Desert Island Discs
BBC Radio 4
Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 1, 1983 • 41min
Rachel Billington
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer Rachel Billington.Favourite track: Symphony No. 2 in E Minor by Sergei Rachmaninov
Book: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
Luxury: Writing materials
Dec 25, 1982 • 35min
Mary Ellis
Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Mary Ellis.Favourite track: Gloria by Ariel Ramirez
Book: Encyclopaedia
Luxury: Writing materials
Dec 18, 1982 • 36min
Gyorgy Ligeti
Roy Plomley's castaway is composer Gyorgy Ligeti.Favourite track: String Quintet In C by Franz Schubert
Book: Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
Luxury: Hieronymus Bosch, Garden Of Earthly Delights
Dec 4, 1982 • 34min
Alan Price
Roy Plomley's castaway is musician Alan Price.Favourite track: I Ain't Got Nobody by Louis Prima
Book: The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame
Luxury: Piano
Nov 27, 1982 • 35min
Helen Mirren
Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Helen Mirren.Favourite track: Pass The Dutchie by Musical Youth
Book: The Bhagavad-Gita
Luxury: Silk underwear
Nov 20, 1982 • 32min
P D James
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer P D James.Favourite track: St Matthew Passion (First Chorus) by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot
Luxury: Claret
Nov 13, 1982 • 29min
Rosamond Lehmann
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer Rosamond Lehmann.Favourite track: Nunc Dimittis by Burgon
Book: Letters by Marquise de Sevigne
Luxury: Writing Materials
Nov 6, 1982 • 34min
Thomas Allen
Roy Plomley's castaway is baritone Thomas Allen.Favourite track: Concerto in C For Violin, Cello, Piano by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
Luxury: Golf clubs and balls
Oct 30, 1982 • 37min
Rt Hon. George Thomas
Lord Tonypandy, George Thomas, now Chairman of the National Children's Homes, was Speaker of the House of Commons from 1976 to 1983. He was invited to choose the eight records he would take to the mythical island, and he also talked to Roy Plomley about his childhood in Wales and about his parliamentary career which he began when he won the Cardiff Central seat in 1945.Book: The Methodist hymn book
Luxury: Writing materials
Oct 23, 1982 • 35min
Mike Harding
Roy Plomley's castaway is comedian Mike Harding.Favourite track: 2000-Year-Old Man by Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks
Book: The New Oxford Book of English Verse
Luxury: Ordnance Survey maps and a set of books about the Fells
