Private Passions - Howard Jacobson

In a programme recorded and first broadcast in 2002, Michael Berkeley talks to writer Howard Jacobson, whose latest novel 'The Finkler Question' has just won the 2010 Man Booker Prize. Renowned for his razor-sharp humour and irreverent wit, he has also written several works of non-fiction, including a book on the theory and history of comedy. His tastes in music, as revealed to Michael, are eclectic, ranging from a Bach cantata, a Schubert piano trio and operatic extracts by Mozart and Puccini to a duet from 'Bless the Bride', the waltz song from Lehar's 'The Merry Widow', and Percy Grainger's poignant setting of the sea shanty 'Shallow Brown'.