Desert Island Discs

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Roger Waters May 29, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the musician Roger Waters.

As one of the founding members of the band Pink Floyd, he has seen huge critical and commercial success. But in 1985 he walked away from the group and years of acrimony followed. They were reunited for one final performance, twenty years later, for Live 8. It was a moment many of their fans thought they would not live to see and it was, he says, highly emotional.

"We did a run through on the Friday night and it was remarkable, there were about fifty or sixty people working on the site, putting out rubbish bins or whatever it was they were doing and they all stopped and at the end they all applauded - that was a very moving moment."

Record: Mahler - Symphony No.5 in C Sharp - 4th movement Book: All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy Luxury: A grand piano

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Debbie Harry May 22, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer Debbie Harry.

Her group Blondie started out in seedy New York bars and went on to achieve international success - selling tens of millions of albums along the way. She was ultra cool - a striking beauty with platinum hair and a sneer. Now aged 65, her trademark look continues to serve her well, she says: "As far as ageing goes it's rough - I try my best - I'm healthy and I exercise like a fiend. I'm glad that I've had all the radical experiences in my life - it suits me."

Record: Mahler's Symphony No.5 in C sharp Minor -4th movement Book: War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Paints and papers

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Kwame Kwei-Armah May 15, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor, director and playwright, Kwame Kwei-Armah.

His creative output spans both high art and popular culture. He became a household name starring in BBC One's Casualty, but at the same time he was pursuing a career in writing and his award-winning plays have been staged at the National Theatre. He's just finished a stint as the artistic director of The World Festival of Black Arts in Senegal and his next posting is to the US, where he's taking over a theatre in Baltimore. Throughout his life, he says, he continues to be inspired by the joyful atmosphere he grew up in. "My home was so warm, so full of life and noise. Most of my theatre I call the theatre of my front room. My memory was just this citadel to love and joy."

Record: Fight the Power Book: The complete works of August Wilson Luxury: A basic word processor

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Molly Parkin May 08, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the doyenne of bohemian living, Molly Parkin.

She left the Welsh valleys to train as a fine artist in London and was a successful painter then teacher before becoming a fashion writer and novelist. She is as well known, though, for her lifestyle as her work. She adopted a hedonistic approach to life - smoking and drinking through the night and picking up numerous lovers along the way.

Now aged 79 she prefers to live alone and says she has found a calmer way of living. "I have been blessed, and made it my business, to surround myself with larger than life characters," she says, "love, on a very profound level comes unexpectedly and brilliantly."

Record: Good Golly Miss Molly Book: The History of the Colony by Sophie Parkin Luxury: Her entire outfit including her Andrew Logan brooch

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Prof David Phillips May 01, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Professor David Phillips.

His love of science has taken him on an extraordinary journey. At the height of the Cold War, he swapped a post in America for a place at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, where he partied with the Bolshoi and was interrogated by the KGB. He is also Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Imperial College, but, despite his eminence, he admits his students had a 'professor button' fitted onto their hi-tech lasers. It was, he explains, a knob he could twiddle while showing visitors around the lab, but it wasn't connected to the machinery and meant he didn't ruin his students' experiments.

Record: The Marriage of Figaro Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: A piano with music

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Cath Kidston Apr 24, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the designer Cath Kidston.

Cheerful and practical, her products nod towards the 1950s. She began with ironing board covers but these days you can listen to a radio decorated with one of her designs, pitch one of her tents or decorate the children's bedroom with her cowboy wallpaper.

In her own room as a child she used to play at keeping shop. These days her business has a turnover of more than £50 million. "I really felt, from very, very early on, I was onto something with the notion of what I was doing," she says. "I remember feeling I'd really overstepped the mark when I opened my second shop - thinking, that's probably going a stage too far."

Record: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Book: The Larousse French/English dictionary Luxury: A hot water bottle

Producer: Isabel Sargent.

Felicity Green Apr 17, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the pioneering fashion journalist Felicity Green.

As hem-lines headed north in the early 60s she was hitting her stride in Fleet Street. She was the first woman on the board of a national paper and, as society changed, she kept right up with it. She introduced readers to Mary Quant, Biba and Twiggy and, on one memorable occasion, gave Harold Wilson's wife Mary a home perm.

Now in her mid-80s she is still mentoring students at St Martin's College and says "I have never been fashionable - fashion needs to be followed at a very, very respectful distance. My blue-print for fashion is to be simple and stylish."

Record: Chan Chan Book: Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim Luxury: A bronze sculpture by Giles Penny

Producer: Rachel Simpson.

Terry Gilliam Apr 10, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the animator and director Terry Gilliam. He first planted his foot-print on our cultural landscape more than thirty years ago - back then, it was a huge, animated foot which squashed everything beneath it and became one of the defining images of Monty Python's Flying Circus. In the years since, his film credits have included Brazil, Twelve Monkeys and The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus. Now aged 70, he's directing his first opera. He says: "I've always liked the extremes, the edges. I like to know where the cliff is, but you only find out by stepping off." Record: Ein Heldenleben Book: Dictionary Luxury: A mirror Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Martin Sheen Apr 03, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor Martin Sheen.

In recent years he has won great acclaim and a Golden Globe for playing the leader of the free world in the hugely successful political drama The West Wing. He's made more than a 100 movies, including Apocalypse Now, Badlands and The Departed. For him, work is often a family affair, in Wall Street he acted alongside his son Charlie Sheen and in his latest movie, The Way he was directed by another of his children - Emilio Estevez.

But away from the film set, he's an activist and campaigner - he's been arrested around 70 times and is motivated, he says by faith and conscience above politics.

Record: Knockin' on Heaven's Door Book: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. Luxury: A full set of golf clubs and a bag of golf balls.

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

Dame Anne Owers Feb 27, 2011

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the former Chief Inspector of Prisons, Dame Anne Owers.

A long-time human rights campaigner, she's spent years immersing herself in the problems of people on the margins of society. During the time she was Chief Inspector, the prison population expanded hugely. "The thing that saddened me greatly is that our prisons became better places but they also became places that soaked up a lot of money and into which we put a lot of people. My view is a lot of that money could have been better spent doing things that stopped people getting there in the first place and therefore prevented there being victims of crime."

Record: Handel's Messiah Book: An Anthology of British poetry Luxury: A solar powered word processor

Producer: Isabel Sargent.

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