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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:

Clare Short MP Jul 05, 1992

Show notes

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician Clare Short.

Favourite track: Nun Sag Ich Dir Zum Ersten Mal by Arnold Schoenberg Book: Geometry Tutor Luxury: Piano

Vivienne Westwood Jun 28, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Avant-garde, surprising and often shocking, Vivienne first drew media attention when, in the late 1970s, she founded the punk movement with Malcolm McLaren. These days, though hardly orthodox, she has become more mainstream - in 1990 and 1991 she was named Designer of the Year, and she has just been awarded an OBE in the most recent Honours list. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her impressive career and revealing that, though fashion has been her life, her first love has always been books.

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

Favourite track: Sleeping Beauty Panorama, Act 2 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Multi-lingual dictionary

Terry Waite Jun 21, 1992

Show notes

In 1987, as an Ambassador of the Anglican Church trying to engineer the freedom of men held in Lebanon, Terry Waite was taken hostage himself. Nearly five years later, courageous and resilient, he emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation. This week on Desert Island Discs he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those years and recalling the three vows he took - no regrets, no self-pity, no sentimentality - which he believes saved his sanity.

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

Favourite track: Sleep by Benjamin Luxon Book: Complete Cambridge Histories Luxury: Chess computer

Robert Lindsay Jun 14, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is actor Robert Lindsay. Born in Derbyshire 42 years ago, he's recognised today as one of Britain's most versatile performers. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his schooldays at a secondary modern and the art master who introduced him and the rest of the school to drama. He'll also be recalling the days when he couldn't walk down the street without being mobbed, so famous was he for his role as Wolfie in the BBC's television sitcom Citizen Smith.

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

Favourite track: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss Book: Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence Luxury: Computer chess set

Duncan Goodhew Jun 07, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the swimmer Duncan Goodhew. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life, which was dogged by misadventure - a fall from an apple tree left him permanently and completely bald; and in his early teens, he was discovered to be dyslexic. Nevertheless, these setbacks merely strengthened his resolve to succeed at swimming, and to go on and win a gold medal for the 100 metres breast-stroke at the Moscow Games.

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

Favourite track: O Mio Babbino Caro by Giacomo Puccini Book: Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien Luxury: Wig

Prunella Scales May 31, 1992

Show notes

Sue Lawley's castaway is one of the country's favourite actresses Prunella Scales. She's most easily recognised as Sybil Fawlty, wife of John Cleese, the manic hotelkeeper in the television series Fawlty Towers, but it's a role which represents a very small part of all she's done. Since her debut in Bristol 40 years ago, she has never been out of work, and recently she's scaled new heights with her portrayal of the Queen in Alan Bennett's A Question of Attribution. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the problems associated with playing such a well-known and much-loved figure, and also about the rest of her long and successful career.

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

Favourite track: Ruht Wohl Ihr Heiligen Gebeine by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Complete works in German by William Shakespeare and The Bible in Russian and a Russian dictionary Luxury: A huge tapestry kit

Lord Chief Justice Taylor May 24, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the country's most senior serving judge Lord Taylor of Gosforth. Recently appointed the Lord Chief Justice of England, he'll be discussing the public's perception of the English legal system, following the recent series of miscarriages of justice; and also, his plans to open up areas of the law and to rid the system of some of its more antiquated trappings, such as wigs and robes. He'll also be talking to Sue Lawley about how, as an accomplished musician, he might well have become a professional pianist rather than the Lord Chief Justice.

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

Favourite track: Symphony No 41 in C K 551 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Piano

Michael Grade May 17, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is television executive Michael Grade. As a member of the famous Grade dynasty, he grew up in the showbiz atmosphere of London's West End. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about being brought up by his formidable grandmother after his mother left him when he was very young; and about his career, which has taken him from Daily Mirror sports journalist to Hollywood producer, to the Controller of BBC1 and to his present position as the Chief Executive of Channel 4.

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

Favourite track: Beim Schlafengehen Four Last Songs by Richard Strauss Book: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Luxury: Sports results

Will Carling May 10, 1992

Show notes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is rugby player Will Carling. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, as a six year old, he dreamed of captaining England, and then, having achieved his ambition at the startlingly early age of 22, he went on to take his team to the final of the World Cup and to win the Grand Slam for the last two years running.

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

Favourite track: What A Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong Book: The Hobbit by J R R Tolkien Luxury: Flotation tank

Henrietta, Marchioness Of Tavistock May 03, 1992

Show notes

This week's castaway in Desert Island Discs is Henrietta, Marchioness of Tavistock. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about, amongst other things, her idyllic childhood, her passion for breeding horses and explaining why she initially refused to live with her husband in his family's ancestral home, Woburn Abbey.

Favourite track: Cavalleria Rusticana Intermezzo by Pietro Mascagni Book: History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Sir Winston Churchill Luxury: Triangular pillow

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