Desert Island Discs

Sue Lawley's castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is Astronomer Royal Sir Martin Rees. As well as choosing his eight records, book and luxury, Sir Martin will be discussing his work in cosmic evolution, or, to put it more simply, how the Earth and Solar System were formed. He tells of his belief that it is more difficult to understand a frog than the cosmos.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: In Paradisum by Gabriel Fauré Book: Collective Cartoons by Gary Larson Luxury: A Jefferson reclining chair

Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian and broadcaster Andy Hamilton.Favourite track: Sloop John B by The Beach Boys Book: The Physics of Immortality by Frank J Tipler Luxury: Football

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs is an actor. In Britain, he's best known for his appearances in My Beautiful Laundrette, The Chess Players and The Jewel in the Crown. In India he's a megastar who can't walk the streets without being mobbed.This morning Saeed Jaffrey traces a career which has taken him from India, to New York, to London and back home to India. Beginning with his childhood as the son of a brilliant mimic, he describes his early struggles to establish himself, and the famous stars he's met along the way.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Hobo Blues by John Lee Hooker Book: Complete Works by Mirza Ghalib Luxury: Case of Black Label and Dom Perignon

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs has all the qualifications she needs for her job. A journalist, she learnt her craft in the 1960s when she interviewed rock star legends like Mick Jagger, Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin.She's also a single mum, frequently experiences deep bouts of depression and finds that many of her lasting relationships are with alcoholics. The agony aunt Virginia Ironside describes to Sue Lawley how her life and her work are inseparably entwined.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Hot Tomales by Will Grove-White Book: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale Luxury: Big bag of plaster to make heads of friends

Only this week's castaway on Desert Island Discs could place the singer Madonna in the same picture as the Madonna and Child, or follow a painting of the National Gallery's 10 most beautiful faces with a collection of its nine prettiest bottoms. Today the pop artist Peter Blake explains to Sue Lawley how his work is inspired by his favourite things; like Marilyn Monroe and Max Miller for the Beatles' Sgt Pepper album cover in the 1960s, or his more recent painting of Tarzan and his family at the Roxy Cinema in New York. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: When The World Was Young by Peggy Lee Book: Lempieres' Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk Luxury: A gym

When designing the interior of Sunninghill for the Duke and Duchess of York, this week's castaway on Desert Island Discs rummaged through the cellars at Buckingham Palace in search of just the right treasure. She's also coloured Ringo Starr's library cranberry red, and suggested tasselled tie-backs for Rod Stewart. Nina Campbell is one of Britain's top interior designers and a devotee of the English country house style, although, as she admits to Sue Lawley this week, she never goes near the country - it's too wet and windy.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Design For Living by Flanders & Swann Book: A photograph album Luxury: A bed

This week's castaway is an adventurer - the travel writer Redmond O'Hanlon. He's trekked to deserted mountain tops for a glimpse of the rare Borneo rhinoceros, paddled through river swamps to find the Congo's mythical monster, and, deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest, he stayed with the most violent people on Earth, the Yanomari Indians.Along the way, he's encountered scorpions, vipers and a giant catfish "which can take your foot off at the ankle", all in search of a story. As he tells Sue Lawley, although his long-suffering companions survive the journey, they vow never to travel with him again - not even to High Wycombe. He's planning a trip to New Guinea - so will Sue agree to accompany him?Some aspects of this programme may upset some listeners.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet in A: 2nd Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: A pair of green, insulated Leica binoculars 8 X 20

It was while studying for a degree in psychology that this week's castaway decided to change the direction of her life and become a neuroscientist. As she dissected a slice of pickled brain, she found herself wondering whether this was the part that generated a love of Beethoven, or held the memory of a sunny, summer day. From that moment, she determined to try to discover how our personalities and thoughts derive from this slurry of soggy tissue. Twenty years later, Professor Susan Greenfield is now one of the foremost thinkers on the question of consciousness, and a leading researcher into the causes of Parkinson's disease.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa Luxury: An endless supply of curry

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is a chef. His food is the culinary equivalent of haute couture, but in the 1980s Nico Ladenis was known as much for his temper tantrums as his truffle sauce. His refusal to offer his customers salt and pepper, and his insistence as to how they should eat their meal, caught the headlines more frequently than his fine cooking. But, as he tells Sue Lawley, these days he has come out of the kitchen and become a cooler and much calmer man.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Onward Christian Soldiers by Sullivan/Baring-Gould Book: Beau Jeste by P C Wren Luxury: Cantona's Manchester United football shirt

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs grew up in a conventional white South African family. Shielded from the true history of her country under apartheid, she played in the shadow of a Pretoria prison where many hundreds of black men and women were hanged, and never questioned what went on there. Then Mary Benson read the book Cry the Beloved Country. From that moment on, she became a ceaseless campaigner for the rights of black South Africans and dedicated her life to documenting their struggle. This week she talks to Sue Lawley about her search for a purpose to her life and chooses the music which has meant most to her.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Eroica Variations Opus 35 Fourth Bagatelles, Opus 126 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Unpublished Notes by Athol Fugard Luxury: Telescope

He's created a world full of wizards and witches, and his most popular character is Death. The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is one of Britain's best-selling authors. Terry Pratchett has written over 30 books, and sells more than one million copies each year. But as he tells Sue Lawley this week, he will never win the Booker Prize because, in this country, fantasy fiction is frowned upon.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Thomas The Rhymer by Steeleye Span Book: Edible Plants of the South Seas by Emile Massal Luxury: The Chrysler Building

When this week's castaway was a child his mother had a heart attack. Her doctor gave him two pieces of advice. "Never", he said, "get angry with her. And always try to make her laugh". This was to have a profound effect on his life; affecting both his career and his personal relationships.Gene Wilder talks to Sue Lawley and remembers his starring roles in films like Blazing Saddles and The Producers.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don't Explain by Nina Simone Book: The Notebooks of Captain Georges by Jean Renoir Luxury: Earl Grey tea

She's an expert on sauce bottles, remembers the small print on British Rail timetables, and for 30 years she was a regular contestant on Radio 4's Round Britain Quiz. This week on Desert Island Discs, Irene Thomas tells Sue Lawley what she will do with her phenomenal memory now the programme is no longer broadcast. She recalls how she moved from opera singer, to the Black and White Minstrels, before becoming queen of the quiz shows at the age of 41. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cosi fan Tutte Soave Sia Il Vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Complete score of Fidelio by Mozart Luxury: Teddy bear stuffed with tea and lily of the valley

Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian and actor John Cleese.Favourite track: Easter Hymn from Cavalleria Rusticana by Mascagni Book: Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette Luxury: Michael Palin - stuffed

Sue Lawley's guest on Desert Island Discs today is the writer Martin Amis. He describes his books as comedies, but, like London Fields and Other People, they are frequently dark and disturbing.He says that he has no choice as to the subjects of his books. "They come from nowhere and feel like a little gulp in your digestive system". Although he admits that he's sometimes appalled by the characters he creates, writing itself is something he loves. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Yesterdays by Buddy Rich Book: Complete Works by John Milton Luxury: Cable Television

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Absolutely Fabulous! Jennifer Saunders began "doing funny things with props" in the early 1980s. With her stage partner Dawn French, she toured the clubs and comedy venues making people laugh with acts like The Menopause Sisters. As part of the Comic Strip performers, she burst onto our TV screens as one of the famous, if rather manic, five.Now through her characters Edina and Patsy, she has created a comedy classic. But as she tells Sue Lawley, Absolutely Fabulous came about because, having taken a year off from French and Saunders, the phone was ominously silent, and she had absolutely nothing else to do.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Didn't Have The Nerve To Say No by Blondie Book: Traveller's Prelude by Freya Stark Luxury: Tribute Heads By Elisabeth Frink

Today's castaway on Desert Island Discs confused the rock critics in the late 1970s with songs like Sweet Gene Vincent, Reasons to be Cheerful and outraged the BBC with Sex and Drugs and Rock and Roll. Ian Dury and the Blockheads were part vaudeville act and part punk rock band. In his songs, he created the characters Clevor Trever and Billericay Dickie and so invented the original Essex Man. He's also a painter and an actor, but as he reveals to Sue Lawley, he's writing songs again and hopes to be back in the charts soon.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Ramblin by Ornette Coleman Book: Macmillan Dictionary of Art Luxury: Mixing Desk - Solar Powered

On Desert Island Discs today the castaway is Robert Winston.As Professor of Fertility Studies at Hammersmith Hospital in London, he has been at the forefront of medical developments in his field. He pioneered the screening of embryos for genetic defects and has frequently made the headlines with his views that all women, including widows, lesbians and those who are HIV positive, should be considered for treatment. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Goldberg Varations - Aria And Reprise From Variation by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Koran (in Arabic and English) Luxury: Glass And Tools To Make A Telescope

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs may be nearing 70, but he knows how to play The Generation Game. Bruce Forsyth is one of the great all-rounders - television host, pianist, dancer and comedian. He began performing as a child, tap-dancing on the roof of his father's lock-up garages. But, as he tells Sue Lawley, his big night came when he was asked to compere Sunday Night at the Palladium. He has spent more than five decades in showbiz, progressing from Boy Bruce the Mighty Atom, to probably the most successful game show host on television. To quote one of his own famous catchphrases, "Didn't he do well?"[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I'll Never Love This Way Again by Dionne Warwick Book: The collected works by Omar Khayyam Luxury: Sand iron (golf club)

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Leader of the Opposition, the Right Honourable Tony Blair. He will be describing his beliefs, both political and religious, and revealing the man behind the sound bites.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Recuerdos De La Alhambra by John Williams Book: Ivanhoe by Walter Scott Luxury: Guitar

Atlanta was her sixth Olympic Games. The first was 20 years before. On Desert Island Discs, Tessa Sanderson reveals the competitive drive that brought her back from retirement at the age of 40 to raise money for Great Ormond Street Hospital in London. She fondly recalls her rivalry with fellow competitor Fatima Whitbread, and remembers the moment she became the first and only British woman to win an Olympic throwing gold medal.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Will Always Love You by Whitney Houston Book: The History of the World by J M Roberts Luxury: Toothbrush and toothpaste

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a writer, a traveller and an advisor to a Prince and Prime Minister.Now nearly 90, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early years in South Africa, his incarceration as a Japanese prisoner-of-war and his life-long campaign to save the bushmen of the Kalahari Desert.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Sonata No. 17 in Dm 'Tempest' by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Golden Bough by James Frazer Luxury: Piano

He's called "His Excellency" by some; to others he's "Fatty Patten". Next year he will hand over Hong Kong to the Chinese.Chris Patten, this week's castaway on Desert Island Discs, describes the challenges of being the colony's last British Governor. He recalls the moment he won the election for the Conservative Party, but lost his own seat, and how, as Environment Secretary, he found himself implementing "the single most unpopular policy that any British government has tried to introduce since the last war" - the poll tax.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Mass No. 18 in C minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking Luxury: A bath

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the wine writer Jancis Robinson.One of only 200 Masters of Wine in the world, she recalls how her passion was first aroused by a full-bodied Chambolle-Musigny. It was, she says, the first time she realised that wine was an intellectual experience and not just for lubrication. A familiar face on television for her Matters of Taste and Wine Course series, she also edited the prestigious Oxford Companion to Wine. But her main occupation is tasting, and she can sip and spit more than a hundred varieties at a sitting. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sabat Mater Inflammatus Et Accensus by Giovanni Battista Pergolesi Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot Luxury: Cellar of wines and a corkscrew

The ball rolled past the gap between him and Gordon Banks and into the back of the net. The Germans were one goal up. This week's castaway, Jackie Charlton, recalls the match which was to bring him to his knees in relief and joy as England went on to win the 1966 World Cup. Just one of the crowning moments of a career that could so easily have ended down the pit, except for his talent with the ball. Nicknamed "The Boss" because of his straight talking, Jackie describes his relationship with his brother "Our Kid" Bobby Charlton and his success as manager of Ireland. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: September Song by Frank Sinatra Book: Encyclopaedia of How To Survive Luxury: Fishing rod

Always an outsider, she seems to have gone against all the mores of her time; from opening a dancing school in Calcutta to living alone with her children in Kashmir. On Desert Island Discs this week, the writer Rumer Godden describes how her rich life in India (under the Raj) and in Britain has influenced her novels.She says she can't remember a time when she didn't write. Now in her late 80s, and after publishing more than 50 books, including Black Narcissus and The River, she's just added another to her list. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Kinderscenen Traumerei by Robert Schumann Book: The Atlantic book of British and American Poetry by Edith Sitwell Luxury: A widow's cruse filled with whisky

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Professor Lewis Wolpert. As Chairman of the Committee on the Public Understanding of Science, he is a passionate advocate of the value of science and the increasing need for the recognition and promotion of its importance. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life in South Africa, his recent struggle with clinical depression and his passion for the views of the 18th-century philosopher David Hume - particularly on the existence of God.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and The Principles of Morals by David Hume Luxury: Bicycle

His fourth novel, Popcorn, has been widely-acclaimed by the critics. He's about to begin a nationwide tour with his stand-up comedy routine. And, after the success of his TV series The Young Ones and Blackadder, he's currently writing The Thin Blue Line for BBC1. Yet despite all that, Ben Elton, this week's castaway, says he's more of an enthusiastic 'farty' than a "smug git in a shiny suit".He muses as to whether his scatter-gun delivery (so mocked by the tabloids) is the result of his fear of the audience, or of a self-righteous belief in his own opinion, and when stranded on a desert island, he will reveal himself as a serious satirist or just a maverick motormouth.[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: His wedding photo album Luxury: The British Museum

She has written songs for her friends Barbra Streisand and Bette Davis, and admires Jarvis Cocker and Damon Albarn. This week, the poet and lyricist Fran Landesman chooses her eight records.Although now in her 60s, retired to her bed and celibate, she is still writing lyrics and performing her poetry and has just published a new collection of her work. From poor little rich girl to a life of bohemian excess, she looks back at her experiences - free love, free speech and mind-expanding drugs - on Desert Island Discs.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Down by Nicki Leighton Thomas Book: Rebel Without Applause and Jay Walking by Jay Landesman Luxury: Cannabis seeds

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the actor Kevin Whately. Having appeared increasingly prominently in three of the most successful series in recent TV history - Auf Wiedersehen, Pet, Inspector Morse and Peak Practice - he's currently 'hot property' in the casting world.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood in a remote part of Cumbria, his bold but inspired decision to chuck in accountancy in favour of the stage and his time busking at Oxford Circus to pay his way through drama school.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 1 by Jean Sibelius Book: The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie Luxury: Northumbrian pipes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the scientist Colin Blakemore. A brilliant student, he became an Oxford professor at the age of 35 and since then he has commanded enormous influence through his research and the way he has tried to communicate the importance of science to the world at large.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his main work - the functioning of the human brain - and about his research on the relationship between vision and brain development. He'll also be describing how his experiments in this area involving animals have made him the target of attacks from animal rights activists. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Die Zauberflote Oittre Nicht - The Magic Flute by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin Luxury: Solar-powered internet (to receive, not send)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the designer and entrepreneur Terence Conran. He first came to fame with the Habitat store which introduced British shoppers to consumer delights like the chicken brick and the duvet. Now considered one of the country's most successful restaurateurs - he currently owns seven restaurants and is involved in designing another 17 - he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his original foray into the restaurant world. His first venture was called The Soup Kitchen - and, misled by its name, attracted all the local tramps on its opening night. He'll also be describing how Picasso bought one of the first chairs he designed. Finally, he'll be talking about how, after a somewhat tumultuous personal life, he now feels he has achieved some sort of equanimity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Keith Jarrett's Koln Concert Part One by Keith Jarrett Book: History of the World by H G Wells Luxury: An endless supply of A4 paper and 4B pencils

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch. One of the most distinguished members of the English Chamber Orchestra, she has toured all over the world with them.However, as she will be telling Sue Lawley, up until the early 1980s, she always refused to visit one country - Germany. For it was from there that her Jewish parents were taken away by the Gestapo, never to be seen again. From the age of 18, she herself was taken away to Auschwitz. There, because she was able to play the cello, she survived, and played in the camp's orchestra. However, when she was later moved to Belsen, she nearly didn't. She'll be talking about playing in the orchestra at Auschwitz, about the importance of music in sustaining life both then and now, and about her feelings towards Germany and the Germans more than 50 years after the events of her early life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Sonata Opus 111 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The History of the World by J M Roberts Luxury: Cello

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the composer and conductor André Previn. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he and his family fled from Nazi Germany and ended up in California. His skill as a jazz musician led to a job at MGM and four Oscars for the film scores he wrote there. However, in the mid-1960s he turned his back on Hollywood and became principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. He'll be discussing this dramatic transition, his famous appearance on the Morecambe and Wise Show and the perils of his now-abandoned celebrity status.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 40 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by Anton Chekhov Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist and author Quentin Crewe. Since the age of 29, muscular dystrophy has left him in a wheelchair. Nevertheless, now 70, he can look back on a full and vivid life encompassing a 24,000 mile trip across South America and expeditions across the Sahara and the Saudi Arabian desert. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his travels, his close relationship with the Macmillan family, his work as a writer and restaurant critic and also his belief that disability need be no bar to a happy and fulfilled life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet In C Major 163 by Franz Schubert Book: Essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: The cellar from Trinity College, Cambridge

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Peggy Mount. Now 80 years old, and about to play the nanny in Uncle Vanya at Chichester this summer, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her long and distinguished career as one of the nation's favourite battleaxes. With her booming voice, and imposing figure, playing parts like the nurse in Romeo and Juliet and the headmistress in The Happiest Days of your Life, she has earned the affection of millions.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Portrait Of My Love by Matt Munro Book: Diary by Noel Coward Luxury: Tea in abundance

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a businessman who started life as one of 10 children in a poor family in Donegal, moved with his family to London's East End and started his career at Matchbox Toys in Hackney. From there, he worked his way up the corporate ladder of several large companies until 10 years ago he organised and led a management buy-out of Compass - part of Grand Metropolitan.Now extremely rich in his own right, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the controversy he then attracted. Known as 'The Caterer' because of his business background, he went on to acquire London Weekend Television and controversially to take over the Forte Group. He'll be discussing his early ambitions to be a priest, his days at a seminary, the high-achieving nature of his family and how he coped with the stress of the Granada takeover of the Forte Group. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Norma Casta Diva by Vincenzo Bellini Book: The History of the World by J M Roberts Luxury: Painting kit (easel, oils, brushes)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the producer Michael White. Renowned for his theatrical flair - with a string of successes such as Sleuth, The Rocky Horror Show, O, Calcutta and A Chorus Line - he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the downside of show business as well as the euphoria of the successful first night. He'll also be describing his cosmopolitan but miserable childhood. Sent away to school in Switzerland alone and just seven years old because of chronic asthma, his early years were often lonely and confusing.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Coming In From The Cold by Bob Marley Book: A title by Marcel Proust Luxury: Bicycle

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Janet Holmes à Court. Recently named Businesswoman of the Year, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, after the sudden death of her husband, the hugely rich Robert Holmes a Court, she was advised to sell up and retire to the beach. Before his death, he had just been starting to turn the tide which had run against him after he'd lost around £400 million in the stock market crash of 1987. Forgetting the beach, she proceeded to take up the reins of the business. Over the last six years, she has created an impressive commercial organisation out of cattle, construction and transport, she owns 10 theatres in London's West End and her cattle company is estimated to own about 1.1% of Australia's land mass. The owner of a desert island herself, she'll be contemplating exile far from the demands of the business world.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Fidelio by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Tourmaline by Randolph Stow Luxury: Jar of Vegemite

Sue Lawley's castaway is actor and comedian Hugh Laurie.Favourite track: Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison Book: A self-learn Italian book (slowly) Luxury: Family photo album

BBC TV's Birds Of A Feather is one of the country's favourite comedy programmes, attracting audiences of 14 or 15 million on a Sunday evening. This week, one of its co-stars, Pauline Quirke, will be cast well away from Chigwell as she prepares to set sail for Radio 4's desert island.Known more famously perhaps as Sharon of Sharon 'n' Tracey, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her poor upbringing in London's East End, her first role as a child arsonist at the age of 10 in Dixon of Dock Green and her most recent appearance as a 22-stone putative murderess in The Sculptress.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor Book: Crying With Laughter by Bob Monkhouse Luxury: Shampoo

This week, Sue Lawley's desert island castaway is the pianist Mitsuko Uchida. She was born in Japan, but, when she was 12, her family moved to Vienna, where she fully immersed herself in the music that she has now become famous for playing - Bach, Beethoven, Schubert and in particular, Mozart. Her aim is to be always faithful to the composer whose work she is trying to interpret.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cello Suite No 1 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A title, in Russian and English, by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist and playwright Hanif Kureishi. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his enormously successful screenplay for My Beautiful Laundrette, his novel - televised by the BBC - The Buddha of Suburbia and his love of pop music which he plays at full volume whilst writing. He'll also be discussing the racial abuse which dominated his childhood in Bromley, where, as the son of an Indian father and an English mother, and the only Asian boy in his school, he was invited to instigate racial bullying, as often as finding himself to be its target. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: In A Silent Way by Miles Davis Book: Complete Works by Sigmund Freud Luxury: Marijuana seeds

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Viscount Rothermere. As proprietor of the Daily Mail, the Mail On Sunday, London's Evening Standard and a string of regional newspapers, he is the last of the hereditary grandees who once dominated the newspaper industry. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his family's long involvement with newspapers, about his own views on the ethical problems facing the press today and about his ability to see into the future. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: How Ya Gonna Keep Em Down On The Farm by Eddie Cantor Book: Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri Luxury: A pair of scissors

This summer will see what will be a sad day in Test cricket history: Dickie Bird, who has umpired 65 Test matches, 92 one-day internationals and three world cup finals, will be umpiring his last Test match at Lords. This week in Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about his church-going childhood in Barnsley, and his anxieties about punctuality - arriving as he has done at least four hours before time at Buckingham Palace, Chequers and The Oval.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Way We Were by Barbra Streisand Book: Wisden Almanack for cricketers by Wisden Luxury: TV & satellite to watch Test matches

Nearly 14 years ago, the young Simon Weston set off to serve with his regiment in the Falklands War. On 8th June 1982 in Bluff Cove, his ship was bombed, most of his friends were killed, but he survived.This week on Desert Island Discs, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about that shattering moment, his subsequent rehabilitation and how his disfigurement has affected his life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: What a Wonderful World by Louis Armstrong Book: Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell Luxury: Daily newspapers

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is someone who has unexpectedly encountered professional acclaim late in her life. Singer Kyra Vayne could well be described as one of opera's forgotten voices - until this year when, thanks to the release of some previously-unknown recordings which had lived under her bed in Shepherd's Bush for 30 years, her voice reached a large new audience of admirers. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her reaction to the ecstatic reception given to her first CD, how she lived a life of obscurity working in a bank after she abandoned her career and about her life in pre-revolution Russia, where she and her family nearly starved to death before fleeing to England. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 9 Final Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: A culinary book Luxury: Peanuts and treats to tame animals and birds

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Chairman of the National Westminster Bank Lord Alexander. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he began his career as a jobbing barrister, doing all manner of work on the western circuit where he earned a reputation which took him to the top of his profession. Among many others, he won cases for Jeffrey Archer and Kerry Packer, and lost one for Ken Livingstone's GLC. In the 1980s he moved to the City as Chairman of the Takeover Panel and then, to his surprise, he was invited to become Chairman of the National Westminster Bank. Tipped by those who know him well to become the next Lord Chancellor if the Conservatives stay in power, he'll be discussing his past, present and future and contemplating castaway life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Do You Hear The People Sing? by Claude-Michel Schonberg Book: Other Men's Flowers by Lord A P Wavell Luxury: Paints and canvas

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Shadow Chancellor Gordon Brown. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he was an early 'fast-track' pupil - going to Edinburgh University at 16 - their youngest student for 50 years, about the reasons behind his standing aside in favour of Tony Blair in the contest for the Labour leadership, and about his childhood as one of three sons of a Scottish minister.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Suite No. 3 in D major by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Story of Art by Sir Ernst Gombrich Luxury: Tennis ball machine and racket

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a surgeon and a painter. Sir Roy Calne - Professor of Surgery at Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge - will be talking to Sue Lawley about his early conviction that transplant surgery was a viable way of treating kidney and liver disease, about his struggles to have his ideas accepted and about the paintings he has done of his patients - many of which have been the subject of several public exhibitions. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 9 From The New World (Opus 95) by Antonin Dvořák Book: Global Biodiversity by Brian Groombridge Luxury: Paints and canvas