Desert Island Discs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Bernice Rubens. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood with musically-gifted brothers and sister, and how, despite having written 17 novels - one of them won the Booker prize, another was also shortlisted - she still sees herself as merely a successful novelist who failed to become a musician.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet C Major Second Movement by Franz Schubert Book: Poems For Joy & Sermons For Solace by John Donne Luxury: Daughter's painting

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the architect Maxwell Hutchinson. Unafraid of controversy, he attacked Prince Charles' criticisms of contemporary architecture - a move which secured him presidency of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his love of tower blocks and requiem masses, of 17th-century cottages and his desire to write a number one hit.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: First Symphony In A Flat Minor Slow Movement by Edward Elgar Book: The Four Quartets by T S Eliot Luxury: Guitar

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is playwright Alan Bleasdale. Often controversial, and always funny, Bleasdale's work focuses on life in Liverpool, a city he loves and whose characters people his most famous plays - Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his intense love of family, his work and, as a self-confessed hypochondriac, he will be revealing some of his fears.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Shelter From The Storm by Bob Dylan Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Nail clippers

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the lawyer and politician Lord Shawcross. As Attorney General in the Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for leading the British prosecution case at the war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the atmosphere in that courtroom, his reasons for leaving the Labour Party and his unconventional upbringing. Now 89 years old, he'll also be recalling the days when he was known as 'handsome Hartley Shawcross', the best-looking man in public life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Some Enchanted Evening by Ezio Pinza Book: They Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope Luxury: CD player / solar battery-powered radio

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Ron Todd - leader of Britain's largest trade union, the Transport and General Workers' Union. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood as the son of a Walthamstow street-market trader, his rejection of Catholicism and conversion to socialism and about how he feels about the modern Labour Party and the role of trade unions in the 1990s.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Black And White Rag by Emmy Todd Book: The collected works by Robert Burns Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is responsible for many of the images which grace our television screens and billboards. He is advertising man John Hegarty, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about some of the slogans and scenarios he has created - from Vorsprung durch Technik to the Levi's advertisement which features the hero removing his trousers in a laundrette.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Stand By Me by John Lennon Book: The Crock of Gold by James Stephens Luxury: Clarinet

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist and critic A S Byatt. Winner of the 1990 Booker prize for her novel 'Possession' - the story of a clandestine romance between two Victorian poets - she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the isolation of her school days as a highly academic child, the release of university life at Cambridge and her subsequent life at the forefront of the British literary world.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jetzt Fand Ich's by Richard Wagner Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Alternative to Bible: King James Bible Luxury: Large filing cabinet full of A4 paper & pens

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is poet and playwright Derek Walcott. Recent winner of the WH Smith award, and described by his admirers as one of the greatest contemporary exponents of the English language, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life in St Lucia - a place he frequently returns to, when not at his post of Professor of Poetry at Boston University.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Carton of cigarettes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week has been described as the 'enfant terrible' of the restaurant world. Marco Pierre White opened his first restaurant at the age of 27, where he established a reputation both for extraordinary culinary expertise and for outrageous behaviour.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the route which took him from the Leeds council estate where he was born nearly 30 years ago, to the moment when he became the youngest chef to be awarded two Michelin stars at his restaurant, Harvey's.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: A Good Year For The Roses by Elvis Costello Book: Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point Luxury: Picture of his daughter

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a politician who is seen in many quarters as the Labour Party's strongest weapon in their battles with the government - John Smith, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. A man of great resilience, he'll be telling Sue Lawley why he still loves politics in spite of the frustration of his years in opposition, his having a heart attack two and a half years ago and having to live for much of the time away from his beloved homeland of Scotland. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Marriage Of Figaro - Final Aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Anthology of Poems Luxury: Case of champagne

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is John Simpson. Recently honoured by the Royal Television Society as Journalist of the Year, he'll be talking about his life covering foreign affairs for the BBC. In that capacity, he has reported on most of the momentous upheavals of the last few years - from Tiananmen Square to the release of Nelson Mandela, from the fall of Ceausescu to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.More recently, he was one of the very few journalists to stay on in Baghdad when the Allies began their bombardment of Iraq. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his time there, as well as his other - more frightening rather than thrilling - experiences as the BBC's Foreign Affairs Editor.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Il N'y A Plus D'Apres by Juliette Greco Book: A title in French by Marcel Proust Luxury: Flute

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is an author and adventurer. Now 93 years old, Cecil Lewis will be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary career, embracing his time as a fighter pilot during the First World War, his brush with the Red Baron, and later how he helped Lord Reith set up the BBC, which he then left for Hollywood where he was to win an Oscar for his screenplay of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Adagio No 5 by Gustav Mahler Book: Sagittarius Surviving by C S Lewis Luxury: Fax machine

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Dame Shirley Porter, who, as Lady Porter, was the flamboyant leader of the ruling Conservative Group at Westminster City Council - a post she held from 1983 until she stepped down in April 1991. She'll be telling Sue Lawley about what it was that made her go into politics at the age of 40, about her campaign for cleanliness on the streets of the capital and about her plans for the future.[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: SAS Survival Manual Luxury: Large Swiss Army knife

Chief Rabbi Elect Dr Jonathan Sacks is the castaway on Desert Island Discs this week. This avowedly 'unconventional' future leader of Britain's Jews was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household but went to Church of England schools and wanted to be an accountant before deciding that his life's work lay in his faith. Rabbi Sacks reveals how he gained, and many years later lost, his beard as well as what he hopes to achieve in his new role.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Tzomoh Lecho Nafshi by The Lubarvitches Chorus Book: The Talmud Luxury: Large supply of pencils

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the industrialist Lord King of Wartnaby, Chairman of Babcock International and of British Airways. He recalls for Sue Lawley, among other things, his early beginnings in the engineering industry, an unfortunate incident with a small plane he once owned, and what it was which made him want to take over an ailing airline more than 10 years ago.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto in A Minor by Edvard Grieg Book: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Luxury: Supply of cigars and matches

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Naomi Mitchison.Favourite track: Kishmull's Galley by Kenneth McKellar and Orchestra Book: Book of Modern Poetry Luxury: Endless supply of writing materials

This week's castaway in Desert Island Discs is the entertainer Marti Caine. Although her public life is one as comedienne, television presenter, star of a sit-com series, singer and glamorous pantomime performer, Marti Caine's private life is one that is very different. Her father died when she was seven, she was taken into care before she was 10, her first marriage broke up, and then, about four years ago, she was diagnosed as suffering from cancer of the lymph glands. She talks about the way in which she's coped with all these things and the way her sense of humour helped her through.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Thanksong by Dave Grusin Book: A DIY manual Luxury: Do-it-yourself solar-powered kit

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the industrialist and ex-president of the CBI Sir Trevor Holdsworth. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his time at the helm of the giant engineering firm Guest, Keen and Nettleford and his recent involvement with British Satellite Broadcasting - BSB - as well as some of his earlier brushes with history.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Collected Plays by J B Priestley Luxury: Upright piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Spectator columnist Jeffrey Bernard. His Low Life column has gained him something of a cult following over the 15 years or so it's been appearing; slightly irregularly. It concentrates on the kind of life in Soho which seems often to revolve solely around drinking, women and gambling - the kind of life Jeffrey Bernard enjoys, by his own admission. And of course, last year Keith Waterhouse turned some of these columns into the highly-successful West End hit Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell - a production starring Peter O'Toole which is about to return to the Shaftesbury Theatre next month.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Introitus Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Luxury: Hgih-powered hunting rifle and ammunition

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the former Chairman of Granada Television Sir Denis Forman. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the delights and disasters of a highly eccentric upbringing in Scotland and about his experiences in Italy during the war, where he lost a leg. Also, as the first producer of What the Papers Say, and the originator of the highly popular Jewel in the Crown, he'll be discussing the difficulties of making television programmes which are simultaneously popular and good.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto No 21 in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Raj Quartet by Paul Scott Luxury: Satellite dish and TV set

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is theatre and television director Ronald Eyre. A man of great versatility, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his many outstanding operatic and theatrical productions, as well as his school-teaching days, and his childhood in the Yorkshire mining village of Mapplewell. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Magic Flute - The Trio Soll Ich, Teurer by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A talking book by Judi Dench Luxury: Supply of flower bulbs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Britain's most distinguished ballet mistress Dame Ninette de Valois. She first appeared on the professional stage more than 75 years ago, and her contribution to the development of ballet in this country has been phenomenal. Now in her nineties, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she became the first director of the Vic Wells Ballet School in 1931 - a school which grew and changed over the years to become the Royal Ballet in 1956.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Book: A collection of poems Luxury: An everlasting bottle of sleeping pills

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the leader of the Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his earliest memories of a childhood in India and a subsequent career which took him through the Royal Marines, into the diplomatic service and finally into the House of Commons just seven and half years ago.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Che Gelida Manina (from La Boheme) by Giacomo Puccini Book: The collected works by John Donne Luxury: Laptop computer

The castaway in Desert Island Discs is a German politician who became an English academic. The Germany of Professor Ralf Dahrendorf's youth was that of the Third Reich but he, like his family, was fiercely opposed to the Nazi regime, and suffered imprisonment for his views. After the war, his career took him from Minister of Foreign Affairs under Willi Brandt, to the European Commission in Brussels, and then to London, where he was Director of the London School of Economics during a particularly turbulent era of its history.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his academic and political career as well as his formative years in Germany; years which he believes shaped his subsequent stern and much-admired defence of libertarian principles.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Blueberry Hill by Louis Armstrong Book: A book of Greek poetry Luxury: Dice to test the luck of a ship rescuing him

A variety of labels can be stuck on this week's Desert Island Discs castaway - from rock musician to experimental artist, from visual sculptor to composer and intellectual guru of the rock world. He is Brian Eno, and he started his career by making music playing with tape recorders, then went on to play with bands who rehearsed far more often than they performed, graduating through to the Portsmouth Sinfonia, and ending up with the hugely successful group Roxy Music.Since his Roxy Music days, he has gone on to musical collaboration with David Bowie and production of the group U2. Brian Eno will be talking to Sue Lawley about his musical and artistic activities in the mainstream, as well as on the fringes of, international cultural life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Lord Don't Forget About Me by Dorothy Love Coates Book: Contingency, Irony & Solidarity by Richard Rorty Luxury: Radio telescope

The castaway in Desert Island Discs is a man who has directed some of the most popular and memorable films in the history of cinema - High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma! and A Man for All Seasons. He is Fred Zinnemann, and he will be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood at the beginning of the century in imperial Vienna, his thwarted ambitions to be a musician, and the years he spent working in Hollywood where he directed, and on several occasions discovered, some of the best-known names in the film world, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Magnificat by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Very large self renewing bottle of scotch

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is jazz singer Adelaide Hall. Now in her 80s and still performing, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her days at the Cotton Club in New York, the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the secrets of her enduring popularity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington Book: A book of American history Luxury: Box of seeds

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who has, on occasion, been described as the Mr Fixit of British public life. Arnold Goodman started off his professional life as a bright young North London solicitor, and, through a capacity for skilful negotiation and judicious advice, became the confidante of some of the most eminent political figures of post-war Britain. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his experience of Prime Ministers and politics, as well as his passion for opera, which, as a director of the Royal Opera House, he has been able to indulge to the full.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: O Namenlose Freude by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Who's Who Luxury: An enormous box of chocolate ginger

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is television cook Keith Floyd. Renowned for his garrulous charm as much as for his culinary expertise, he'll be describing the chronicle of failure that dogged him through spells in the Army, as a cub reporter, as an antiques dealer and as a restaurateur. He'll also be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for good food, music and the elusive nature of romantic happiness.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Hey Jude by The Beatles Book: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake Luxury: Pair of handmade blue suede shoes

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists.This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan Luxury: Pencil

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the great European artists of today - Eduardo Paolozzi. One of his positions is Her Majesty's Sculptor In-ordinary for Scotland - a post rather like the Poet Laureate for Sculpture, but with no duties attached to it. But such eminence in the artistic world is in stark contrast to Sir Eduardo's humble beginnings as the son of Italian immigrants who had an ice-cream shop in Edinburgh. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood, when he was sent to Fascist youth camps in Italy for three months at a time, and the subsequent imprisonment and vilification which fell upon him and his family at the outbreak of war in 1940. He'll also be contemplating his years at the Slade and his flight to the artistic freedom of the Paris of Giacometti, Leger and Picasso. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges by Maurice Ravel Book: A tropical plant book in Italian with English gloss Luxury: Hurdy gurdy

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs rejoices in the title of the Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich in the County of Kent. A tireless campaigner on myriad issues, she brings to her work a commodity which is often in short supply in political life - a healthy sense of humour. Among other things, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her career, during which she has risen from being Mayor of Cambridge to Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - all without taking a single exam.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I'll Follow My Secret Heart by Noel Coward Book: George V by Kenneth Rose Luxury: Crown jewels (so someone will look for her)

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the black American singer Elisabeth Welch, who, in a career spanning 60 years, made famous such songs as Love For Sale, Soloman and Stormy Weather. Her first big break came in 1931 in the Broadway show The New Yorkers. The show made her a star and also gave her the lasting friendship of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Having been the toast of London, Paris and New York in pre-war years, her music still appeals across the generations.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Just One Of Those Things by Frank Sinatra Book: Who's Who In The Theatre Luxury: Photo of mother

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Baroness Castle of Blackburn - better known to most people as Barbara Castle. For 34 years she served as the Labour member for the constituency of Blackburn, and she rose to high office in the Wilson governments of the 1960s and 1970s. As the first woman Transport Minister, she introduced, amidst great controversy, the breathalyser and the motorway speed limit. She was also at the centre of legislation over equal pay for women. Then, 10 years ago, she opted out of domestic politics and into the European cauldron.Now retired from that too, and recently having celebrated her 80th birthday, she'll be looking back over her long and passionate political career, and forward to making her mark on the House of Lords.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Have A Dream Speech by Martin Luther King Book: The collected works by William Morris Luxury: Typewriter

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who, among many other achievements, gave his name to a famous report in the 1970s on the future of broadcasting - Lord Annan. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his long and distinguished career which has ranged through the Cabinet War Office, King's College Cambridge, The Royal Opera House and London University - as well as recalling many friends and acquaintances from his university days, from EM Forster to the notorious Guy Burgess.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: 7th Symphony Final Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Iliad in Greek & English by Homer Luxury: Bath essence

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the South Bank, Nicholas Snowman. Very much a man of the arts, and a determined apostle of all things new, he founded the University Opera Society when he was at Cambridge and the London Sinfonietta when he left. He then moved to Paris, where he was appointed Artistic Director of the Pompidou Centre.His latest post at the South Bank has attracted considerable controversy, with one critic describing his concert programme as "seriously unattractive". He'll be discussing his vision of the South Bank's musical future with Sue Lawley and talking about his achievement of establishing, for the first time, a resident orchestra in Britain's largest arts centre.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet No 4 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Smiley's People by John Le Carre Luxury: Coffee machine

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is comedian Ernie Wise. Since Eric Morecambe's death six years ago, Ernie has had to carve out a show business career on his own, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about life as Wise without Morecambe, as well as looking back on the highs and lows of a partnership of nearly fifty years, during which time Morecambe and Wise sang, danced and joked their way to the top of the tree.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Bring Me Sunshine by Morecombe And Wise Book: Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens Luxury: Yellow Rolls Royce

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the most colourful and controversial members of Britain's trade union movement. He is the former General-Secretary of The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs - Clive Jenkins. Now retired, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about a career which has encompassed disappointment but also considerable triumph, as well as looking back on his Methodist working-class upbringing in South Wales, and the path he trod from there to a position where he wielded extensive power and influence in the tough world of industrial relations. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Book: Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe Luxury: Video player and tape of Citizen Kane

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is an actor who rose to fame by portraying two rather different sorts of policemen on the nation's television screens. John Thaw, though a versatile stage actor, having appeared at the Royal Court and played with the Royal Shakespeare Company, is best known for the roles of Jack Reegan in the Sweeney, and, more recently, the morose but music-loving Inspector Morse. A passionate lover of classical music himself, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early childhood in Lancashire, his marriage to actress Sheila Hancock and his aversion to the perils of stardom.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Record: Erbarme Dich, Mein Gott (St Matthew Passion) Book: The Wind In The Willows by Kenneth Grahame Luxury: Large comfortable armchair

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the captain of the England football team Gary Lineker. Apprenticed to Leicester City at the age of 16, he turned professional at 18, then went on to play for England. In 1985 he was bought by Everton for £800,000. One year and 40 goals later, he was bought by Barcelona for more than two million pounds.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary skill as a footballer, his reputation for immaculate behaviour both on and off the football field and the agony of England's defeat in this year's World Cup.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Soul Limbo (Sig. Tune For Test Match Special) by Booker T And The MGs Book: Wisden Almanack for cricketers Luxury: Bowling machine

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is the effervescent actress Barbara Windsor. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early life in London's East End, the Carry On films for which she is, of course, best known, and the strain of a tumultuous private life often hidden behind the public facade of an irrepressibly good-humoured cockney sparrow.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Extract from The Secret Life Of Anthony Hancock by Galton & Simpson Book: A book about Hollywood Luxury: Writing materials and a Union flag

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer.Born in Germany in the late 1920s, her Jewish family sent her out of the country as the Nazis rose to power. Sent to the safe but lonely confines of a Swiss orphanage, she was never to see her family again. Then, after living in Israel and studying in Paris, she eventually took American citizenship. Then, 10 years ago, she emerged from obscurity to become a national celebrity. As an unemployed college lecturer in her early 50s, her appearances on radio and television, where she handed out explicit but common-sense advice on sex and its problems, brought her fame and fortune. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early life, her adventures in Paris and Israel and the satisfactions of her present job.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: There Was A Time by Joel Westheimer Book: Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell Luxury: Large box of marrons glacés

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a pillar of the British Establishment, Lord Charteris of Amisfield.Educated at Eton and Sandhurst, he became, at the age of 36, Private Secretary to the young Princess Elizabeth, whom he was to serve for nearly 30 years, retiring only after when, as Queen Elizabeth the Second, she celebrated her Silver Jubilee. After leaving the royal household, he went back to Eton, where he has been Provost for the last 12 years. Among many things, Lord Charteris will be talking to Sue Lawley about the job of Private Secretary to the Queen, and how the Eton of today differs from the Eton he attended as a schoolboy some 50 years ago.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Emperor Concerto by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Set of wood-carving tools

The Desert Island Discs guest this week is someone who should be particularly suited to castaway life - Robin Knox-Johnston was the first man to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world. Since then, he has spent much of his time at sea visiting many islands, deserted or otherwise, and recently he undertook a voyage using only those navigational instruments available to sailors 500 years ago. Very much the adventurous master mariner, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the perils and pleasures of life at sea.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs].Favourite track: Land Of Hope And Glory by Edward Elgar/Benson Book: Books identifying birds and fish Luxury: Video recorder and tapes of Queen Mother's parade

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs claims to be the highest-paid woman journalist in Britain - one of a disappearing species. The star columnist Jean Rook has shared her life for eighteen years with the millions of readers of her national newspaper column. And it's been life that has embraced tragedy as well as triumph - over the last three years she has written in her column about her experiences of breast cancer and widowhood. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the ups and downs of her life and career.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Eton Boating Song by Eton College Book: Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy Luxury: Computer

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the English National Opera Peter Jonas. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his teenage ambition to run a great opera house, his subsequent rejection from the London Coliseum when he applied to sweep the stage there, and his return as its director some 11 years later. He'll also be talking about his fight against Hodgkin's Disease, his eleven years as personal and administrative assistant to Sir Georg Solti in Chicago and his plans for the future of the English National Opera.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Die Meistersinger Act 1 Prelude by Richard Wagner Book: City of God by Saint Augustine Luxury: Cyanide, in a joint, in champagne truffle, in a fridge

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the man who can be credited with having made knitting glamorous. Designer and knitter Kaffe Fassett will be talking to Sue Lawley about the inspiration for his extraordinary bold and simple designs which have brought him fame and fortune the world over, and also waxing lyrical over the colours and patterns he uses, which reflect Byzantine carpets, Roman glass or just simple fruit, vegetables and shells. He'll also be talking about his bohemian childhood in California and the route which turned him into an Anglophile and led him to an exhibition of his work at the Victoria and Albert Museum.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi Book: Reflections by Hermann Hesse Luxury: Diary and pen

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the country's most expensive and sought-after barristers - George Carman QC. A virtuoso of the courtroom, he has made his name successfully defending the famous - from former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe to well-known show business names like Peter Adamson, Maria Aitken and Ken Dodd. He will be talking to Sue Lawley about his perception of the key to successful advocacy and making a definitive judgement on the eight records he would take to his desert island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Golden Treasury by Francis Palgrave Luxury: Painting Of Grand Canal In Venice"

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is theatrical impresario Harold Fielding. The name behind a dazzling array of hit musicals like Half A Sixpence, Charlie Girl, Sweet Charity and Barnum, his failures have been nearly as spectacular as his successes - his production of Ziegfeld crashed two years ago, making a loss of more than two million pounds, and this year his new musical with Petula Clark had to close early. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the highs and lows of show business life and about the stars he has looked after, such as Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and Ginger Rogers, to name but a few.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto in A Minor - Opening by Robert Schumann Book: Great Murder Trials of 20th Century by Sir David Napley Luxury: Large bag of sugar

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist Maeve Binchy. During her Catholic childhood in a small Irish village, she nurtured an ambition, not just to lead a life of religious devotion, but to become a saint. Later on, she aspired to the legal profession, where her horizons stretched far beyond barristers and briefs to, at the very least, Chief Justice of Ireland. But it was ultimately as a writer that Maeve Binchy achieved enormous success, with novels like Light a Penny Candle and many others making her name as one of the most successful popular authors of her time. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood in Ireland, the loss of her religious faith and her ultimate success as an author of popular fiction.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Brendan Theme by Liam O'Flynn Book: Teach Yourself Bridge Luxury: Photograph album