Alastair Campbell
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For almost a decade, Alastair Campbell was Tony Blair\\u2019s right-hand man, first as Press Secretary and then as Downing Street Director of Communications. He was at the heart of power through the Good Friday Agreement, the 9/11 attacks and the Iraq War, which involved him in the greatest controversy. These days he\\u2019s a writer and mental health campaigner, and he\\u2019s recently published a very frank book, \\u201cLiving Better: How I learned to survive depression\\u201d.
In conversation with Michael Berkeley, Alastair Campbell talks about how music helps him manage depression, and reveals his lifelong passion for the bagpipes. His father, who was from the Hebrides, played, and he and his brother Donald learned as boys. Donald was diagnosed with schizophrenia when Alastair was only nineteen: \\u201ca defining event in my life\\u201d. Donald left Alastair his bagpipes when he died, too young; and he also left recordings of himself playing \\u2013 one of which we hear in the programme. Alastair himself played the pipes as a busker in the South of France as a student, where he discovered a lifelong musical passion for the songs of Jacques Brel.
Other music choices include Mozart, Schubert, and Verdi\\u2019s famous drinking song from La Traviata. Alcohol has played a major role in Campbell\\u2019s life, and he talks about being drawn to the \\u201cdrinking cultures\\u201d of both piping and politics. In fact, he says, it is not alcohol but politics \\u2013 and his need to be needed by people in power \\u2013 which is his real \\u201cdemon\\u201d. He discusses too his inability to retire, his hatred of domesticity, particularly shopping with his partner Fiona, and why the satirical series \\u201cThe Thick of It\\u201d is in some ways very close to the bone.
A Loftus Media production from BBC Radio 3\\nProduced by Elizabeth Burke
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