Desert Island Discs
Episodes
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 ...
Alfred Wainwright
04 Sep 1988
Contributed by Lukas
For people who enjoy walking on the Cumbrian fells there's one indispensable companion. It's a Wainwright; a small guidebook, mapped, written and illu...
Anita Dobson
28 Aug 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Anita Dobson.Favourite track: The Locomotion by Little Eva Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Luxury: Be...
Lord Dacre of Glanton (Hugh Trevor-Roper)
21 Aug 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is historian Lord Dacre Of Glanton.Favourite track: Pavane For A Dead Infanta by Maurice Ravel Book: The collected works by Virg...
Patricia Neal
14 Aug 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Patricia Neal.Favourite track: Black Is The Colour by Joan Baez Book: A collection of short stories Luxury: Toothbrus...
Reverend Ian Paisley
07 Aug 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is Northern Ireland MP/MEP Reverend Ian Paisley.Favourite track: The Twenty-Third Psalm by The Reformed Presbyterian Church Of I...
Joan Turner
31 Jul 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian Joan Turner.Favourite track: One Fine Day by Giacomo Puccini Book: Introduction to the Devout Life by St Francis de ...
Lord Armstrong
24 Jul 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is former Cabinet Secretary Lord Armstrong.Favourite track: Piano Trio In D Minor by Felix Mendelssohn Book: The collected works...
Dame Edna Everage
17 Jul 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian Dame Edna Everage.Favourite track: I Feel Pretty by Kiri Te Kanawa Book: Filofax Luxury: Madge Allsop
David Essex
10 Jul 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week's castaway on Sue Lawley's desert island is a little difficult to categorise. To the record-buying public, he's a pop star of durable qualit...
David Owen
03 Jul 1988
Contributed by Lukas
To celebrate his 50th birthday this week, David Owen, leader of the Social Democratic Party, has rather rashly agreed to be castaway on Sue Lawley's d...
Jeremy Isaacs
26 Jun 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Having left television to become General Director Designate of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, Jeremy Isaacs this week contemplates another chan...
Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies
19 Jun 1988
Contributed by Lukas
At 97, the actress Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies reflects with interest on the prospect of being castaway and, in conversation with Sue Lawley, looks back ove...
Rt. Hon. Douglas Hurd
12 Jun 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is Home Office Minister Douglas Hurd.Favourite track: In Paradisum by Gabriel Fauré Book: The Oxford Book of Twentieth-Century ...
Anton Mosimann
05 Jun 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week's castaway is Anton Mosimann - until recently, Maitre Chef des Cuisines at the Dorchester Hotel in London. In conversation with Sue Lawley, ...
Rabbi Lionel Blue
29 May 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is Rabbi Lionel Blue.Favourite track: Why Has A Cow Got Four Legs? by Cicely Courtneidge & Wilson Hallett Book: The biggest ...
Anita Roddick
27 May 1988
Contributed by Lukas
When Anita Roddick opened the Brighton Body Shop in 1976, she struck gold with a formula to knock the mystique out of the beauty business. She talks t...
Rowan Atkinson
15 May 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the comedy actor Rowan Atkinson who features in the Blackadder saga. An episode of the series was the BBC's entry f...
Peggy Makins
08 May 1988
Contributed by Lukas
The castaway this week is Peggy Makins, better known as Evelyn Home, long-time agony aunt of Woman magazine. In conversation with Sue Lawley, she look...
Neil Kinnock
01 May 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is leader of the Labour Party Neil Kinnock.Favourite track: Horace the Horse by Rachel Kinnock Book: Essays on Equality by R H T...
Michael Gambon
24 Apr 1988
Contributed by Lukas
The castaway this week is the actor Michael Gambon, who last year won the BAFTA award for best actor for his portrayal of the lead role in The Singing...
Mary Archer
17 Apr 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week's castaway, Mary Archer, admits to being basically a private person, happy to find refuge in her work as a scientist and in her love of musi...
Arthur Scargill
10 Apr 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week, Sue Lawley casts away Arthur Scargill, the President of the National Union of Mineworkers, who admits to being orderly in his everyday life...
Jane Asher
03 Apr 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Jane Asher.Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by...
Quintin Hogg
27 Mar 1988
Contributed by Lukas
"I would have looked forward with a great deal more relish when I was 50 and more able to look after myself, but I think I can manage". So says Lord H...
Brendan Foster
13 Mar 1988
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1970s, Brendon Foster was our most outstandingly consistent athlete, breaking world records and winning European and Commonwealth titles. He ha...
James Burke
06 Mar 1988
Contributed by Lukas
The castaway this week is James Burke, whose broadcasting style has been described as "turning science into show-biz". But, paradoxically, he admits t...
Stephanie Beacham
28 Feb 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Until recently, the actress Stephanie Beacham played the glamorous 'rich bitch' Sable in the American soap opera The Colbys. She has also appeared in ...
Dennis Potter
21 Feb 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s castaway is the playwright Dennis Potter. Best known for his television series Pennies from Heaven and The Singing Detective, Potter wor...
William Davis
14 Feb 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s castaway is the author, columnist and broadcaster William Davis. The former editor of Punch started his career as a financial journalist...
Margaret Kelly - Miss Bluebell
07 Feb 1988
Contributed by Lukas
This week’s castaway is the dancer and founder of the Bluebell Girls dance troupe, Margaret Kelly. An orphan born in Dublin, she started a career as...
Gemma Craven
24 Jan 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Gemma Craven is one of our most versatile actresses. An award winning stage performer, she made her film debut opposite Richard Chamberlain in The Sli...
Rt. Hon. Michael Heseltine
17 Jan 1988
Contributed by Lukas
The Right Honourable Michael Heseltine MP is often described as one of the new breed of Tory politicians and was widely tipped to be the next leader o...
Adele Leigh
10 Jan 1988
Contributed by Lukas
Of Adele Leigh, a critic once said that she put paid to the myth that to be good, a soprano had to look like a Hoffnung cartoon. The youngest principa...
Lew Grade
13 Dec 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Lew Grade has been at the centre of British show business for more than 50 years. Now into his 80s, he still has a dominant role as film and televisio...
Antony Sher
06 Dec 1987
Contributed by Lukas
The actor Anthony Sher became well-known to television audiences when he took the lead in The History Man and has established a special talent for Sha...
Vernon Scannell
29 Nov 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Vernon Scannell's colourful career has included prize-fighting, a controversial spell in the Army, confinement to a mental institution for insisting o...
In memory of comedian and writer Barry Cryer
22 Nov 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Barry Cryer is one of our best-known comedy writers who has, for 30 years, survived the quick-fire world that he sums up with the phrase "We don't wan...
Robert Carrier
15 Nov 1987
Contributed by Lukas
As a restaurateur, broadcaster and writer, Robert Carrier's name has become synonymous with good food. In conversation with Michael Parkinson, he look...
Sue Lawley
08 Nov 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Sue Lawley admits to being the kind of person whose tummy goes ping when she hears a certain tune and thinks "Ah yes, I remember that, it brings back ...
Bamber Gascoigne
01 Nov 1987
Contributed by Lukas
"My wife and I are great opera buffs" says Bamber Gascoigne, who became a household name when he first became the question master of BBC television's ...
Bernard Levin
25 Oct 1987
Contributed by Lukas
"Music would be absolutely essential on my desert island" says Bernard Levin, "I don't know what my life would be without music". In conversation with...
Sir James Callaghan
18 Oct 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Sir James Callaghan has the distinction of being the only politician to have held the four highest offices in the state. He was Chancellor of the Exch...
Lord Killanin
11 Oct 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Lord Killanin's career has embraced journalism, the Army, film-making and writing books. He was also, from 1972 to 1980, President of the Internationa...
Lulu
04 Oct 1987
Contributed by Lukas
The castaway this week is Lulu, who, in conversation with Michael Parkinson, recalls her upbringing in a Glasgow tenement and her subsequent career as...
Jacques Loussier
27 Sep 1987
Contributed by Lukas
The pianist Jacques Loussier has won fame and fortune with a style that blends jazz with the music of J S Bach. In conversation with Michael Parkinson...
Peter West
20 Sep 1987
Contributed by Lukas
Peter West is one of our most versatile broadcasters; his television career has ranged from Come Dancing to specialist sports, particularly cricket. I...
Joanna Lumley
13 Sep 1987
Contributed by Lukas
"The music of Rossini came into my life very early", says actress Joanna Lumley, "I loved him because his music is so happy". In conversation with Mic...
Kitty Godfree
06 Sep 1987
Contributed by Lukas
In the 1920s, Kitty Godfree established a list of sporting achievements that will never be surpassed: she won two Ladies' Championships at Wimbledon, ...
Lord Montagu
30 Aug 1987
Contributed by Lukas
"Music is one of my great passions" says Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, "my taste is wide-ranging; from Wagner to Jazz". In conversation with Michael Park...
Edna O'Brien
23 Aug 1987
Contributed by Lukas
The castaway this week is the Irish writer Edna O'Brien, whose first novel, The Country Girls, was published in 1960 to great acclaim. She's also beco...
Susan George
16 Aug 1987
Contributed by Lukas
The actress Susan George began her career as a child appearing in television plays and series; her subsequent film career stretches back some 20 years...