Desert Island Discs

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's leading and most controversial architects Richard Rogers. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about two of his most celebrated designs - the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds Building in London - and describing how his passion for the new and the innovative has brought him into disagreement with many critics, including Prince Charles, with whom he shares a passionate concern for the quality of our built environment.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto No 24 Second Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Odyssey by Homer Luxury: His wife, Ruth, but if this is disallowed then a painting

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is scientist Professor Sir George Porter. Currently President of the Royal Society, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his route from the local school - a tin shack called the Tin Lizzie, in the mining village in which he was born - to Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 1967, and discussing the parlous state of science and science teaching in the 1990s.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Non-Equilibrium Thermo Dynamics by Prigogine Luxury: Computer, paper and pen

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Sir Ian Trethowan. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his days as a copy boy earning 27/6d on the Daily Sketch, his early journalistic career, his transition from television presenter to manager of BBC Radio, and some of the dramas and crises which characterised his days as Director-General of the BBC. A lifelong opera lover, he'll also be choosing eight records for his island idyll.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Der Rosenkavalier (Hab Mirs Gelobt) Final Act by Richard Strauss Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is, by his own account, very difficult to classify - his talents span comedy, writing, acting and improvisation. He has appeared in the television adaption of Porterhouse Blue and can be heard on Spitting Image as the voice of Norman Tebbitt and Lord Olivier. He has also appeared in the West End as Napoleon, as well as playing nearly forty supporting roles. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his meteoric rise to fame since he abandoned the academic world just eight years ago.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 2 -The End by Gustav Mahler Book: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Luxury: A 78rpm record of The Laughing Policeman (to smash on the rocks)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist John Pilger. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his arrival in this country from Australia 28 years ago, and how he went on to become one of the best-known and often most contentious foreign correspondents on the Daily Mirror during the 1960s. His reporting of events from all over the world, but most notably Cambodia, has brought him fame and admiration, as well as criticism and controversy for his campaigning style. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about these issues.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Blue Moon Of Kentucky by Elvis Presley Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Typewriter

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American conductor and virtuoso Michael Tilson Thomas. As well as being an internationally recognised musician, his passion for music and his desire to bring his own enthusiasm to as wide an audience as possible have made him something of a television star in America. In this country, he has been principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly two years, and has been called the most exciting American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi Book: Collected Poems by Raine Maria Rilke Luxury: Yamaha computerised concert grand piano

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Sarah Miles. Discovered at the tender age of 18 by Sir Laurence Olivier, and picked by him to play opposite him in Term of Trial, she went on to entertain and entrance in films like The Servant, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and, perhaps most famously, Ryan's Daughter. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her professional and private life - both of which have been characterised by a fair degree of turmoil and turbulence.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Negro Spiritual by Miles Book: I Ching Luxury: Word processor

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a publisher; a man who came to this country 52 years ago with a 16/6d postal order in his pocket and very poor English. Over half a century later, he is a cultured and successful businessman, renowned for his glittering parties and wide circle of eminent friends, many of whom write books for him. He is Lord Weidenfeld, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his rise from being an impoverished immigrant, to becoming one of Britain's leading intellectual and social figures.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don Giovanni - The Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Luxury: Armchair with coffee machine & rescue signal

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Robin Day. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about going with his father to hear Churchill speak at a political rally when he was a boy, recalling his days at post-war Oxford, the early days at ITN and his long association with politicians in front of the microphone.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Drinking Song by Giuseppe Verdi Book: The Oxford Book of English Verse Luxury: Magnums of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. For over 20 years the guru of pop fans, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life at public school, his work as a DJ in the States in the early 1960s, his family, his passion for Liverpool Football Club and, of course, his lifelong passion for pop music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Teenage Kicks by The Undertones Book: Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell Luxury: Football