Desert Island Discs: Archive 1991-1996
246 episodes - English - Latest episode: over 27 years ago - ★★★★★ - 64 ratingsGuests are invited to choose the eight records they would take to a desert island
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Episodes
J G Ballard
February 02, 1992 11:15 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBThis week's Desert Island Discs castaway is writer JG Ballard. Since the early 1960s, he has been well-known as a science fiction writer. But more recently he has reached an even wider audience with his autobiographical novels Empire of the Sun and The Kindness of Women. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary life - his childhood in Shanghai, his adolescence spent in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp and how, after the sudden and tragic death of his wife, he raised his three y...
John Major
January 26, 1992 11:15 - 38 minutes - 35.5 MBFew people will be surprised to hear that the castaway in this week's special 50th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs is the Prime Minister John Major. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his very happy childhood years, his more traumatic adolescence and his transformation into the perfect Conservative parliamentary candidate. He'll also be discussing his love of music and books, and revealing the luxury that was a surprise even to Sue Lawley. [Taken from the original programme mat...
Reverend David Jenkins
January 19, 1992 11:15 - 38 minutes - 34.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of Britain's most well-known church leaders, the Right Reverend David Jenkins, the Lord Bishop of Durham. At the age of 60, after a career spent mainly as an academic theologian, he was catapulted into controversy: his views on the virgin birth and the resurrection caused outrage, and his opinions on the divisions between rich and poor infuriated politicians. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his surprise at the controversies he caused...
Steven Berkoff
January 12, 1992 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBThe castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actor, writer and director Steven Berkoff. Irreverent, energetic and compelling, his work has brought him an international reputation and his last West End production, Kvetch, was voted comedy of the year. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his love of drama and why it changed his life, his short spell in Hollywood playing archetypal villains and his time spent in Paris studying mime. [Taken from the original programme material for this a...
Gorden Kaye
December 22, 1991 11:15 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is actor Gorden Kaye. Lovers of British situation comedy knew him a long time ago as a familiar supporting figure in It Ain't Half Hot, Mum and Are You Being Served?, but for most people he has only one part: that of the French cafe owner Rene Artois in 'Allo 'Allo. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood years in Yorkshire, his love of comedy and natural talent for it, and the loyalty of his audience through good and bad times. [Take...
Sue Townsend
December 08, 1991 11:15 - 41 minutes - 38.4 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is writer Sue Townsend. Her most famous creation is Adrian Mole, and, in many respects, his life mirrors her own: like her hero, she comes from a poor but not deprived background and always nursed a secret ambition to be a writer. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her life and work and carefully selecting eight records which remind her of some of the most significant events in her life. [Taken from the original programme material for this ar...
Fred Dibnah
December 01, 1991 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is a man who, for the past 26 years, has earned his living by helping to alter the industrial landscape of northern Britain - steeplejack Fred Dibnah. Renowned for his philosophising as much as for his engineering expertise, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life, which has been spent swinging from factory chimneys and wrestling behind the wheels of steam engines. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Des...
Dilys Powell
November 24, 1991 11:15 - 42 minutes - 38.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the film critic Dilys Powell. She began reviewing films for The Sunday Times in 1939, and since then her forthright and pithy comments have served as a natural accompaniment to the pleasures of going to the cinema. Today, at the age of 90, she still reviews three or four films a week and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her receipt of what she describes as "a very liberal education" from her lifelong devotion to the big screen. [Taken fr...
James Lovelock
November 17, 1991 11:15 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is scientist James Lovelock. The son of a South London gasman, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for science and recalling some of the experiences he had whilst working on the American space programme, which eventually led him to invent the Gaia Theory - a theory which, amongst other things, argues that the human race is not necessary for the planet's survival. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition o...
Lord Delfont
November 10, 1991 11:15 - 35 minutes - 32.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the man who brought the Folies Bergere to Britain and ran the Talk of the Town in its heyday - the theatrical impresario Lord Delfont. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary life: he was raised in the East End of London, his family having settled there after escaping the pogroms in the Ukraine, and is now, at 82, the president of his own leisure corporation; worth £450 million. [Taken from the original programme material for t...
E P Thompson
November 03, 1991 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBThe castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the historian EP Thompson. As a lifelong peace campaigner, Edward Thompson enjoys making history as much as writing about it. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his disillusionment with the Communist Party, how and why he founded the magazine which has become The New Left Review, and enjoying his carefully-selected eight records. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track...
Alan Alda
October 27, 1991 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBThe castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American actor Alan Alda. The son of a vaudeville artist, he shot to fame portraying the wise-cracking, womanising Hawkeye in the television series M.A.S.H. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the part that transformed his life and his initial reluctance to accept it, his childhood years in the burlesque houses of America, and explaining why, despite being a millionaire, he continues to work. [Taken from the original programme material...
Elizabeth Esteve-Coll
October 20, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Elizabeth Esteve-Coll, Director of one of Britain's most famous museums, the V & A. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her career at the V & A and the controversy she caused within her first year of office. She'll also be recalling how, at 19, she abandoned her university career and married a Spanish sea captain with whom she sailed the world. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Fa...
John Schlesinger
October 13, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the film director John Schlesinger. Like many other British filmmakers, he learnt his craft at the BBC but soon moved on to directing feature films including A Kind of Loving, Far From the Madding Crowd and the Oscar-winning Midnight Cowboy. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his long and successful career, the controversy he caused with his films Darling and Sunday Bloody Sunday and choosing eight records to take to his island exile. [Take...
Imran Khan
October 06, 1991 10:15 - 34 minutes - 32 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan. Educated at Oxford and dividing his time between England and Pakistan, his fame extends well beyond the cricket field. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his faith - he is a devout Muslim - the constant speculation surrounding his love life and how his mother's death from cancer dramatically changed his life. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Fa...
David Bailey
September 29, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 33.9 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the photographer David Bailey. Born and bred in the East End of London, he took the fashion business by storm in the 1960s - discovering, photographing and often marrying some of the world's most beautiful women. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about success in the 1960s, the first time he saw Jean Shrimpton and his desire to carry on working, like his hero Picasso, until he's 90. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive ed...
Klaus Tennstedt
September 22, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the conductor Klaus Tennstedt. When, at 45, he defected from East Germany, he was virtually unknown in the West. But three years later, after conducting the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he was acclaimed as an international maestro. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his impressive musical career, his defection from East Germany and his battle against cancer of the vocal chords. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edit...
John Banham
September 15, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.2 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the most important figures in British industry today - the Director-General of the CBI John Banham. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his impressive and varied career, his passion for sailing and how he very nearly lost his life during the Fastnet Race of 1979. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sanctus by Gabriel Fauré Book: The collected works by A E Hous...
Bernice Rubens
September 08, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.5 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Bernice Rubens. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood with musically-gifted brothers and sister, and how, despite having written 17 novels - one of them won the Booker prize, another was also shortlisted - she still sees herself as merely a successful novelist who failed to become a musician. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet ...
Maxwell Hutchinson
September 01, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the architect Maxwell Hutchinson. Unafraid of controversy, he attacked Prince Charles' criticisms of contemporary architecture - a move which secured him presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his love of tower blocks and requiem masses, of 17th-century cottages and his desire to write a number one hit. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island ...
Alan Bleasdale
August 25, 1991 10:15 - 34 minutes - 31.9 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is playwright Alan Bleasdale. Often controversial, and always funny, Bleasdale's work focuses on life in Liverpool, a city he loves and whose characters people his most famous plays - Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his intense love of family, his work and, as a self-confessed hypochondriac, he will be revealing some of his fears. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Deser...
Lord Shawcross
July 07, 1991 10:15 - 42 minutes - 38.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the lawyer and politician Lord Shawcross. As Attorney General in the Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for leading the British prosecution case at the war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the atmosphere in that courtroom, his reasons for leaving the Labour Party and his unconventional upbringing. Now 89 years old, he'll also be recalling the days when he was known as 'handsome Hartley Shawcro...
Ron Todd
June 30, 1991 10:15 - 40 minutes - 37.4 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Ron Todd - leader of Britain's largest trade union, the Transport and General Workers' Union. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood as the son of a Walthamstow street-market trader, his rejection of Catholicism and conversion to socialism and about how he feels about the modern Labour Party and the role of trade unions in the 1990s. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Fav...
John Hegarty
June 23, 1991 10:15 - 36 minutes - 33.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is responsible for many of the images which grace our television screens and billboards. He is advertising man John Hegarty, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about some of the slogans and scenarios he has created - from Vorsprung durch Technik to the Levi's advertisement which features the hero removing his trousers in a laundrette. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: ...
A S Byatt
June 16, 1991 10:15 - 38 minutes - 35.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist and critic A S Byatt. Winner of the 1990 Booker prize for her novel 'Possession' - the story of a clandestine romance between two Victorian poets - she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the isolation of her school days as a highly academic child, the release of university life at Cambridge and her subsequent life at the forefront of the British literary world. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition o...
Derek Walcott
June 09, 1991 10:15 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is poet and playwright Derek Walcott. Recent winner of the WH Smith award, and described by his admirers as one of the greatest contemporary exponents of the English language, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life in St Lucia - a place he frequently returns to, when not at his post of Professor of Poetry at Boston University. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite tr...
Marco Pierre White
June 02, 1991 10:15 - 32 minutes - 29.8 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week has been described as the 'enfant terrible' of the restaurant world. Marco Pierre White opened his first restaurant at the age of 27, where he established a reputation both for extraordinary culinary expertise and for outrageous behaviour. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the route which took him from the Leeds council estate where he was born nearly 30 years ago, to the moment when he became the youngest chef to be awarded two Michelin star...
Rt Hon John Smith
May 26, 1991 10:15 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a politician who is seen in many quarters as the Labour Party's strongest weapon in their battles with the government - John Smith, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. A man of great resilience, he'll be telling Sue Lawley why he still loves politics in spite of the frustration of his years in opposition, his having a heart attack two and a half years ago and having to live for much of the time away from his beloved homeland of Scotland. [Ta...
John Simpson
May 19, 1991 10:15 - 38 minutes - 35.6 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is John Simpson. Recently honoured by the Royal Television Society as Journalist of the Year, he'll be talking about his life covering foreign affairs for the BBC. In that capacity, he has reported on most of the momentous upheavals of the last few years - from Tiananmen Square to the release of Nelson Mandela, from the fall of Ceausescu to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. More recently, he was one of the very few journalists to stay on in Baghd...
Cecil Lewis
May 12, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is an author and adventurer. Now 93 years old, Cecil Lewis will be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary career, embracing his time as a fighter pilot during the First World War, his brush with the Red Baron, and later how he helped Lord Reith set up the BBC, which he then left for Hollywood where he was to win an Oscar for his screenplay of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edi...
Dame Shirley Porter
April 28, 1991 10:15 - 35 minutes - 32.3 MBThe castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Dame Shirley Porter, who, as Lady Porter, was the flamboyant leader of the ruling Conservative Group at Westminster City Council - a post she held from 1983 until she stepped down in April 1991. She'll be telling Sue Lawley about what it was that made her go into politics at the age of 40, about her campaign for cleanliness on the streets of the capital and about her plans for the future. [Taken from the original programme material for this a...
Dr Jonathan Sacks
April 21, 1991 10:15 - 37 minutes - 34.3 MBChief Rabbi Elect Dr Jonathan Sacks is the castaway on Desert Island Discs this week. This avowedly 'unconventional' future leader of Britain's Jews was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household but went to Church of England schools and wanted to be an accountant before deciding that his life's work lay in his faith. Rabbi Sacks reveals how he gained, and many years later lost, his beard as well as what he hopes to achieve in his new role. [Taken from the original programme material for th...
Lord King
April 14, 1991 10:15 - 36 minutes - 33.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the industrialist Lord King of Wartnaby, Chairman of Babcock International and of British Airways. He recalls for Sue Lawley, among other things, his early beginnings in the engineering industry, an unfortunate incident with a small plane he once owned, and what it was which made him want to take over an ailing airline more than 10 years ago. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] F...
Naomi Mitchison
April 07, 1991 10:15 - 36 minutes - 33.1 MBSue Lawley's castaway is writer Naomi Mitchison. Favourite track: Kishmull's Galley by Kenneth McKellar and Orchestra Book: Book of Modern Poetry Luxury: Endless supply of writing materials
Marti Caine
March 24, 1991 11:15 - 35 minutes - 32.6 MBThis week's castaway in Desert Island Discs is the entertainer Marti Caine. Although her public life is one as comedienne, television presenter, star of a sit-com series, singer and glamorous pantomime performer, Marti Caine's private life is one that is very different. Her father died when she was seven, she was taken into care before she was 10, her first marriage broke up, and then, about four years ago, she was diagnosed as suffering from cancer of the lymph glands. She talks about the w...
Sir Trevor Holdsworth
March 17, 1991 11:15 - 35 minutes - 32.7 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the industrialist and ex-president of the CBI Sir Trevor Holdsworth. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his time at the helm of the giant engineering firm Guest, Keen and Nettleford and his recent involvement with British Satellite Broadcasting - BSB - as well as some of his earlier brushes with history. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vocalise by Sergei Rachman...
Jeffrey Bernard
March 10, 1991 11:15 - 36 minutes - 33.5 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Spectator columnist Jeffrey Bernard. His Low Life column has gained him something of a cult following over the 15 years or so it's been appearing; slightly irregularly. It concentrates on the kind of life in Soho which seems often to revolve solely around drinking, women and gambling - the kind of life Jeffrey Bernard enjoys, by his own admission. And of course, last year Keith Waterhouse turned some of these columns into the highly-succes...
Sir Denis Forman
March 03, 1991 11:15 - 38 minutes - 35 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the former Chairman of Granada Television Sir Denis Forman. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the delights and disasters of a highly eccentric upbringing in Scotland and about his experiences in Italy during the war, where he lost a leg. Also, as the first producer of What the Papers Say, and the originator of the highly popular Jewel in the Crown, he'll be discussing the difficulties of making television programmes which are simultaneously...
Ronald Eyre
February 24, 1991 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34.1 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is theatre and television director Ronald Eyre. A man of great versatility, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his many outstanding operatic and theatrical productions, as well as his school-teaching days, and his childhood in the Yorkshire mining village of Mapplewell. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Magic Flute - The Trio Soll Ich, Teurer by Wolfgang Amadeus...
Dame Ninette De Valois
February 17, 1991 11:15 - 38 minutes - 35 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Britain's most distinguished ballet mistress Dame Ninette de Valois. She first appeared on the professional stage more than 75 years ago, and her contribution to the development of ballet in this country has been phenomenal. Now in her nineties, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she became the first director of the Vic Wells Ballet School in 1931 - a school which grew and changed over the years to become the Royal Ballet in 1956. [Tak...
Paddy Ashdown MP
February 10, 1991 11:15 - 38 minutes - 35 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his earliest memories of a childhood in India and a subsequent career which took him through the Royal Marines, into the diplomatic service and finally into the House of Commons just seven and half years ago. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Che Gelida Manina (from La Boheme) by...
Professor Ralf Dahrendorf
February 03, 1991 11:15 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs is a German politician who became an English academic. The Germany of Professor Ralf Dahrendorf's youth was that of the Third Reich but he, like his family, was fiercely opposed to the Nazi regime, and suffered imprisonment for his views. After the war, his career took him from Minister of Foreign Affairs under Willi Brandt, to the European Commission in Brussels, and then to London, where he was Director of the London School of Economics during a particul...
Brian Eno
January 27, 1991 11:15 - 36 minutes - 33.4 MBA variety of labels can be stuck on this week's Desert Island Discs castaway - from rock musician to experimental artist, from visual sculptor to composer and intellectual guru of the rock world. He is Brian Eno, and he started his career by making music playing with tape recorders, then went on to play with bands who rehearsed far more often than they performed, graduating through to the Portsmouth Sinfonia, and ending up with the hugely successful group Roxy Music. Since his Roxy Music da...
Fred Zinnemann
January 20, 1991 11:15 - 38 minutes - 35.2 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs is a man who has directed some of the most popular and memorable films in the history of cinema - High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma! and A Man for All Seasons. He is Fred Zinnemann, and he will be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood at the beginning of the century in imperial Vienna, his thwarted ambitions to be a musician, and the years he spent working in Hollywood where he directed, and on several occasions discovered, some of the best-know...
Adelaide Hall
January 13, 1991 11:15 - 33 minutes - 30.9 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is jazz singer Adelaide Hall. Now in her 80s and still performing, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her days at the Cotton Club in New York, the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the secrets of her enduring popularity. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington Book: A book of American history Luxury: Box of seeds
Lord Goodman
January 06, 1991 11:15 - 37 minutes - 34.6 MBThe castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who has, on occasion, been described as the Mr Fixit of British public life. Arnold Goodman started off his professional life as a bright young North London solicitor, and, through a capacity for skilful negotiation and judicious advice, became the confidante of some of the most eminent political figures of post-war Britain. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his experience of Prime Ministers and politics, as well as his passion for op...