Desert Island Discs

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Simon Rattle Jan 13, 2008

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sir Simon Rattle. For the past five years he has been Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic - regarded by many as the finest symphony orchestra in the world. He is only the sixth person to hold the position in 120 years and is the first Briton to take on the challenge.

Growing up in Liverpool in the 1960s, while other youngsters were listening to The Beatles, he was transfixed by Mahler and was determined to become a conductor. His talent was prodigious. He won an international conducting competition aged just 19 and so, with plenty of enthusiasm but scant experience, began his career. Initially because of his youth, his approach was collaborative rather than autocratic and it has been a style that brought tremendous results during his 18-year association with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He insists that his approach with the Berlin Philharmonic is about teamwork too - but concedes that it is an orchestra that contains some very strong characters and very big egos.

He tells Kirsty how, choosing his Desert Island Discs, he has been drawn towards music that expressed joy and pain in equal measure.

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

Favourite track: Scherza Infida from Ariodante by George Frideric Handel Book: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Luxury: Italian coffee machine and grinder.

John Humphrys Jan 06, 2008

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster and journalist John Humphrys. For 21 years he has been at the helm of Today, Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme. Millions of devoted listeners enjoy his tenacious interviewing style - and it's won him a healthy respect from politicians too. Not all are supporters though; Jonathan Aitken accused him of "poisoning the well of democratic debate" - an attack which he initially thought would cost him his career.

Now, his life is dominated not only by the alarm bell - which is set for 3.58am - but by his youngest son, Owen. When John Humphrys describes the joy and warmth the seven-year-old has brought him, he becomes, if only temporarily, lost for words.

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

Favourite track: Opening of Cello Concerto by Edward Elgar Book: Biggest poetry anthology possible Luxury: A cello.

Karren Brady Dec 30, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the businesswoman Karren Brady. She is known as the First Lady of Football - and it's a moniker that is well earned. When she became Managing Director of Birmingham City she was just 23 years old, the club was languishing in the second division and it was in dire financial straits. Fifteen years later, and it is in the Premier League and is one of the few clubs to turn a healthy profit.

Along the way Karren has married one of her players, had two children and overcome a life-threatening brain condition. She has always, she says, relied on her enthusiasm, determination and strength of character to see her through.

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

Favourite track: Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler Book: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen Luxury: My own pillow.

Victoria Wood Dec 23, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Victoria Wood. For decades she has been one of our best-loved writers and performers. The television series she's made - including Acorn Antiques, Dinnerladies and Housewife 49 - have won her a devoted following as well as stacks of awards.

But, in a moving and open interview, she describes how, as a teenager, she felt she was a misfit - she had few friends, she struggled with her weight and at school she used to steal other people's homework. She joined a youth theatre and it was, she says, the saving of her. She found like-minded people and a sense that she had something to offer.

She is very careful about how much of her own life she puts into her work. She doesn't mind saying she cuts her pubic hair with nail-scissors, but rarely discusses her children on the stage. Now she is embarking on her next project. She says she is too anxious to talk about it, except to say it will look at the life of a middle-aged woman whose marriage has foundered.

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

Favourite track: What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers Book: A big book by Charles Dickens Luxury: A bumper book of Sudoku with blank pages & pens.

Paul Weller Dec 16, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician Paul Weller. As the lead singer of The Jam, the founder of The Style Council and a hugely successful solo artist, he is one of the most revered music writers and performers of the past 30 years and is cited as an influence by countless other singers.

In a rare interview, he describes the chronic shyness he had to overcome; how he is still gripped by fear before each performance and how, after he had been dumped by his record label, he was unable to write songs and found that even picking up a guitar felt alien to him. His father has been a constant support to him - as his mentor as well as his manager - and has always believed that his son had something special.

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

Favourite track: Tin Soldier by The Small Faces Book: Absolute Beginners by Colin MacInnes Luxury: A settee to sit on.

Alec Jeffreys Dec 09, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys - the scientist who discovered genetic fingerprinting. It is 25 years since his 'Eureka moment' - when, pulling an X-ray photograph of his assistant's genetic code out of the developing tray, he realised he could trace the links between her and her parents and that her own unique genetic profile had been revealed. Over the following years, he was the first person to settle immigration disputes, paternity issues and crimes based on DNA identification - he even found himself confirming the identity of the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele, who had fled Germany after the end of the Second World War.

As a boy he had always been fascinated by science - he'd made himself a miniature dissection kit so he could find out how a bumble-bee worked and later, spurred on by that success, he remembers bringing a dead cat home and dissecting it on the dining room table. He owes, he says, a debt of gratitude to his parents, who benignly tolerated him turning their family home into a science lab.

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

Favourite track: The Opening of Fugue in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Complete books of Flashman by George MacDonald Fraser Luxury: World's Biggest Church Organ.

Steven Isserlis Dec 02, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the cellist Steven Isserlis. It is, perhaps, little surprise that music has been central to his life. He was born into a family that already boasted a pianist, violinist and viola player within its ranks and so, as a child, he was taught the cello because it meant they could play chamber music together. Music was so much a part of their lives, he says, that even the pet dog would howl along an accompaniment as they played.

He was seen as a brilliant young cellist but he was determined not to become a jobbing musician, touting for work in different orchestras, and as a result he suffered nearly a decade with precious few musical engagements. It was The Protecting Veil - a composition by John Tavener - that made his name and now he has become one of the world's finest cello virtuosos.

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

Favourite track: Erbarme Dich - Have Mercy Lord on Me by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The collected works by Anthony Trollope Luxury: A huge, huge photo album of friends.

Armistead Maupin Nov 25, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Armistead Maupin. Regarded as one of the 'great social satirists of his era', he made his name with his Tales of the City novels, chronicling the shifting cultural landscape of San Francisco throughout the 1970s and 80s. He's written about the search for love and acceptance by a diverse cast of characters, but he was also one of the first novelists to portray the devastating impact of the newly emerging threat of HIV/Aids.

His iconic status as a gay writer and political activist couldn't be further from his background, growing up in the genteel American South, with a 'neo-fascist, arch-conservative' father. Armistead tells Kirsty about his transition to the other end of the political spectrum, and how his life has become inseparable from his work.

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

Favourite track: The reprise of Wicked Little Town by Tommy Gnosis Book: The Cole Porter Songbook by Cole Porter Luxury: Vaporiser.

Eliza Manningham-Buller Nov 18, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. She has recently stepped down as Britain's top spy-master - or more correctly, the Director-General of MI5. She took the helm in the months after the attacks of 11th September 2001 in America and steered the service through a time when the nature of the terrorist threat facing Britain changed enormously and new measures were introduced to counteract it.

She concedes that MI5 has to rely, in large part, on information that is 'patchy and incomplete' and that ultimately the service will always be judged 'by what we do not know and did not prevent'. In her first ever interview, Dame Eliza talks gives her recollections about the day when Britain was targeted by suicide bombers, describes what lay behind her own departure from the service and reveals how her mother's role during World War II fuelled her own interest in public service.

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

Favourite track: The opening of String Quintet in C by Franz Schubert Book: The Rattlebag: An Anthology of Poetry by Ted Hughes Luxury: Large supply of pencils and pens.

Jung Chang Nov 16, 2007

Show notes

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Jung Chang. Jung was born in the years after Mao came to power in China and as a child she took part in the Great Leap Forwards by collecting saucepans and nails and trying to melt them down for steel. She was a teenager during the Cultural Revolution and witnessed her parents being denounced and sent to labour camps.

After Mao's death she came to Britain as a student. At the time, she says, she didn't want to think about the past - it used to give her nightmares and so she would pretend she was from Korea. But 10 years after her arrival in Britain, her mother came to visit. She told Jung the stories of her and her grandmother's lives and Jung decided their intimate, family history deserved to have a wider audience. Her book, Wild Swans, has sold more than 12 million copies and won a host of awards.

Investigating her own life and those of her mother and grandmother not only brought the suffering of a nation into sharp focus it was also a liberating experience - once the book was finished, she says, the nightmares stopped.

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

Favourite track: But Thou Didst Not leave His Soul in Hell by George Frideric Handel Book: First Love by Ivan Turgenev Luxury: Snorkelling gear.

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