Desert Island Discs

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June Spencer Feb 28, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is actress June Spencer.

She is one of the best-loved matriarchs in broadcasting. As Peggy Woolley in The Archers, she's the only original member of the cast still in the show.

It's 60 years this spring since the pilot episodes were first broadcast and, although she is now aged 90, June has no plans to retire.

She says, 'It's a great bonus for me that The Archers has run as long as it has, and I've gone along with it.'

DISC ONE: Fred Astaire - Let's Face The Music And Dance DISC TWO: Nelson Eddy - I Passed by Your Window DISC THREE: Andrei Gavrilov - Frédéric Chopin’s Revolutionary Study DISC FOUR: Northern Sinfonia Orchestra, conducted by Jean-Bernard Pommier - Claude Debussy’s En bateau (from Petite suite) DISC FIVE: John Williams - Concierto De Aranjuez DISC SIX: Harry Secombe - Giacomo Puccini’s E Lucevan Le Stelle (from Tosca) DISC SEVEN: The Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Slatkin - Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s Overture to The Sleeping Beauty DISC EIGHT: Winchester Cathedral Choir - George Frideric Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus (from Messiah)

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: John Williams - Concierto De Aranjuez BOOK CHOICE: Three Men in a Boat - Jerome K Jerome LUXURY CHOICE: A Scrabble board

Producer: Isabel Sargent

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 2010.

Sir Clive Woodward Feb 21, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward.

He took England to World Cup glory in 2003, becoming the first ever northern hemisphere side to win the trophy. He well understands the pressure and the glory of top-flight sport, which is just as well, as he's now Director of Elite Performance for Team GB's 2012 Olympic effort.

He says, 'It is the coach's job to refuse to compromise. If you do, you will come second'.

Record: Take That, Greatest Day Book: Dave Pelz, Short Game of Golf Luxury: Sand wedge and golf ball.

Professor Jim Al-Khalili Feb 14, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili.

He's spent his adult life studying sub-atomic particles - and trying to explain them to the rest of us. He fell in love with physics when he was a teenager growing up in Iraq. With an Iraqi father and English mother, the Baghdad he spent his early years in was cosmopolitan and vibrant but, once Saddam Hussein came to power, his parents realised the family would have to flee, and he has lived and worked in Britain for the past 30 years.

Record: She's Not There by Santana Book: The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose Luxury: Acoustic guitar.

Gok Wan Feb 07, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the stylist Gok Wan.

Dispensing fashion advice and hugs in equal measure, he aims, he says, to 'make women feel like women, not like turkeys'.

Yet although he made his name as a stylist, his special talent isn't for fashion, but for gaining people's trust. He understands only too well the emotional journey he is asking women to make; the first person he had to transform was himself, and that, he says, is very much work in progress.

Record: The Promise Book: Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey Luxury: Lip balm.

Mary Beard Jan 31, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the classicist Mary Beard.

A professor at Cambridge, she's that rare thing: a university academic who writes for the masses. Her popular books, blog, articles and reviews have led to her being called 'Britain's best-known classicist'.

But while her research is steeped in the ancient world, her commentary is all about the here and now. The classical world speaks to us, she says, and makes us see our own world differently.

Record: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Bob Dylan Book: Treasures of the British Museum - Marjorie Caygill Luxury: The Elgin Marbles.

Frank Warren Jan 24, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the boxing promoter Frank Warren.

He has managed and promoted some of the biggest names in the sport, including Joe Calzaghe, Prince Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and the Olympic medal winner Amir Khan.

Over the past three decades he has lost fortunes and remade them, survived an assassination attempt and even a run-in with Mike Tyson. Boxing has been good to him, he says, but now he says he wants to find something that will nourish his soul too.

Record: Don't Worry 'Bout Me, Billie Holiday Book: Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson Luxury: Merlot grapevine.

James Ellroy Jan 17, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is American crime writer James Ellroy.

His books have been translated into 30 languages and, according to the New York Times, he is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written.

But the case that has dominated his life and much of his writing was the murder of his mother when he was just ten years old. In the years since, he has tried to find a way of getting to know and understand her.

Record: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier', Op. 106 Book: Libra by Don DeLillo Luxury: Sun block.

Mary Portas Jan 10, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is Mary Portas.

She's made an art-form out of turning heads, and her galleries have been the enormous plate-glass windows of Harrods, Topshop and Harvey Nichols.

These days she brings retail therapy to small traders, helping them to hold their own against the high street's big names.

Record: Casta Diva from Norma Book: The works of Rumi, Persian poet and philosopher Luxury: 'A set of different fragrances from the people I love'.

John Copley Jan 03, 2010

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the opera director John Copley.

Throughout his sixty year career he's worked with all the greats at the major opera houses of the world. He introduced Luciano Pavarotti to a London audience, charmed Georg Solti with his piano playing and was even called upon to stand in for Maria Callas. He was just ten years old when he first saw an opera and he loved it straight away; "I caught opera," he says, "like the measles".

Record: Janet Baker singing Handel's Ariodante Book: Grove's Operatic Dictionary of Music Luxury: My 49-year-old double bed.

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

David Tennant Dec 27, 2009

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor David Tennant.

He has been voted the best Dr Who ever and has redefined the Time Lord for a generation of parents and children.

As a child he was a huge fan of the programme; he reckons he only ever missed one episode, wore a long stripy scarf and queued up to meet Tom Baker and get his autograph. As a role, he says, it appealed not just to his adult self but to the eight-year-old boy who was just below the surface

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