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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:

Roger McGough Apr 10, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the poet Roger McGough. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood in Liverpool where he showed little aptitude for literature - it wasn't until he went to Hull University that he discovered his true vocation. It was one that was to take him, via a best-selling number one record, Lily the Pink, with the group The Scaffold, to become one of the country's most enduringly successful poets.

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

Favourite track: Foghorns On The Mersey Book: Times Atlas of the Night Sky Luxury: Black cab

Sir Ranulph Fiennes Apr 03, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Over the last 23 years, he has navigated the White Nile in a hovercraft, travelled around the world through both poles, discovered a lost city and, most recently, he nearly perished in Antarctica. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his unhappy schooldays at Eton, his thwarted ambition to emulate his father's military career and the problems he has had with his companions on expeditions.

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

Favourite track: Love Changes Everything by Michael Ball Book: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake Luxury: Antisan for insect bites

Conrad Black Mar 27, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week owns the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator - amongst two or three hundred other newspapers and magazines the world over. He is Canadian-born tycoon Conrad Black, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the notorious misbehaviour of his school days, the tuition his father gave him in the ways of corporate finance and how he views his powerful position in the British establishment.

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

Favourite track: Emperor Concerto in E Flat Major Opus 73 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Oxford Book of Verse, especially 'Apologia' (Newman) Luxury: Model of HMS Hood

Christina Dodwell Mar 06, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs is the explorer Christina Dodwell. Born in West Africa, she spent her early years running wild in the Bush. When her family returned to Camberley and the restriction of English boarding schools, Christina reacted by being expelled from a large number of them. She later ran away from the restrictions of London life in search of adventure on the African subcontinent, and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her subsequent travels, the exhilaration of the lone voyager, the joy and the fear.

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

Favourite track: One Of These Days by Pink Floyd Book: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Luxury: Pen and paper

Frances Partridge Feb 27, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is as old as this century and is said to be the last survivor of the much written-about Bloomsbury set. She is Frances Partridge and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her colourful life, unconventional beliefs and friendships with such influential writers and philosophers of her time as Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein, EM Forster, Lytton Strachey and Maynard Keynes.

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

Favourite track: Sinfonia Concertante In E Flat For Volin & Viola by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Memoirs by Duc de Saint-Simon Luxury: Flower press

Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP Feb 20, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Chancellor of the Exchequer Kenneth Clarke. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his reputation as something of a bruiser, his childhood as the son of a Northamptonshire miner and about his aspirations to the top job in politics - a job which would crown a career which has encompassed six senior Cabinet posts in under 10 years.

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

Favourite track: Night In Tunisia by Charlie Parker Book: The Life of Lord Melbourne by Lord David Cecil Luxury: Tenor sax

Rosemary Verey Feb 13, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the gardener Rosemary Verey. Passionate about planting and growing flowers and herbs as a child in the 1930s, it wasn't until the 1950s, with her four children away at school, that she began a serious study of horticulture. Completely self-taught, she has gone on to develop a career designing some of Britain's most beautiful gardens and numbers Prince Charles and Elton John amongst her clients.

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

Favourite track: Papillons by Robert Schumann Book: A Celebration of Gardens by Sir Roy Strong Luxury: Waterproof pens, paper and folders

Douglas Adams Feb 06, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Douglas Adams, creator of the anarchic world conjured up by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, as a child, he found it difficult to communicate with the adult world, and didn't speak until he was four years old. But as his confidence grew, he set his sights on being a nuclear physicist - an ambition later replaced by a burning desire to be John Cleese in Monty Python's Flying Circus. In fact, he has become a hugely-successful author, a passionate amateur naturalist and a rock star manque.

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

Book: Omnibus of Golfing Stories by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Martin D28 left-handed guitar

Dame Cicely Saunders Jan 30, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the founder of the Hospice Movement Dame Cicely Saunders. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her schooldays at Roedean, how she trained as a nurse and much later, as a doctor. When she was 29 she fell in love with a young patient dying of cancer, who bequeathed her a legacy of £500. Starting with that bequest, she raised enough money for a new kind of hospice dedicated to care for the dying. There are now 190 similar hospices throughout the country.

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

Favourite track: Symphony No 7 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Luxury: Pen and paper

Willy Russell Jan 23, 1994

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the playwright Willy Russell. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the route his career has taken - from hairdressing, via teaching in Toxteth to a living as one of the country's most successful dramatists. He'll also be talking about his play about the Beatles, John, Paul, George, Ringo & Bert, which, 20 years ago, transferred to the West End and became a huge hit and how, since then, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers have all brought him success and acclaim.

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

Favourite track: I Get Along Without You Very Well by Hoagy Carmichael Book: A Latin Primer Luxury: English meadow with an oak tree

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