Desert Island Discs - podcast cover

Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4www.bbc.co.uk

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

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Episodes

Elisabeth Soderstrom

Roy Plomley's castaway is soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom. Favourite track: The Age Of Gold by Dmitri Shostakovich Book: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir Luxury: Bed

Dec 08, 197932 min

Charles Causley

Roy Plomley's castaway is poet Charles Causley. Favourite track: The Play Of Daniel Overture by Ensemble Hortus Musicus Book: Life of Johnson by James Boswell Luxury: Piano

Dec 01, 197932 min

Peter Shaffer

Roy Plomley's castaway is playwright Peter Shaffer. Favourite track: Piano Concerto No. 9 In E Flat by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon Luxury: Claude Monet, Dawn on the Seine

Nov 24, 197933 min

Michael Palin

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor and writer Michael Palin. Favourite track: Nimrod by Edward Elgar Book: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray Luxury: Bed

Nov 17, 197931 min

Marti Caine

Roy Plomley's castaway is actress and musician Marti Caine. Favourite track: Coming Home by Marshall Hain Book: Glory Road by Robert Heinlein Luxury: Bath with solar-heated water and bubble bath

Nov 10, 197929 min

Sian Phillips

Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Sian Phillips. Favourite track: Summer by Alexander Glazunov Book: Scouting For Boys by Robert Baden-Powell Luxury: Solar-powered refrigerator full of champagne

Nov 03, 197931 min

Roald Dahl

Roy Plomley's castaway is children's writer Roald Dahl. Favourite track: Agnus Dei by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The New Oxford Book of English Verse by Helen Gardner Luxury: Still, grapevine cuttings and tobacco seeds

Oct 27, 197933 min

Rex Harrison

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Rex Harrison. Favourite track: A Lull At Dawn by Barney Bigard and his Orchestra Book: A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Luxury: Painting equipment for oils and watercolours

Oct 20, 197931 min

Josephine Barstow

Roy Plomley's castaway is soprano Josephine Barstow. Favourite track: Symphony No 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy Luxury: Michelangelo's David

Oct 13, 197932 min

Wilfred Thesiger

Roy Plomley's castaway is explorer Wilfred Thesiger. Favourite track: Pie Jesu by Gabriel Fauré Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon Luxury: Supply of acid drops

Oct 06, 197933 min

Pam Ayres

Roy Plomley's castaway is poet and broadcaster Pam Ayres. Favourite track: The New St George by John & Chris Leslie Book: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth Luxury: Large basket of sugared almonds

Sep 29, 197929 min

Ted Allbeury

Roy Plomley's castaway is thriller writer Ted Allbeury. Favourite track: Love Is The Sweetest Thing by Al Bowlly, Ray Noble and his Orchestra Book: The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connolly Luxury: Writing paper and pencils

Sep 22, 197924 min

Richard Buckle

Roy Plomley's castaway is writer and critic Richard Buckle. Favourite track: Piano Quintet In A Major by Franz Schubert Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy Luxury: Paper and pencils

Sep 15, 197925 min

June Mendoza

Roy Plomley's castaway is portrait painter June Mendoza. Favourite track: Spring Symphony by Benjamin Britten Book: The Penguin Chronology of the Modern World by Neville Williams Luxury: Canvases, brushes and paint

Sep 11, 197929 min

Peter Barkworth

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Peter Barkworth. Favourite track: Symphony No. 1 in A Flat by Edward Elgar Book: His diaries to date Luxury: Beautifully bound blank book and ballpoint pens

Sep 04, 197930 min

Barry Norman

Roy Plomley's castaway is writer and broadcaster Barry Norman. Favourite track: Symphony No. 5 In C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The World of Jeeves by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Typewriter, paper and a desk with cricket balls in the drawers

Aug 25, 197929 min

Boris Christoff

Roy Plomley's castaway is opera singer Boris Christoff. Favourite track: Prendi I'Anel Ti Dono (from La Sonnambula) by Vincenzo Bellini Book: The Poetry by Yuarroros

Aug 18, 197931 min

Countess Elizabeth Longford

Roy Plomley's castaway is historian Countess Elizabeth Longford. Favourite track: Air (from Water Music Suite) by Handel/Harty Book: Utopia by Thomas Moore Luxury: Tapestry making kit

Aug 11, 197930 min

Sir Ralph Richardson

Besides choosing the eight records he would take to the mythical island, Sir Ralph Richardson talks to Roy Plomley about his early life in an insurance office, about some of the many films and plays in which he has acted, and about the National Theatre where he was appearing at the time. Favourite track: Clarinet Concerto in A by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Novels by Henry James Luxury: Pipes and tobacco

Aug 04, 197930 min

Dame Moura Lympany

Roy Plomley's castaway is pianist Dame Moura Lympany. Favourite track: Piano Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Felix Mendelssohn Book: Book about growing flowers and vegetables on a desert island Luxury: Wine from own vineyard

Jul 28, 197930 min

Dick Clement & Ian La Frenais

Roy Plomley's castaways are scriptwriters Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais. Favourite track: You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman by Aretha Franklin Book: Teach yourself the guitar and Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne Luxury: Cards and a guitar

Jul 21, 197928 min

C Northcote Parkinson

Roy Plomley's castaway is historian C Northcote Parkinson. Favourite track: The Old Hundredth by Coronation of HM Queen Elizabeth II Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon Luxury: Radio receiver

Jul 14, 197929 min

Glen Tetley

Roy Plomley's castaway is choreographer Glen Tetley. Favourite track: Laudamus Te by Claudio Monteverdi Book: Earthly Paradise by Colette Luxury: South American hammock

Jul 07, 197928 min

Tito Gobbi

Roy Plomley's castaway is baritone Tito Gobbi. Favourite track: La Montanara by Tito Gobbi Book: Flowers of the World by Leslie Greenwood Luxury: Bar of gold

Jun 30, 197931 min

Ed McBain

Roy Plomley's castaway is the writer Ed McBain. Favourite track: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D Minor by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Streets of Gold by Ed McBain Luxury: Whisky

Jun 23, 197928 min

Irene Thomas

Roy Plomley's castaway is former Brain Of Britain and radio personality Irene Thomas. Favourite track: Soave Sia Il Vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Score of the opera Fidelio by Beethoven Luxury: Teddy bear stuffed with tea bags

Jun 16, 197930 min

Ian Carmichael

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Ian Carmichael. Favourite track: Adagio (from Spartacus) by Aram Khachaturian Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Paper and pencils

Jun 09, 197927 min

Sir Robert Mayer

Roy Plomley's castaway is patron of music Sir Robert Mayer. Favourite track: An Die Musik by Franz Schubert Book: His visitors' book Luxury: Grapes (seedless)

Jun 02, 197930 min

Jack Brymer

Roy Plomley's castaway is clarinettist Jack Brymer. Favourite track: String Quintet No. 3 in G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by Charles Dickens Luxury: Piano

May 26, 197923 min

Alec McCowen

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Alec McCowen. Favourite track: Gypsy (Overture) by Broadway Orchestra Book: The Egoist by George Meredith Luxury: Painting materials

May 19, 197928 min
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