Desert Island Discs

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the comedy actor Rowan Atkinson who features in the Blackadder saga. An episode of the series was the BBC's entry for this year's Golden Rose of Montreux Television Festival. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Lady Writer by Dire Straits Book: Uncle Fred in Springtime by P G Wodehouse Luxu...

When Anita Roddick opened the Brighton Body Shop in 1976, she struck gold with a formula to knock the mystique out of the beauty business. She talks to Sue Lawley about the effects of success on her family life and comes to terms with her island exile. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: If I Could (from First Circle) by Pat...

Sue Lawley's castaway is Rabbi Lionel Blue. Favourite track: Why Has A Cow Got Four Legs? by Cicely Courtneidge & Wilson Hallett Book: The biggest value of pure maths Luxury: Toilet bag

This week's castaway is Anton Mosimann - until recently, Maitre Chef des Cuisines at the Dorchester Hotel in London. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he reflects on his life and the new development in his career and chooses eight records to sustain him on the mythical island. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Memory by Bar...

Sue Lawley's castaway is Home Office Minister Douglas Hurd. Favourite track: In Paradisum by Gabriel Fauré Book: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century Verse (selected by Philip Larkin) Luxury: Champagne

At 97, the actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies reflects with interest on the prospect of being castaway and, in conversation with Sue Lawley, looks back over her long career. With a head well-stocked with music - and ringing with Shakespeare - she is determined to survive. But she isn't proposing to be castaway for long. She's already plotting a plan of escape. In the meantime, she looks back on her lon...

Having left television to become General Director Designate of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jeremy Isaacs this week contemplates another change of direction - to the mythical island. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he chooses eight records to take with him. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Marriage Of Figaro...

To celebrate his 50th birthday this week, David Owen, leader of the Social Democratic Party, has rather rashly agreed to be castaway on Sue Lawley's desert island! It might not be the most relaxing way to mark a half-century, but Dr Owen is a passionate sailor, so the situation has its charms. He is also very keen on poetry and music, both of which will accompany him to the mythical island. [Taken...

This week's castaway on Sue Lawley's desert island is a little difficult to categorise. To the record-buying public, he's a pop star of durable quality; to the theatregoers who like musicals, he's an actor-singer, and he's a popular music composer too. His name is David Essex, and, in conversation with Sue Lawley, you can hear about his life, his work and his enthusiasms in Desert Island Discs. [T...

Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian Dame Edna Everage. Favourite track: I Feel Pretty by Kiri Te Kanawa Book: Filofax Luxury: Madge Allsop

Sue Lawley's castaway is former Cabinet Secretary Lord Armstrong. Favourite track: Piano Trio In D Minor by Felix Mendelssohn Book: The collected works by Jane Austen Luxury: Music manuscript paper, pencil, rubber

Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian Joan Turner. Favourite track: One Fine Day by Giacomo Puccini Book: Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de Sales Luxury: Baked beans

Sue Lawley's castaway is Northern Ireland MP/MEP Reverend Ian Paisley. Favourite track: The Twenty-Third Psalm by The Reformed Presbyterian Church Of Ireland Northern Presbytery Choir Book: Book of Martyrs by John Foxe Luxury: High-powered radio

Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Patricia Neal. Favourite track: Black Is The Colour by Joan Baez Book: A collection of short stories Luxury: Toothbrush and toothpaste

Sue Lawley's castaway is historian Lord Dacre Of Glanton. Favourite track: Pavane For A Dead Infanta by Maurice Ravel Book: The collected works by Virgil Luxury: Paper, pen and ink

Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Anita Dobson. Favourite track: The Locomotion by Little Eva Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Luxury: Bed

For people who enjoy walking on the Cumbrian fells there's one indispensable companion. It's a Wainwright; a small guidebook, mapped, written and illustrated by Alfred Wainwright, who's Sue Lawley's castaway this morning in Desert Island Discs. Wainwright has written some 50 books and his Lake District guides have sold more than a million. He'll be talking about his beloved Lake District and choos...

Sue Lawley's castaway is pianist Peter Donohoe. Favourite track: String Quintet In C Major by Franz Schubert Book: Collected Scripts by Billy Connolly Luxury: Waterbed

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs is one of the most prominent novelists in the English language today. Author of the prize-winning novel Midnight's Children and weaver of magic yarns which embody myth, memory and politics, he is the Indian-born writer Salman Rushdie. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the forces which have influenced his life and work. [Taken from the original program...

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is a monk, a man at peace with solitude, but whose life has been spent fighting the cause of the oppressed and dispossessed, from South Africa to London's East End. He is Bishop Trevor Huddleston, former Bishop of Stepney and President of the Anti-Apartheid Movement. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his long and varied life. [Taken from the origi...

Sue Lawley's castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Athene Seyler. She first appeared on the stage 80 years ago as Rosalind in As You Like It - a part she can still recite - and now, at 99, she looks back with pleasure on her many happy years as one of Britain's finest comic actresses. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]...

Shy, lazy, self-effacing: this is the way this week's castaway on Desert Island Discs describes himself to Sue Lawley. So how come he ventured to the Radio Show at Earl's Court to choose his eight records to accompany him to the island? Well, you can find out how Terry Wogan just can't resist the challenge of a real, live audience, and also hear his ruminations on solitude, show business and shyne...

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs reveals her three remaining burning ambitions in life: to make a number-one record, to become a grandmother and to be treated as a real sex symbol - all this with 25 years of singing and compering success behind her. She's matchmaker supreme Cilla Black, and she'll be talking about her legendary early days in Liverpool, her subsequent career and her fami...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a man who has been described as "the nicest Prime Minister we never had". He may never have made it as Prime Minister, but Michael Foot has had a long and illustrious career, representing his Welsh constituency for many years, and becoming leader of the Labour Party in 1980. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for politics, books and...

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a writer and academic who's most renowned for her views on women, sex and human relations. She's Germaine Greer - someone who's often described as the 'high priestess of feminism'. As she approaches her 50th birthday, she'll be discussing with Sue Lawley whether her views have mellowed over the years, and how her aspirations have changed since the...