Desert Island Discs

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Imelda Staunton. Imelda Staunton is one of the UK's most versatile and popular actresses. Through a career spanning nearly 30 years she has consistently refused to be typecast, moving effortlessly from playing brassy Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls, to the oppressed Sonya in Uncle Vanya, to a grieving mother in Peter's Friends. Her most recent film role was in Mike Leigh's production Vera Drake - she played the eponymous heroine, a 1950s housewife who unbeknownst to her family carried out illegal abortions. She won huge acclaim for her performance, including an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA award for Best Actress. Imelda Staunton was born in Archway, London, in 1956. Her mother Bridie was a hairdresser, and the family lived over her shop, whilst Imelda's father worked on the roads. It was an elocution and drama teacher at her school, Jacqueline Stoker, who encouraged her talent, adapting plays for her and putting her in for school drama competitions. She also encouraged Imelda to apply for drama school. At the time, Imelda had never heard of RADA - but she was offered a place there and studied alongside Alan Rickman, Juliet Stevenson and Timothy Spall. Imelda Staunton lives with her husband, the actor Jim Carter, and their daughter, in London. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: I'll Know by Julie Covington & Ian Charleson Book: A book on astronomy Luxury: Modelling clay and tools

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the novelist Josephine Cox. Josephine Cox is one of Britain's most popular authors. She became an overnight publishing sensation at the relatively late age of 43 and has written 34 books which have sold 15 million copies worldwide. Now, her publishers print 'bestseller' on the cover of each new work, they're so confident of its success. But it was by no means a straightforward route to fame and fortune. She was born in Blackburn during World War II and grew up in dire poverty. As a child, she used to charge her school friends a penny for her to tell them a story, she and her siblings slept six to a bed, and they used to drink water out of jam-jars. One of her teachers recognised her talents and prophesied her future success as a writer. But it was only decades later when, convalescing after an illness, she had the time to pick up a pen and write. Her first book was accepted immediately and she has been writing two books a year ever since. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Imagine by John Lennon Book: "A book which is in my head about my brother" Luxury: Photo album of my family

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the journalist Katharine Whitehorn. Katharine Whitehorn was the first journalist to write a column about her personal and domestic life and draw broader truths from her experiences - it's the kind of material that is now commonly found on women's pages and is satirised in Private Eye's Polly Filler - but in the 1950s and 1960s it was a new phenomenon and she was its brightest and wittiest exponent. She came to journalism through a circuitous route that took in Picture Post, Woman's Own and The Spectator, but it was on the Observer - where she worked for more than 30 years - that she really made her mark. She was at the vanguard of a generation of women who were told they could 'have it all' and she may even be the only one to have managed it - a successful, well-paid career, a happy marriage and complete family. While at the Picture Post she met Gavin Lyall - who went on to become a successful novelist - they had two sons and were married for 45 years until his death in 2002. She is now the agony aunt for Saga Magazine.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Slow movement of Double Violin Concerto by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Bryson Luxury: A machine to distil whatever is there

Pulp's singer and musician, Jarvis Cocker is castaway by Sue Lawley.Jarvis formed the band Pulp in the late 1970s and says that as a gawky, self-conscious teenager he felt pop music did not properly inform him about the disappointments and miseries of growing up - and he was determined to write songs that included "the messy bits and the awkward, fumbling bits". He had to wait more than a decade to find success - but Pulp went on to become one of the most popular bands of the 1990s, with hits including Do You Remember the First Time? Sorted For Es And Wizz and Common People.The band's crowning glory was its performance of 'Common People' at the Glastonbury festival in 1995. The following year, Jarvis Cocker made headlines again - this time the tabloid front pages after he invaded the stage while Michael Jackson was performing at the pop industry's annual awards ceremony. Fans were thrilled, but it marked the beginning of a difficult time in the singer's life. Now he is married with a young son and living in Paris and has recently written songs for Nancy Sinatra and Marianne Faithfull as well as writing the music for the film Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire.DISC ONE: Theme - Robert Mellin DISC TWO: Transmission - Joy Division DISC THREE: Mouldy Old Dough - Lieutenant Pigeon DISC FOUR: Ten Guitars - Engelbert Humperdinck DISC FIVE: The War is Over - Scott Walker DISC SIX: Lady With the Braid - Dory Previn DISC SEVEN: I See a Darkness - Johnny Cash DISC EIGHT: Sailing By - Ronald BingeBOOK CHOICE: Sombrero Fallout - Richard Brautigan LUXURY CHOICE: A bed with a mosquito net CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Sailing By - Ronald BingeDesert Island Discs was created by Roy Plomley.Producer: Leanne BuckleFirst broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in April 2005.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Patrick StewartPatrick Stewart had to wait a long time for fame. The Shakespearean actor was nearly 50 when he was offered the role of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. Contrary to predictions, the programme was a huge hit, and Patrick Stewart's famously bald cranium was on posters, duvet covers and Star Trek memorabilia the world over. Patrick was born in Mirfield, Yorkshire, a town with a passion for amateur dramatics. The youngest of three brothers, he grew up watching performances by the all-female drama company to which his mother belonged. After a disastrous stint as a reporter, Patrick went on to work in repertory theatre around Britain, and then to a successful career with the RSC, during which he won an Olivier Awardfor his portrayal of Shylock in The Merchant of Venice. After seven series at the helm of the Starship Enterprise, he has returned to Britain and to his first love, the theatre. He is currently appearing in David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre in London's West End.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Serenade for Tenor, Horn and Strings by Benjamin Britten Book: A compendium of the world's best science fiction Luxury: His beloved billiard table and a shed to keep it in

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the high wire walker Philippe Petit. Since the age of 17 Petit had been, in his own words, a 'wandering troubadour', making a living by doing magic in the salons of Paris. Notre Dame became the site of Petit's first illegal wirewalk, on 6th June 1971. On 7th August 1974 Philippe Petit committed 'the artistic crime of the century' when he put a rope between the towers of the World Trade Centre in New York and spent nearly an hour walking back and forth across it, pausing to kneel and lie down on the wire. He brought much of Manhattan, a quarter of a mile below him, to a standstill, and succeeded in pushing Richard Nixon's resignation off the front pages of the newspapers the following day. Since walking between the twin towers Petit has done wire-walks all over the world including Tokyo and Jerusalem. He has, uniquely, devised plays to be performed on the high wire and has also become artist in residence at the cathedral of St John the Divine in New York, the largest Gothic cathedral in the world.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: 1st Movement of Sonatine for Violin and Piano by Antonin Dvořák Book: Ashley's Book of Knots by Clifford Ashley and Book of short stories Luxury: His mysterious object (An object found by his father that, as yet, no-one can identify)

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the musical director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Lorin Maazel. He was a child prodigy whose career as a conductor has survived, and thrived, beyond his early precocity. His musical talent became apparent at the age of five, when he began playing the violin, while at seven he was discovered conducting a piece by Haydn playing on his parents' record player. He was the first American and youngest conductor, at the age of 30, to conduct Lohengrin at Bayreuth. After a career which has included prestigious posts at the Vienna State Opera and the Cleveland and Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestras, he is currently Musical Director of the New York Philharmonic. In May this year, Lorin Maazel's first opera, an adaption of George Orwell's 1984, will he performed at the Royal Opera House in London.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Quartet No 14 'Death and the Maiden' 4th Movement by Franz Schubert Book: Pensées by Blaise Pascal Luxury: Vermeer Painting - The Piano Lesson

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the theatre director Yvonne Brewster. She has been a major force in black British theatre for the last 20 years. Born into a wealthy family in Jamaica, Yvonne rebelled against her parents' plans for her - marriage and children - to become a theatrical pioneer. She says she was the first black drama student in Britain - but when she enrolled, her drama school's principal told her that, as a black actress, she would never get work here. She went on to become the first black woman to direct at the National Theatre. Throughout her career Yvonne has been an outspoken proponent of black theatre. In 1986 she founded the theatre company Talawa, whose name in Jamaican dialect means tough or feisty. Talawa gained attention - and audiences - by putting on productions such as an all-black Importance of Being Earnest.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Many Rivers to Cross by Jimmy Cliff Book: Primer to learn Italian and tape Luxury: Olive oil

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs. For millions of children, Christmas would be incomplete without Briggs's story The Snowman, which has been shown on television every year since its first release, in 1982, and his enduringly popular Father Christmas. Raymond was born in 1934 in Wimbledon. His mother, Ethel, was a lady's maid and his father, Ernest, a milkman. He wanted to draw cartoon strips from an early age but, at art school, found his tutors looked down on his aspirations. After leaving, he quickly secured work as a commercial artist, doing illustrations for advertisements, journals and books. He said he was so appalled at the standard of the children's books he was asked to illustrate he thought he could do better himself. And he did - his first attempt was immediately accepted for publication and he went on to twice win the Kate Greenaway Medal - the principal award for illustration.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) by Christobal de Morales Book: Complete Works of Beachcomber by J B Morton Luxury: A full-size billiard table with Radio 4 built into each of the legs

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff. Stephen Poliakoff is probably best known for his explorations of the themes of memory, family and history in his dramas for television, including Shooting the Past, Perfect Strangers and The Lost Prince.He was born into an aristocratic, Russian Jewish family in 1952, the third of four children. Stephen's talent as a dramatist emerged from the embers of his ambition to be an actor. He discovered early that he could write, and his first play, Granny, was sufficiently well received to be made the school play - and to be reviewed by a major national paper. Later, during the 1970s, Stephen began to work in television with films like Stronger than the Sun for Play for Today and Caught on a Train - which won a BAFTA. His television film Close My Eyes won the Evening Standard Best Film Award in 1991; the series Shooting the Past won the Prix Italia in 1999 and in 2002 he won the Dennis Potter Award at the BAFTAs.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Quintet For Clarinet and String Quartet in A Major (Larghetto) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: My Family and Other Animals by Gerald Durrell Luxury: A box of plastic straws to fiddle with