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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:

Lynda La Plante Oct 23, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Lynda La Plante - the creator of much-admired television series like Prime Suspect, Widows and Civvies.

Also the author of five novels, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she made the transition from acting in repertory for six years, as well as Brian Rix's Whitehall farces, to becoming one of television's most prolific and successful writers.

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

Favourite track: Nessun Dorma from Turandot by Giacomo Puccini Book: Fairy Stories by Honore de Balzac Luxury: Mouth organ

Sir George Christie Oct 16, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Chairman of Glyndebourne, Sir George Christie. As Master of one of Europe's most distinguished opera houses, famous as a mainstay of the English social scene, as well as a centre of creativity and innovation, he has recently overseen its complete rebuilding. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the place in which he has spent his whole life and how he faces the prospect of retirement.

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

Favourite track: Idomeneo: Zeffiretti Lushinghieri by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Luxury: Radio 4's The Archers - all the recordings from the beginning

Jeanette Winterson Oct 09, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Jeanette Winterson. Her first book Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit was based on her Lancashire childhood where she grew up as the adopted daughter of evangelical parents. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her upbringing - in which her parents saw her as a child they could dedicate to God, about how she left home at 15 after falling in love with another woman and about how she finally managed to get herself into Oxford.

Her first book won the Whitbread Prize and has been followed by more books and more prizes, all of which have attracted criticism and acclaim in equal measures.

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

Favourite track: Di, Cor Mio from Act 1 of Alcina by George Frideric Handel Book: Four Quartets by T S Eliot Luxury: A case of Krug champagne

Professor James Fenton Oct 02, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the poet and writer James Fenton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life as a boy chorister, the death of his mother when he was just 10 and about his experiences as a foreign correspondent. It was in this capacity that he travelled with the Viet Cong when they captured Saigon, and fled from the Khmer Rouge when they entered Phnom Penh.

He has also worked as a political and literary journalist and as a theatre critic. He'll be ruminating on the joys of his present incarnation as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University.

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

Favourite track: Requiem Dies Irae by Giuseppe Verdi Book: Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Luxury: Snorkel, mask and harpoon

Mary Stott Sep 25, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a journalist and feminist. Mary Stott became Women's Editor of the Guardian newspaper in 1957 and under her editorship, the women's pages were transformed. Her commissioning of many distinguished writers as well as her encouragement to her readers themselves to write first-hand accounts of their experiences led to the foundation of many important women's organisations. Now 87, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her enduring support of feminist issues, her memories of the suffragette movement and her love of singing.

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

Favourite track: St John's Passion Rest Calm, Oh Body Pure And Holy by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler Luxury: Watercolours for painting

John Tavener Sep 18, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the composer John Tavener. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the varied inspirations for his music and about how he regards the work of composition as an act of prayer. His music has won the admiration of both serious musicians and the general public - last year his work for cello and strings, The Protecting Veil, held the number one place in the classical charts for several months. Now nearly 50, his was a precocious talent - one of his earliest works was recorded successfully when he was only 24, thanks to the support of the Beatles.

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

Favourite track: Akathist of Thanksgiving by John Tavener Book: Apophthegmata Patrum (early writing of Egyptian fathers) Luxury: Upright piano

Joanna Trollope Sep 11, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist Joanna Trollope. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she made the move from writing historical romances to contemporary novels like The Rector's Wife, A Village Affair and A Spanish Lover, which have turned her into one of the country's most successful writers. She'll also be describing how she dislikes her books being described as 'aga-sagas' and discussing how much the events of her characters' lives mirror her own experiences.

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

Favourite track: Mass In C Minor - Laudamus Te by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Oxford Book of English Verse by Helen Gardiner Luxury: A bed and white Egyptian sheets

Rabbi Hugo Gryn Jul 10, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Rabbi Hugo Gryn. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how his happy and secure childhood in Czechoslovakia was devastated by Nazism and how he survived two years in concentration camps. He'll also be discussing how his commitment to bettering relations between people of differing faiths is rooted in his experience of persecution during the Second World War.

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

Favourite track: Kol Haoalm Kulo Gesher Tzar M' Od by Israel Zohar Book: Biography of Churchill by Martin Gilbert Luxury: A parking space

Derek Jameson Jul 03, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist and broadcaster Derek Jameson. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early poverty-stricken years in an East End foster home and his discovery, at the age of eight, that one of the girls in the home he had thought of as his older sister was, in fact, his mother. He'll also be describing how an aptitude for reading and writing, the encouragement of a concerned teacher and his own determination led him into journalism, where he started his career as an outdoor messenger at Reuters. From there, he went on to edit three Fleet Street newspapers and more recently, to become a popular radio personality.

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

Favourite track: Tosca Aria - E Lucevan Le Stelle by Giacomo Puccini Book: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck Luxury: Word processor

John Drummond Jun 26, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Director of the Promenade Concerts John Drummond. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his years at the BBC, starting as a general trainee, leaving it to become Director of the Edinburgh Festival and returning as Controller of Music and then Controller of Radio Three. He'll be discussing his passionate attachment to fine music and musicianship and his conviction that such music should not just be heard, but must be properly listened to.

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

Favourite track: Soave Sia Il Vento from Cosi fan Tutte by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Encyclopaedia of the libretti of all the well-known operas Luxury: Small theatre

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