For award-winning, internationally-acclaimed author Rosemary Sutcliff (1920-92). By Anthony Lawton: godson, cousin & literary executor. Rosemary Sutcliff wrote historical fiction, children's literature and books, films, TV & radio, including The Eagle of the Ninth, Sword at Sunset, Song for a Dark Queen, The Mark of the Horse Lord, The Silver Branch, The Lantern Bearers, Dawn Wind, Blue Remembered Hills.
Record Two chosen by Rosemary Sutcliff on the still-running Desert Island Discs on Radio 4 (then the Home Service) was the hymn: “Eternal father strong to save”.
Second question first: She was an Anglican christian although not a regular church goer-but that may have been because of the inaccessibility of churches to her wheelchair. She will probably have chosen this hymn as one of her records because she loved it, and she loved it because she had a great affinity for the navy: her father had been a seaman and naval officer, and she grew up in and around various dockyards and ports as he was posted around the country and Europe (e.g. Malta, where she lived for a while). This is often called The Navy Hymn I believe, and is sung at funerals and key services linked with the sea and seamen and women.
ROSEMARY SUTCLIFF (1920-92) 
A beautiful song, and an interesting choice. Do you know why she chose it? Was she particularly religious?
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Second question first: She was an Anglican christian although not a regular church goer-but that may have been because of the inaccessibility of churches to her wheelchair. She will probably have chosen this hymn as one of her records because she loved it, and she loved it because she had a great affinity for the navy: her father had been a seaman and naval officer, and she grew up in and around various dockyards and ports as he was posted around the country and Europe (e.g. Malta, where she lived for a while). This is often called The Navy Hymn I believe, and is sung at funerals and key services linked with the sea and seamen and women.
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