Desert Island Discs

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the television script writer Lucy Gannon. Her life informs much of her work. When she created Soldier Soldier she used her experience of the military police. In The Gift she drew on her grief when her mother died. And Trip Trap reflected the violence of her first marriage. She started writing by chance when she entered a competition and won first prize - writer in residence at the RSC.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Best by Tina Turner Book: The Faber Book of Reportage by John Carey Luxury: Jaguar XK8

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the stage designer Ralph Koltai. He says his work is not about art, but about ideas. His stage sets are a metaphor for the whole play. Thus he thrilled Ken Russell by building him four stages each resembling different parts of a woman's body. His aim? To represent the degradation of women in the 18th century.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Max Bruch Book: French dictionary Luxury: Cigars

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the Australian poet Les Murray. He began writing when he realised that poetry didn't have to be about daffodils in a far off English field but could reflect the world around him; from the sheep and cows on the family farm, to the wallabies in the outback. His most powerful subject though, is his own depression which has dogged him for more than 50 years. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: La Valse a Mille Temps by Jacques Brel Book: Blank, lined book Luxury: Marble four-poster bed

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the explorer David Hempleman Adams. This year he completed the Adventurer's Grand Slam. It took 18 years. When he reached the North Pole this April he had conquered the four main poles, and climbed the highest peaks in each of the seven continents. He was quite literally on top of the world.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Manha de Carnaval by Stan Getz Book: Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach Luxury: Saxophone

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the political cartoonist Ralph Steadman. His career was launched in 1961 with a five-pound cheque from the satirical magazine Private Eye. Later he collaborated with Hunter S Thompson and illustrated his Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas. More recently he's begun to write and illustrate his own books - on Freud, Leonardo da Vinci and God.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Wish You Were Here by Theo Steadman Book: (The New) La Rousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology Luxury: Chisels

Sue Lawley's castaway this morning is the singer-songwriter Chris de Burgh. Best known for his ballad Lady in Red, he began his career playing to guests in the crumbling Irish castle which his family ran as a hotel. He chooses eight records to take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Kyrie from the Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez Book: Moonfleet by J Meade Falkner Luxury: Snorkel

Sue Lawley's castaway is the playwright Howard Brenton. In the 1960s he was part of a movement called the New Jacobeans. They took drama out of the drawing room and on to a bigger stage. Often controversial, in Romans in Britain he drew parallels with Northern Ireland and earned the wrath of Mary Whitehouse for what she described as "procuring the cast to commit immoral acts".[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Weichet nur, Betrube Schatten, from the Wedding Cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Luxury: Champagne

Sue Lawley's castaway is Home Secretary Jack Straw.Favourite track: Soave Sia il Vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Franco Prussian War - the German Invasion of France 1870-1871 by Michael Howard Luxury: Saxophone

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer Sybille Bedford. Born the daughter of a German baron in 1911, her childhood brought her into contact with the great literary figures of her age - Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf and T S Eliot. She has received critical acclaim as a novelist, journalist and law reporter, covering the Lady Chatterley trial, the Auschwitz trial and the trial of Jack Ruby.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Slow Movement of 'Double' Violin Concerto in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A La Recherche de Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: A French restaurant in full working order

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the playwright Jack Rosenthal. Bar Mitzvah Boy, and The Evacuees are among his many successes. His work often reflects his own life. He poured the grief he felt when his children left home into Eskimo Day, and touched a raw nerve with many parents who felt they had been left behind.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Max Bruch Book: Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce Luxury: Clay for making sculpture