Desert Island Discs

Latest Episodes:

Nicholas Grimshaw Dec 14, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the architect Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. An interest in engineering runs in the Grimshaw genes - one great-grandfather was responsible for seeing a proper drainage and sanitation system installed in Dublin, while another built dams in Egypt. Nicholas inherited an enormous Meccano set and showed an early interest in construction - his passions were building tree houses and boats. One of his nicknames is 'Meccano man' because of his designs with exposed steel supports.

In the past 12 years his work has become more widely known and includes the International Terminal at Waterloo, the British Pavilion, for Seville's Expo '92 and, most significantly, the Eden Project. He's just finished the redevelopment of the Roman Baths at Bath and is now working on Battersea Power Station.

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

Favourite track: Prelude to Cello Suite No.4 by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The complete works by Patrick O'Brien Luxury: RIBA drawings collection

Pat Barker Dec 07, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the Booker prize-winning novelist Pat Barker. Pat Barker was 39 when she had the phone call every writer dreams about - her first book, Union Street, was to be published. The book went on to be made into a film, Stanley and Iris, with Robert De Niro and Meryl Streep. Initially she wrote about the hard lives of working-class, Northern women, and the compromises some made in order to survive. But she became a household name for her Regeneration trilogy about World War I and its aftermath - the final book in the series, The Ghost Road, won the 1995 Booker prize.

In Desert Island Discs she discusses her writing, her inspiration, the importance of her grandparents in her upbringing and what it was like growing up as a 'mistake' - a war-time baby born to her unmarried mother.

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

Favourite track: Dawn (The First of Sea Interludes) by Benjamin Britten Book: Book on tropical fish to identify them Luxury: Snorkelling equipment

Henry Blofeld Nov 30, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the cricket commentator Henry Blofeld. Blofeld's become known as much for his musings on pigeons, planes, double decker buses, tea ladies, cakes and his catchphrase 'my dear old thing' as he is for his cricket commentary.

As a teenager he showed great promise as a cricketer and was even thought good enough to play for England until his dreams were dashed after a serious accident when his bike hit a bus. He dropped out of Cambridge and toyed with the idea of a career in merchant banking before realising his true vocation. Advised in his early years to 'paint a picture' for his listeners, 'Blowers' has since gone on to become a much-loved stalwart of the Test Match Special team.

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

Favourite track: Cricket commentary by Brian Johnston, Jonathan Agnew, John Arlott Book: A Pelican at Blandings by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Personal photo album

Sir Christopher Meyer Nov 23, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the chairman of the Press Complaints Commission Sir Christopher Meyer. Sir Christopher joined the PCC earlier this year after a glittering career in the diplomatic service. His last posting as Ambassador to Washington covered the September 11th attacks and the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

In all he spent 36 years with the Foreign Office during which time he held postings to key missions in Washington, Moscow, Madrid and Brussels. He worked as Foreign Office spokesman for Geoffrey Howe in the 1980s and as Press Secretary to the former Prime Minister John Major in the mid 1990s.

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

Favourite track: Cross Road Blues by Robert Johnson Book: The Four Adventures of Richard Hannay: The 39 Steps, Greenmantle, Mr Standfast, the Three Hostages by John Buchan Luxury: A jukebox

Jeremy Clarkson Nov 16, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the motoring journalist and motor-mouth Jeremy Clarkson. He came from a comfortable background - his mother was a teacher and his father a travelling salesman. But his parents had greater ambitions for their son and wanted to send him to public school. Their determination led his mother to set up a business making Paddington Bear toys, and the proceeds funded Jeremy's place at Repton School. However, he was a far from ideal pupil and says he was 'asked to leave' apparently for inappropriate behaviour including drinking, smoking and seducing girls. He left school with no A-levels and started work as a trainee reporter on the Rotherham Advertiser. But the local news diet was not enough of a challenge and, in the middle of an assignment to a vegetable and produce show, he left the paper to seek his fortune in London, as a freelance motoring writer.

He ended up presenting Top Gear for the BBC and stayed on the programme for nine years, kick-starting it into a brash, opinionated motor show with a large and loyal fan base. He has indulged his love of speed and risk-taking through programmes including Extreme Machines and Speed. He's hosted a chat-show, Clarkson, and, more recently, his razor-sharp tongue has turned on our fellow Europeans with Meet the Neighbours. But, although his public image is as a brash, opinionated and sexist boor, he claims that he's been misrepresented - he says he's always been a bit of a mother's boy: his mother describes him as a family man who has a softer side that the public never sees. Married to his agent-cum-manager Francie, the couple have three children and two homes.

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

Favourite track: Time by Pink Floyd Book: Photograph album Luxury: Jet ski

Christopher Frayling Nov 02, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is Professor Sir Christopher Frayling the Rector of the Royal College of Art and a champion of popular culture. He was born into an affluent family living in London. His father, Major Arthur Frayling, was a successful furrier, and his mother was fascinated by the arts and cars - she won the RAC Rally in 1952. At six he was sent to boarding school, which he hated, and it was there that he developed his life long love of film acting and design. He studied history at Cambridge and did a doctorate on Jean Jacques Rosseau and the French Revolution. He fought his father's ambitions for him to enter advertising and chose an academic career path, becoming a lecturer at the Universities of Exeter and Bath in the 1970s. At that time he worked on the programme The World at War and he's since become an accomplished broadcaster known for his work on Radio 4. He won an award at the New York Film and Television Festival for a six-part Channel 4 series about advertising called The Art of Persuasion.

He's published 13 books to date with an eclectic range of titles from spaghetti westerns to The Face of Tutankhamun and Clint Eastwood - a critical biography. As well as being Rector of the Royal College of Art, Sir Christopher is also the longest serving Trustee of the Victoria and Albert Museum and is Chairman of the Design Council.

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

Favourite track: Il Triello by Ennio Morricone Book: Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes Luxury: V & A Museum

Rt Hon Charles Kennedy MP Oct 26, 2003

Show notes

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the leader of the Liberal Democrats Charles Kennedy. Born in Inverness, Charles grew up on a croft near Fort William spending his early life learning how to shear sheep and milk cows on his grandfather's neighbouring farm. Music was always a big part of life with his father playing the fiddle at home and at local events but Charles's real passion was astronomy. He saved to buy a three-inch refractor telescope from his pocket money inspired by the Apollo Moon Landings and encouraged by the clear Highlands skies.

Politics and current affairs were another early passion. He ran home from school to catch news of the Watergate hearings on television, he was a star of his school's debating society and one friend recalls how he always dreamed of becoming prime minister. His first political allegiance was to the Labour Party, but at University he switched to the newly formed Social Democratic Party - eventually taking a seat for them in 1983 General Election at the age of 23. Now, 20 years later, following various incarnations of the party, the Liberal Democrats hold a record number of seats in the House of Commons and are hoping to become the main party of opposition in Britain today.

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

Favourite track: The Cameron Highlanders by Ian Kennedy Book: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth Luxury: CD player

Bill Cullen Oct 19, 2003

Show notes

This week, Sue Lawley's castaway is the Irish businessman and writer Bill Cullen. He was one of 14 children born to William Cullen and Mary Darcy. His childhood, in the tenement slums of inner-city Dublin was one of extreme poverty. Born during the war, the family lived in a one-room dilapidated tenement. Learning the secrets of street trading from his mother and grandmother, Bill started selling from market stalls from the age of five. He sold everything from fruit to evening papers home-fashioned Judy Garland dolls to paper flowers.

He eventually started working in a car dealership and went on to own Renault Ireland. He is now a millionaire many times over. He puts his success down to sheer hard work and the support and determination of a close knit family. He has written about his life and says his autobiography, It's A Long Way From Penny Apples, is a tribute to the strong women of Ireland - like his own mother - who held families together through thick and thin. Royalties from the book have been given to the charity of which he is a director, The Irish Youth Foundation. In the past 17 years he has raised £20 million through his charitable work. He is now working on his second book Streetwise, which will impart the business knowledge he has gained over the years.

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

Favourite track: New York, New York by Frank Sinatra Book: Glimpses by Brendan Kennelly Luxury: An accordion

Herbert Kretzmer Oct 12, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the journalist and songwriter Herbert Kretzmer. Born in South Africa in 1925, he came to Europe after World War II. For a while he lived in Paris, playing piano in a bar. He rubbed shoulders with Jean Paul Sartre and became friends with one of France's greatest singer-songwriters Charles Aznavour. The two formed a musical partnership and Kretzmer re-worked many of his songs into English - including the hits Yesterday, When I Was Young and She, which was more recently recorded by Elvis Costello for the film Notting Hill.

His day job was as a journalist and Kretzmer wrote celebrity profiles for the Daily Express. He says his most memorable interviewees were "writers and fighters", including George Foreman, Muhammad Ali, Truman Capote and Arthur Miller. But it wasn't until he was nearly sixty that he had his greatest success. The director Cameron Mackintosh was working on Les Miserables but did not have a 'book' - that is, a set of songs that he could produce. He remembered a chance meeting he'd had with Kretzmer, recalled the songs he'd written and his connection with France - and invited him to write the lyrics. The show has been running in London for the past 19 years and has played all over the world. Now aged 78, he continues to work. He is currently collaborating with the former ABBA musicians, Benny Andersson and Bjorn Ulvaeus on another musical.

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

Favourite track: Gymnopedies by Yikin Seow Book: The Great War and Modern Memory by Prof Paul Fussell Luxury: Zippo Lighter

Nigella Lawson Oct 05, 2003

Show notes

This week Sue Lawley's castaway is the broadcaster, cook, mother and domestic goddess Nigella Lawson. She came from a privileged background - her father, the former Conservative chancellor Nigel Lawson, her mother the society beauty and heir to the Lyons Corner House empire Vanessa Salmon. After graduating from Oxford, she wrote a restaurant column for the Spectator. She became deputy literary editor of the Sunday Times in 1986 and it was on that paper that she met John Diamond - the couple married three years later. She credits him with uncovering her potential - suggesting she wear more flattering clothes and make-up, encouraging her food writing and investing faith and pride in her.

He came up with the title of her first book How to Eat. It was a huge success and was followed by a second, award-winning book How to be a Domestic Goddess, which held out hope to would-be goddesses that even the most meagre skills could produce stunning results. But her life has been tainted by cancer. Her mother died of liver cancer in her 40s and her sister Thomasina was in her 30s when she died of breast cancer. When her husband had hospital tests for a cyst on his neck it was Nigella who chased up the doctors to find out the results and interrupted EastEnders to tell him that he too had been diagnosed with the disease. John Diamond died in 2001, leaving Nigella to bring up their two children, Cosima and Bruno. She has written a further two books and her series Nigella Bites has been bought up by American television. She says "I suppose I do think that awful things can happen at any moment, so while they are not happening you may as well be pleased."

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

Favourite track: Yeke, Yeke by Mary Kante Book: Divine Comedy (in Italian) by Dante Alighieri Luxury: Liquid Temazepam "...to give me the possibility of a very pleasant exit"

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