BBC Radio 4

Desert Island Discs

Society EN ↓ 2000 episodes

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

Author

BBC Radio 4

Category

Society

Podcast website

www.bbc.co.uk

Latest episode

Jul 5, 2026

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Episodes

Martin Bell 15.07.2001

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: Cordur...

Peggy Seeger 08.07.2001

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

Sir Stanley Kalms 01.07.2001

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 arch...

Sir Harry Kroto 24.06.2001

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

Frank McCourt 17.06.2001

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

Sir Kyffin Williams 10.06.2001

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 mythica...

Sir Thomas Allen 03.06.2001

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

Courtney Pine 27.05.2001

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

Sir Timothy Clifford 20.05.2001

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

Sir John Sulston 13.05.2001

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

Margaret Drabble 06.05.2001

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

Tasmin Little 29.04.2001

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

Chris Tarrant 22.04.2001

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

Ronald Blythe 15.04.2001

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 pr...

Tanni Grey Thompson 08.04.2001

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...

Sir Alec Broers 01.04.2001

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 rec...

Shirley Hughes 25.03.2001

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....

Professor Peter Vanezis 18.03.2001

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 conver...

Henry Sandon 11.03.2001

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

John Lill 04.03.2001

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

Charlie Watts 25.02.2001

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

Professor Sir Richard Doll 18.02.2001

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

Griff Rhys Jones 11.02.2001

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

Sir John Mortimer 04.02.2001

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

Terry O'Neill 28.01.2001

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 progra...

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