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

Claudia Roden

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the award-winning cookery writer Claudia Roden whose Book of Middle Eastern Food revolutionised Western attitudes to the cuisines of the Middle East. Her Book of Jewish Food has been described as 'the richest and most sensuous encyclopaedia of Jewish life ever set in print'. She chooses eight records to take with her to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: L'Accordeoni...

Jul 29, 200135 min

Cormac Murphy O'Connor

Sue Lawley's castaway is Archbishop of Westminster Cormac Murphy O'Connor. Favourite track: Praise to the Holiest by Edward Elgar Book: Lifelines by Seamus Heaney Luxury: Grand piano

Jul 22, 200136 min

Martin Bell

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is Martin Bell, who, after a distinguished career as a BBC foreign correspondent, became the Independent MP for Tatton in 1997. With politics now behind him, he tastes life on a mythical desert island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Amazing Grace by Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Book: Corduroy (his father's first book) by Adrian Bell Luxury: A barrel of Adnam's Ale brewed in Suffolk...

Jul 15, 200134 min

Peggy Seeger

Sue Lawley's castaway is folk singer-songwriter Peggy Seeger. Favourite track: The Air from Suite No 3 in D Major by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A Scots Quair by Lewis Grassic Gibbon Luxury: Banjo with plastic head with an inexhaustible supply of strings & pegs

Jul 08, 200134 min

Sir Stanley Kalms

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the businessman, Sir Stanley Kalms. Over the last fifty years he's turned Dixons, the small photographic studio his father opened in the 1930s, into one of Britain's biggest retail outlets. The group now covers PC World, Currys and The Link. He chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Air On A G String by Johann Sebastian Bach Book...

Jul 01, 200135 min

Sir Harry Kroto

Sue Lawley's castaway is chemist Sir Harry Kroto. Favourite track: 3rd Movement of Symphony No4 in G Major by Gustav Mahler Book: Quantum Electro Dynamics Physics by Feynman Luxury: Airbrush computer graphics set

Jun 24, 200136 min

Frank McCourt

Sue Lawley's castaway is Pulitzer prize-winning writer Frank McCourt. Favourite track: The Kyrie from St Cecilia Mass by Charles Gounod Book: Oxford Anthology of English Verse Luxury: A pair of binoculars

Jun 17, 200136 min

Sir Kyffin Williams

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the Welsh painter, Sir Kyffin Williams. It was only when he was invalided out of the army because of his epilepsy that Kyffin decided to paint. "You are not normal. You should do art" was one doctor's verdict. Since then, no artist has done more to portray the brooding, mountainous landscape of North Wales. He chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Disc...

Jun 10, 200137 min

Sir Thomas Allen

Sue Lawley's castaway is opera singer Sir Thomas Allen. Favourite track: Act 3 of Meistersinger von Nurnberg by Richard Wagner Book: Under the Greenwood Tree by Thomas Hardy Luxury: Unlimited supply of paper, paints, pencils

Jun 03, 200138 min

Courtney Pine

Sue Lawley's castaway is jazz saxophonist Courtney Pine. Favourite track: Guiltiness by Bob Marley and the Whalers Book: Beneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus Luxury: 1939 edition tenor saxophone

May 27, 200135 min

Sir Timothy Clifford

Sue Lawley's castaway is National Galleries of Scotland Director Sir Timothy Clifford. Favourite track: La Ci Darem La Mano in Act 1 of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A La Recherche du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Renaissance casket with a selection of 15th & 16th century Italian drawings in it

May 20, 200136 min

Sir John Sulston

Sue Lawley's castaway is biologist Sir John Sulston. Favourite track: String Quartet in B flat major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Oxford Anthology of English Verse Luxury: The microscope used to examine the lineage of the roundworm

May 13, 200135 min

Margaret Drabble

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Margaret Drabble. Favourite track: I Know That My Redeemer Liveth - (from Messiah) by George Frideric Handel Book: Old Wives Tale by Arnold Bennett Luxury: Painting by Maurice Cockerill - Ariadne's Thread

May 06, 200136 min

Tasmin Little

Sue Lawley's castaway is violinist Tasmin Little. Favourite track: Daphnis & Chloe by Maurice Ravel Book: Harry Potter book by J K Rowling or Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens Luxury: Endless supply of coffee

Apr 29, 200136 min

Chris Tarrant

Sue Lawley's castaway is broadcaster Chris Tarrant. Favourite track: Tequila Sunrise by Eagles Book: The Silence of the Lambs by Thomas Harris Luxury: A lucky sixpence

Apr 22, 200133 min

Ronald Blythe

Admired as a keen observer and chronicler of rural life, Ronald Bythe is perhaps best known for his 'oral histories' - Akenfield: Portrait of an English Village, which won the Heinemann Award in 1969, and The View in Winter: Reflections on Old Age. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he talks about his life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Die Wetterfahne b...

Apr 15, 200137 min

Tanni Grey Thompson

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the paralympic athlete Tanni Grey-Thompson. Tanni Grey-Thompson has won medals in four Paralympic Games: when she was 19 she competed at Seoul and took the Bronze for the 200m. During the following 12 years her tally of medals has increased to nine golds and three silvers. She chooses eight records to take with her to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Knowing Me, Kn...

Apr 08, 200134 min

Sir Alec Broers

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, Sir Alec Broers. As a professor of electrical engineering at the forefront of research into microchip technology, Sir Alec says of his work, "If cars had made the same progress as electronics have in the past decade, then you would be able to drive from Cambridge to London in half a second". He chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this a...

Apr 01, 200137 min

Shirley Hughes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the children's author and illustrator, Shirley Hughes. The many characters Shirley Hughes has created - such as Alfie, Lucy & Tom and Dogger - have been delighting children and adults since the 1960s. She now has over 50 books to her name, in addition to illustrating the work of other writers, including the My Naughty Little Sister series by Dorothy Edwards. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favouri...

Mar 25, 200135 min

Professor Peter Vanezis

Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs is the Regius Professor of Foresenic Medicine and Science at the University of Glasgow, Peter Vanezis. Professor Vanezis has had a major role in examining the mass graves found in Bosnia, Rwanda and Chile and is a member of the international scientific team working on Otzi the 'Iceman' - the 5,300-year-old mummy discovered in the Alps in 1991. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he talks about his life and work and chooses eight records to take to the my...

Mar 18, 200134 min

Henry Sandon

Sue Lawley's castaway is broadcaster and porcelain expert Henry Sandon. Favourite track: Salutation from Gerald Finzi 'Dies Natalis' by Gerald Finzi Book: A Shropshire Lad by A E Houseman Luxury: A huge supply of Indian tea with a Worcester tea pot

Mar 11, 200136 min

John Lill

Sue Lawley's castaway is pianist John Lill. Record: Beethoven's String Quartet No.14 in C Sharp Book: Huge Tome on fauna and flora Luxury: Solar-powered piano

Mar 04, 200137 min

Charlie Watts

Sue Lawley's castaway is Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts. Favourite track: Dance of the Coachmen & Grooms -from 4th by Igor Stravinsky Book: Collected Poems 1934-52 by Dylan Thomas Luxury: Drumsticks

Feb 25, 200135 min

Professor Sir Richard Doll

Sue Lawley's castaway is epidemiologist Professor Sir Richard Doll. Favourite track: Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin Book: Oxford Textbook of Medicine by D A Warrell Luxury: A down pillow

Feb 18, 200136 min

Griff Rhys Jones

Sue Lawley's castaway is actor and writer Griff Rhys Jones. Favourite track: Un Di Felice from Act One of La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi Book: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Luxury: Newspaper

Feb 11, 200134 min

Sir John Mortimer

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer and barrister Sir John Mortimer. Favourite track: Dio, Che Nell'alma Infondere from Act Two by Giuseppe Verdi Book: Oxford Book of English Verse by Chirstopher Ricks Luxury: Velasquez painting of old lady frying eggs

Feb 04, 200136 min

Terry O'Neill

For forty years, the photographer Terry 0'Neill has been capturing the rich and famous on film - from Sir Laurence Olivier and Mick Jagger to Brigitte Bardot and Kate Moss. He talks to Sue Lawley about his childhood, his glamorous career and his chances of surviving as a 'castaway' on a desert island. He chooses eight records to take with him to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Baby Baby all the Tim...

Jan 28, 200134 min

Marguerite Patten

This week the castaway on Desert Island Discs is the cookery writer Marguerite Patten. Known as the 'doyenne of British cookery', Marguerite Patten has written 167 cookery books and given thousands of demonstrations - including several at the London Palladium. In conversation with Sue Lawley, she talks about her life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Nous...

Jan 21, 200136 min

George MacDonald Fraser

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the writer George MacDonald Fraser. When George MacDonald Fraser decided to write about Flashman, the well-known bully in Tom Brown's Schooldays, he found the perfect star for a series of Victorian adventures - from the Opium Wars and Custer's Last Stand to the Charge of the Light Brigade. Eleven books later, the caddish Flashman now boasts a huge following all over the world. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island...

Jan 14, 200136 min

Marquess Of Bath

Sue Lawley's castaway is the owner of Longleat, the Marquess Of Bath. Favourite track: The Ode to Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Combined dictionary and thesaurus Luxury: Laptop computer

Jan 07, 200136 min
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