Desert Island Discs

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Frank Cottrell Boyce.His film credits include Hilary and Jackie, Welcome to Sarajevo and 24 Hour Party People. He's also written TV soaps, radio and stage plays and children's novels. These days children are his main audience and, as a father of seven himself, he should know what they want. He not only tests his ideas on them, but they keep him focused: 'I need them in the house to make sure I'm not watching telly, or having a four-hour bath - the fact that they're there makes me work.'Record: Miserere by Allegri Book: The Voyage of the Beagle by Charles Darwin Luxury: A ferris wheel.

Kirsty Young's castaway is entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.He made his name appearing on the TV show Dragons' Den as a no-nonsense investor with an eye for the bottom line. He made his fortune in nursing homes, health clubs and hotels. Quite something, given that aged 30 he was a deck chair attendant who had been thrown out of the Royal Navy for attempting to throw his commanding officer overboard. He says, 'When you've got a criminal record, no qualifications, no references, the best option is starting your own business - because no one can stop you.'Record: Love Changes Everything Book: The Pillars of the Earth, Ken Follet Luxury: A pillow.

Kirsty Young's castaway is space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock.She has, she says, a special relationship with the moon, one that started when she first saw The Clangers as a small child. As a teenager she made her own telescope so she could study the moon more closely. Now she makes highly technical optical equipment for satellites, but says she still harbours desires to go into space - her dream job is building a telescope on the moon. She says: 'From the age of three, I wanted to get into space and I still do. It's been the driving force of my life really, that desire to get out there one day.'Record: As by Stevie Wonder Book: Star Maker by Olaf Stapledon Luxury: A telescope.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward.He took England to World Cup glory in 2003, becoming the first ever northern hemisphere side to win the trophy. He well understands the pressure and the glory of top-flight sport, which is just as well, as he's now Director of Elite Performance for Team GB's 2012 Olympic effort. He says, 'It is the coach's job to refuse to compromise. If you do, you will come second'.Record: Take That, Greatest Day Book: Dave Pelz, Short Game of Golf Luxury: Sand wedge and golf ball.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili.He's spent his adult life studying sub-atomic particles - and trying to explain them to the rest of us. He fell in love with physics when he was a teenager growing up in Iraq. With an Iraqi father and English mother, the Baghdad he spent his early years in was cosmopolitan and vibrant but, once Saddam Hussein came to power, his parents realised the family would have to flee, and he has lived and worked in Britain for the past 30 years.Record: She's Not There by Santana Book: The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose Luxury: Acoustic guitar.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the stylist Gok Wan.Dispensing fashion advice and hugs in equal measure, he aims, he says, to 'make women feel like women, not like turkeys'.Yet although he made his name as a stylist, his special talent isn't for fashion, but for gaining people's trust. He understands only too well the emotional journey he is asking women to make; the first person he had to transform was himself, and that, he says, is very much work in progress.Record: The Promise Book: Beautiful Thing by Jonathan Harvey Luxury: Lip balm.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the classicist Mary Beard. A professor at Cambridge, she's that rare thing: a university academic who writes for the masses. Her popular books, blog, articles and reviews have led to her being called 'Britain's best-known classicist'. But while her research is steeped in the ancient world, her commentary is all about the here and now. The classical world speaks to us, she says, and makes us see our own world differently.Record: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue - Bob Dylan Book: Treasures of the British Museum - Marjorie Caygill Luxury: The Elgin Marbles.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the boxing promoter Frank Warren.He has managed and promoted some of the biggest names in the sport, including Joe Calzaghe, Prince Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton and the Olympic medal winner Amir Khan. Over the past three decades he has lost fortunes and remade them, survived an assassination attempt and even a run-in with Mike Tyson. Boxing has been good to him, he says, but now he says he wants to find something that will nourish his soul too.Record: Don't Worry 'Bout Me, Billie Holiday Book: Treasure Island, Robert Louis Stevenson Luxury: Merlot grapevine.

Kirsty Young's castaway is American crime writer James Ellroy.His books have been translated into 30 languages and, according to the New York Times, he is the author of some of the most powerful crime novels ever written. But the case that has dominated his life and much of his writing was the murder of his mother when he was just ten years old. In the years since, he has tried to find a way of getting to know and understand her.Record: Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 29 'Hammerklavier', Op. 106 Book: Libra by Don DeLillo Luxury: Sun block.

Kirsty Young's castaway is Mary Portas. She's made an art-form out of turning heads, and her galleries have been the enormous plate-glass windows of Harrods, Topshop and Harvey Nichols. These days she brings retail therapy to small traders, helping them to hold their own against the high street's big names.Record: Casta Diva from Norma Book: The works of Rumi, Persian poet and philosopher Luxury: 'A set of different fragrances from the people I love'.