Desert Island Discs

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Mary Berry Jul 29, 2012

Show notes

Mary Berry is one of the UK's best-known and respected cookery writers. More than six million copies of her books have now been sold - not bad for a girl who failed her school certificate in English. On television, it is her role as a judge on The Great British Bake-off that has brought her to the attention of a new generation. It was in domestic science lessons that she discovered her love of cooking and she is in no doubt of the importance of teaching cookery in school "When everybody leaves school, whether they are a boy or a girl, what do they have to do in the home? They have to produce a meal. They haven't been taught to do it. I think it should be essential."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Akram Khan Jul 22, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the dancer and choreographer Akram Khan.

A child of Bengali immigrants, he started learning Indian dance almost as soon as he could walk. Talent-spotted in his teens, he went on to spend two years touring the world with Peter Brook's Mahabharata. A keen collaborator, he's worked with everyone from prima ballerina Sylvie Guillem to disco queen Kylie Minogue.

He says he was a shy boy and dance allowed him to communicate properly for the first time: "It was like being allowed to speak - and people taking notice of that and that's another problem because then you want people's attention all the time, so, every dinner party we went to, I said, Mum, are they going to ask me to dance? It became an addiction."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Simon McBurney Jul 15, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor, writer and director Simon McBurney.

It's 30 years since he set up the ground-breaking theatre company Complicite. It brought extraordinary physical deftness to the stage and its productions won every plaudit going - from an armful of Olivier awards to the Perrier prize for comedy.

His mainstream credits range from TV roles in the Vicar of Dibley and Rev, to screen credits for The Last King of Scotland and Harry Potter. On stage, he's directed Katie Holmes and Al Pacino to critical acclaim in New York.

Of his unconventional directing style, he admits: "Some people have said, it's a bit like going into the jungle with some mad explorer - who everybody knows doesn't have any idea where he's going - but somehow he gives people some sort of confidence to keep on going."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Martina Navratilova Jul 08, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the legendary tennis player, Martina Navratilova.

In an extraordinary career she's won 59 Grand Slam titles - her last just a few weeks short of her fiftieth birthday. Her life off the court has been equally eventful - she grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and, as a teenager, threw rocks as Soviet tanks rolled in; tennis offered a way to see the world and she defected to the US when she was 18 years old. After thirty years at the top of her profession she retired - and says she finally found time for the rest of her life: "Tennis really was a total commitment, you didn't have much time for anything else. So, when I quit, I was going through something emotionally that most people go through when they're 18, 20 years old. Really having the time for personal relationships, developing friendships and taking the time with everybody. I think I've caught up by now."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Charles Jencks Jul 01, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the architectural critic and writer Charles Jencks.

Born in America, for the past four decades he has lived and worked in Britain - where his designs are as likely to be found in sculptural landscapes as buildings. Perhaps his most significant legacy, though, is the work he did with his late wife, Maggie Keswick. They worked together to design Maggie's Centres - a series of practical and beautifully-designed buildings to give information and support to people with cancer.

He says: "When you have cancer, there's many things which you have to do aside from the struggle - it's not just a medical problem, it's a social problem - of how you tell the children, how you tell your boss - and above all, as Maggie said, it's not to lose the joy of living."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

John Bishop Jun 24, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian John Bishop.

Growing up on a Merseyside council estate, his early ambition was to play football for Liverpool - otherwise, he thought he might find a way out by winning the Pools or joining a band. The youngest of four children, his family were, he says, the kind that filled factory floors rather than lecture halls. Now a hugely popular stand-up comedian, it was a failing marriage and a sense of desperation that led him, one night, to a comedy bar. He decided to give it a try - it turned his life, and marriage, around.

"There was a time where the stand-up was the thing that I think kept me sane - it was like therapy and if I stopped doing it, I would go backwards."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Ahdaf Soueif Jun 17, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Egyptian writer and commentator Ahdaf Soueif.

She was the first Muslim woman to be shortlisted for the Booker Prize and, from an early age, her life has been divided between Egypt and Britain. She was among the crowds in Tahrir Square last year, witnessing the uprising at first hand, and describing events for the world's media.

She says: "Every once in a while there would be a surge of a few meters forward, as your friends, who were being killed at the front, gained you those three metres and your job, as the masses, was to move forward and hold the three metres."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Doreen Lawrence Jun 10, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the campaigner Doreen Lawrence.

The life she thought was hers ended when her son Stephen was murdered by a group of young white men on a street in London in 1993. In the years since, her campaigning has resulted in a shift in public attitudes, laws being changed and policing methods overhauled. She set up a charity in her son's memory and has been awarded an OBE for services to community relations.

She says: "My son was special and I think, what happened to him, I just wanted everyone to know and learn about him - but all the other things, the OBE, I'd swap all of that just to have my son back. When your children are young you take them for granted, because you think they're going to be there forever."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Margaret Rhodes Jun 03, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is Margaret Rhodes.

As the first cousin to the Queen, she has a unique insight into the life of the royal family. She used to spend her summer holidays at Balmoral with the Princesses Elizabeth and Margaret while, during the war, she worked for MI6 and lodged at Buckingham Palace. She attended the Queen's wedding and coronation and, in later life, worked as an assistant to the Queen Mother.

Remembering the Queen's coronation, she says: "We had only just recovered from six or seven years of deprivation and blackouts and rationing - it was like the sun suddenly coming out behind a lot of very dark clouds and I think everybody felt that with a new young Queen, a whole new era was opening up. It was somehow exciting."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Denise Robertson May 27, 2012

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the agony aunt and writer Denise Robertson.

She is, she says, one of life's survivors -- yet she seems to have had more than her fair share of tragedy; she's been widowed twice, dealt with financial hardship and lost a child to cancer. She's written dozens of novels and for more than forty years been an agony aunt on local radio, papers and television.

She says: "There have been times when I've thought, just as I get things right, fate steps in and kicks the steps from under me. But then you pick yourself up again. When I started out, there used to be a joke, that one day I'd open a letter without saying, 'Oh I remember when that happened to me'."

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

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