Tunes of Glory
by James Kennaway
James Kennaway - Tunes of Glory
BBC Radio 4: The Monday Play
Broadcast: Monday 19th April 1976
Set in the aftermath of WWII, Major Jock Sinclair finds himself the Acting Colonel at the castle-based HQ of a Scottish regiment. Sinclair
had been in command since their colonel was killed in action during World War II, leading the battalion for the rest of the war. A hero at El
Alamein, the wild and stormy Jock had worked his way through the ranks the hard way to command his beloved regiment. But the rough
and ready style of Jock's command comes to a sudden end when he is replaced by Colonel Basil Barrow, considered by Brigade HQ to be
a more appropriate peacetime commanding officer.
An ex-public school/Sandhurst veteran of a WWII Japanese POW camp, Barrow is a "work-by-the-book" officer, devoted to restoring
the faded glory of this undisciplined regiment. Sinclair resents the fact that he is being replaced by a "stupid wee man", and appears
determined to regain control of the battalion by beginning a social and psychological campaign against the new Colonel, leading to tragic
results for both ...
Adapted for radio by B. C. Cummins from James Kennaway's 1956 novel, "Tunes of Glory".
With Gordon Jackson [Acting Colonel Jock Sinclair], John Stride [Colonel Basil Barrow, Battalion Commander], Fulton Mackay [Pipe
Major Angus Maclean], John Rye [Major Charlie Scott, Battalion Executive Officer], David Lodge [Regt. Sergeant-Major Tom Riddick],
John Rowe [Captain Jimmy Cairns, the Battalion Adjutant], Alison Gollings [Morag Sinclair, Jock's Daughter], Henry Stamper [Major
'Dusty' Miller], John Samson [Corporal Piper Ian Fraser], Norma Ronald [Miss Mary Titterington, an Actress], Christopher Bidmead [2nd
Lieutenant David Mackinnon], Fraser Kerr [Corporal Piper Adam], Hector Ross [Sir Alistair], Nigel Lambert [The Waiter / Landlord of
the Bridge Hotel], Michael Shannon [Guard Sergeant Finney / Donald], and Michael Deacon [The Lance Corporal].
Other parts played by members of the cast.
The Pipe Majors were Willie Cochrane and Bob Murphy.
Produced by Gerry Jones
Note: James Kennaway (who died in 1968, aged 40, in a car crash) adapted the screenplay of the 1960 film "Tunes of Glory" from his own
novel. The screenplay was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. The film starred Alec Guinness, John Mills,
Susannah York, and Gordon Jackson.
Re-broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 1990 in tribute to the actor Gordon Jackson, who died in January 1990.
90 minutes.
Jim
