Harold Pinter wins Nobel prize: an interview
listen to this almost comic telephone interview with Pinter. Telephone interview with Harold Pinter after the announcement of the 2005 Nobel Prize in Literature, October 13, 2005. Also Pinter’s response in the Guardian.
– Hello. Good morning.
– Good morning, good morning, Mr Pinter. Congratulations. I’m calling from the official website of the Nobel Foundation.
– Yes. Well, thank you very much.
– It’s fantastic news for us here; and I would like to hear what your thoughts were when you received the news.
– Well, I’ve … I’ve been absolutely speechless. I am … I’m overwhelmed by the news, very deeply moved by the news. But I can’t really articulate what I feel.
– You didn’t have any idea it could come your way, did you?
– No idea whatsoever! No. So I’m just bowled over.
– There’s so much to talk about. But I would like just to ask you what, in your career, you think has been the most important, what has the most …
– I cannot answer … I can’t answer these questions.
– No, I understand.
– There’s nothing more I can say, except that I am deeply moved; and, as I say, I have no words at the moment. I shall have words by the time I get to Stockholm.
– You will be coming to Stockholm?
– Oh, yes.
– Okay. Thank you, Sir.
– Okay?
– Thank you.
– Thank you very much.
– Thank you.
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The great man has done it and I feel this gives support to his politics (an issue I believe the judges were arguing about).
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But, maybe his interview should have read more like (!) :
-Hello
-Hello
-Congratulations.
Pause.
-You had no idea.
-No idea.
Pause.
-I would like to…?
-I can not answer. I can not answer.
Pause.
-I understand.
-I do not have the words.
Pause.
-I will have the words when I come to Stockholm.
-Rotherhithe?
-Stockholm.
-You’re coming to Stockholm?
-Oh. Yes.
-Okay.
-Okay?
-Okay.
-Okay.
Silence.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
-Thank you.
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About me
I'm a playwright and investment analyst. I have a broad range of interests: food, gardening, innovation & intellectual property, sustainability, architecture & design, writing and the arts. I sit on the board of Talawa Theatre Company and advise a CIS investment trust on socially responsible investments.
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Recent Work
Recent plays include, for theatre: Nakamitsu, Yellow Gentlemen, Lost in Peru, Lemon Love. For radio: Places in Between (R4), Patent Breaking Life Saving (WS).
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Nakamitsu
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Yellow Gentlemen
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