hour or so?

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  16. You have the best radio programs.

    cheers, parsnip

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  17. I loved this, it's in a key that I can actually sing harmony to (or think I can), so I was sitting here, listening and belting it out. Until both cats showed up, ready to attack. I guess they thought my singing was a plea for help.

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  18. Love David Draiman and Disturbed. Did you know he trained to be a Hazan?

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  19. it is a sacrilege for anybody else other than S&G to sing that song. It may be due to poor sound on my iPad but It sounded like a funeral dirge to me.

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  20. One of my husband's school mates came out to all his rugby mates at a dinner one night. He just stood up and said 'I'm gay, I'm a poofter - and then proceeded to list every horrible slur he'd heard and said on the pitch with them for the last 15 years. He finished with 'and if you will still drink with me, I'll be at the bar' and bolted.There was a stunned silence (he had hidden it well) and then someone said 'did he say he was buying?' Nothing changed about how they felt about him, but everything changed for him. They only look rough, those rugby boys. Interestingly the only one who 'knew' was his Mum. Her relieved response was to say she thought he'd never work it out!

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    1. Funny many gay football players never come out ....perhaps rugby is more inclusive

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  21. Oh wow, the rendition of that song. Fantastic.

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  22. Woah! Just listened to it twice and then went to find the video - absolutely brilliant!

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    1. Just watched Lady Gaga at the super bowl....she was fantastic too

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  23. Ever since I first heard this version of 'Sound of Silence' I have loved it - it's best at full volume, especially in the car. Somehow it made me listen far more carefully to the words than Simon & Garfunkel's version. My son hates it, another son had no thoughts on it but I absolutely love it and play it often. (I listened to a few more on his album, but wasn't exactly thrilled!)

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  24. Much more powerful than the original.... gives a whole new meaning to the song. Really liked it!

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  25. The first time I heard this version it stopped me in my tracks, it's just bloody brilliant. I love his voice, and the emotion in the song is just so raw.

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  26. This is a great rendition of one of my favorite songs.

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  27. That version of Sound of Silence rocketed to the top of my list immediately. So powerful.

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  28. I like it. Songs were not meant to only be sung one way, I believe.

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  29. That is my favorite version of the Sound of Silence. His voice somehow makes the song so much more real and true.

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  31. Great music to start the morning

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  32. Wow the first time I really listened to every word what a strong rendition makes you sit up and pay attention.

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