Alle afleveringen
2.000 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
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Professor Tanya Byron
27 oktober 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringProfessor Tanya Byron, clinical psychologist and TV presenter, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
Tanya has spent the last twenty years in clinical practice, helping children, young people and families deal with some of the most difficult parts of life - depression, anxiety, aggression, self harming and drug addiction.
She came to public prominence through her television work, books and advice columns and it would seem that she had the perfect background to cope with life in the spotlight - her father was a successful tv and theatre director and her mother worked variously as a nursing sister and a model.
A highly dramatic family tragedy ignited her interest in what spurs people to behave the way that they do.
She says of her work "I do have a particular desire to enable young people, on the cusp of what could be the most extraordinary life, to live ... and live well."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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Jeremy Hutchinson
20 oktober 2013 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the former barrister and member of The House of Lords, Jeremy Hutchinson. Lees meer
His life spans eleven decades of British history and he has spent much of it at the very centre of the action. Born during the First World War, he was brought up in the company of some of the greatest artists and writers of the day.
In World War II, he escaped his bombed-out ship clinging to a life raft with Lord Mountbatten.
At the Bar he played a central role in many of the seismic trials of the day - among them defending the novel Lady Chatterley's Lover against obscenity charges and Christine Keeler in the Profumo Affair trial. His brilliance in cross-examination inspired John Mortimer's creation of the character Rumpole of The Bailey.
He enjoyed two long marriages - his first to the actress Peggy Ashcroft, his second, for 40 years, to June Osborn, and he spent 23 years as an active member of The House of Lords.
He says, "I had the luck to live when the world of the Establishment was being dismantled. The whole of one's career was to do with what was going on in society."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Chris Packham
13 oktober 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the naturalist, Chris Packham. Lees meer
TV presenter, filmmaker, writer, photographer, every bit of his work revolves around wildlife. If he's not busy telling us why we should love midges he's enthusing about the hearing capacity of a barn owl. His passion for animals is clear, what they think of him remains a little more uncertain; he's been attacked by a baboon, charged by lions and bitten by a puff adder.
His obsession with the natural world began early when a predictable boyhood fascination for tadpoles and ladybirds grew to encompass mosquito larvae, lizards, snakes and bats. As a teenager he collected badger droppings by day and pogoed with electric blue hair at Clash gigs by night.
These days he distinguishes himself by his impressive knowledge of his subject and his outspoken views on everything from countryside culls to the problems with cat owners.
He says, "I'll never rest until I've tried to do my own small bit in terms of changing the environment so it's a better place. I won't do it for my grandchildren because I won't have any and I won't do it for yours. I'll do it because it's the right thing to do."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Carolyn McCall
6 oktober 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is businesswoman Carolyn McCall. Lees meer
Currently Chief Executive of easyJet, she's one of only three women in Britain in charge of a FTSE 100 company. Prior to that she ran the Guardian Media Group.
An only child, she was brought up in Bangalore and Singapore. She spent a short time as a teacher in a comprehensive school and has also brought her wisdom to the boardroom table at Lloyds Bank, Tesco and New Look.
In amongst the corporate strategizing she also managed to have three children in three years.
She says, "I think it's mad not to have self-doubt ... but I think it's really dangerous when that self-doubt becomes total insecurity or lack of confidence or lack of momentum, or lack of belief in yourself."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Lee Mack
29 september 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young interviews the comedian Lee Mack. Lees meer
He writes and stars in the BBC One hit show "Not Going Out". His stand-up tours do great business and his lightening sharp comedy reflexes are also put to good use on a number of prime-time panel shows.
His first ever performance was doing impressions for his school mates, but it took him more than ten years to pluck up the courage to step on stage. Leaving school with two O'levels and a cheeky grin, he had a stint as Red Rum's stable boy and a bash at being a professional darts player.
He says of his comedy career "I'm the kind of person that, if I don't think it's hard work, I worry that it's not worthwhile. I have to feel as if I've struggled a bit."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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Zadie Smith
22 september 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the novelist and critic, Zadie Smith. Lees meer
First published at just twenty four her debut novel "White Teeth" garnered huge attention and praise. As a result she suffered the unnerving experience of doing her literary growing up in public.
Yet in spite of the scrutiny she blossomed. In the 13 years since, her novels, essays and short stories have brought numerous literary prizes and critical praise. Born to a Jamaican mother and a British father she was brought up in Willesden, North London where many of her characters live. She began writing at the age of 5 and was a voracious reader - devouring the greats of literature. Now she divides her time between Willesden and New York where she teaches creative writing.
She describes herself as "an English novelist enslaved to an ancient tradition" and yet her chosen areas of exploration could not be more of the moment.
She says, "I'm really interested in what memory feels like ... we only have snapshots of the past ..." she continues to declare that writing isn't about "being experimental, it's about finding something true."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Daniel Kahneman
11 augustus 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringThe psychologist Daniel Kahneman, who won the 2002 Nobel Prize for Economics, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most influential living psychologists, his many years of study have centred on how and why we make the decisions we do.
As a child, he lived in Nazi occupied France and he says that, from a young age, he already had a pretty good idea that he wanted to be an academic.
He says "My mother had a big influence ... in fact I credit her with the fact that I became a psychologist ... because she got me interested in people and listening to gossip. I've been fascinated by gossip ever since."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Eve Stewart
4 augustus 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is BAFTA award-winning production designer, Eve Stewart. Lees meer
Her big screen credits include Les Miserables, The King's Speech and Vera Drake and for TV The Hour, Upstairs Downstairs and Call The Midwife. Responsible for locations, scenery and all the props she is renowned for creating entirely convincing, cohesive worlds that capture a beguiling sense of time, place and spirit. Not even the requirement for nine tons of Scottish seaweed or noiseless rubber rosary beads will defeat her.
Her trademark is her relentless attention to detail and she slavishly trawls the archives for visual clues and references. It would seem that the bug bit her early - she says:
'When I was a little girl I used to have lots of doll's houses. Now I have lots of big ones and get to do it on a bigger scale.'
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Mary Robinson
28 juli 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and ex-UN Commissioner for Human Rights. Lees meer
Her professional life has been defined by public service at the very highest level and she appears the epitome of the cool-headed pragmatist. And yet she is also something of an enigma: a committed Catholic who fought hard to legalise contraception and divorce; an elected head of state with both a noble bearing and a common touch.
As a lawyer she lead from the front championing controversial causes at home in Ireland and fiercely defending human rights at the UN. She also has a habit of making history - she was Ireland's first female president and the first Irish Head of state to meet Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
She says of her life and work "over the years I have given many talks and taken part in many discussions on leadership: women's leadership, political leadership, business leadership, grass roots leadership. But the element of leadership that really fascinates me is moral leadership."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Russell Brand
21 juli 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringRussell Brand, comedian & actor, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
Actor, comic, writer, Russell Brand is a compelling cultural phenomenon who in 2006 was, in his own words, "plucked from a life of hard drugs and petty crime and rocketed into the snugly carcinogenic glare of celebrity."
Along with an athletic wit and a florid turn of phrase he specialises in going too far - reckless acts of self-destruction and a degree of chaos seem to be his companions along life's winding path. It's been five years since he rocked the foundations of the BBC with what became known as the Ross Brand scandal. He's since gone on to international success with a movie career, best-selling books and all the trappings of life on the "A" list.
His most recent notable appearances have included testifying to a Parliamentary Select Committee on the importance of funding for drugs rehabilitation programmes and an appearance as a panellist on Question Time.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Val McDermid
14 juli 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringThe writer, Val McDermid, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
Crime fiction is Val's chosen genre and the millions of novels she sells examine and dissect the darkest recesses of human behaviour. Domestic violence, murder, abduction - it's difficult to imagine a subject she'd shy away from. She once described herself as "A mixture of hard bitten cynical hack and Pollyanna".
Brought up in a secure home by parents who were very happily married, she was the first Scot from a state school to win a place at St Hilda's college, Oxford. She was just 16. After graduation she chose tabloid journalism as her trade and by all accounts fitted right in with the hard working, bolshy, boozing culture at the time.
She says "I think there are three elements to any literary career. You have to have a modicum of talent, you've got to work hard . and you've got to be lucky."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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Jane Somerville
7 juli 2013 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the cardiologist Jane Somerville. Lees meer
Now an Emeritus Professor in her discipline at Imperial College London she's gained a worldwide reputation for her pioneering work on congenital heart disease.
She began studying medicine in the early 1950s when only a very few women were admitted through the doors of medical school. Since then she's been responsible for ground-breaking advances in cardiovascular treatment and founded the World Congress of Paediatric Cardiology.
She had something of a role model in her mother, a hard-working, clever, successful woman too. Her early years as a pupil at a boys' school in Wales must also have prepared her for making her way in such a heavily male-dominated profession.
She has a reputation for being straight-talking, and her late husband used to urge her to be more "prudent", but, she says, "it wasn't fun to be prudent: it was much more fun to be mafioso and naughty."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Steven Pinker
30 juni 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is cognitive psychologist Steven Pinker. Lees meer
An author and Harvard professor he's been named by Time Magazine as one of the world's 100 most influential scientists and thinkers.
The psychology of violence and where language comes from are just two of his specialist subjects. Bill Gates is officially a fan, the man who sends him hate mail related to his work on irregular verbs is not. It would seem that whenever he publishes yet another best-selling book controversy is never far behind - his recent contention that we live in an "unusually peaceful time" drew opprobrium from many quarters.
Born and brought up in Montreal his parents encouraged vigorous debate around the dinner table - indeed it was his mother's interest in the psychology of language and linguistics that sparked his own.
He says "I appreciate what my parents did for me beyond words. Not in making me what I am, but in my view of what's important in life, what I think about and cherish."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Hugh Laurie
23 juni 2013 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the actor, Hugh Laurie. Lees meer
If life were straightforward he'd be marooned on the island because of his achievements as an Olympic rower. But his early promise on the water was scuppered by a bout of glandular fever - so he's had to make do instead with life as a worldwide entertainment superstar.
Very British comedy, very big budget movies, very successful syndicated TV drama - his 30 year career has taken him from A Little Bit of Fry & Laurie to a big bit of broadcasting history: his role in the U.S. show House ran for 8 series and had a global audience of 81 million. So why now does he feel the need to risk his stellar reputation by making music too?
He says, "as soon as I acknowledge to myself that something is frightening and carries the risk of public humiliation I feel like I have to do it."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Alexandra Shulman
16 juni 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the editor of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman. Lees meer
In spite of being in charge of one of our leading 'style bibles' for more than 20 years, her reputation is that of someone rather down to earth. She thinks designers cut clothes too small, refuses to let superstars have photo and copy approval and when she was first appointed editor, she'd never even been on a fashion shoot. During her tenure Vogue's circulation has increased.
Her first job as editor was with the men's magazine GQ and she's had spells at Tatler, the Sunday Telegraph and writing a weekly column for the Daily Mail.
She says, "Vogue is not my personal taste, really. I think of it more as a kind of newspaper, reporting on what's out there."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Conrad Anker
9 juni 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the mountaineer Conrad Anker. Lees meer
Some of us choose a life in I.T. or event planning - Conrad Anker has opted to swing from a nylon stepladder 19,000 feet up a cliff with a dose of trench foot and a wedge of stale cheese for supper. It may seem an odd way to spend one's life but it's his way.
One of the world's elite climbers he's credited with a long list of first time ascents. He's also summited Everest three times. During one renowned climb he discovered the icy corpse of the legendary George Mallory who had perished along with Sandy Irvine as they tried to scale the peak - in nothing more than hobnail boots and tweeds - in 1924.
When he isn't exploring the far corners of the world's wilderness he's at home in Montana with his wife Jennifer, the widow of his best friend Alex Lowe, who was killed by an avalanche that narrowly missed Conrad himself.
He says of his life, "Most people are so risk averse. The world is full of couch potatoes ... we climbers should get government stipends for keeping the risk-taking gene pool alive."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Sir Mervyn King
2 juni 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the out-going Governor of the Bank of England, Sir Mervyn King. Lees meer
He has been in charge during a period of unprecedented global financial turmoil yet under his leadership the Bank of England has emerged as one of the world's most powerful central banks. He may have grown used to the pink tails coats and top hats of his attendants in Threadneedle Street but his background was far from privileged. His father worked on the railways and then became a teacher; his mother was a housewife and sang in the church choir. Their son studied hard and gained a top first at Cambridge before going on to teach at MIT and the London School of Economics.
Throughout his demanding public life he has been sustained by his twin passions for cricket and Aston Villa football club. His other great love appears to have been an intriguingly slow burn: he first met Barbara, the woman who would become his wife, in 1970 - they married in 2007.
He says, "Being the Governor of the Bank of England is actually the easiest job I've ever done; you're in charge & you've got tremendous support."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Deborah Bull
26 mei 2013 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's guest this week is the ballerina, writer and broadcaster Deborah Bull. Lees meer
The Royal Ballet, where she was a principal dancer for almost two decades owes a debt of gratitude to the Janice Sutton School of Dance in Skegness. It was there, aged 7, two floors above a fish and chip shop and a row of amusements arcades - and having practiced "good toes, bad toes" - that she knew precisely what she wanted to do with her life.
After many years of success at the top of her profession, she said goodbye to her childhood dream and jetéd into her life's next act - for a time serving as Creative Director of The Royal Opera House and more recently working far beyond Covent Garden promoting creativity and cultural partnerships across Britain.
She says "I always thought I'd feel a passionate sense of loss when I stopped dancing. What was absolutely wonderful was, as the volume turned up on the new career, the volume turned down on the old one."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Alice Walker
19 mei 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the Pulitzer Prize winning writer Alice Walker. Lees meer
Author, poet, feminist and activist, it was her novel The Color Purple that brought her worldwide attention and acclaim. The story of a poor black girl surviving in the deep American south, between the wars, it is a landmark work, disturbing and exhilarating in equal measure.
If one subscribes to the idea that "art is a wound turned to light", then Alice Walker's early life proved crucial to her future creations. Shot and blinded in one eye by her brother's BB gun it was through the isolation of her injury that she began to write. She once described poetry as "medicine".
She has also said, "I know the world's a mess, but there's so much that's gorgeous in it. I wish everybody could have what I have."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Damien Hirst
12 mei 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's guest this week is the artist Damien Hirst. Lees meer
Life, death, desire, fear, beauty, horror - his creative preoccupations are standard fair; his art - using sharks, maggots, butterflies, glass, formaldehyde and even sometimes paint - is not. His best known works have become iconic symbols of contemporary culture and his exhibitions and auctions attract attention the way a carcass attracts flies.
Growing up in Leeds his mother was something of an early artistic influence - she had dots painted on the front door and whenever Damien said he'd finished a drawing, she'd lay another sheet of paper down and tell her son "carry on."
He once said, "People don't like contemporary art but all art starts life as contemporary. I'm sure there were people in caves going 'I like your cave but I hate that crap you've got on the wall'."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Sir Sydney Kentridge
31 maart 2013 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Sir Sydney Kentridge QC. Lees meer
Widely regarded as a leading advocate of the 20th century, he continues to make his mark in the 21st; he recently appeared for the first time in the European Court of Justice and at the end of last year he spent the actual day of his 90th birthday working in the English Supreme Court.
Born in South Africa, he was first called to the bar there at the end of the 1940s and played a leading role in some of the most significant political trials of the apartheid era. 'Understated, controlled, relentlessly rational' - and with devastating cross-examination skills - the verdict of one of his clients - Nelson Mandela.
He himself says "I hope there's only one thing about my professional life of which I've boasted and which I think, as a lawyer, is unique on my part - I have acted as an advocate for three winners of The Nobel Peace Prize. I don't think anyone else has done that."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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Jasvinder Sanghera
24 maart 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer and campaigner Jasvinder Sanghera. Lees meer
She has counselled government and travelled widely advising on how to put a stop to forced marriage and so called honour violence.
At 14, Jasvinder was shown a picture of the stranger thousands of miles away she was to marry and in the face of intimidation she fled her family, chose her own husbands and gained a first class degree. Her books have shone a piercing light on the veiled world of shame, brutality and coercion that some young women endure whilst Karma Nirvana, the pioneering charity she set up and runs, offers refuge and practical help.
She says, "my life has had to take paths where responsibility was the key thing. Now I'm at a point in my life where I'm more content than I've ever been. I've reconciled the disownment."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Julie Goodyear
17 maart 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringActress Julie Goodyear is castaway by Kirsty Young. Lees meer
For a quarter of a century, Julie's Coronation Street TV character Bet Lynch set the gold plated standard for big, brassy, back chatting blondes. Behind the bar of the Rovers Return her bosom swathed in leopard-print and her head piled high with platinum curls she was Manchester's answer to Mae West.
Her MBE was awarded for her services to drama - and when she left the series in 1995, her departure pulled in 19 million viewers.
Yet whatever the scriptwriters came up with it was never as dramatic as the life she's lived beyond The Street.
Julie got pregnant at 17, her second husband abandoned her for their best man, and in 1979 she was diagnosed with cancer and told she'd a year to live. She's now married to her fourth husband.
She says, "If anyone should be interested in an epitaph for my life, I would like them to consider, 'At least she tried."
DISC ONE: Nancy Sinatra - These Boots are Made for Walkin’
DISC TWO: Eileen Wilson - A You're Adorable
DISC THREE: Nat King Cole - Blue Moon
DISC FOUR: Bill Haley and His Comets - Rock Around The Clock
DISC FIVE: Barry Manilow - I made it through the Rain
DISC SIX: Johnny Mathis - When A Child Is Born
DISC SEVEN: Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time Of My Life
DISC EIGHT: Tina Turner - Simply the BestCASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Bill Medley & Jennifer Warnes - (I've Had) The Time Of My Life
BOOK CHOICE: Jonathan Livingston Seagull
LUXURY CHOICE: Her mother's bus passProducer: Cathy Drysdale
First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2013.
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David Almond
10 maart 2013 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer David Almond. Lees meer
Most of his work is for children but the adults who populate the juries of heavyweight literary prizes really like it too. The accolades began with his first novel Skellig published in 1998 when he was 47; it won the mighty "Whitbread Children's" award and then many others besides.
Ever since, he's been acclaimed for his ability to craft complex, philosophical narratives with strikingly down to earth characterisations.
He grew up just outside Newcastle in a big, Catholic family and his childhood features heavily in his stories.
He says "Each of my books has had to be written - there was something that had to come out."
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Rankin
3 maart 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the photographer Rankin. Lees meer
He started out doing fashion shoots and is very good at making pretty young things look even prettier. But his work and influence have spread well beyond the glossy pages of style bibles. From Congolese war widows to canoodling pensioners his skill is capturing a moment of spontaneous and often surprising truth. He should really been doing peoples' tax returns - he went to college to study accountancy - but his head was turned in his halls of residence where the arts students seemed to be having all the fun. Within a few years Kate Moss was posing for him in nothing but a fedora and leather boots. However his reputation for raunch was put on the back burner the day he photographed Her Majesty The Queen - his picture of a serene and smiling monarch now hangs in The National Portrait Gallery.
Photography is he says "like a seduction. It's a relationship compressed into a moment."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Uta Frith
24 februari 2013 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringProfessor Uta Frith, developmental psychologist, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
Uta Frith's groundbreaking work on autism has revolutionized our understanding of the condition; overturning the traditional, long-held belief that the root of the problems are social & emotional; discovering instead that autism is the result of physical differences in the brain.
She arrived in Britain from Germany in the early 60s for a two-week course in English. Half a century later, and groaning under the weight of myriad fellowships and awards, with an honorary DBE to her name, she is one of the grand dames of British science.
In retirement she continues to mentor and encourage fellow women scientists, not least in her networking group "science&shopping" - an aim being to have some fun.
She says her metaphor for the brain "is that of a garden that is full of the most interesting, different things ... that have to be cultivated and constantly checked."
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Jonathan Agnew
17 februari 2013 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the cricket commentator Jonathan Agnew. Lees meer
Known simply as "Aggers" to the army of fans devoted to Test Match Special, his charm, knowledge and ready wit have gained him a place in the heart of anyone who loves the game.
His own infatuation began as a young boy at boarding school and along with his talent and determination it took him all the way to the top of the sport. He played for Leicestershire and England. His transition from the crease to the commentary box was cemented by one of the most memorable moments in broadcasting history - the notorious "legover" comment that prompted the legendary Brian Johnston to dissolve into helpless, prolonged giggles live on air.
He says "The great thing about our job is that you have no pre-conceived idea about what is going to happen - you have no script - the cricket is the script".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Julie Burchill
10 februari 2013 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's guest is the writer Julie Burchill. Lees meer
As a columnist and author she is a committed non-conformist - daring the world to take issue with her vociferous life and work and depending on whom you ask is either a 'Marxist critic' or 'a right wing columnist'.
As a child she used to hide away when potential playmates came to call, at 17 she was writing for the NME and in the decades since she's plied her trade at The Times, The Guardian and The Daily Mail amongst others. She's also written twenty odd books and her autobiography is entitled "I Knew I Was Right".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Sir Terry Leahy
3 februari 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is Sir Terry Leahy, the businessman and former CEO of Tesco. Lees meer
His first job with the company was as a teenager when he worked as a shelf-stacker, but he made his name transforming the supermarket from a lack-lustre brand into Britain's biggest retailer.
His ascent to the very top was marked by a fundamental understanding of his customers' needs and a single minded determination, powered, he says, by a fear of failure.
He says of himself, "I was a relatively shy guy from a council estate and an unlikely chief executive, I'm quite happy not to be in the limelight".
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Aung San Suu Kyi
27 januari 2013 · 45 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Aung San Suu Kyi. The programme was recorded on location in Naypyitaw, Burma in December 2012. Lees meer
Now Leader of Burma's opposition party, she has dedicated her life to fighting for human rights and democracy in her homeland. A figure of world renown, she is known in Burma as simply "The Lady" and her integrity, determination and grace have provided a beacon of hope to a nation oppressed and exploited by decades of brutal military dictatorship. President Obama says she is an "icon of democracy" and Desmond Tutu calls her "a remarkable woman ... ready to work for the healing of her motherland".
Her renown has come at significant personal sacrifice: she endured nearly 20 years of house arrest and persecution, exiled from her children and apart from her British husband who died from cancer in 1999. She says "It takes courage to feel the truth, to feel one's conscience because once you do, you must engage your fundamental purpose for being alive. You can't just expect to sit idly by and have freedom handed to you."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale
Both the on-demand and the download audio of this programme are an extended edition of the original broadcast.
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Beryl Vertue
20 januari 2013 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringTV producer Beryl Vertue is Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
In the famously fickle world of telly where last year's hero is this year's zero she has stood the test of time. Indeed in TV circles the noun "vertuosity" is defined as "the ability to make enormously successful sitcoms for British television and then sell the formats to the American market".
The cast list of her working life is a who's who of quality broadcasting and includes Jack Lemmon, Galton & Simpson, Frankie Howerd, Jack Nicholson and most recently Benedict Cumberbatch.
She started out typing Goon Show scripts in the mid 50s, accidentally became an agent, and as a producer she has risen to the very top of her industry, with hits including the rock musical Tommy, the sit-com Men Behaving Badly and the drama series Sherlock.
She says "it's terribly important not to know too many rules. If you know rules and obstacles you spend a lot of time dealing with them. If you don't know there's a rule you just do it."
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Martin Carthy
13 januari 2013 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Martin Carthy. Lees meer
A highly influential figure in the world of traditional music, about fifty years ago he was at the forefront of the English folk revival - inspiring not just his fellow countrymen, but Bob Dylan and Paul Simon too.
Now he's part of a folk dynasty. His wife is the celebrated singer Norma Waterson and their daughter Eliza is as renowned for her fiddle playing, as she is her voice.
Martin, on the other hand, was brought up in an atmosphere that encouraged him to rise above his station - there was music in his Anglo-Irish background, but it wasn't encouraged and rarely if ever talked about.
He says, "In my opinion there is no such thing as bad music. There may be bad players or bad singers but I don't like the idea of inferior music".
The producer was Isabel Sargent.
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Sir Howard Stringer
6 januari 2013 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Sir Howard Stringer. Now Chairman of the Board and formerly CEO of Sony, he was surely the only Chief Executive who was a decorated Vietnam vet as he knelt before the Queen to be knighted. It gives you something of an idea of the breadth and height of his achievements. Lees meer
Born in Cardiff he went to 11 different schools before his 16th birthday and it clearly gave him restless feet. In the mid-sixties he headed to America where his first job was answering phones for the Ed Sullivan Show. He loved TV and it felt the same about him. He's won a raft of Emmys for his productions and worked with all the big beasts of the broadcasting jungle including Walter Cronkite, Dan Rather and David Letterman.
He has spent the last few years commuting between New York, Tokyo, London and Hollywood - the first and so far only westerner to run the Japanese giant Sony.
He says - "I think I'm a bit prone to new adventures. The same damned impulse that got me in trouble by sending me to America in the first place compels me to take challenges when offered them."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Anya Hindmarch
30 december 2012 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the designer and businesswoman, Anya Hindmarch. Lees meer
Given her first handbag by her mother at 16, she knew that her future lay in fashion. At 18 she went to Florence to immerse herself in Italian style, and ended up deep in the world of Florentine leather, getting samples made up of a duffel bag she'd spotted. An initial run of 500 bags sold out. Fast forward 25 years and her eponymous fashion business is globally successful with her designs much sought after.
She's also known for her conscience and designed a canvas tote called "I'm not a plastic bag" as part of an environmental campaign to highlight our over use of plastic bags.
She combines all this with a hectic family life. She met and subsequently married a widower 12 years her senior when she was 25. He had 3 children aged under 5 and they've added a further two to the clan.
She says her life is like "juggling and dancing while having one arm and one eye at the same time".
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Dawn French
23 december 2012 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Dawn French. Lees meer
Her career started back when dungarees were considered a legitimate fashion choice and she's built her reputation on borderline surreal skits and glowingly warm characterisations.
Brought up in a forces family she had to move schools a lot and found making people laugh helped to make them her friends. Since then it's made her a household name and she may be moments away from becoming a 'national treasure'.
Double act partner, sit-com star, sketch show performer, writer, actor, Dawn has made us laugh for years. So does she ever feel overwhelmed by people's expectations? She says "I tell myself that I'm the sort of person who can open a one-woman play in the West End, so I do .... I am the sort of person who writes a book - so I do".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Sister Wendy Beckett
16 december 2012 · 39 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the nun, writer and broadcaster Sister Wendy Beckett. Lees meer
For over 40 years she's lived the life of a hermit, rising every day at midnight to spend seven hours praying. Her home is a caravan in the grounds of a Carmelite Monastery where she spends her days in silence - speaking only once a day to the nun charged with delivering her daily food rations of skimmed milk, cold cooked vegetables and two rice crackers.
Her self-imposed isolation has only been broken by the - frankly rather unlikely - occurrence of a television career. She is the nun who knows about art and her passionate and pithy critiques of the world's great works and hidden treasures have won her many devoted fans.
With decades of solitude and prayer under her belt she seems, unlike nearly every other guest, to be perfectly cut out for a stretch alone on a desert island.
She says "It's my apostolic duty to talk about art. If you don't know about God, art is the only thing that can set you free".
Producer: Christine Pawlowsky.
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Rt Hon Eric Pickles MP
9 december 2012 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles. After flirting with Communism in his teens he joined the Conservative party and enjoyed a heady rise through local politics, heading up Bradford City Council in the 1990s. He tells Kirsty about his early life above a shop in Keighley, how Mrs Thatcher got him an interview to be a candidate for MP, and how a prolonged hug from David Cameron softened the blow of a disastrous appearance on Question Time. Lees meer
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Dustin Hoffman
2 december 2012 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Dustin Hoffman. Lees meer
In spite of his Aunt Pearl telling him he wasn't good looking enough to be an actor for the past forty-five years he's been crafting landmark movie performances. He is that rare and apparently contradictory thing - a character actor and a superstar.
The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, All The President's Men, Marathon Man, Kramer v Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag The Dog, and Last Chance Harvey are just a handful of the movies that contribute to an unparalleled body of work: he is the only actor in history to have top billing in three films that won Best Picture Oscars.
Now in his mid-70s he is making his directorial debut.
He says "I'm always fighting to break through... I'm trying to show you the part of me that wants to love, wants to kill, that wants to find my way out, that feels there is no way out."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Edmund de Waal
25 november 2012 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the artist and author, Edmund de Waal. His ceramics are on display in many of the world's major museums. They're delicate pots in shades of white and cream, informed he says by a great deal of thinking about literature. Lees meer
His written work has also won him several awards; his book "The Hare With Amber Eyes" traces the rich and dramatic story of his family's Russian Jewish heritage and the diaspora in Odessa, Paris, Vienna, and Tokyo.
He says, "I make pots and I write. I'm not one of those people who by mistake became a potter or by mistake is a writer - they are both completely entwined."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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John Lloyd
18 november 2012 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the director, producer and writer, John Lloyd. Lees meer
His work has been making us laugh for over thirty years: Spitting Image, Not The Nine o'Clock News, Blackadder and QI are just a handful of the programmes he's helped to create. If the comedy work ever dries up he could open a shop selling second hand Baftas - he's won a stack of them and a Grammy and an Emmy.
Which isn't to say it's been an easy ride - fall outs, multiple sackings and missed opportunities have peppered his stellar career in comedy. He says,
"I like starting things ... there are starters and finishers in life, that's the great divide ... I like the fight and the passion and the difficulty - well I don't like it, but it's what I do".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Blanche Marvin
16 november 2012 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the critic, actress, and producer Blanche Marvin. Lees meer
Blanche has been immersed in the theatre for seven decades. She worked with James Mason, Yul Brynner, Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov and calmed the nerves of Tennessee Williams. She brought Samuel Beckett to an American audience and persuaded Peter Brook to launch a series of awards to encourage artistic risk-takers.
A doyenne of the West End, she's at nearly every opening night and her reviews are read by producers on Broadway - looking for the next hit that could cross the Atlantic.
She says: "people say, how can you go to the theatre for 50 years and still be enthusiastic? Every time I go, I think, Oh, I'm going to see something, I'm going to be surprised!"
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
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Tidjane Thiam
4 november 2012 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is businessman Tidjane Thiam. Lees meer
He's chief executive of the Prudential, but he's about as far from the archetypal "man from the Pru" as you can get.
The seeds of his success were sown amid the complex political terrain of the Ivory Coast with an extended family heavily involved in politics and a father imprisoned for his beliefs. His life quickly took on an international flavour from West Africa to Morocco, Paris to Washington, but in his early 30s a coup in his homeland left him high and dry. He says "I had no job, no career, nothing at all. It taught me a lot about myself. If you've been in a situation where you have nothing there's nothing much you're afraid of."Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Hilary Devey
28 oktober 2012 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringHilary Devey, businesswoman and TV star is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Lees meer
The very incarnation of entrepreneurial spirit, Hilary Devey built a haulage network business from scratch, which now employs nearly eight thousand people and has an annual turnover of £100 million. She has a successful media career and is one of the current incumbents of the TV programme Dragons Den.
The real drama in her life has happened off screen. The skeleton in her parents' closet reappeared in her own life. She's been married and divorced three times, her only child has battled drug addiction and a severe stroke nearly killed her in 2009.
Despite this, she remains ambitious and energetic in the business world and says that there's no such thing as a glass ceiling.
Producer: Alison Hughes.
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Mona Siddiqui
21 oktober 2012 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the academic & commentator, Mona Siddiqui. Lees meer
Born in Karachi and brought up in Huddersfield, she's a rarity - a female Muslim theologian. As Professor of Islamic and Interreligious Studies at Edinburgh University her analysis regularly sheds light on controversial issues affecting the Muslim faith. Her calm & reasoned standpoint can be heard regularly on the Today programme's Thought for the Day.
Brought up in a house stuffed full of books, her academic promise revealed itself early on and despite dallying with the idea of journalism as a career, she finally followed the path her mother wanted for her - academia.
She says, "I like to be in places where I feel my voice can be heard and I can say things of some value."Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Noah Stewart
14 oktober 2012 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the American opera singer, Noah Stewart. Lees meer
He's a hit in opera houses around the world and his solo CD has topped the classical charts. Yet for a long time the closest he managed to get to the stage was as a receptionist at Carnegie Hall. He won a scholarship to the prestigious Juilliard School in New York though while waiting for his big break, he waited tables and did voice overs for Sesame Street.
Blessed not only with rich, clear tenor tones he also possesses the good looks of a Hollywood film star. Brought up by his single mother in Harlem, he still lives with her when he's not travelling the world and says of the neighbourhood he grew up in, ... "for me it was hard to be there ... because I just didn't see many successful black men around... there were just not many of us who made it out".
Producer: Christine Pawlowsky.
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Celia Birtwell
7 oktober 2012 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the designer Celia Birtwell. Lees meer
In the ephemeral world of fashion she has endured; Marian Faithfull wore her creations in the 60s, Kate Moss is a fan today. Whimsical prints and flattering forms are her signature style and the vintage creations that she designed with her then husband Ossie Clarke now change hands for a small fortune. Her new ranges are highly collectable and fly off the high street rails too.
Never one of the fashion world's flamboyant self promoters she has, none the less, a face known to millions - as a long time friend and muse to David Hockney she is the woman at the centre of his famous painting "Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy".
She wants her work to be relevant because and says "there's nothing worse than being out-dated. If that happens and I feel I'm past it, I'll stop".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Ade Adepitan
30 september 2012 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the Paralympian & broadcaster Ade Adepitan. Wheelchair basketball's his sport and this year he partnered Claire Balding anchoring the television coverage of the 2012 London Paralympics. Lees meer
When he's not stuck in a studio explaining the intricacies of Goalball he's reporting from the rainforests of Nicaragua or the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Adversity seems to suit him - he even survived turning up for his first day at school aged 7 in a pink checked suit and bow tie. Inspired by his boyhood heroes Seb Coe and Daley Thompson, who he first saw on TV competing in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, sport became his passion.
He says "I think I've done more things with my disability than most able-bodied people would ever dream of doing".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Goldie Hawn
23 september 2012 · 32 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is Hollywood's prototype dizzy blond, Goldie Hawn. Lees meer
Like most things in Tinseltown the image is somewhat at odds with the reality. Goldie is an Academy Award winner and producer who's been on the A list for 40-odd years, starring alongside Peter Sellers, Walter Matthau and Woody Allen. She's now transmuted from fantasy pin-up to best selling author - she writes parenting manuals and spearheads a childhood learning initiative.
She tells Kirsty about her journey from dancing in sleazy go-go bars to bagging an Oscar, how she coped with the difficulties her early success brought her and how she met her husband of 29 years, Kurt Russell.
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Craig Brown
12 augustus 2012 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the critic and satirist Craig Brown. Lees meer
A prolific writer, he's lampooned everyone from DH Lawrence to Victoria Beckham and, earlier this year, he became the first journalist to win three separate prizes at the British Press Awards. He showed early promise - when he was 14 he started writing spoofs of Harold Pinter plays, and his characters have their own entries in Who's Who.
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
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Baroness Campbell
5 augustus 2012 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway is the campaigner Baroness Jane Campbell. Lees meer
She was born with a degenerative condition and her parents were told she would not survive infancy. Now in her mid-fifties and a cross-bench peer, she's spent her adult life campaigning for equality for disabled people and was one of the leading voices behind the Disability Discrimination Act of 1995.
She recalls: "I found myself sitting in the middle of Westminster Bridge bringing the traffic to a standstill. The police didn't know what to do with us - whether to pat us on the head or, you know, put handcuffs on us. They were quite confused."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.