Desert Island Discs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Paul Merton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his enduring but secret ambition to be a comedian and the feeling he's had throughout his life that he would always make it somehow. He'll be describing his painful beginnings at London's Comedy Store, and his graduation from there to radio and television, where he now has his own series on Channel 4, as well as appearing on Radio Four's Just A Minute and I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue and being part of the regular team of BBC2's Have I Got News For You?[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Spreading by Kronos Quartet Book: Buster Keaton Biography by Rudi Blesh Luxury: Bed

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist Isabel Allende. One of the most widely-read Latin American writers, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her native Chile, from where she is now voluntarily exiled, and about her childhood home where she lived with her clairvoyant grandmother and on which she based her first book The House of the Spirits.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Carmina Burana Ecce Gratum by Carl Orff Book: All correspondence between her and her mother Luxury: Paper and pencils

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the theatre director Nicholas Hytner. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his string of directorial successes, which include Miss Saigon, Wind in the Willows, Carousel and The Importance of Being Ernest. He'll also be discussing the health of the modern musical today and the problems of directing both drama and opera.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don Giovanni Ah Taci, Ingiusto Core by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by Samuel Taylor Coleridge Luxury: Large supply of total block suncream

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Peter Mayle. Renowned for his best-selling books about life as an Englishman in France, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his years in advertising, and how he coined the catchphrase Nice one, Cyril', and also about the recent television adaptation of a Year in Provence, which attracted widespread criticism. Criticism and controversy have been a feature of his life since the massive success of his books and he'll be answering many of the charges levelled against him, amongst them the allegation that he has made fun of the French, presenting them as laughable stereotypes as well as attracting hordes of sightseers to disturb the peace of Provence.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Caruso by Luciano Pavarotti Book: The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa Luxury: The menu from his favourite Parisien restaurant

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Sir Leon Brittan. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about life as one of Britain's European Commissioners in Brussels, where he has been for the last five and a half years, since his resignation over the Westland affair. He'll also be looking back on his glittering early career - winning an Exhibition to Cambridge at 16, a double first in English and Law, and becoming, at 41, the youngest member of the Cabinet.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sonnet No 116 by William Shakespeare Book: The collected works by Geoffrey Chaucer Luxury: Collection of large-scale Ordnance Survey maps of England

Sue Lawley's castaway is musician and campaigner Joan Baez.Favourite track: Salut! Demeure Chaste Et Pure by Charles Gounod Book: Diary by Anne Frank Luxury: Personal pouch with a silver lion in it

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Speaker of the House of Commons, Betty Boothroyd. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her Yorkshire childhood, her venture south to join a dance troupe, and her much-vaunted but nevertheless fleeting appearance as a Tiller Girl. She'll also be discussing how she made history last year when she became the first woman to be elected Speaker, and also the first to be elected from the opposition benches since 1835.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Rock-A-Bye by Judy Garland Book: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth Luxury: Mace of the House of Commons

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the boxer Frank Bruno.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he got into trouble as a young boy for fighting with his contemporaries and ultimately with one of his sports teachers, after which he was sent to a special school where boxing was to become his salvation. He'll also be discussing the vicious nature of the sport and the rigorous training programme he undergoes before every fight.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going by Billy Ocean Book: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Luxury: Picture of the family

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a publisher.Kaye Webb was made editor of Puffin Books in the 1960s, and held the job for nearly 20 years. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about those years and also about the crowded professional life which preceded them. As an assistant editor for the pocket magazine Lilliput in the 1930s, she commissioned contributions from distinguished authors such as Evelyn Waugh, George Bernard Shaw and Dylan Thomas.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sea Pictures - Where Corals Lie by Edward Elgar Book: Messages - poetry by Naomi Lewis Luxury: Very big photograph album on a wheeling table

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a businessman.Born into a family of Polish-Jewish immigrants, he was orphaned at the age of nine and brought up by his older brothers. He studied at the London School of Economics and married the daughter of a manufacturer - the owner of a small electrical company. By the age of 34, he was its Managing Director. Today that company is a huge institution - GEC - which its Managing Director Lord Weinstock has steered safely through the choppy waters of nine changes of government and six Prime Ministers. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life and work and about his passionate love of music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem - Recordare by Giuseppe Verdi Book: If This Be A Man by Primo Levi Luxury: Photograph album - family, friends, colleagues

Sue Lawley's castaway is General of the Salvation Army Eva Burrows.Favourite track: St Matthew Passion Konnen Tranen Meiner Wangen by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Faber Book of Religious Verse Luxury: Game of Scrabble with paper and pencil

Sue Lawley's castaway is journalist and broadcaster John Cole.Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Typewriter

Sue Lawley's castaway is film director John Boorman.Favourite track: Symphony No 7 Second Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Karl Jung Luxury: Telescope

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Baroness Blackstone.She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her political radicalisation at the London School of Economics in the 1960s, the difficulties of working motherhood and the different demands of her varied professional life encompassing the academic, political and public worlds.[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: Middlemarch by George Eliot Luxury: Tennis wall, balls and racket

Sue Lawley's castaway is chef Anton Edelmann.Favourite track: Clarinet Concerto in A by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Rinpoche Luxury: Wok

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the jockey and racing journalist Lord Oaksey. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he decided to give up a career in the law to become a junior racing correspondent on the Daily Telegraph and about his time as an amateur jockey when he rode 200 winners and nearly won the Grand National in 1963.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jerusalem by Blake/Parry Book: Mr Mulliner's Memoirs by P G Wodehouse Luxury: Cargo of champagne

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Professor Richard Gregory. He is a scientist who comes from a long line of academics - his father was an astronomer who recruited him at an early age to help build a homemade aeroplane, the 'flying flea', but luckily the project was abandoned before its fatal design fault was discovered. Professor Gregory has gone on since then to invent robots, hearing aids, special telescopes for astronauts, and to set up his famous foundation - the Exploratory in Bristol - which is visited by thousands of people every year.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for investigation and invention and about his mission to lift the fog of ignorance which surrounds so many people when it comes to scientific matters.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Sonata No 30 in E Opus 109 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: An astronomy book by Patrick Moore Luxury: Astronomical telescope

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer David Croft.Favourite track: Not While I'm Around by Cleo Laine Book: Collected Poems by Sir John Betjeman Luxury: Piano

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician Ken Livingstone.Favourite track: Joe Hill by Paul Robeson Book: The Myths of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley Luxury: The BBC World Service

Sue Lawley's castaway is director Elijah Moshinsky.Favourite track: Requiem: Agnes Dei by Giuseppe Verdi Book: Michael Frayn translation of Complete Plays by Anton Chekhov Luxury: A duvet

Sue Lawley's castaway is civil servant Sir Robin Butler.Favourite track: Messiah I Know That My Redeemer Liveth by George Frideric Handel Book: Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy Luxury: A bag of golf clubs and golf balls

Sue Lawley's castaway is psychiatrist Anthony Storr.Favourite track: String Quintet No 3 in G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the musician Evelyn Glennie. Profoundly deaf since the age of 12, her extraordinary talent as a virtuoso percussionist has taken her all over the world, giving performances on hundreds of instruments, from the tambourine and the tubular bells to the marimba and the drums.She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her determination to become a musician against much discouragement and how she has come to perceive her deafness as an irrelevance.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto No2 For Piano In C Minor by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman Luxury: Chocolate

Sue Lawley's castaway is cyclist and writer Dervla Murphy.Favourite track: Triple Concerto in C Major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Diary by Samuel Pepys Luxury: A still (to distill berries, etc. into drink)

Sue Lawley's castaway is QC Barbara Mills.Favourite track: Un Ballo In Maschera: E Scherzo Od E Follia by Giuseppe Verdi Book: History of the Crusades by Stephen Runciman Luxury: Tennis court, balls, racket and wall

Sue Lawley's castaway is poet Elizabeth Jennings.Favourite track: Horn Concerto No 4 In E Flat Major K 495 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The New Oxford Book of American Verse by Richard Elman Luxury: Pad, felt pens and biros

The castaway this week in a special extended edition of the programme is Stephen Hawking, author of the best-selling A Brief History of Time and Lucasian Professor of Mathematics at Cambridge University. He will be talking to Sue Lawley about his life and work, and the illness which has left him severely disabled for 25 years, as well as selecting the eight records he would choose to take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot Luxury: Crème brûlée

Sue Lawley's castaway is designer Paul Smith.Favourite track: Queen of the Slipstream by Van Morrison Book: Beano Annual 1974 Luxury: Notebook and pencil

Sue Lawley's castaway is botanist Professor Ghillean Prance.Favourite track: Amazing Grace by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Book: The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White Luxury: Accordian

Sue Lawley's castaway is publisher and writer Carmen Callil.Favourite track: Adagio In E Flat by Franz Schubert Book: Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson Luxury: Film - The Commitments

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician Lord Tebbit.Favourite track: Chorus Of Hebrew Slaves by Giuseppe Verdi Book: History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Sir Winston Churchill Luxury: Drinking fountain with two taps - Sancerre and Claret

Sue Lawley's castaway is conductor John Eliot Gardiner.Favourite track: Peter's Denial (St. Matthew Passion) by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Memoirs by Hector Berlioz Luxury: Sancerre

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Christabel Bielenberg.Favourite track: Deep River by Paul Robeson Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: A comfortable chair

Sue Lawley's castaway is the Gulf War General H Norman Schwarzkopf.Favourite track: Battle Hymn Of The Republic by Howe-Steffe Book: The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran Luxury: His dog, Bear

Sue Lawley's castaway is trade unionist Gavin Laird.Favourite track: Symphony No 3 in C Minor (Organ Symphony) by Camille Saint-Saëns Book: Diary by Samuel Pepys Luxury: Year's recording of the Today programme

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Julie Andrews, the star of such film favourites as Mary Poppins and The Sound of Music. Julie Andrews discovered she had an unusual talent for singing quite early and first appeared on stage alongside her step-father and her mother in their act, touring the Variety theatres of Great Britain in the 1940s and early 1950s. She had an enormous hit in a show at the London Hippodrome Theatre when she was just a teenager, and then appeared regularly on Educating Archie, one of radio's biggest programmes in the 1950s.But it was appearing on Broadway that led her to being cast in the stage version of My Fair Lady, with Rex Harrison that really began to establish her as an international star, and then her first movie role, as Mary Poppins, which won her an Oscar that brought her to the attention of millions worldwide.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto in G by Maurice Ravel Book: The Once and Future King by T H White Luxury: Piano

Sue Lawley's castaway is businessman and politician Lord Sainsbury.Favourite track: String Quintet In C Second Movement by Franz Schubert Book: The New Oxford Book of English Verse Luxury: Bed

Sue Lawley's castaway is actress Juliet Stevenson.Favourite track: Sonata No 3 in G Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Complete Works by W B Yeats Luxury: Masaccio Frescos in the Brancacci Chapel

Sue Lawley's castaway is founder of the Samaritans Chad Varah.Favourite track: Aria: Dulcis Amor by George Frideric Handel Book: The New Oxford Book of English Verse Luxury: Own bathroom run by solar power with hot and cold water and a video player attached

Sue Lawley's castaway is chef Raymond Blanc.Favourite track: Hungarian Dance No 1 in G Minor by Johannes Brahms Book: The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery Luxury: A good luck stone (from his wife)

Sue Lawley's castaway is psychologist Penelope Leach.Favourite track: Prelude No 6 In D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Complete Works by Sigmund Freud Luxury: Coffee

Sue Lawley's castaway is musician Bob Geldof.Favourite track: In The Garden by Van Morrison Book: Diary by Samuel Pepys Luxury: The Metropolitan Museum of New York

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician David Mellor.Favourite track: Tristan und Isolde - Liebestod by Richard Wagner Book: The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy Luxury: Telephone (disconnected)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is newspaper columnist Sir Peregrine Worsthorne. Outspoken and flamboyant, he believes that the columnists' brief is to supply opinions for those who haven't the time to think. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life and work and remembering how his use of a four-letter word on primetime television blighted his career for several years.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Partita No 1 in B Flat Major by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh Luxury: Hallucinogenic drugs

Sue Lawley's castaway is photo-journalist Mohamed Amin.Favourite track: My Way by Frank Sinatra Book: Life of John F Kennedy Luxury: Satellite dish and television set

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician Clare Short.Favourite track: Nun Sag Ich Dir Zum Ersten Mal by Arnold Schoenberg Book: Geometry Tutor Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is fashion designer Vivienne Westwood. Avant-garde, surprising and often shocking, Vivienne first drew media attention when, in the late 1970s, she founded the punk movement with Malcolm McLaren. These days, though hardly orthodox, she has become more mainstream - in 1990 and 1991 she was named Designer of the Year, and she has just been awarded an OBE in the most recent Honours list. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her impressive career and revealing that, though fashion has been her life, her first love has always been books.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sleeping Beauty Panorama, Act 2 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Multi-lingual dictionary

In 1987, as an Ambassador of the Anglican Church trying to engineer the freedom of men held in Lebanon, Terry Waite was taken hostage himself. Nearly five years later, courageous and resilient, he emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation. This week on Desert Island Discs he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those years and recalling the three vows he took - no regrets, no self-pity, no sentimentality - which he believes saved his sanity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sleep by Benjamin Luxon Book: Complete Cambridge Histories Luxury: Chess computer

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is actor Robert Lindsay. Born in Derbyshire 42 years ago, he's recognised today as one of Britain's most versatile performers. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his schooldays at a secondary modern and the art master who introduced him and the rest of the school to drama. He'll also be recalling the days when he couldn't walk down the street without being mobbed, so famous was he for his role as Wolfie in the BBC's television sitcom Citizen Smith.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Also Sprach Zarathustra by Richard Strauss Book: Sons and Lovers by D.H. Lawrence Luxury: Computer chess set

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the swimmer Duncan Goodhew. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life, which was dogged by misadventure - a fall from an apple tree left him permanently and completely bald; and in his early teens, he was discovered to be dyslexic. Nevertheless, these setbacks merely strengthened his resolve to succeed at swimming, and to go on and win a gold medal for the 100 metres breast-stroke at the Moscow Games.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: O Mio Babbino Caro by Giacomo Puccini Book: Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien Luxury: Wig