The chairs in our Desert Island studio have had some legendary bottoms sitting on them in their time, but few more legendary than that of Sir Tom Jones.
His recording was a joy - from the 'sexually voracious' image back in the days ("you're creating a monster," he says "without even realising it") to the richness of his Welsh accent which seems to be as strong as ever despite 40 years spent living in LA (our hearts sang at the mention of Barry Island).
The highlight for us was an unaccompanied burst of 'It's Not Unusual.' Judge for yourselves, but I'd say the highlight for him was my mum's freshly made, authentic Welsh cakes (thanks mum). Not only did we eat them in the studio, but he took the three we couldn't manage home in a napkin...
Leanne Buckle is producer of Desert Island Discs
- Listen to Tom Jones on Desert Island Discs on the Radio 4 web site.
- Leanne took the picture of Tom eating one of her mother's Welsh cakes in the Desert Island Discs studio and the top picture shows Tom on Top of the Pops in 1965 - it's from the BBC's picture library which, as I never tire of pointing out, is called 'Elvis'.
