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
Nov 10, 1979 • 29min
Marti Caine
Roy Plomley's castaway is actress and musician Marti Caine.Favourite track: Coming Home by Marshall Hain
Book: Glory Road by Robert Heinlein
Luxury: Bath with solar-heated water and bubble bath
Nov 3, 1979 • 31min
Sian Phillips
Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Sian Phillips.Favourite track: Summer by Alexander Glazunov
Book: Scouting For Boys by Robert Baden-Powell
Luxury: Solar-powered refrigerator full of champagne
Oct 27, 1979 • 33min
Roald Dahl
Roy Plomley's castaway is children's writer Roald Dahl.Favourite track: Agnus Dei by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: The New Oxford Book of English Verse by Helen Gardner
Luxury: Still, grapevine cuttings and tobacco seeds
Oct 20, 1979 • 31min
Rex Harrison
Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Rex Harrison.Favourite track: A Lull At Dawn by Barney Bigard and his Orchestra
Book: A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell
Luxury: Painting equipment for oils and watercolours
Oct 13, 1979 • 32min
Josephine Barstow
Roy Plomley's castaway is soprano Josephine Barstow.Favourite track: Symphony No 9 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy and Jude the Obscure by Thomas Hardy
Luxury: Michelangelo's David
Oct 6, 1979 • 33min
Wilfred Thesiger
Roy Plomley's castaway is explorer Wilfred Thesiger.Favourite track: Pie Jesu by Gabriel Fauré
Book: The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon
Luxury: Supply of acid drops
Sep 29, 1979 • 29min
Pam Ayres
Roy Plomley's castaway is poet and broadcaster Pam Ayres.Favourite track: The New St George by John & Chris Leslie
Book: The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth
Luxury: Large basket of sugared almonds
Sep 22, 1979 • 24min
Ted Allbeury
Roy Plomley's castaway is thriller writer Ted Allbeury.Favourite track: Love Is The Sweetest Thing by Al Bowlly, Ray Noble and his Orchestra
Book: The Unquiet Grave by Cyril Connolly
Luxury: Writing paper and pencils
Sep 15, 1979 • 25min
Richard Buckle
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer and critic Richard Buckle.Favourite track: Piano Quintet In A Major by Franz Schubert
Book: Tess of the D'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
Luxury: Paper and pencils
Sep 11, 1979 • 29min
June Mendoza
Roy Plomley's castaway is portrait painter June Mendoza.Favourite track: Spring Symphony by Benjamin Britten
Book: The Penguin Chronology of the Modern World by Neville Williams
Luxury: Canvases, brushes and paint
