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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:

Don Black Oct 22, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the country's most successful lyricists, Don Black.

Songs like Born Free and Diamonds are Forever, and musicals like Sunset Boulevard, Billy and Aspects of Love have made him a rich man. But he'll be talking to Sue Lawley of his early memories of his poor but happy Jewish family in the East End of London and how an apprenticeship on the New Musical Express led him into the world of popular music.

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

Favourite track: Adagio in G Minor for Organ & Strings by Tomaso Albinoni & Remo Giazotto Book: 14,000 Things To Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer Luxury: Snooker table

Richard Hoggart Oct 15, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the academic and author Richard Hoggart. Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote the hugely influential Uses of Literacy. In it, he argued that the working classes were being short changed - both by rampant consumerism and by the dross he felt was being churned out by the mass media.

Cast well away from materialism and the media on the desert island, he'll be talking about how he now feels about his original thesis and about his own working-class background in Leeds, where he was orphaned at an early age.

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

Favourite track: Fidelio: The Prisoner's Chorus From Act One by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: Fountain pen and paper

Alan Yentob Oct 08, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his upbringing in Manchester and London, the Cathedral boarding school where he and his twin brother were the only two Jewish boys and his 27 years at the BBC.

During that time he rose steadily through the ranks to become Head of Music and Arts, ending up as the only person to have run both BBC1 and BBC2.

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

Favourite track: Four Last Songs from Beim Schlafengehen by Richard Strauss Book: Essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: Video recorder

Jenny Pitman Oct 01, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the empathy she feels for the horses she trains and her relationship with their owners. She won the Grand National in 1983 with Corbiere, and she has twice trained the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In 1995 her charge, Royal Athlete, won the Grand National, crowning her spectacular success as a trainer.

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

Favourite track: A Four Legged Friend by Roy Rogers Book: Veterinary Notes For Horse Owners by M Horace Hayes Luxury: Television set

Maurice Saatchi Sep 24, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the advertising man, Maurice Saatchi. He and his brother Charles created what became the biggest advertising agency in the world. Saatchi & Saatchi masterminded the Conservative victory in 1979 with their slogan 'Labour isn't working'.

He'll be telling Sue Lawley about the heady days of the 1980s - a red Ferrari would be delivered unannounced to the best names in the business, with the offer of a job with Saatchi & Saatchi. Then, last year, he fell from grace when a boardroom shake-up meant he had to leave the company he had so lovingly created.

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

Favourite track: Die Dreigroschenoper Surabaya Johnny by Kurt Weill Book: Hamlet (1897 edition) by William Shakespeare Luxury: Virtual-reality headset

Max Nicholson Sep 17, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who spans our century. Aged 91, Max Nicholson has enjoyed careers in conservation, politics, journalism and the Civil Service.

But his great passion remains ornithology. As a tiny boy, his parents took him one rainy afternoon to see the stuffed birds in the Natural History Museum, and there his great obsession was born. He was a conservationist before anyone understood the idea of ecology. He's played major parts in the founding of the Nature Conservancy Council, the World Wildlife Fund and Sites of Special Scientific Interest.

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

Favourite track: Symphony No 6 In F Major Op 68 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin Luxury: Binoculars

John Updike Sep 10, 1995

Show notes

Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the celebrated American writer John Updike. His novels include Rabbit Run (and three Rabbit follow-ups), Couples and The Witches of Eastwick.

He is both poet and historian, famous for charting the changes in post-war American society such as increasing marital breakdown and changing attitudes to death. He started his writing career by selling stories to the New Yorker magazine - something his mother had tried for years but had never succeeded. And he'll be telling Sue Lawley about how he overcame a bad stutter, how he has learnt to control his psoriasis and how now, aged 63, he finally feels normal; part of the gang he never was as a teenager.

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

Favourite track: Sing, Sing, Sing by The Benny Goodman Orchestra Book: Complete Works by Marcel Proust Luxury: Silken tent (for luxury, not survival)

Wendy Richard Jul 09, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Wendy Richard, one of the best-known faces on British television.

She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about a career which started with the Arthur Haines show in the 60s, and took her through a whole series of long-running television programmes - The Newcomers, Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace and Favour. However, it was 10 years ago that she took the part which was to bring her her greatest popularity - Pauline Fowler in EastEnders.

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

Favourite track: Land Of Hope And Glory by Edward Elgar/Benson Book: Wilt by Tom Sharpe Luxury: Tapestry to make

Duke Of Westminster Jul 02, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the sixth Duke of Westminster. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the responsibilities and pleasures of being one of the country's richest men. Having enjoyed an idyllic childhood on the banks of Loch Ern in County Fermanagh, it was a rude shock to be transplanted to an English prep school at the age of seven. The comparatively early death of his father then meant that by the time he was just 19 he was managing one of Britain's greatest estates, and by 27 he owned it. He'll be discussing the pleasures and the perils of his position, why he is no longer a member of the Conservative Party and his hopes and dreams for his four-year-old son and heir, Hugh.

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

Favourite track: Albatross by Fleetwood Mac Book: Through Russian Snows by G A Henty Luxury: Telescope

Jasper Conran Jun 25, 1995

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is clothes designer Jasper Conran. Son of Sir Terence Conran and Shirley Conran, he has art, design and business in his blood and was always determined to make his own way in the world of fashion without parental influence. He has said, "in a family like mine, if you're not successful, you drown".

He'll be telling Sue Lawley about his difficult childhood of nannies and his public school where he was bullied for being overweight, all of which he overcame to win a scholarship to the prestigious Parsons School of Art in New York. After that, his career took off and, at the age of 27, he was named Designer of the Year. By the late 1980s he was almost bankrupt and had to re-invent his business to a 1990s-type smaller and more manageable outfit.

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

Favourite track: Tosca Vissi D' Arte by Giacomo Puccini Book: Tales by Hoffman Luxury: Vintage Krug Champagne (endless supply)

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