Desert Island Discs: Archive 1986-1991

Keith Floyd

30 Dec 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is television cook Keith Floyd. Renowned for his garrulous charm as much as for his culinary expertise, ...

Brian Keenan

23 Dec 1990

Contributed by Lukas

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously...

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

02 Dec 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the great European artists of today - Eduardo Paolozzi. One of his positions is Her Majesty's ...

Baroness Trumpington

25 Nov 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs rejoices in the title of the Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich in the County of Kent. A tireless campai...

Elisabeth Welch

18 Nov 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the black American singer Elisabeth Welch, who, in a career spanning 60 years, made famous such son...

Rt Hon Barbara Castle

11 Nov 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Baroness Castle of Blackburn - better known to most people as Barbara Castle. For 34 years she ...

Lord Annan

04 Nov 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who, among many other achievements, gave his name to a famous report in the 1970s on the future...

Nicholas Snowman

28 Oct 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the South Bank, Nicholas Snowman. Very much a man of the arts, and a determ...

Ernie Wise

21 Oct 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is comedian Ernie Wise. Since Eric Morecambe's death six years ago, Ernie has had to carve out a show ...

Clive Jenkins

14 Oct 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the most colourful and controversial members of Britain's trade union movement. He is the form...

John Thaw

07 Oct 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is an actor who rose to fame by portraying two rather different sorts of policemen on the nation's tel...

Gary Lineker

30 Sep 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the captain of the England football team Gary Lineker. Apprenticed to Leicester City at the age of ...

Barbara Windsor

23 Sep 1990

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is the effervescent actress Barbara Windsor. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early life in London's...

Dr Ruth Westheimer

16 Sep 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer.Born in Germany in the late 1920s, her Jewish family sent her out ...

Lord Charteris

09 Sep 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a pillar of the British Establishment, Lord Charteris of Amisfield.Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, ...

Robin Knox-Johnston

02 Sep 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The Desert Island Discs guest this week is someone who should be particularly suited to castaway life - Robin Knox-Johnston was the first man to sail ...

Jean Rook

15 Jul 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs claims to be the highest-paid woman journalist in Britain - one of a disappearing species. The star co...

Peter Jonas

08 Jul 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the English National Opera Peter Jonas. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley abou...

Kaffe Fassett

01 Jul 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the man who can be credited with having made knitting glamorous. Designer and knitter Kaffe Fassett...

George Carman QC

24 Jun 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the country's most expensive and sought-after barristers - George Carman QC. A virtuoso of t...

Harold Fielding

17 Jun 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is theatrical impresario Harold Fielding. The name behind a dazzling array of hit musicals like Half A S...

Maeve Binchy

10 Jun 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist Maeve Binchy. During her Catholic childhood in a small Irish village, she nurtured an ambi...

Ken Dodd

03 Jun 1990

Contributed by Lukas

Tickling sticks, diddy men, Knotty Ash - all these can mean but one thing: that this week's Desert Island Discs castaway is comedian Ken Dodd. Though ...

Rt Hon David Blunkett MP

27 May 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a politician. Elected to Sheffield City Council at the age of 22, he went on to become its leader f...

Jonathan Pryce

20 May 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actor Jonathan Pryce. Since the early 1970s, he has taken on many guises and received many plaudits...

Molly Keane

13 May 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the most highly acclaimed writers of today. The author of Good Behaviour, Time After Time an...

Prue Leith

06 May 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Prue Leith, professional cook, restaurateur and, most recently, mass caterer, with a brasserie in Hyd...

June Whitfield

29 Apr 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the most familiar and best-loved figures of British comedy over the last 40 years - June Whi...

Mary Wesley

22 Apr 1990

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is novelist Mary Wesley. Although she has written poetry and prose throughout her life, it was not until she ...

Sir Crispin Tickell

15 Apr 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations. As well as being an ambassador, he...

Rt Hon John Biffen MP

25 Mar 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Rt Hon John Biffen MP. One of the most popular men at Westminster and a dedicated parliamentari...

Richard Rogers

18 Mar 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's leading and most controversial architects Richard Rogers. He'll be talking to Sue ...

Professor Sir George Porter

11 Mar 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is scientist Professor Sir George Porter. Currently President of the Royal Society, he'll be talking t...

Sir Ian Trethowan

04 Mar 1990

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Sir Ian Trethowan. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his days as a copy boy earning 27/6d on the Daily ...

John Sessions

25 Feb 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is, by his own account, very difficult to classify - his talents span comedy, writing, acting and impr...

John Pilger

18 Feb 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist John Pilger. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his arrival in this country from Aus...

Michael Tilson Thomas

11 Feb 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American conductor and virtuoso Michael Tilson Thomas. As well as being an internationally reco...

Sarah Miles

04 Feb 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Sarah Miles. Discovered at the tender age of 18 by Sir Laurence Olivier, and picked by ...

Lord Weidenfeld

28 Jan 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a publisher; a man who came to this country 52 years ago with a 16/6d postal order in his pocket an...

Sir Robin Day

21 Jan 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Robin Day. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about going with his father to hear Churchill speak a...

John Peel

14 Jan 1990

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. For over 20 years the guru of pop fans, he'll be talking to Sue Lawl...

Dennis Skinner

07 Jan 1990

Contributed by Lukas

This week's castaway is Dennis Skinner MP. Recently described as the backbenchers' backbencher, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about Parliament and po...

Dirk Bogarde

31 Dec 1989

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's edition of Desert Island Discs the castaway is film actor and writer Dirk Bogarde. Among many other things, he'll be talking to Sue Law...

HRH The Duchess of Kent

24 Dec 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's edition of Desert Island Discs is Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. After a lifelong devotion to music, she will be ...

Pauline Collins

17 Dec 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actress Pauline Collins. As someone who has been entertaining television audiences for over twenty ...

Rt. Hon. Nigel Lawson

03 Dec 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyho...

Lady Mosley

26 Nov 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This episode of Desert Island Discs exists for reference, as part of the most complete possible archive resource of programmes from the long-running s...

Seamus Heaney

19 Nov 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Seamus Heaney, a Catholic Ulsterman who has been acclaimed by many as the best Irish poet since Yeats. He ...

Michael Codron

12 Nov 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is theatrical producer Michael Codron. During the 30 years he has been in the business, some of Britai...

Ian Botham

05 Nov 1989

Contributed by Lukas

If you were told that this week's Desert Island Discs castaway took ballet lessons as a child, was a moderately angelic choirboy and now plays golf, b...

Colin Thubron

22 Oct 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist and travel writer Colin Thubron. Author of books on the Middle East, China and Russia, he ...

Alan Plater

15 Oct 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is playwright Alan Plater. He has been writing plays for radio, television, theatre and cinema since the earl...

Jack Lemmon

08 Oct 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is veteran actor Jack Lemmon. With nearly 50 films to his name, including comedy classics like The Odd Couple...

Lucinda Lambton

01 Oct 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a woman of many passions - passions for places, people and the past. She is photographer Lucinda La...

John Ogdon

24 Sep 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs will be a form of tribute to the pianist John Ogdon, who died last month.In the programme, you can hear about his earl...

Penelope Lively

17 Sep 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's leading writers, Penelope Lively. Author of eight novels, two of which were shortl...

Eric Clapton

10 Sep 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the legendary figures of the British rock music scene - guitarist Eric Clapton. Once known, ...

Dame Vera Lynn

03 Sep 1989

Contributed by Lukas

As part of Radio 4's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, the castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs wi...

Sir Thomas Armstrong

16 Jul 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's castaway is Sir Thomas Armstrong, formerly Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, and now 91 years old. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley a...

Ned Sherrin

09 Jul 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is something of a show business all-rounder - the moving spirit behind BBC TV's That Was the Week That Was, d...

Mark McCormack

02 Jul 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is the man who, as well as transforming Wimbledon into a multi-million pound industry, manages the profession...

Joan Collins

25 Jun 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who, over the last seven years, has become a superstar of the small screen, playing the ven...

Maria Aitken

18 Jun 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is actress Maria Aitken, who will be talking to Sue Lawley about her current reputation as the finest exponen...

Jonathon Porritt

11 Jun 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Director of Friends of the Earth Jonathon Porritt. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passionate com...

Richard Branson

04 Jun 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is ideally suited to speculate on the pleasures and perils of island life, owning, as he does, his own...

Sir Nicholas Henderson

28 May 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the country's leading former diplomats, Sir Nicholas Henderson. He has served in Britain's e...

Katharine Hamnett

21 May 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most successful fashion designers - Katharine Hamnett.She started in the business ...

Thora Hird

14 May 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is one of Britain's greatest and best-loved character actresses, Thora Hird. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley ...

Lenny Henry

07 May 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most popular comedians, Lenny Henry. His talent emerged at the age of 16, when he ...

Lady Redgrave

30 Apr 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is someone who now sits at the head of one of this country's most famous theatrical dynasties - the remarkabl...

Miriam Rothschild

23 Apr 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is biologist and conservationist Miriam Rothschild. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her lifelong...

Lord Roy Jenkins

16 Apr 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Lord Jenkins of Hillhead - formerly Roy Jenkins.[Taken from the original programme material for thi...

Leslie Grantham

09 Apr 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is an actor who rose to fame on the nation's television screens as the landlord in the BBC television ...

Sir Stephen Spender

02 Apr 1989

Contributed by Lukas

In this week's Desert Island Discs, one of the most eminent English poets of this century, Sir Stephen Spender, talks to Sue Lawley about his radical ...

Gerald Scarfe

12 Mar 1989

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Renowned for his grotesquely exaggerated portrayals ...

Dame Josephine Barnes

05 Mar 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Dame Josephine Barnes, who, ten years ago, was the first woman to become President of the British M...

David Hare

26 Feb 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is the playwright and theatre director David Hare - a man who has made his name with plays like Pravda, Plent...

Enoch Powell

19 Feb 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Rt Hon Enoch Powell - politician, poet and classical scholar. He'll be looking back on some of ...

Jeffrey Tate

12 Feb 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Jeffrey Tate, principal conductor of the English Chamber Orchestra and the Royal Opera House, and c...

Rocco Forte

05 Feb 1989

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the chief executive of Britain's largest hotel and catering chain, an empire which extends from motorway cafes to t...

Joan Armatrading

29 Jan 1989

Contributed by Lukas

This week's castaway on the mythical desert island is someone who welcomes the isolation her exile can offer - she is singer and songwriter Joan Armat...

Boy George

22 Jan 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who has experienced the delights of international stardom and acclaim, and the misery of fa...

Tony Benn

15 Jan 1989

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the Rt Hon Tony Benn MP. He'll be discussing his long and turbulent career as one of this co...

Twiggy

08 Jan 1989

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who's face graced the covers of fashion magazines the world over more than 20 year...

Most Rev Robert Runcie

01 Jan 1989

Contributed by Lukas

The first castaway of 1989 in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most senior church leaders - the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, the 10...

Edward Heath

18 Dec 1988

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is a man who has, at times, endured a different isolation from that imposed by the mythical island. But along with his...

Charles Dance

11 Dec 1988

Contributed by Lukas

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is actor Charles Dance. A man once termed "the thinking woman's crumpet", it's a description he doesn't take ...

Lady Warnock

04 Dec 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a philosopher, academic and mistress of Girton College, Cambridge; but Lady Mary Warnock is perhaps...

Stephen Fry

27 Nov 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a man who prefers to shun any sort of label, but has already attracted quite a number of them - wri...

Bob Champion

20 Nov 1988

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is jockey Bob Champion - a man who, against all the odds, fought back after he was diagnosed as...

Bob Hoskins

13 Nov 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is a man who has reached the top of his profession through a fantastically varied number of routes - s...

Sir Claus Moser

06 Nov 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a man of quite extraordinary diversity. Now Warden of Wadham College, Oxford, his other jobs have i...

Germaine Greer

30 Oct 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a writer and academic who's most renowned for her views on women, sex and human relations. She's Ge...

Rt. Hon. Michael Foot

23 Oct 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a man who has been described as "the nicest Prime Minister we never had". He may never have made it...

Cilla Black

16 Oct 1988

Contributed by Lukas

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs reveals her three remaining burning ambitions in life: to make a number-one record, to become a grandmothe...

Terry Wogan

09 Oct 1988

Contributed by Lukas

Shy, lazy, self-effacing: this is the way this week's castaway on Desert Island Discs describes himself to Sue Lawley. So how come he ventured to the ...

Athene Seyler

02 Oct 1988

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Athene Seyler. She first appeared on the stage 80 years ago as Rosalind in As ...

Bishop Trevor Huddleston

25 Sep 1988

Contributed by Lukas

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is a monk, a man at peace with solitude, but whose life has been spent fighting the cause of the oppre...

Salman Rushdie

18 Sep 1988

Contributed by Lukas

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs is one of the most prominent novelists in the English language today. Author of the prize-winning novel Mi...

Peter Donohoe

11 Sep 1988

Contributed by Lukas

Sue Lawley's castaway is pianist Peter Donohoe.Favourite track: String Quintet In C Major by Franz Schubert Book: Collected Scripts by Billy Connolly ...