Desert Island Discs - Leonard Rosoman (2002)

Sue Lawley's castaway is the Official War Artist during the Second World War Leonard Rosoman. He is also a member of the Royal Academy, an illustrator and teacher. The young Leonard dodged the family business by getting a scholarship to the Edward VII School of Art in Durham and went on to paint and teach. When war broke out Leonard was drafted into the Auxiliary Fire Service in London but he didn't stop painting, and he used his experiences to create some of his finest work. This drew him to the attention of the Home Office, and Sir Kenneth Clarke asked him if he would be an Official War Artist. He agreed and was appointed an official war artist to the Admiralty and was posted to the British Pacific Fleet. In April 1945 was posted to Sydney and from there he joined HMS Formidable. After the war Leonard went back to teaching, first in London then to Edinburgh College of Art in 1948, and later on to the Royal College of Art where he met his most memorable student - David Hockney: "I didn't find him at all difficult, but it was a little bit scary because if anybody ever had something written on his forehead, he had. Every single member of that staff pretty well guaranteed that when David left, he would be a success of some kind. He was a very rare bird - he had a quality of understatement - rare and important in its way." [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: I Got A Gal in Kalamazoo by Glenn Miller & his Orchestra Book: Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce Luxury: A sloping lawn. First broadcast in 2002.