Desert Island Discs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Douglas Adams, creator of the anarchic world conjured up by The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, as a child, he found it difficult to communicate with the adult world, and didn't speak until he was four years old. But as his confidence grew, he set his sights on being a nuclear physicist - an ambition later replaced by a burning desire to be John Cleese in Monty Python's Flying Circus. In fact, he has become a hugely-successful author, a passionate amateur naturalist and a rock star manque.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Book: Omnibus of Golfing Stories by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Martin D28 left-handed guitar

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the founder of the Hospice Movement Dame Cicely Saunders. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her schooldays at Roedean, how she trained as a nurse and much later, as a doctor. When she was 29 she fell in love with a young patient dying of cancer, who bequeathed her a legacy of £500. Starting with that bequest, she raised enough money for a new kind of hospice dedicated to care for the dying. There are now 190 similar hospices throughout the country.[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: The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations Luxury: Pen and paper

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the playwright Willy Russell. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the route his career has taken - from hairdressing, via teaching in Toxteth to a living as one of the country's most successful dramatists. He'll also be talking about his play about the Beatles, John, Paul, George, Ringo & Bert, which, 20 years ago, transferred to the West End and became a huge hit and how, since then, Educating Rita, Shirley Valentine and Blood Brothers have all brought him success and acclaim.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Get Along Without You Very Well by Hoagy Carmichael Book: A Latin Primer Luxury: English meadow with an oak tree

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the internationally-acclaimed composer Sir Harrison Birtwistle. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood in Lancashire, the solitude he craves when he writes his music and how he copes with the difficulties audiences encounter with some of his compositions. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sherry by Frankie Valli Book: A Latin Primer Luxury: Chainsaw

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Ian Hislop. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the seven turbulent years of his editorship of Private Eye, as well as his early attempts at stand-up comedy before he became somewhat more successful at sit-down comedy as team captain of BBC TV's Have I Got News For You?[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Marriage Of Figaro Se Vuol Ballare, Signor Contino by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Civilisation by Kenneth Clarke Luxury: Frosties

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Dr Oliver Sacks. Now a distinguished Professor of Neurology, he was immortalised by Robin Williams in the film Awakenings. Inspired by Dr Sacks' book of the same name, it tells the story of the summer of 1969, when the catatonic patients he was treating at the time responded to an apparent miracle drug and came alive. He'll be talking about the excitements and disappointments of that summer and also about some of the 100s of extraordinary case histories which have formed the basis of his many other books. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Chu Chin Chow Here Be Oysters by Martin Lawrence Book: Dictionary of Musical Themes Luxury: Scuba diving kit

Twenty-six years ago, the then Labour MP Jack Ashley entered a world of silence - a minor operation on his ears went disastrously wrong and he lost his hearing completely. But, thanks to a complex operation, Jack Ashley, now Lord Ashley, can hear the voices of his grandchildren for the first time.In Desert Island Discs this week he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the struggles of his early poverty-stricken years, the misery of losing his hearing, and the dogged determination which has earned him the reputation as one of Britain's best-known and best-loved campaigners for the disabled and disadvantaged. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Messiah: Hallelujah Chorus by George Frideric Handel Book: A Book About Warfare Luxury: Smoked salmon and wine

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the rock star Phil Collins. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his rise to fame as the lead singer of the group Genesis and his subsequent transition to a dazzling solo career. As someone who has sold over 35 million records worldwide, his success has brought him riches, and, apparently, happiness. He'll be discussing how the Mr Nice Guy of the rock world manages money, marriage and making music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Helpless Heart by Paul Brady Book: Prehistory of the Far Side by Gary Larson Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is proud to describe himself as a playboy - he is Taki Theodoracopulos - the millionaire journalist who pens the Spectator's High Life column every week. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood in Greece, where his father was a self-made shipping magnate, his subsequent life of tennis and nightclubs with the international jet-set and the abrupt end to this existence when he spent two months in Pentonville Prison after being found in possession of cocaine at Heathrow Airport.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Lilli Marlene by German Soldiers Book: Essential Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway Luxury: Boxing punchbag

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week has been described by some critics as Britain's greatest living writer. Doris Lessing will be talking to Sue Lawley about her early life in Southern Rhodesia, from where she was eventually exiled because of what the authorities called her 'subversive activities'.She'll also be describing the bleak London where she arrived in 1950, clutching her small son, with 40 pounds in her pocket and the manuscript of her first novel, The Grass is Singing.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Tea For Two by Louis Armstrong & The All Stars Book: A Thousand and One Nights Luxury: Magic carpet