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 19, 1980 • 30min
Dizzy Gillespie
Roy Plomley's castaway is jazz trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie.Favourite track: Parker's Mood by Charlie Parker All Stars
Book: Baha'i Prayer Book
Luxury: Trumpet
Jan 12, 1980 • 34min
Sir Peter Parker
Roy Plomley's castaway is chairman of British Rail Sir Peter Parker.Favourite track: Oboe Quartet in F Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: The collected works by William Blake
Luxury: Gold rail pass
Jan 5, 1980 • 28min
Reginald Goodall
Roy Plomley's castaway is conductor Reginald Goodall.Favourite track: Prelude and Fugue No.1 in C by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Paradise Lost by John Milton
Luxury: An English garden
Dec 29, 1979 • 30min
Kyung-Wha Chung
Roy Plomley's castaway is violinist Kyung-Wha Chung.Favourite track: Cello Suite No. 5 In C Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Luxury: Mixed flower seeds
Dec 22, 1979 • 32min
Sir Osbert Lancaster
Roy Plomley's castaway is cartoonist Sir Osbert Lancaster.Favourite track: Ein' Feste Burg Ist Unser Gott by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Luxury: Live sturgeon
Dec 15, 1979 • 32min
Norman Mailer
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer Norman Mailer.Favourite track: Symphony No. 3 in E Flat Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges
Luxury: Stick of the best marijuana
Dec 8, 1979 • 32min
Elisabeth Soderstrom
Roy Plomley's castaway is soprano Elisabeth Soderstrom.Favourite track: The Age Of Gold by Dmitri Shostakovich
Book: The Second Sex by Simone de Beauvoir
Luxury: Bed
Dec 1, 1979 • 32min
Charles Causley
Roy Plomley's castaway is poet Charles Causley.Favourite track: The Play Of Daniel Overture by Ensemble Hortus Musicus
Book: Life of Johnson by James Boswell
Luxury: Piano
Nov 24, 1979 • 33min
Peter Shaffer
Roy Plomley's castaway is playwright Peter Shaffer.Favourite track: Piano Concerto No. 9 In E Flat by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Luxury: Claude Monet, Dawn on the Seine
Nov 17, 1979 • 31min
Michael Palin
Roy Plomley's castaway is actor and writer Michael Palin.Favourite track: Nimrod by Edward Elgar
Book: Vanity Fair by William Makepeace Thackeray
Luxury: Bed
