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Desert Island Discs — Personal Journals
Desert Island Discs

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

Copyright: © (C) BBC 2023

Latest Episodes:

Jimmy McGovern Jan 14, 1996

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the playwright Jimmy McGovern. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the TV series Cracker - one of the top television series of the 1990s - about how much of the central character, Fitz, is modelled on himself, how he feels about the violent world it portrays and about why we are fascinated by criminal psychology. For seven years a writer on Brookside, he'll be describing how the phenomenal success of Cracker led to the reviving of his previously-rejected scripts for films like Priest and Hearts and Minds. He'll also be relating how the man who has since made a living out of words had such a bad stammer as a child that he was largely unintelligible.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: When I Fall In Love by Nat King Cole Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Haemorrhoid ointment

Christopher Hampton Jan 07, 1996

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Christopher Hampton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his multiplicity of talents - after obtaining a first at Oxford he went straight to the Royal Court Theatre in London where he wrote several highly-regarded plays, among them The Philanthropist. He then went on to win an Oscar for his screenplay of the film Dangerous Liaisons, to translate the work of Ibsen and Chekhov, to write the book for Sunset Boulevard, and, most recently, to direct the film Carrington, which he also wrote.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Requiem: The Lachrymosa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A title by Marcel Proust Luxury: Pen and paper

Lady Margaret Tebbit Dec 31, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Margaret Tebbit. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the night 11 years ago when the IRA detonated a huge bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where she was staying with her husband for the Tory Party Conference. Since that dreadful night, she has been severely paralysed, and she'll be describing the effect on her life: the dreams she has in which she no longer has to use a wheelchair, the new friends she's made and the old ones who turned out not to be such good friends in adversity and how her previous experience of mental illness - in the form of severe depression - compares with her current physical incapacity.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Nocturne by Evert Taube Book: Hillier's Dictionary of Plants by Hillier Luxury: An endless team of Man Fridays

Petula Clark Dec 24, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is an entertainer who has managed to captivate a generation. Petula Clark will be talking to Sue Lawley about how the British still perceive her as 'our pet' since her early singing days when she was chosen to sing in Trafalgar Square on VE night. Now, arguably the biggest female recording star Britain has ever produced, she is about to take on the lead role in Sunset Boulevard in the West End. In between, hits like The Little Shoemaker, Down Town and Don't Sleep in the Subway ensured she became an international star as well - captivating audiences in America and France.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Piano Concerto 21 in C K 467 - Andante by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A title by Peter Ustinov Luxury: Her piano

Barbara Dickson Dec 17, 1995

Show notes

The castaway this week in Desert Island Discs is the singer and actress Barbara Dickson. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she progressed from being the daughter of a Rothsyth docker to the lead role in Willy Russell's play John, Paul, Ringo and Bert, and later to win an award for her performance in his play Blood Brothers. Along the way, her extraordinary singing voice brought her a string of hit singles, including I Know Him So Well, while recently her acting abilities landed her one of the leading roles in ITV's Band of Gold.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight by James Taylor Book: English & Scottish Ballads by Francis Child Luxury: A very large set of solar-powered hair rollers

Alison Steadman Dec 03, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Alison Steadman. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her role as the monstrous Beverly in the BBC's production of Abigail's Party 18 years ago, as well as her talent for improvisation which she has perfected with her director husband, Mike Leigh. She'll also be discussing how daunting she found it recently to take on the role of Mrs Bennett in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Tosca E Lucevan Le Stella by Giacomo Puccini Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Luxury: Hot lemon flannels (as provided in Chinese restaurants)

George Martin Nov 19, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a musician who became famous for producing other people's music. George Martin will be talking to Sue Lawley about how he earned money to pay for piano lessons, was helped by a fairy godfather to study at the Guildhall School of Music and went on in 1962 to sign up and produce the group which changed the face of popular music. He'll be discussing his relationship with The Beatles and his extremely productive life since they disbanded 25 years ago.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Bess You Is My Woman Now by George Gershwin Book: A book on how to build a boat Luxury: An electric keyboard

Umberto Eco Nov 12, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Umberto Eco. His best-selling novel The Name of the Rose propelled him from the relative obscurity of his post as Professor of Semiotics at Bologna University to worldwide fame at the age of 50.

He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he deals with the demands of his celebrity status, his childhood in Mussolini's Italy and his other works - Foucault's Pendulum and The Island of the Day Before.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Goldberg Varations No 22 by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The New York Phone Book Luxury: Laptop computer

Rt Hon Gillian Shephard MP Nov 05, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Gillian Shephard.

She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the importance of her roots in rural Norfolk. Although she briefly left to go to Oxford, she was born and brought up in Norfolk and worked in local parliament there until her late 40s, when she entered Parliament to represent a Norfolk seat. She'll be discussing her own school days, and how they influence her perception of the quality of schools nowadays.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Mass in B Minor: Cum Sancto Spirito by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan H Huizinga Luxury: Madame Rochas scent

Elizabeth Jane Howard Oct 29, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard. In 1950, her first novel The Beautiful Visit was published. Now, some 45 years later and after many other books, she has just completed the concluding book of The Cazalet Chronicles. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the problems of combining writing and marriage; she abandoned her three marriages - her first husband, being the naturalist Peter Scott, and her last, the writer Kingsley Amis; and she'll be ruminating on the nature of love and who might experience it.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Requiem Dies Irae by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: All the sonatas by Scarlatti Luxury: Piano

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