Desert Island Discs

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is, by his own account, very difficult to classify - his talents span comedy, writing, acting and improvisation. He has appeared in the television adaption of Porterhouse Blue and can be heard on Spitting Image as the voice of Norman Tebbitt and Lord Olivier. He has also appeared in the West End as Napoleon, as well as playing nearly forty supporting...

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist John Pilger. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his arrival in this country from Australia 28 years ago, and how he went on to become one of the best-known and often most contentious foreign correspondents on the Daily Mirror during the 1960s. His reporting of events from all over the world, but most notably Cambodia, has brought hi...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American conductor and virtuoso Michael Tilson Thomas. As well as being an internationally recognised musician, his passion for music and his desire to bring his own enthusiasm to as wide an audience as possible have made him something of a television star in America. In this country, he has been principal conductor of the London Symphony Orch...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Sarah Miles. Discovered at the tender age of 18 by Sir Laurence Olivier, and picked by him to play opposite him in Term of Trial, she went on to entertain and entrance in films like The Servant, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and, perhaps most famously, Ryan's Daughter. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her professi...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a publisher; a man who came to this country 52 years ago with a 16/6d postal order in his pocket and very poor English. Over half a century later, he is a cultured and successful businessman, renowned for his glittering parties and wide circle of eminent friends, many of whom write books for him. He is Lord Weidenfeld, and he'll be talking to Sue...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Robin Day. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about going with his father to hear Churchill speak at a political rally when he was a boy, recalling his days at post-war Oxford, the early days at ITN and his long association with politicians in front of the microphone. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert I...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. For over 20 years the guru of pop fans, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life at public school, his work as a DJ in the States in the early 1960s, his family, his passion for Liverpool Football Club and, of course, his lifelong passion for pop music. [Taken from the original programme material for this archiv...

This week's castaway is Dennis Skinner MP. Recently described as the backbenchers' backbencher, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about Parliament and politics and choosing eight records to accompany him on his solitary island adventure. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Daddy, What Did You Do in the Strike? by Peggy Seeger B...

Roy Plomley's castaway is director Elia Kazan. Favourite track: String Quartet in A Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Iliad by Homer Luxury: 20 tons of pine needles

Roy Plomley's castaway is baritone Benjamin Luxon. Favourite track: Spem In Alium by Tallis Book: Collected stories by Idris Shah Luxury: A piano and music

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Robert Stephens. Favourite track: Speak The Speech, I Pray You (from Hamlet) by William Shakespeare Book: The collected works by Raymond Chandler Luxury: Tobacco plant

Roy Plomley's castaway is Editor of the Guinness Book of Records Norris McWhirter. Favourite track: Pomp and Circumstance March No. 1 in D Major by Edward Elgar Book: The National Dictionary of Biography Luxury: Roll of cloth

Roy Plomley's castaway is historian Sir Arthur Bryant. Favourite track: The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Life of Samuel Johnson by James Boswell Luxury: Painting of a little princess, by Velazquez

Roy Plomley's castaway is singer Nana Mouskouri. Favourite track: Girl From The North Country by Bob Dylan Book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Luxury: Telephone

Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Lauren Bacall. Favourite track: My Mistress' Eyes (Sonnet 130) by William Shakespeare Book: Collected Short Stories by John Cheever Luxury: Sun tan lotion

Roy Plomley's castaway is zoologist David Attenborough. Favourite track: String Quintet In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life by William Barry Lord Luxury: Binoculars

Roy Plomley's castaway is soprano Ileana Cotrubas. Favourite track: Dies Irae by Giuseppe Verdi Book: History of the whole world Luxury: Sistine Chapel in the Vatican

Roy Plomley's castaway is snooker champion Ray Reardon. Favourite track: Symphony No. 5 In C Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Where Eagles Dare by Alistair MacLean Luxury: Golf clubs and balls

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Burl Ives. Favourite track: Horn Concerto No. 4 In E Flat by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: I Ching Luxury: Whisky (Tobermory)

Roy Plomley's castaway is conductor Sir Adrian Boult. Favourite track: Symphony No. 40 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan Luxury: Panama hats stuffed with barley sugar

Roy Plomley's castaway is mountaineer Sir Edmund Hillary. Favourite track: Blowin' In The Wind by Bob Dylan Book: The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien Luxury: Painting he has of Kathmandu valley

Roy Plomley's castaway is writer Patricia Highsmith. Favourite track: Piano Concerto No. 2 in C Minor by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Moby Dick by Herman Melville Luxury: Writing materials

Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Edward Fox. Favourite track: Jesu Joy Of Man's Desiring by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Selection of novels by Evelyn Waugh Luxury: Limes toilet water by Floris

Roy Plomley's castaway is journalist James Cameron. Favourite track: Under Milk Wood by Dylan Thomas Book: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne Luxury: Malt whisky

Roy Plomley's castaway is artist Peter Blake. Favourite track: Molly Bloom's Soliloquy (from Ulysses) by James Joyce Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Cement and tools to build a folly