Desert Island Discs

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Joanne Harris, writer Nov 07, 2021

Show notes

Joanne Harris is a writer who is best known for her novel Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp.

The daughter of an English father and French mother, Joanne was born in Barnsley and her first few years were spent living above her grandparents’ sweet shop. Her parents were both teachers, and her first language was French. She went on to read modern and medieval languages at Cambridge University and taught French for 15 years, writing fiction in her spare time.

Her first two novels were not successful and initially Chocolat looked set to follow suit: some publishers thought it was too indulgent to appeal readers in any great number, but the story’s combination of food and magic won many fans and it became a word of mouth hit.

Since then, Joanne has written 18 more novels, along with novellas, short stories, the libretti for two short operas, several screenplays and three cookbooks. Her books are now published in over 50 countries and have won a number of British and international awards.

Joanne lives in Yorkshire and works from a shed in her back garden.

DISC ONE: I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash DISC TWO: Ballade des Dames du Temps Jadis by Georges Brassens DISC THREE: At Seventeen by Janis Ian DISC FOUR: Here Comes the Flood by Peter Gabriel DISC FIVE: Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits DISC SIX: Letting You Go by Philip Quast DISC SEVEN: When an Old Cricketer Leaves the Crease by Roy Harper DISC EIGHT: Little Plastic Castle by Ani DiFranco

BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Works of Victor Hugo LUXURY ITEM: Joanne’s own shed CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Can See Clearly Now by Johnny Nash

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Peter Schmeichel, footballer Oct 31, 2021

Show notes

Peter Schmeichel is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the modern game. In 1999, he captained Manchester United in one of the most astonishing comebacks in football, as United won the Champions League with two goals in added time, completing a much-coveted Treble, along with the Premiership and the FA Cup. As well as winning numerous trophies during his years at Manchester United, he has played a record 129 times for Denmark, his national team. He was part of the Danish side who were surprise winners of the European Championships in 1992: Denmark were underdogs and only joined the tournament at the last minute, when Yugoslavia were forced to withdraw. During the 1990s, he was arguably the most recognised Dane in the world.

He began his football career in Denmark before fulfilling his childhood dream and signing for Manchester United in 1991. His father was a professional musician, who insisted on piano and guitar lessons for the young Peter. Goalkeeping was not his choice: as young boy, he was told to play in goal by a teacher who was thought he might be too wild for the other youngsters on the pitch.

Since retiring from the competitive game, Peter lives in Denmark but spends time travelling to see Manchester United play and he also follows his son, Kasper, who plays for Leicester City and Denmark.

DISC ONE: We Are The Champions by Queen DISC TWO: Hymn To Freedom by Oscar Peterson DISC THREE: Rosanna by Toto DISC FOUR: Sultans Of Swing by Dire Straits DISC FIVE: Sir Duke by Stevie Wonder DISC SIX: Angels by Robbie Williams DISC SEVEN: In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins DISC EIGHT: The Girl Is Mine by Michael Jackson With Paul McCartney

BOOK CHOICE: The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (JK Rowling) LUXURY ITEM: Peter’s guitar CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Girl Is Mine by Michael Jackson With Paul McCartney

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Michael Sandel, philosopher Oct 24, 2021

Show notes

Michael Sandel is a political philosopher and professor of government theory at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has also presented the BBC Radio 4 series The Public Philosopher and The Global Philosopher, in which he examines the thinking behind a current controversy.

His books have tackled the idea of meritocracy and the moral limits of markets, and he has been described as a “philosopher with the global profile of a rock star.”

Michael grew up in Minnesota until the age of 13 when his family relocated to Los Angeles. As a boy he was fascinated by politics and he invited Ronald Reagan, who was then governor of California, to take part in a debate at his school.

During his university studies he took an internship at the Houston Chronicle and covered the Watergate scandal, sitting in on the Supreme court deliberations and subsequent impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill. Later, while he was studying as a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University he was, as he puts it, “seduced by philosophy”.

Justice, the course he devised at Harvard, is one of the most popular in the university’s history – thousands of students apply to attend in person and tens of millions watch his classes online.

DISC ONE: Feeling Good by Nina Simone DISC TWO: Only a Pawn in Their Game by Bob Dylan DISC THREE: Battle Hymn of the Republic by Odetta DISC FOUR: Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday DISC FIVE: Alexander Hamilton by Original Broadway Cast of Hamilton DISC SIX: Anthem by Leonard Cohen DISC SEVEN: The Stars Will Sing To You by Kiku Adatto DISC EIGHT: America the Beautiful by Ray Charles

BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Dialogues of Plato LUXURY ITEM: Binoculars CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Stars Will Sing To You by Kiku Adatto

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Deborah Meaden, businesswoman Oct 17, 2021

Show notes

Deborah Meaden is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She’s been one of the investment ‘Dragons’ in the BBC TV series since 2006.

Destined to be a successful entrepreneur, Deborah Meaden launched her first business straight out of college at nineteen years old, importing artisan Italian glass and ceramic homeware goods to the UK.

After running various franchise businesses, she joined her family company, Weststar Holidays and eventually became Managing Director. A few years later, when her parents wanted to retire, she bought them out of the business and later sold the company making her a multi-millionaire.

Deborah is now a full time investor with a wide ranging portfolio. For the last fifteen years, she has been one of the investment Dragons on BBC TV’s Dragon’s Den. Even though she has many millions in the bank, she has no plans to step back from business. “Why would I stop doing something that I love?”

She lives in Somerset with her husband, Paul.

DISC ONE: Ride a White Swan by T. Rex DISC TWO: The Bottle by Gil Scott-Heron / Brian Jackson DISC THREE: Mercy Mercy Me by Marvin Gaye DISC FOUR: Don't Push It Don't Force It by Leon Haywood DISC FIVE: Money's Too Tight To Mention by The Valentine Brothers DISC SIX: El Condor Pasa by Simon And Garfunkel DISC SEVEN: Suite: The Planets – Jupiter composed by Gustav Holst, performed by BBC Symphony Orchestra and conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent DISC EIGHT: Be Thankful For What You've Got by William De Vaughn BOOK CHOICE: A History of the World in 100 Objects by Neil MacGregor LUXURY ITEM: A sketch book and pencil CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Be Thankful For What You've Got by William De Vaughn

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano Oct 10, 2021

Show notes

The mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly has sung at the most prestigious venues around the world, including the Royal Opera House, London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as Glyndebourne, Vienna and Bayreuth. In 2009 she was a soloist at the Last Night of the BBC Proms, singing Rule Britannia dressed as Admiral Nelson, and she has also made a name for herself taking on male or so-called “trouser roles” in opera, including Handel’s Giulio Cesare (Julius Caesar).

As a child, she was an outstanding pianist with a passion for classical music and jazz. After studying piano and voice at the Royal College of Music, she decided to become a singer. She was a member of the BBC Singers for five years, before taking the leap and seeking work as a soloist.

She took a break from public performance in 2019 to have treatment for breast cancer, but has now resumed her career.

She was made a DBE in the 2017 Birthday Honours and last year she became an Honorary Member of the Royal Philharmonic Society, recognising her outstanding services to music.

DISC ONE: Stairway to Heaven by Led Zeppelin DISC TWO: Handel: L'Allegro, Il Penseroso, ed il Moderato, Part III: As steals the morn. Performed by Mark Padmore (tenor), Lucy Crowe (soprano) and The English Concert, conducted by Andrew Manze DISC THREE: Rebel Rebel by David Bowie DISC FOUR: Blue In Green by Miles Davis DISC FIVE: Embroidery in Childhood (Act III, scene 1) Composed and conducted by Benjamin Britten. Performed by Claire Watson (soprano) and Royal Opera House, Covent Garden DISC SIX: Schubert Winterreise : Das Wirtshaus, performed by Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau (baritone) and Gerald Moore (piano) DISC SEVEN: Wagner - Der Ring : Keilberth, Bayreuth live, 1955. Act 3 Die Walküre, Denn einer nur freie die Braut. Performed by Hans Hotter (bass-baritone) and Bayreuth Festival Orchestra DISC EIGHT: Symphony Number 3 in D minor Mahler 3 : Mov’t 6, Ruhevoll- Empfunden (what love tells me) Performed by Vienna Philharmonic and conducted by Claudio Abaddo

BOOK CHOICE: The Infernal Desire Machines of Doctor Hoffman by Angela Carter LUXURY ITEM: A grand piano with a tuning kit CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Wagner - Der Ring : Keilberth, Bayreuth live, 1955. Act 3 Die Walküre, Denn einer nur freie die Braut. Performed by Hans Hotter (bass-baritone) and Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Tom Ilube, entrepreneur Oct 03, 2021

Show notes

Tom Ilube is an entrepreneur, known for his successful start-up companies, and a philanthropist. He recently took up the post of chairman of the Rugby Football Union.

He was born in 1963 to a Nigerian father and a British mother, and grew up first in London, and then in Uganda, a stay cut short by the rise to power of Idi Amin. He began his teenage years back in the UK, enjoying rugby and ice-skating, before moving with his family to Nigeria, where he also attended university, studying Applied Physics and launching his first business selling flared trousers to fellow students.

He returned to London looking for work in information technology. After many unsuccessful job applications, British Airways gave him a break, and he later worked for the London Stock Exchange and Goldman Sachs. In 1996, he founded his first company and has since been involved with several other start-ups – “thinking up ideas, raising venture capital, building companies, selling them and doing it all again,” he says. He is also involved with philanthropic projects in education, including founding a school for high-achieving but disadvantaged girls in Ghana with a focus on maths and science.

In 2017 he topped the Powerlist, the annual list of the 100 most influential people of African and African Caribbean heritage in Britain, and was appointed a CBE in 2018. He is married to Caron and has two grown-up children.

DISC ONE: Doctor Who by BBC Radiophonic Workshop DISC TWO: Sweet Mother by Prince Nico Mbarga And Rocafil Jazz International DISC THREE: The Boys Are Back in Town by Thin Lizzy DISC FOUR: Swing Low, Sweet Chariot by Ladysmith Black Mambazo DISC FIVE: That's The Way Love Goes by Janet Jackson DISC SIX: Family Business by Kanye West DISC SEVEN: Mr Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr DISC EIGHT: A Change is Gonna Come by Ayanna Witter-Johnson

BOOK CHOICE: The Wormwood Trilogy by Tade Thompson LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered puzzle generator, designed by Tom. CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Mr Bojangles by Sammy Davis Jr

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian Sep 26, 2021

Show notes

Tracey Ullman was the first woman to be offered her own television sketch show – both in Britain and America – and has starred in film and television dramas alongside Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Grant. The Emmy-winning Tracey Ullman Show ran for four seasons in the US and provided the launch pad for the Simpsons.

Tracey was born in Slough and as a child she would impersonate people and put on shows for the amusement of her mother after the death of her father. At 12 she won a scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London and worked in repertory theatre and the West End in London before her television career took off. She was one of the stars of the BBC’s prime time sketch show Three of a Kind alongside David Copperfield and a young Lenny Henry.

In 1985 she moved to Los Angeles with her husband, the producer Allan McKeown, where her uncanny impressions of Americans from all walks of life won her acclaim and awards in equal measure.

After the death of her husband Tracey returned to the UK in 2016 and was soon back on our screens in a new sketch series, Tracey Ullman’s Show, which showcased her enduring talent for sending up the powerful and the famous, including Dame Judi Dench, Angela Merkel and Theresa May.

DISC ONE: American Girl by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers DISC TWO: You Won't See Me by The Beatles DISC THREE: Nichols and May At Work by Mike Nichols And Elaine May DISC FOUR: That's The Way Of The World by Earth, Wind & Fire DISC FIVE: Everyday I Write the Book by Elvis Costello And The Attractions DISC SIX: They Don’t Know by Kirsty MacColl DISC SEVEN: You and I by Stevie Wonder DISC EIGHT: This Is the Sea by The Waterboys

BOOK CHOICE: The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend LUXURY ITEM: Nuts CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: You and I by Stevie Wonder

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Baroness Hale of Richmond, former judge Sep 19, 2021

Show notes

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. In 2019 she announced the court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. The twinkling spider brooch she wore that day caused a sensation and set social media aflame. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission and in 2004 became the UK’s first woman law lord.

Lady Hale was born in Yorkshire and read law at the University of Cambridge where she graduated top of her class. She spent almost 20 years in academia and also practised as a barrister. Later at the Law commission she led the work on what became the 1989 Children Act.

Lady Hale retired as a judge in January 2020.

DISC ONE: Messiah - Part 1: O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion, composed by Georg Friedrich Händel, performed by Kathleen Ferrier and The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult DISC TWO: Love Me Do by The Beatles DISC THREE: Move Him Into The Sun. Composed and conducted by Benjamin Britten. Performed by Peter Pears (tenor) and Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) with the Bach Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra DISC FOUR: Part 1 Nos 4 & 5: Gloria in excelsis Deo – Et in terra pax. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner DISC FIVE: The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492 Sull'Aria. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by sopranos Charlotte Margiono and Barbara Bonney, Netherlands Opera Chorus and the Concertgebouw Orchestra DISC SIX: Hand in Hand by Glória (Ireland’s Gay and Lesbian Choir) DISC SEVEN: Parry: I Was Glad, composed by Hubert Parry, performed by Westminster Abbey Choir, Simon Preston (organ) and conducted by William McKinney DISC EIGHT: Dies Irae. Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado

BOOK CHOICE: A Desert Island survival manual LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered computer with sudoku puzzles and a writing application CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Part 1 Nos 4 & 5: Gloria in excelsis Deo – Et in terra pax, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Michael Holding, cricketer Sep 12, 2021

Show notes

Michael Holding is a cricket commentator and former West Indies bowler. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of international cricket. In July 2020 when rain stopped play during the television coverage of a Test Match, he gave an unscripted four minute monologue on institutional racism in sport and society in the wake of the death of George Floyd. His spontaneous eloquence won him widespread acclaim, including a Royal Television Society award.

Michael was born in Kingston, Jamaica, in 1954 and grew up playing Catchy Shubby, an informal and fast-moving form of cricket, in scrubland behind his parents' home. He made his debut for Jamaica aged 18. Two years later he played in his first Test match for the West Indies and went on to become part of a team that would make sporting history – not losing a single series for 15 years. Michael earned the nickname ‘Whispering Death’ for his long quiet run-up and extremely fast deliveries, and many cricket experts believe he bowled the greatest over in Test history – to the English batsman Geoffrey Boycott in 1981 in Barbados.

He retired from international cricket in 1987 and became a well-respected and straight-talking commentator on the game: he has said this is his last year in the commentary box and he plans to return to his home in the Cayman Islands.

DISC ONE: Don't Make Me Over by Dionne Warwick DISC TWO: War by Bob Marley And The Wailers DISC THREE: Pata Pata by Miriam Makeba DISC FOUR: Color Him Father by The Winstons DISC FIVE: What’s Going On by Marvin Gaye DISC SIX: Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins DISC SEVEN: That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne Warwick Featuring Elton John, Gladys Knight And Stevie Wonder DISC EIGHT: Who the Cap Fit by Bob Marley And The Wailers

BOOK CHOICE: Long Walk To Freedom by Nelson Mandela LUXURY ITEM: A football CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: That’s What Friends Are For by Dionne Warwick Featuring Elton John, Gladys Knight And Stevie Wonder

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Katy Hickman Photo BBC / Amanda Benson

Nazir Afzal, lawyer Aug 01, 2021

Show notes

Nazir Afzal is a solicitor and the former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England. Among his notable cases, he brought the Rochdale sex grooming gangs to trial in 2012.

Nazir’s parents arrived in the UK from Pakistan in 1961 and he was born in Birmingham the following year. After completing his legal training he started his career as a defence lawyer but soon realised that he preferred prosecution to defence, joining the Crown Prosecution Service in 1991.

As director of prosecutions for London he turned his attention to so-called honour-based violence and brought successful prosecutions against the perpetrators of these crimes. In 2011 as chief crown prosecutor for north-west England he began investigating sex grooming gangs in Rochdale, overturning a previous CPS decision not to bring charges against the gangs. He brought prosecutions against nine men who were convicted and jailed in 2012 for the sexual exploitation of 47 young girls.

Nazir retired from the Crown Prosecution Service in 2015. He currently chairs the Catholic Church’s new safeguarding body and advises the Welsh government on issues of gender-based violence.

DISC ONE: Jump Around by House of Pain DISC TWO: This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush DISC THREE: Why Should I Cry for You? by Sting DISC FOUR: One in Ten by UB40 DISC FIVE: Set You Free (Voodoo And Serano Remix) by N-Trance DISC SIX: Woman in Chains by Tears For Fears With Oleta Adams DISC SEVEN: One by Mary J. Blige & U2 DISC EIGHT: Talkin' Bout A Revolution by Tracey Chapman

BOOK CHOICE: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee LUXURY ITEM: A guitar CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: This Woman’s Work by Kate Bush

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

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