Sir Torquil Norman

Kirsty Young's castaway week is the aviator, inventor and arts patron, Sir Torquil Norman. He comes from a family where derring-do is in the DNA - his grandfather was a pioneering airman, his grandmother an adventurer and his father also a keen pilot. Torquil ended up in the toy trade where the skills needed were, he says, a close attention to detail combined with the outlook on life of a seven year old. He was, he admits, perfectly qualified. In retirement he set about his biggest project - he bought a disused railway engine shed and raised tens of millions of pounds to safeguard its future as a venue for performing arts and a centre for young people. Record: Nobody Knows You when You're Down and Out - Bessie Smith Book: Book by his father: Nigel Norman - Verses 1911 - 1943. Luxury: A miniature still with a little ice-making machine attached to it to make dry martinis.

You can listen to Sir Torquil Norman online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

Sir Torquil Norman is an episode from Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2011 by BBC.

This episode is 35:28 long.

This episode was published on Dec 12, 2010.

Yes. Use the heart button on the episode page to add it to your favorite episodes list.

Yes. This page shows related episodes from Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2011 when more episodes are available from the podcast feed.