Desert Island Discs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the most important figures in British industry today - the Director-General of the CBI John Banham. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his impressive and varied career, his passion for sailing and how he very nearly lost his life during the Fastnet Race of 1979.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sanctus by Gabriel Fauré Book: The collected works by A E Houseman Luxury: Cigars and matches

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Bernice Rubens. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood with musically-gifted brothers and sister, and how, despite having written 17 novels - one of them won the Booker prize, another was also shortlisted - she still sees herself as merely a successful novelist who failed to become a musician.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet C Major Second Movement by Franz Schubert Book: Poems For Joy & Sermons For Solace by John Donne Luxury: Daughter's painting

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the architect Maxwell Hutchinson. Unafraid of controversy, he attacked Prince Charles' criticisms of contemporary architecture - a move which secured him presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his love of tower blocks and requiem masses, of 17th-century cottages and his desire to write a number one hit.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: First Symphony In A Flat Minor Slow Movement by Edward Elgar Book: The Four Quartets by T S Eliot Luxury: Guitar

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is playwright Alan Bleasdale. Often controversial, and always funny, Bleasdale's work focuses on life in Liverpool, a city he loves and whose characters people his most famous plays - Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his intense love of family, his work and, as a self-confessed hypochondriac, he will be revealing some of his fears.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Shelter From The Storm by Bob Dylan Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Nail clippers

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the lawyer and politician Lord Shawcross. As Attorney General in the Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for leading the British prosecution case at the war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the atmosphere in that courtroom, his reasons for leaving the Labour Party and his unconventional upbringing. Now 89 years old, he'll also be recalling the days when he was known as 'handsome Hartley Shawcross', the best-looking man in public life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Some Enchanted Evening by Ezio Pinza Book: They Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope Luxury: CD player / solar battery-powered radio

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Ron Todd - leader of Britain's largest trade union, the Transport and General Workers' Union. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood as the son of a Walthamstow street-market trader, his rejection of Catholicism and conversion to socialism and about how he feels about the modern Labour Party and the role of trade unions in the 1990s.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Black And White Rag by Emmy Todd Book: The collected works by Robert Burns Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is responsible for many of the images which grace our television screens and billboards. He is advertising man John Hegarty, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about some of the slogans and scenarios he has created - from Vorsprung durch Technik to the Levi's advertisement which features the hero removing his trousers in a laundrette.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Stand By Me by John Lennon Book: The Crock of Gold by James Stephens Luxury: Clarinet

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist and critic A S Byatt. Winner of the 1990 Booker prize for her novel 'Possession' - the story of a clandestine romance between two Victorian poets - she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the isolation of her school days as a highly academic child, the release of university life at Cambridge and her subsequent life at the forefront of the British literary world.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jetzt Fand Ich's by Richard Wagner Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Alternative to Bible: King James Bible Luxury: Large filing cabinet full of A4 paper & pens

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is poet and playwright Derek Walcott. Recent winner of the WH Smith award, and described by his admirers as one of the greatest contemporary exponents of the English language, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life in St Lucia - a place he frequently returns to, when not at his post of Professor of Poetry at Boston University.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Carton of cigarettes

Marco Pierre White, known as the 'enfant terrible' of the restaurant world, shares his journey from a Leeds council estate to earning two Michelin stars. He discusses his emphasis on respect in customer interactions, strict standards in the kitchen, and the transformative experiences that shaped his culinary passion and unorthodox style.