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Sally Davies

Michael Berkeley's guests is chief medical officer Sally Davies. Her musical choices include Mozart, Brahms, Wagner, Vaughan Williams, Rossini, Beethoven and Queen.

The Chief Medical Officer, Sally Davies, is on our TV screens almost every week as the authority we appeal to in every health scare: horsemeat in burgers, antibiotic resistance, three-parent babies. She is clearly a person of tremendous power and influence, in charge of the National Institute of Health Research with a budget of £1 billion ? voted by Woman's Hour recently one of the top ten most powerful women in the UK.

Sally Davies talks to Michael Berkeley about her private life. She tells him about the death of her second husband from leukaemia less than a year after they were married, and how this has changed her as a doctor. (She scandalised her medical colleagues on a hospital ward round by putting her arms around a dying patient.) She discusses the breakdown of her first marriage, as well as the happiness she has found with her third husband and daughters.

She also reveals that she believes drugs are a medical issue rather than a criminal one.

Sally Davies is humorous, and fun ? she admits she loves wine, for instance. She is deeply musical ? she played in the Midlands Youth Orchestra as a girl and turns to music to relieve stress.

Music includes: Mozart, Brahms, Wagner, Vaughan Williams, Rossini's Stabat Mater, Beethoven's Fidelio - and Queen.

1 hour

Last on

Sun 16 Mar 2014 12:00

Music Played

  • Gioachino Rossini

    Cujus animam gementem (Stabat Mater)

    Orchestra: Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano. Singer: Lawrence Brownlee.
  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra (Prelude)

    Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Performer: Lawrence Power.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! (Fidelio, Act 2)

    Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Singer: Jonas Kaufmann.
  • Johannes Brahms

    Sextet No.1 in B flat (1st mvt: Allegro ma non troppo)

    Ensemble: Raphael Ensemble.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    A Man in search of Truth and Beauty (The Magic Flute)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras. Singer: Rebecca Evans. Singer: Simon Keenlyside.
  • Richard Wagner

    So sterben wir (Tristan & Isolde, Act 2)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano. Singer: Deborah Voigt. Singer: Plácido Domingo.
  • Queen

    Bohemian Rhapsody

  • Ralph Vaughan Williams

    Suite for Viola and Small Orchestra (Prelude)

    Orchestra: ´óÏó´«Ã½ National Orchestra of Wales. Conductor: Martyn Brabbins. Performer: Lawrence Power.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven

    Gott! Welch Dunkel hier! (Fidelio, Act 2)

    Orchestra: Mahler Chamber Orchestra. Conductor: Claudio Abbado. Singer: Jonas Kaufmann.
  • Gioachino Rossini

    Cujus animam gementem (Stabat Mater)

    Orchestra: Accademia di Santa Cecilia Orchestra. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano. Singer: Lawrence Brownlee.
  • Richard Wagner

    So sterben wir (Tristan & Isolde, Act 2)

    Orchestra: Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Conductor: Sir Antonio Pappano. Singer: Deborah Voigt. Singer: Plácido Domingo.
  • Queen

    Bohemian Rhapsody

  • Johannes Brahms

    Sextet No.1 in B flat (1st mvt: Allegro ma non troppo)

    Ensemble: Raphael Ensemble.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    A Man in search of Truth and Beauty (The Magic Flute)

    Orchestra: London Philharmonic Orchestra. Conductor: Charles Mackerras. Singer: Rebecca Evans. Singer: Simon Keenlyside.

Broadcasts

  • Sun 18 Aug 2013 12:00
  • Sun 16 Mar 2014 12:00

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