Kyra Vayne

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is someone who has unexpectedly encountered professional acclaim late in her life.

Singer Kyra Vayne could well be described as one of opera's forgotten voices - until this year when, thanks to the release of some previously-unknown recordings which had lived under her bed in Shepherd's Bush for 30 years, her voice reached a large new audience of admirers. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her reaction to the ecstatic reception given to her first CD, how she lived a life of obscurity working in a bank after she abandoned her career and about her life in pre-revolution Russia, where she and her family nearly starved to death before fleeing to England.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Symphony No 9 Final Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: A culinary book Luxury: Peanuts and treats to tame animals and birds