Alle afleveringen
2.000 afleveringen, van nieuw naar oud
-
Ronnie Corbett
21 oktober 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is an entertainer so central to British popular culture he can be identified by the outline of his glasses alone - Ronnie Corbett. For more than 50 years, from late night reviews to prime-time sit-coms, his comic talents have made us laugh and made us love him; a nattily turned out national treasure with a quick wit and a ready smile. Lees meer
His success is due, of course, to his own ability but also to two enduring and remarkable partnerships. Along with Ronnie Barker, he formed one of the great TV duos of all time whilst his 40-year marriage to his wife Ann saw her abandon her flourishing entertainment career to sustain him through the vicissitudes of fame and family life. Ronnie Corbett looks back over his life and career, from his days in review at Danny La Rue's club to his last ever programme with Ronnie Barker - a moment that brought them both to tears.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Music Maestro Please by Ann Hart
Book: Untold Stories by Alan Bennett
Luxury: A hammock. -
Jill Balcon
14 oktober 2007 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Jill Balcon. She has the voice of an old friend - and it's not surprising, she was a BBC radio announcer during the war and has been acting and performing poetry consistently since. Poetry has always played a central role in her life. She was only 12 years old when she first saw the poet Cecil Day Lewis. He had come to judge a poetry-reading competition at her school and although he was more than 20 years her senior, he was, she says, the most beautiful man she had ever seen. Lees meer
They were married for more than 20 years. Since his death in 1972, she has maintained her own acting career, continued raising their children - the acclaimed cookery writer Tamasin and Oscar-winning actor Daniel - and also worked hard to preserve his legacy.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Romanza: the 3rd movement of Symphony No 5 in D Major by Vaughan Williams
Book: The collected works by Thomas Hardy
Luxury: A barrel of Guerlain Jicky perfume. -
Alan Johnson
7 oktober 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson. He has the task of managing one of the most challenging briefs of government - and the stakes are raised further because, when there is an election, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made it clear that the main battleground will be health. Lees meer
Johnson says that unlike many politicians, he is not a keen strategist who has spent his life plotting his career, instead he has simply 'drifted along', taking whatever challenges fate offered. He has drifted on quite an incredible journey - raised among the deprivation and squalor of London in the 1950s, he was orphaned when he was 12 and brought up by his sister. He left school without an O-level but with ambitions to join the music industry. Instead, after a spell stacking supermarket shelves, he became a postman and by the time he was 20 he was married with three children. He rose through the trade union movement where his astute negotiating skills and political acumen brought him to Tony Blair's attention. According to those who know him best, however, his political ambitions are limited - his children say he would still rather be the lead singer in a band than Prime Minister.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles
Book: Diaries by Samuel Pepys
Luxury: Digital radio. -
George Michael
30 september 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is George Michael. As a singer and songwriter he has enjoyed massive global success for a quarter of a century. He's sold more than 100 million records, won two Grammy awards and notched up countless number one hits. Lees meer
His ability to write, produce, and perform perfect pop songs is unquestioned. But along with the career highs, there have been lows too: he lost a long wrangle with his record company, was crippled by bereavement and for years questions about his sexuality were a matter of newspaper headlines until he was spectacularly outed a decade ago. In a rare interview, George Michael talks candidly to Kirsty Young about how he regained his emotional and professional confidence - and is now a happier and more peaceful man.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse
Book: Any book of short stories by Doris Lessing
Luxury: DB9 car. -
Vladimir Jurowski
19 augustus 2007 · 39 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Described as the most active and influential conductor in Britain today, he has been the musical director at Glyndebourne for the past six years, and this autumn takes over as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Lees meer
Vladimir's roots however lie in Russia, where he was one of the last generation to experience the Communist regime. The two-room apartment in Moscow that he shared with his parents, siblings and grandmothers, was always full of music; his father was a conductor. He says he "grew up in the wings of the theatre", and he knew from a very early age that his life too would be dedicated to music. However, he resisted following in his father's footsteps until he was seventeen, when he heard Mahler's music for the first time.
After that, he says, there was no turning back. He changed as a person, physically he says, when he picked up the baton, and went on to make his conducting debut at the tender age of 23. He has been constantly in demand around the world ever since, but manages to combine this international career with being a husband and father.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Variations 29 & 30 by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Complete Works by Aleksandr Pushkin
Luxury: A piano. -
Felix Dennis
12 augustus 2007 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the publisher Felix Dennis. He blossomed among the flower power generation, finding fame as one of the defendants in the notorious Oz Magazine obscenity trial in 1971. It fired his loathing of the establishment but instead of dropping out he opted in and beat them at their own game. For the past 30 years his talent has been spotting a niche in the magazine market and launching a title to fill it - his success has made him one of the richest men in Britain. Lees meer
For many years his life was one of addiction and excess - but latterly the only thing he feels compelled to do each day is write poetry and he's become one of a very rare breed - a best-selling poet.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: One Too Many Mornings by Bob Dylan
Book: The Dictionary of National Biography
Luxury: A very long stainless steel shaft to encourage pole-dancing mermaids! -
Andrew Davies
5 augustus 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Andrew Davies. He is the king of television adaptation; Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair, Middlemarch and Tipping the Velvet are just a few of the dramas he has brought to our screens. Lees meer
Until he was 50, he was an English lecturer and wrote in his spare time - it was a sort of mid-life crisis that sent his career soaring. Since then, his signature has been stripping down the classics, sexing them up and serving Austen, Eliot and Dickens to appreciative audiences. The trick is to make sure the stories remain relevant to viewers today - and that, he says, is straightforward because the main motivators remain the same - sex, love, money and power.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Hiawatha Rag by Chris Barber Band Box
Book: Great Expectations by Charles Dickens
Luxury: Endless supply of Mojitos. -
Nicola Horlick
29 juli 2007 · 38 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the investment banker Nicola Horlick. She has, perhaps, done more than anyone else to shatter the glass ceiling - a mother of six children and now stepmum to another three, her proud boast is that she's never missed a sports day or a school speech day. She says her career is largely an extension of her maternal instinct and she nurtures the companies she's ploughing funds into. With her apparently limitless energy, talent and ambition she seemed to be the one woman who had managed to have it all. Then her eldest daughter, Georgie, was diagnosed with leukaemia. For the next 10 years, until Georgie's death in 1998, Nicola combined nursing her daughter with her highly successful career, while also looking after the rest of her growing family. Lees meer
Now she is launching a new investment company and, with her very personal knowledge of the NHS, says she doesn't rule out a future within the health service.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: A Cenar Teco from the final Act of Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
Luxury: A bath. -
Thomas Keneally
22 juli 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Thomas Keneally. He had already been nominated for the Booker Prize three times when he published a historical novel that many said should not have been eligible for the contest. It told the story of one man, Oskar Schindler, who risked his life and lost his fortune to save more than a thousand Jews. Schindler's Ark not only won the prize, it has been the best-selling Booker winner ever and went on to be made into the Oscar-winning film Schindler's List. Lees meer
Religion and war have been themes through much of his work and indeed his own life. His father's absence during World War II helped to create a serious-minded child who went on to train for the priesthood. But just weeks before his ordination he quit the church, picked up his pen and started writing.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Herz und Mund und Tat Und Leben- Heart & Mind & Deed & Life by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Collected Plays by George Bernard Shaw
Luxury: Can of Beluga caviar, spoon and tin opener. -
Oliver Postgate
15 juli 2007 · 39 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the animator Oliver Postgate. As the creator of Noggin the Nog, The Clangers and Bagpuss, Oliver holds a special place in many childhoods. So it may come as something of a surprise that he never thought about how his programmes would be received by children; instead he says he simply focussed on making the stories great - everything else was secondary. For 20 years he toiled in a converted pigsty in Kent, animating the characters Peter Firmin drew, churning out 120 seconds of film a day. He says a respectable average for an animation company now would be two seconds! Lees meer
Oliver's own childhood was a lonely one; ignored by his busy parents and sent to an experimental school he hated. He says that to this day, he has no meaning unless he is doing something, and this is a direct legacy of his desperation to be noticed as a child.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: When the Saints Come Marching In by Pete Fountain
Book: Huge book of English Poetry
Luxury: A comfortable bed. -
Simon Russell Beale
8 juli 2007 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor Simon Russell Beale. Critics are torn over their descriptions of him: to some, he's the greatest stage actor in Britain today. To others, merely the greatest Shakespearean actor of his generation. Whichever it is, when he's cast in a play, it invariably sells out, the audience is spellbound and the reviewers smitten. Lees meer
Yet initially it seemed as if music was his calling; he was a choirboy at St Paul's, won a singing scholarship to Cambridge and went on to study at the Guildhall School of Music. An unorthodox approach to the drama department saw him change direction and he has gone on to win huge acclaim and many awards for his work. Unusually for a modern actor, he has only dabbled lightly in film and television work - he says when faced with the choice between a play and a film he always picks the play.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: First Movement of 4th Symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: Book on medieval history
Luxury: Daily Araucaria crossword. -
Wangari Maathai
1 juli 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai. Known these days as 'Africa's Forest Goddess' for her pioneering work fighting soil erosion and poverty across the continent, she's united her passion for the power of nature with a crusade for political justice. Lees meer
Born the third of six children in the central highlands of Kenya, the family home was a traditional mud-walled house with no electricity or running water. From there, her journey has been extraordinary - she won a scholarship to America, became a professor and launched the Greenbelt Movement which has educated and encouraged African women to plant millions of trees. She has campaigned against the erosion of human rights in Kenya and in 2004 she became the first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: I Can't Complain by Patti LaBelle
Book: The Koran
Luxury: A huge basket of fruit. -
Ricky Gervais
24 juni 2007 · 33 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Ricky Gervais. In just twelve episodes, his show The Office changed the face of British television comedy. At its centre was the comic monster, David Brent, a middle-manager being filmed for a mock-documentary who saw the ever-present cameras as his route to popularity and fame. Ricky Gervais's performance was both excruciating and unmissable - one critic called the programme "among the most affecting and invigorating works of fiction since the turn of the century". Lees meer
As he discusses with Kirsty Young, comedy was the language he grew up with - the youngest of four children, being able to come up with a gag or a smart rejoinder was the linguistic currency of his home. That, he says, is where the 'show-off performer' was born. Now with seven Baftas, two Golden Globes and an Emmy to his name, Ricky Gervais is gratified that his work is recognised and says his aim has always been to bring art into comedy.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Lilywhite by Cat Stevens
Book: A coffee table book of art
Luxury: Vat of novocaine - a non-addictive pain-killer. -
Christy Moore
17 juni 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the Irish musician Christy Moore. His stature and influence in folk music is unparalleled - Bono, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg are among those who cite him as a key influence. A passionate performer, he's the archetypal Irish poet and protest singer. In the late 1970s Special Branch raided the launch of his album H Block, his songs have been banned by both London and Dublin courts and, as recently as 2004, he was held by police and questioned about his lyrics and lifestyle. Lees meer
Not all the struggles he's dealt with have been political. By his own admission he wasted years, maybe even decades, boozing and bingeing on drugs. Having cleaned up his act he was then forced to confront the devastating legacy of his father's early death and how it affected him throughout his life.
Elements of this programme may offend some listeners.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Taimse Im' Chodladh by Planxty
Book: Collection of Popular Songs of England & Scotland by Francis Child
Luxury: A set of Uillean pipes. -
Yoko Ono
10 juni 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Yoko Ono. She was already an avant-garde artist in her own right when, in 1968, she started dating one of the most famous men in the world, John Lennon. Then, depending on who you listen to, she either stole him from the nation or helped him to focus on what was important to them both. Lees meer
Now, more than 25 years after John's murder, she discusses how it felt to be so reviled in the press, looks back on their life together and recalls the night of his death. In a remarkably frank interview, she reveals how she still speaks to him - and he still communicates with her.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Beautiful Boy by John Lennon
Book: Sai-Yu-Ki
Luxury: My life for the next thirty years. -
Tom Blundell
3 juni 2007 · 38 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the leading scientist Professor Sir Tom Blundell. His specialism is in molecular biology, which involves studying the tiniest building blocks of life under a microscope, in the hope of finding treatments for diseases such as cancer and diabetes. It is a hugely visual kind of science, and this, he says, is no coincidence - he loves science first and foremost for its beauty. Lees meer
He regularly seeks this beauty beyond the laboratory too; in art, in music and in travelling all over the world. One very special trip was to Africa for his wedding, after which he was somewhat surprised at being asked to pay for his Zimbabwean bride - a fellow academic - in cows. As a working class student at Oxford in the 1960s, he developed a fascination with politics, and at one point this activism threatened to overwhelm his life completely. When forced to choose between science and politics, he says he realised that politics was simply too hard. In recent years, he has finally been able to combine the two, by chairing numerous government science committees, and making key recommendations on issues as diverse as mad cow disease and climate change.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Wednesday Night Prayer Meeting by Charles Mingus
Book: Lessons in Ndebele by J. Pelling
Luxury: A combined heat and power micro-unit. -
Paul McKenna
27 mei 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Paul McKenna. He is Britain's best known hypnotist and made his name on prime-time TV. Millions used to watch on Saturday nights as he mesmerised ordinary people into doing extraordinary things. But he has found an even larger audience - and riches to match - through his series of self-help books. With titles like I Can Make You Thin and Change Your Life in Seven Days he taps into the angst-ridden preoccupations of our age with promises of serenity, contentment and control. Lees meer
He is, he says, an example of his own success - having been a geeky, unconfident child who was bullied at school he has now taught himself to abandon those self-doubts. Human beings are like computers, he says, and sometimes need to be reprogrammed so they function better.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Movin' On Up by Primal Scream
Book: The Path of the Human Being by Dennis Genpo Merzel
Luxury: Collage of photos of family and friends. -
Greg Dyke
20 mei 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Greg Dyke. A top flight TV executive known for being instinctual and populist, his appointment as BBC Director-General was an uncharacteristically bold move for the corporation and an extraordinary moment for a youngster once marked out by his teachers as 'the boy least likely to succeed'. A natural businessman who relishes taking risks, his greatest successes have come from his ability to spot the moment and act quickly. He saved TV-am with Roland Rat, moved the BBC's Nine O'Clock News at a fortnight's notice and thwarted Rupert Murdoch's digital hopes by backing Freeview. Lees meer
But his critics say that it is his passion and instinct that ultimately led to his downfall. He was forced to resign from the BBC after a bitter row that erupted between the corporation and Downing Street about its coverage of the Iraq war. His departure, which followed considerable mud-slinging, ill temper and tragedy, prompted a huge display of loyalty from his staff as thousands gathered on the steps to wish him a tearful goodbye. Since then, he's kept a low profile - but doesn't rule out a return to high office if the right job came along.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Like a Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan
Book: Complete Works by Dylan Thomas
Luxury: A guitar with a guide to playing it. -
Joanna Lumley
13 mei 2007 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Joanna Lumley. She first found fame as the high-kicking glamour-puss Purdey in the 1970s show The New Avengers, but the role that cemented her in the nation's psyche was Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous. A striking beauty with a cut-glass accent she had, until then, been cast as a certain sort of sexy toff. Yet in AbFab she stole the show as a shallow, free-loading, alcoholic has-been - famous for her towering chignon and withering one-liners. Lees meer
Along with displaying a formidable comic talent, it was a role that toyed cleverly with her public persona, hinting at her own beginnings as a model at the precise moment in the 1960s when London really started to swing. As she contemplates being marooned, she abandons the make-up and glamour of her on-screen life and embraces island living - collecting firewood, eating from shells and preparing her evening fire before the moon rises and she chooses the eight tracks that she would like to hear during a single island day.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Symphony No 7 in A Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: A huge atlas
Luxury: Video camera + film. -
Ben Helfgott
1 april 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott. His inspirational journey has taken him from the horrors of Nazi-occupied Poland to the highs of Olympic glory. He was nine years old when Germany invaded and at that point, he says, his childhood ended. He spent the next three years in a ghetto while his mother and younger sister were among those rounded up and shot by the Nazis. He was then deported to a series of concentration camps and, when he was eventually liberated from Theresienstadt, he was 15 years old and little more than a skeleton. He joined a group of 700 orphans who were brought to England to form a new life. Lees meer
He went on to become a successful businessman and a champion weightlifter - but his physical strength is matched by an extraordinary emotional fortitude. Not only has he made the most of every opportunity that came his way but he has spent his life campaigning to ensure those who died are properly commemorated.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Nessun Dorma by The Three Tenors
Book: The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Luxury: A bar with two discs for weight training. -
Professor Raymond Tallis
25 maart 2007 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the physician, philosopher, novelist and poet Professor Raymond Tallis. His specialism is the care of elderly patients - it's an area that he combines with his philosophical interest in considering what it is that makes humans unique - all part, as he says, of 'unpacking the miracle of everyday life'. Lees meer
He was one of five children brought up in modest circumstances in Liverpool. A bright child, he studied at Oxford and then St Thomas' Hospital although he acknowledges that his father was always disappointed that he had become a doctor - thinking it rather a shabby profession compared to his own preference for mathematics. Throughout much of his working life he rose before dawn in order to squeeze in time for his writing before he started his clinical work and in 2000 he was elected a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in recognition of his contribution to medical research.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: The first movement of String Quintet in C Major by Franz Schubert
Book: Being and Time by Martin Heidegger
Luxury: A video of a day in the life of his family. -
Jo Brand
18 maart 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the stand-up comedian Jo Brand. From the word go she always anticipated she would be heckled about her weight and appearance. While most people would run a mile at the thought of standing in front of a rowdy, aggressive and largely drunk audience, she says that the worst that can happen is humiliation - and she adds that as a woman, she was already equipped to deal with this, because people felt free to comment disparagingly on her appearance in everyday life. Lees meer
Her first career was as a psychiatric nurse - and for several years she would spend the day working in a psychiatric unit before appearing at a comedy club in the evening. Both careers demand an ability to be calm in extreme situations and to display a confidence that is often not felt. Her extreme act meant that for many years she was labelled a man-hating feminist - but she confounded critics by getting married and having two children.
Elements of this programme may offend some listeners.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Oh England, My Lionheart by Kate Bush
Book: The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Luxury: A church organ. -
Andy Kershaw
11 maart 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster and journalist Andy Kershaw. His career to date is as distinctive as his delivery - he combines an evangelical enthusiasm for world music with a fascination for reporting from the planet's most unstable places. He says he is happiest when marinated in mosquito repellent and living out of a rucksack - and although he is best known for unearthing unfamiliar tunes and bringing them to a wider audience it is his current affairs reporting that has brought him the greatest acclaim. Lees meer
Rwanda, Burundi and Haiti are among the 81 countries he has visited; his front line dispatches vividly conveying the true horror of conflict. His reporting and his music broadcasts have won him many, many awards and both careers are, he says, the result of his insatiable nosiness.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Hupenyu Hwangu by Bhundu Boys
Book: The collected works by Ryszard Kapuscinski
Luxury: Lots of toilet roll. -
JP Donleavy
4 maart 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer J P Donleavy. The author of a dozen novels as well as numerous plays and short stories, he remains best known for his first novel, The Ginger Man, which is widely regarded as a modern classic. Born in 1926 and raised in New York, J P Donleavy was the son of Irish immigrant parents. They told him little of Irish culture when he was growing up but, after the war, he moved to Dublin to take up a place at Trinity College. He was already a skilled boxer when he arrived in Ireland and found that street-fighting was almost a form of public entertainment in the city - and one which he excelled in. Despite Trinity's stature, his student life revolved around drinking, partying, writing and painting. He became friends with Brendan Behan and the legendary Irish writer became the first person to read the completed script of The Ginger Man. Lees meer
Although The Ginger Man was banned in Ireland and expurgated in Britain and America it became a word-of-mouth success. But its publication plunged J P Donleavy into a legal battle that took 20 years to resolve. It was a legal struggle, though, that was worth fighting for - for the past 50 years it has never been out of print.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: 2nd movement of Emperor Concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: 1972 Social Registry of New York
Luxury: His own long-handled spoon to make dressings. -
Andrew Neil
25 februari 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the journalist Andrew Neil. For 11 years he was editor of The Sunday Times. Under him, the paper broke the story of Israel's nuclear capabilities, revealed the Queen's dismay at the tone of Margaret Thatcher's administration and shone a bright light onto the difficulties of Princess Diana and Prince Charles's marriage. But as well as reporting the news, the paper made headlines too - Andrew Neil steered The Sunday Times through its move to Wapping and the bitter and often violent dispute that followed. Lees meer
Much has been made of his rise to be a figure at the heart of the establishment. A grammar school boy who went on to study at Glasgow University, he threw himself into university life; he edited the student newspaper, was a keen young debater and chairman of the Federation of Conservative Students. It seemed as if he was destined for a life in politics - but he decided he wanted to live a little first and then found that while he revelled in the political debate, the life of an MP was not for him. He is now Editor in Chief at Press Holdings and an established and authoritative political broadcaster.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: First Movement of Violin Concerto in D Major by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Book: Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith
Luxury: Wind-up radio. -
Grayson Perry
18 februari 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the artist Grayson Perry. For more than 20 years his work was broadly unknown outside the narrow confines of the art world. But in 2003 he became a household name after a collection of his exquisitely ornate pots won him art's most prestigious award, the Turner Prize. He's described as 'the hottest potter in the world' but newspaper headlines describing his success focused at least as much on his clothes as his art - when he collected the prize he wore a lilac party dress with a bow in his hair. Lees meer
He started dressing in his sister's clothes when he was a child - initially as part of his imaginative games and then for an erotic thrill. In part, women's clothes represented the tender emotions he was too scared to show in his repressive and sometimes frightening family home. Now, they're a way of controlling how people see him, what kind of attention he attracts and, if nothing else, they're a unique selling point. He acknowledges the debt he owes to his profession; only the arts would tolerate, he says, a transvestite potter from Essex.
Favourite track: Prophecies by Philip Glass
Book: An art book on Gothic and Renaissance altar pieces
Luxury: Loads of really good pens and paper -
Paul Abbott
11 februari 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the screen writer Paul Abbott. He has written some of the most controversial and successful television programmes of the past decade. Shameless, Clocking Off and State of Play all flowed from his pen and have won him bags of awards. Lees meer
But he was driven to write as a response to the chaotic and traumatic childhood he'd suffered. One of eight children, both parents had left the family home by the time he was 11, leaving his older sister to bring them up. They had a near-feral existence, and lived, says Paul, like rats. At 15 he attempted suicide and ended up in a psychiatric ward. After that, without wanting to or really being aware it was happening, he wrote as a way of letting out the rage he felt inside him.
He was quickly able to turn this writing into short stories, radio plays and film scripts and to sell them. Now he is credited with making television the 'new National Theatre'. But it's not his greatest achievement - he is proudest of his successful marriage to Saskia, his wife of eighteen years, and of their two children.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Town Called Malice by The Jam
Book: Complete Works by Arthur Miller
Luxury: Writing pad and pencils. -
Neil Tennant
4 februari 2007 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the singer and songwriter Neil Tennant. He is best known as one half of The Pet Shop Boys which, over the past 20 years, has been one of Britain's most successful and popular bands, noted for combining dance music with witty lyrics and delivering them in a uniquely English style. As a teenager growing up in Newcastle upon Tyne, he felt himself to be an outsider at school, but found friends in an amateur theatre company. Yet he always felt his life would be different to theirs and used to tell them that he would become a celebrated pop star. Lees meer
But Neil was 30 when he finally left his day job as a writer for Smash Hits magazine to pursue the musical interests that had dominated his life since he was a teenager. By that time, he was anxious that he had missed the boat. Now, as well as continuing to release records with The Pet Shop Boys, he has branched out into other forms of composition, writing a live score for the film Battleship Potemkin, a West End musical and being involved in collaborations with Robbie Williams and the Scissor Sisters, among many others.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs].
-
Brian Aldiss
28 januari 2007 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Brian Aldiss. He is best known for pioneering, alongside JG Ballard, a new wave of British science fiction writing in the 1960s. He says science fiction is not so much a prediction of the future as a metaphor for the human condition; and for him, at least, writing it offered an escape route and a filter through which to view his own extraordinary upbringing. He grew up in a small Norfolk village in a very devout and austere home. While his father was distant, his mother was still suffering from the grief after her first child, a daughter, was still-born. He was the second child and even when he was very small, remembers feeling a strong sense of his mother's disappointment in him. Lees meer
The army finally offered a way out for him and it was on his return to England that he started writing seriously while also working in a bookshop. One of his early works was a short story describing the sadness felt by a boy who was never able to please his parents, which was turned into a film by Stanley Kubrick. While he remains best known for his science fiction writing - and has won every major award in the field - he has also written novels, poetry and biographies and short stories. Now, he says, he aims not for high sales but to become a better and better writer.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Old Rivers (with the Johnny Mann Singers) by Walter Brennan
Book: Biography of John Osborne by John Halpern
Luxury: A banjo -
Ann Daniels
21 januari 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the Polar explorer Ann Daniels. Before she was 30, she hadn't so much as walked with a rucksack and had no experience of navigating with a compass. Then her husband saw a newspaper advert seeking ordinary women to join an all-women relay to the North Pole. Ann was successful and since then she has walked to both Poles, become a Polar guide and now has her sights set on being the first British woman to walk solo to the North Pole - an endeavour she'll attempt for the second time this March. Lees meer
While she is on her expeditions, the life she leaves behind is also far from routine - she is a mother to four children including triplets. She has met some criticism for leaving her children for long periods, but she responds by saying that they are her inspiration - she wants to demonstrate to them how to live life to the full.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) by Eurythmics
Book: The Worst Journey in the World by Apsley Cherry-Garrard
Luxury: A bar of soap -
Edna O'Brien
14 januari 2007 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Edna O'Brien. Described as a 'poet of heartbreak' her lyrical storytelling captures the fragility and pain of the human condition, reflecting the drama of her own life as much as the imagined journeys of her characters. She was born and raised in a small village in County Clare, where the only books in the house were prayer books which sat alongside her father's bloodstock magazines. Her mother thought writing was in essence sinful and tried fiercely to stop her becoming an author. Lees meer
She was living in England when she published her first novel, The Country Girls, in 1960. It was a huge hit and was critically well received - but in Ireland she was decried and her book was burnt in the streets. Although she's lived in London for most of her adult life, she continues to draw on her Irish background for inspiration - she says: "it's in my roots, and when I dream at night it's the place I go".
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Foggy Dew (Sinead O'Connor) by The Chieftains
Book: Ulysses by James Joyce
Luxury: Vault of a very good white wine -
Anthony Horowitz
31 december 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's first castaway of 2007 is the writer Anthony Horowitz. He's a prolific author. His first novel was published when he was 23 and, as well as a series of children's books featuring the 'super spy' Alex Rider, he's also penned a slew of television crime programmes including Murder Most Horrid, Midsomer Murders and Foyle's Law. He first turned to writing when he was at boarding school; he was desperately unhappy and it offered some form of escape. His childhood was peopled by Dickensian figures - although he was brought up in lavish surroundings, his parents were distant and he was brought up by a string of nannies, while he so hated his domineering grandmother that he literally danced on her grave after her death. Lees meer
Perhaps it is unsurprising that his books often deal with the fragility of childhood and the robustness of children. A father now himself, he says he envies his own children their confidence and happiness. He says that he doesn't consider his work great, or even important - but he does like to think it agreeable and surprising.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: She's Always A Woman by Billy Joel
Book: A large French dictionary
Luxury: Fountain pen, ink and paper -
Gloria Hunniford
24 december 2006 · 34 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster Gloria Hunniford. She's one of our most popular interviewers and presenters and for 40 years has been a warm, but always incisive, figure on our radio and television airwaves. She grew up in Northern Ireland and first of all thought her career lay in singing - as a young girl she would spend several evenings each week singing in local church halls. Although she moved in to broadcasting, those early years lay the foundation for the success and gave her a confidence performing in front of a crowd and a genuine interest in people and their lives. Lees meer
She was among the vanguard of women who tried to have it all - to combine motherhood with a fulfilling career. Her eldest daughter, Caron Keating, followed her into the profession and shared Gloria's ready warmth and wit. But Caron was just 41 when she died from breast cancer and Gloria's moving account of her experiences has now touched tens of thousands of people.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Miss You Nights by Cliff Richard
Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Luxury: Family photographs -
Arnold Wesker
17 december 2006 · 38 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the playwright Sir Arnold Wesker. He's a prolific writer and has penned more than 40 plays as well as books of poetry, short stories, children's tales and most recently a novel. But he first came to prominence in the late 1950s as one of the group of Angry Young Men; dramatists who made their art out of the stuff of everyday life. Lees meer
He was the son of Jewish communists and was brought up in the East End of London in the 1930s. He remembers being taken on marches and demonstrations and says that memories of Cable Street, when Oswald Mosley was prevented from marching his blackshirts through predominantly Jewish areas of London, weighed heavily in his home. His background strongly informed his writing and his first five plays were all staged at the Royal Court Theatre. He says that even today, he must write something each day as a way of justifying his existence - even if it is only his daily diary entry.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: The end of Gurrelieder by Arnold Schoenberg
Book: Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
Luxury: Supplies of pen and paper -
Karl Jenkins
10 december 2006 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is Britain's most successful contemporary composer, Karl Jenkins. He is most famous for developing a style that fuses his classical background with his interest in jazz and world music and his albums top the charts around the world. He was brought up in a small Welsh village and, after his mother died, lived with his father, grandmother and widowed aunt. His father taught him the piano when he was a child and in his teens he gravitated towards the oboe and went on to study at the Royal Academy of Music. Lees meer
His first musical career was as a jazz musician - he won first prize at the Montreux Jazz Festival and played venues as diverse as Carnegie Hall and Ronnie Scott's. In the 1980s, he gave up life on the road and started writing advertising music and jingles. More awards followed, but he felt cramped by the nature of the work and wanted to write music that was more expansive. A track which he'd written for a minute long commercial went on to become the corner-stone of his most well-known work, The Adiemus Project.
He's said that it was only then that he realised his niche lay in composing work that was grounded in his classical upbringing but also benefited from his interest in jazz and world music. And, while critics have on occasion sneered at his work, he has collected countless gold and platinum discs and a worldwide audience.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: The Final trio from the third Act of Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss
Book: The Michelin Guide to France by Michelin
Luxury: A piano -
Raymond Gubbay
3 december 2006 · 39 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the music impresario Raymond Gubbay. For 40 years he has brought popular classics and opera to the masses. His name has become synonymous with glittering evenings based on classical favourites with concerts often topped off with lasers, fireworks and light displays. He's worked with everyone from Pavarotti to Ray Charles and, while snooty critics dismiss it as 'middle-brow music for Middle England', it attracts audiences in their droves; two million people have now attended his 'Classical Spectacular' evenings. Lees meer
It's a long way from his early days, when he toured the country with a small troupe of singers and a pianist. Then, venues would pay him 84 guineas to put on a Viennese evening or a Gilbert and Sullivan night and he had to pay the musicians and cover the cost of transport and hotels before he earned a penny. He says he gives people what they want, "tunes they can hum" and more often than not, he gets it right. But in 2004, for once, he misjudged his audience: he wanted to open a third opera house in London offering cheaper seats to a wider audience, but even before the curtain rose for the first time he knew they weren't selling enough tickets to stay open. He says it's been the biggest disappointment of his career, but he doesn't rule out another attempt to bring opera to the West End.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Final movement of Emperor piano concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: Unabridged Collins/Robert/ English /French dictionary
Luxury: An espresso coffee machine with coffee -
Matt Lucas
26 november 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the comedy performer and writer Matt Lucas. As one half of the team that created the hit TV show Little Britain, he's been responsible for dreaming up such characters as Vicky Pollard, the Asbo teenager who swapped her baby for a Westlife CD and Dafydd, the Welsh homosexual who is adamant he's "the only gay in the village". Lees meer
When he was six years old his hair fell out and as a result he acquired a certain local notoriety - from then on it simply never occurred to him that he wouldn't go on to become famous. Just five years ago he was struggling to have his work commissioned and thought of abandoning his career in comedy. Today, he's one of the most popular and recognisable entertainers in Britain.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: These are the Days of Our Lives by Queen
Book: The Deeper Meaning of Liff by Douglas Adams
Luxury: Favourite London restaurant -
Stephen King
19 november 2006 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Stephen King. He's written more than 40 novels, won 23 major awards and sold hundreds of millions of books worldwide. He is best known for his tales of small-town America corrupted by the supernatural and macabre; with novels such as The Shining, Misery, Salem's Lot and Carrie making him a household name. Lees meer
His first success came with Carrie - at the time he was scraping a living as a teacher, living with his young family in a trailer and writing short stories to supplement his income. He threw the first draft of Carrie in the bin and it was his wife Tabitha who fished it out and urged him to finish it. But with success came drug and alcohol abuse - and again it was his wife who intervened and encouraged him to stop. He nearly gave up writing after a road accident in 1999 which nearly killed him. But, to the delight of his legions of fans, he took up his pen again and the stories keep on coming.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Desolation Row by Bob Dylan
Book: Collected poetry by W H Auden
Luxury: Water hammock -
Lord Stevens
17 november 2006 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the former head of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Stevens. Although he was to become known as 'the policeman's policeman', it was not his first career choice - as a child he wanted to be a pilot but was told that his eyesight was not good enough for him to make it his career. Lees meer
His first beat, more than forty years ago, was on Tottenham Court Road in London. He soon moved over to CID and earned the nickname 'Swifty Stevens' for his impressive arrest record. When he took over at the Met in 2000, it had just been branded 'institutionally racist' and the morale and reputation of the force was at rock bottom. He's credited with turning it around and regaining public confidence. Even in his retirement, he's continuing to head two major investigations - one into the circumstances around the death of Diana, Princess of Wales and the second into football bungs.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Reach for the Sky by Central Band of the R.A.F.
Book: Reach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader by Paul Brickhill
Luxury: Cellar of champagne -
Humphrey Lyttelton
5 november 2006 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the veteran jazz musician and radio presenter Humphrey Lyttelton. To Radio 4 listeners, he's best known as Chairman Humph who has spent more than 30 years picking his bewildered way through the innuendo and mayhem of I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. Lees meer
But his first love is jazz - as a child, he was always fascinated by music and when he was a teenager it was Louis Armstrong who inspired him to take up the trumpet. Fittingly, Armstrong went on to hail Humph as 'Britain's top trumpetman'. Now aged 85, Humph is still recording and touring with his band and says that he finds he's kept awake at night by new ideas for music they can play together.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: That's My Home by Louis Armstrong
Book: Collected works by James Thurber
Luxury: A keyboard -
Heston Blumenthal
29 oktober 2006 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the chef Heston Blumenthal. He is one of only three chefs working in Britain today to be awarded three Michelin stars and last year his restaurant, The Fat Duck, was named the best in the world by a panel of 5,000 food experts. Lees meer
His speedy rise to the top of his profession is little short of extraordinary. He has only ever spent a week in a professional kitchen and taught himself classical French cookery. He became fascinated by the science of cooking and has become the Willy Wonka of modern cuisine - dishes he's created include mango and douglas fir puree, salmon poached with liquorice and, most famously, snail porridge. But he acknowledges his success has been largely due too to his wife's support and now wants to change the balance of his life towards spending more time with his young family.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Love has Finally Come at Last by Bobby Womack
Book: On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee
Luxury: Japanese knives -
Camila Batmanghelidjh
22 oktober 2006 · 38 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the children's campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh. Camila Batmanghelidjh has devoted her life to the kind of children most people would cross the street to avoid - youngsters who are often violent, don't go to school and who are unfamiliar with a stable family life. More than a decade ago she took over a run of disused railway arches in South London to set up a centre offering food, advice, education and counselling. Now her outreach projects serve more than 11,000 children each year and, such is her success, she's feted by celebrities and courted by politicians. Lees meer
The product of a wealthy Iranian family herself, she decided early on that her vocation lay in working with children and that this was a task she could not combine with motherhood. Last week she was named Woman of the Year in recognition of her ground-breaking work.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Redemption Song by Bob Marley
Book: Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre
Luxury: A yoyo -
Robert Fisk
15 oktober 2006 · 38 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the journalist Robert Fisk. He is one of our most distinguished foreign correspondents and has spent his life covering conflicts around the world - the past 30 years immersed in the life and politics of the Middle East. He formed his ambition at a young age - he saw Hitchcock's film Foreign Correspondent when he was just 12 years old and was determined to join their ranks. War, too, was a strong influence - his father had fought on the Western Front and was haunted by his experiences. He insisted that young Robert should learn about the war and his first foreign holiday was a tour of the Somme. Lees meer
He has become used to living in a war zone - he has escaped a kidnap attempt, survived an attack by Afghan refugees and risked his life to secure interviews of which other journalists dream. Perhaps his greatest scoop was securing a series of face-to-face interviews with Osama Bin Laden.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Adagio for Strings by Samuel Barber
Book: Le Mort D'Arthur by Thomas Mallory
Luxury: A violin -
Jane Horrocks
8 oktober 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Jane Horrocks. She specialises in unconventional, complex roles - from the eccentric secretary Bubble in the cult sit-com Absolutely Fabulous to a bulimic teenager in Mike Leigh's film Life is Sweet. But the role that brought her the greatest public recognition and critical acclaim was Little Voice. Written especially for her, it told the story of a cripplingly shy girl who only finds liberation and expression when she takes on the voices of musical legends. Jane Horrocks's ability to sing like Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe, among others, was so convincing that the film's credits had to make it clear she had sung every note and not been dubbed by the originals. Lees meer
The film had parallels with Jane's own life - as a shy school-girl, she too had discovered her facility for copying voices and would entertain family and friends with her portrayals of Shirley Bassey and Julie Andrews. She says that as soon as she found her gift she used it to win friends - and knew she had discovered her niche in life.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: I Miss You by Björk
Book: Jamie's Dinners by Jamie Oliver
Luxury: The Essential Family Cookbook -
Quentin Blake
1 oktober 2006 · 37 min
Beluister deze afleveringKirsty Young's first castaway is one of our most popular illustrators, Quentin Blake. His work is immediately recognisable and is full of energy, anarchy and joy. An award-winning author in his own right, he is best known for his long collaboration with the author Roald Dahl. In the same way that it is impossible to think of Alice in Wonderland without imagining Tenniel's solemn drawings, when one imagines Charlie and the Chocolate Factory or James and the Giant Peach it is invariably Quentin Blake's pictures that spring to mind. Lees meer
As a child growing up in the London suburbs he was self-contained, quiet and serious. Family friends remember that he didn't say much - but that he always loved drawing. His cartoons were first published in Punch when he was 16, making him one of its youngest ever contributors, but after graduating from Cambridge and training as a teacher, he decided his future lay not in one-off sketches for magazines, but in book illustration. He was named the first ever Children's Laureate in 1999 and in 2005 was awarded the CBE. He lives in London and continues to work towards the establishment of a museum celebrating the history and techniques of illustration.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: String Quartet No 2 - Intimate Letters by Janácek
Book: Collected Works by Charles Dickens
Luxury: Arches watercolour paper -
Dame Joan Plowright
27 augustus 2006 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringSue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Joan Plowright. Lees meer
Dame Joan Plowright is an actress who has been at the forefront of her profession since she first appeared at the Royal Court Theatre in London half a century ago. In those days she was identified with the new wave, appearing in plays by writers such as Arnold Wesker and John Osborne. She went on to make her name in more established roles - winning Actress Of The Year for her performance as Shaw's 'St Joan'. Through her marriage to Laurence Olivier, she became closely associated with his work at Chichester, and the foundation of the National Theatre. After his death, she added a career on screen to her theatre work. She was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in Enchanted April and her latest film, Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont will be released later this year.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Piano Sonata in C Major- 1st Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: Remembrance of Things Past by Marcel Proust
Luxury: A piano -
A A Gill
20 augustus 2006 · 36 min
Beluister deze afleveringSue Lawley's castaway this week is the critic and columnist A A Gill. His witty, first-person articles have earned him a whole host of awards and a loyal following. But his life as a successful writer was preceded by more than a decade that was spent living in squalid squats, taking drugs and existing in an alcoholic haze. It was the unplanned intervention of a GP that made him face up to his alcoholism and seek treatment. It's now 21 years since he last had a drink and he has been given, he says, the chance to start again and live a second life. Lees meer
He abandoned his early hopes of becoming an artist, for a while he ran cookery courses in his own home and, at the same time, he started writing. Despite suffering from dyslexia so severe that he has to dictate all his columns to copytakers he found his voice immediately - as soon as he began writing his articles, he says, he felt he had come home.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Love Song from Sanders of the River by Paul Robeson
Book: Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn Peake
Luxury: My children's pillows -
Simon Cowell
13 augustus 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringSue Lawley's castaway this week is the television star Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell is one of our most successful pop music moguls. He is the mastermind behind more than 100 number one songs in Britain and abroad and Westlife, whom he signed, holds the record for having seven consecutive number one songs in the UK. A lot of his early successes were gimmicky hits - singing wrestlers, the Power Rangers and Teletubbies - but it was first Robson and Jerome and then Westlife who brought him credibility. His tenacity and his ability to spot a seller were already legendary within the music world when he devised a format for a television show that would bring new talent to the fore. Pop Idol, American Idol and now The X Factor launched the careers of Will Young and Gareth Gates among others. They've made Simon Cowell a celebrity too. His shows play to the aspirations of the young, who believe fame and fortune can be theirs. But when their ambitions exceed their talent, he's there to tell them. He's reduced many contestants to tears and been threatened by others but, he says, he's only being cruel to be kind. Lees meer
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Mack the Knife by Bobby Darin
Book: Hollywood Wives by Jackie Collins
Luxury: A mirror -
Michael Rosen
6 augustus 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringSue Lawley's castaway this week is the author and children's poet Michael Rosen. Since his first book, Mind Your Own Business, was published more than than 30 years ago, he has been credited with revolutionising the way children's poems are written and performed. Words and language have always formed an important part of his life. The son of two teachers, he was born into a London, Jewish family, and brought up in a home full of literature, conversation and debate. His poems often rely on snatches of dialogue and memories from his own childhood and relate his experiences with his own children. Lees meer
His greatest commercial success has been his hugely popular re-telling of the American folk tale We're All Going on a Bear Hunt. More recently he's published a series of memories aimed at adults rather than children. In particular, these attend to the central tragedy of his life, the sudden death of his second son Eddie, when he was 18 years old. His death became a public matter because Eddie had featured so often in Michael's early work and was a well-known character to millions of children.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Black, Brown and White by Big Bill Broonzy
Book: The Complete Poems by Carl Sandburg
Luxury: A didgeridoo belonging to his late son Eddie. -
David Edgar
30 juli 2006 · 35 min
Beluister deze afleveringSue Lawley's castaway this week is a playwright whose work has chronicled Britain's changing political landscape over the past 30 years. David Edgar was brought up in a leafy suburb of Birmingham, but was radicalised during the 1960s and has never looked back. In 1976, he examined the right-wing National Front movement in Destiny, a play for the RSC. It was his first award-winning play and the work of which to date he is the most proud. Lees meer
His interest in theatre goes back to his childhood; his parents both had theatrical connections and his father even turned a garden shed into an elaborate theatre. It was here that as a boy he was to star in plays in which he cast himself in the leading role. Despite the shift of politics to the centre ground, he remains committed to the left-wing cause and to exploring the difference between utopia and reality. He also writes for TV and radio, and his plays are regularly performed on the international as well as the British stage.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Cum Sancto Spiritu - With the Holy Ghost by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: An Evil Cradling by Brian Keenan
Luxury: A piano