Desert Island Discs

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. She has recently stepped down as Britain's top spy-master - or more correctly, the Director-General of MI5. She took the helm in the months after the attacks of 11th September 2001 in America and steered the service through a time when the nature of the terrorist threat facing Britain changed enormously and new measures were introduced to counteract it.She concedes that MI5 has to rely, in large part, on information that is 'patchy and incomplete' and that ultimately the service will always be judged 'by what we do not know and did not prevent'. In her first ever interview, Dame Eliza talks gives her recollections about the day when Britain was targeted by suicide bombers, describes what lay behind her own departure from the service and reveals how her mother's role during World War II fuelled her own interest in public service.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: The opening of String Quintet in C by Franz Schubert Book: The Rattlebag: An Anthology of Poetry by Ted Hughes Luxury: Large supply of pencils and pens.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Jung Chang. Jung was born in the years after Mao came to power in China and as a child she took part in the Great Leap Forwards by collecting saucepans and nails and trying to melt them down for steel. She was a teenager during the Cultural Revolution and witnessed her parents being denounced and sent to labour camps. After Mao's death she came to Britain as a student. At the time, she says, she didn't want to think about the past - it used to give her nightmares and so she would pretend she was from Korea. But 10 years after her arrival in Britain, her mother came to visit. She told Jung the stories of her and her grandmother's lives and Jung decided their intimate, family history deserved to have a wider audience. Her book, Wild Swans, has sold more than 12 million copies and won a host of awards. Investigating her own life and those of her mother and grandmother not only brought the suffering of a nation into sharp focus it was also a liberating experience - once the book was finished, she says, the nightmares stopped.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: But Thou Didst Not leave His Soul in Hell by George Frideric Handel Book: First Love by Ivan Turgenev Luxury: Snorkelling gear.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Nicholas Parsons. Actor, quizmaster, cabaret performer, straight man, panel show host and fully-qualified marine mechanical engineer to boot; spanning more than 60 years his professional credits defy classification and flout convention. Yet it's not just the duration of his showbiz career that's exceptional but the fact that he made it on stage at all. From well-to-do parents, his family had a "neurotic dread of the dissolute thespian life" and did their utmost to thwart his budding ambition. Sickly, dyslexic and with an intermittent stutter he wasn't an obvious star in the making, but as he himself puts it - "The joy of performing is that you overcome the insecurity of your nature and are reassured by the reaction of the audience". Nicholas Parsons reflects on his role as the comic straight man over the years, firstly for Arthur Haynes in the 1950s and 1960s, and then as the consummate host of the long-running radio quiz Just a Minute. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Children Will Listen by Barbra Streisand Book: Oxford Anthology of English Poetry by John Wain Luxury: Portable radio with an endless supply of batteries.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Joel Joffe. For many years he was the chairman of Oxfam, before that he set up a hugely successful insurance company and most recently he's been campaigning for terminally ill people to have the right to die. But the career in which he has had the greatest impact is the one he was forced to give up more than 40 years ago - law.In 1963, Joel Joffe was a young defence solicitor, so dismayed by the apartheid system of his native South Africa that he was on the brink of emigrating. Then he was asked to take over the defence of a group of ANC activists including Walter Sisulu, Govan Mbeki and Nelson Mandela. The trial gripped the world and was all the more extraordinary because, far from aiming to secure his clients' freedom, Joel Joffe was simply fighting for them not to receive the death penalty. He tells Kirsty how, even in his prison clothes, Nelson Mandela was a figure of calm authority, who guided them through the trial.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Under Milk Wood by Richard Burton Book: A Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela Luxury: Wind-up radio.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is an entertainer so central to British popular culture he can be identified by the outline of his glasses alone - Ronnie Corbett. For more than 50 years, from late night reviews to prime-time sit-coms, his comic talents have made us laugh and made us love him; a nattily turned out national treasure with a quick wit and a ready smile. His success is due, of course, to his own ability but also to two enduring and remarkable partnerships. Along with Ronnie Barker, he formed one of the great TV duos of all time whilst his 40-year marriage to his wife Ann saw her abandon her flourishing entertainment career to sustain him through the vicissitudes of fame and family life. Ronnie Corbett looks back over his life and career, from his days in review at Danny La Rue's club to his last ever programme with Ronnie Barker - a moment that brought them both to tears.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Music Maestro Please by Ann Hart Book: Untold Stories by Alan Bennett Luxury: A hammock.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Jill Balcon. She has the voice of an old friend - and it's not surprising, she was a BBC radio announcer during the war and has been acting and performing poetry consistently since. Poetry has always played a central role in her life. She was only 12 years old when she first saw the poet Cecil Day Lewis. He had come to judge a poetry-reading competition at her school and although he was more than 20 years her senior, he was, she says, the most beautiful man she had ever seen.They were married for more than 20 years. Since his death in 1972, she has maintained her own acting career, continued raising their children - the acclaimed cookery writer Tamasin and Oscar-winning actor Daniel - and also worked hard to preserve his legacy.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Romanza: the 3rd movement of Symphony No 5 in D Major by Vaughan Williams Book: The collected works by Thomas Hardy Luxury: A barrel of Guerlain Jicky perfume.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson. He has the task of managing one of the most challenging briefs of government - and the stakes are raised further because, when there is an election, the Prime Minister Gordon Brown has made it clear that the main battleground will be health.Johnson says that unlike many politicians, he is not a keen strategist who has spent his life plotting his career, instead he has simply 'drifted along', taking whatever challenges fate offered. He has drifted on quite an incredible journey - raised among the deprivation and squalor of London in the 1950s, he was orphaned when he was 12 and brought up by his sister. He left school without an O-level but with ambitions to join the music industry. Instead, after a spell stacking supermarket shelves, he became a postman and by the time he was 20 he was married with three children. He rose through the trade union movement where his astute negotiating skills and political acumen brought him to Tony Blair's attention. According to those who know him best, however, his political ambitions are limited - his children say he would still rather be the lead singer in a band than Prime Minister.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: And Your Bird Can Sing by The Beatles Book: Diaries by Samuel Pepys Luxury: Digital radio.

In a heartfelt conversation, George Michael, the iconic singer-songwriter and Wham! alum, shares candid insights about his tumultuous life, including the impact of fame and personal struggles. He reflects on his experiences with grief and identity, revealing how bereavement inspired his music. George discusses the burden of secrecy around his sexuality, expressing relief after coming out. He also pays tribute to Amy Winehouse, shares the joy of music creation, and contemplates what brings him peace after years of turmoil.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Described as the most active and influential conductor in Britain today, he has been the musical director at Glyndebourne for the past six years, and this autumn takes over as Principal Conductor of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Vladimir's roots however lie in Russia, where he was one of the last generation to experience the Communist regime. The two-room apartment in Moscow that he shared with his parents, siblings and grandmothers, was always full of music; his father was a conductor. He says he "grew up in the wings of the theatre", and he knew from a very early age that his life too would be dedicated to music. However, he resisted following in his father's footsteps until he was seventeen, when he heard Mahler's music for the first time. After that, he says, there was no turning back. He changed as a person, physically he says, when he picked up the baton, and went on to make his conducting debut at the tender age of 23. He has been constantly in demand around the world ever since, but manages to combine this international career with being a husband and father.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Variations 29 & 30 by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Complete Works by Aleksandr Pushkin Luxury: A piano.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the publisher Felix Dennis. He blossomed among the flower power generation, finding fame as one of the defendants in the notorious Oz Magazine obscenity trial in 1971. It fired his loathing of the establishment but instead of dropping out he opted in and beat them at their own game. For the past 30 years his talent has been spotting a niche in the magazine market and launching a title to fill it - his success has made him one of the richest men in Britain.For many years his life was one of addiction and excess - but latterly the only thing he feels compelled to do each day is write poetry and he's become one of a very rare breed - a best-selling poet.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: One Too Many Mornings by Bob Dylan Book: The Dictionary of National Biography Luxury: A very long stainless steel shaft to encourage pole-dancing mermaids!