Rt Hon Gillian Shephard MP

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Gillian Shephard.

She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the importance of her roots in rural Norfolk. Although she briefly left to go to Oxford, she was born and brought up in Norfolk and worked in local parliament there until her late 40s, when she entered Parliament to represent a Norfolk seat. She'll be discussing her own school days, and how they influence her perception of the quality of schools nowadays.

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

Favourite track: Mass in B Minor: Cum Sancto Spirito by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan H Huizinga Luxury: Madame Rochas scent