Desert Island Discs

Tickling sticks, diddy men, Knotty Ash - all these can mean but one thing: that this week's Desert Island Discs castaway is comedian Ken Dodd. Though his professional debut took place some 36 years ago, Mr Dodd still proclaims himself a mere spring chicken of 35 or, at a pinch, 36. As befits most jesters, he has had his share of troubles along with the laughter. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his library of books on humour, the loyalty of his audience through good and bad times and his early years in Knotty Ash, where he still lives in his childhood home.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: For The Good Times by Perry Como Book: Times Atlas of the World Luxury: A box of scented soap

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a politician. Elected to Sheffield City Council at the age of 22, he went on to become its leader for seven years, after which he made the smooth and successful transition to Parliament, where he now sits on the opposition front bench as local government spokesman. Beside him sits his guide dog Offa, because David Blunkett has been blind since birth.He will be talking to Sue Lawley about his struggles to get his 'O' and 'A' Levels and eventually his degree, his time in local and now national politics and the many problems he has overcome to reach his present position.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Book: Anthology of Verse by Robert Graves Luxury: Radio/cassette machine

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actor Jonathan Pryce. Since the early 1970s, he has taken on many guises and received many plaudits. He was called the new Brando when he appeared on Broadway, and his Shakespearian roles - Hamlet and Macbeth - elicited comparisons with the late Lord Olivier. Most recently, he has diversified from classical roles, feature films and television plays to take a new path with an all-singing, award-winning performance in the West End's biggest hit of the year - Miss Saigon. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his accidental entry into the acting world and the pitfalls and pleasures of his profession.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cello Quintet In C by Franz Schubert Book: Short Stories by Bernard MacLaverty Luxury: Endless supply of rum punch

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the most highly acclaimed writers of today. The author of Good Behaviour, Time After Time and Loving and Giving, she began writing in the early 20s using the pseudonym MJ Farrell to conceal her identity from her sporting friends in Ireland, where she was born and grew up. It was a world of snobbery and decaying aristocracy which she portrays in her books with excruciating accuracy. Then, after a period in the early 50s as a successful playwright, she fell silent, to emerge 25 years later under her real name, Molly Keane, and went on to achieve huge success and literary recognition. Now 86, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood, her books and her Ireland.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Greensleeves by James Galway Book: A bound copy of the Spectator magazines Luxury: A bed, netted from snakes and flies

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Prue Leith, professional cook, restaurateur and, most recently, mass caterer, with a brasserie in Hyde Park and cream teas in Hampton Court. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood in South Africa, her family's lack of interest in food, her own conversion to the delights of cooking good food and her early days running a catering company from a bedsit in Earl's Court.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 6 (Pastoral) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Barchester Novels by Anthony Trollope Luxury: Jeroboam of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the most familiar and best-loved figures of British comedy over the last 40 years - June Whitfield. Whether as Eth, with her boyfriend Ron, in the Glums in the 1950s, or June, with Terry Scott, in Terry and June, her consummate professionalism has brought laughter and fun to millions of people. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early career as well as her most recent one as what has been described as Britain's answer to Jane Fonda, presenting a keep-fit TV programme for the over-60s.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Trolley Song by Judy Garland Book: A do-it-yourself manual Luxury: Supply of cocoa butter and hat

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is novelist Mary Wesley. Although she has written poetry and prose throughout her life, it was not until she was a widow in her 70s, struggling to make ends meet, that she had her first book, Jumping the Queue, published. That was eight years ago, and since then she has gone on to write six more best-sellers like The Camomile Lawn and Not That Sort of Girl. Mary Wesley will be talking to Sue Lawley about the pleasures and perils of her late arrival to literary fame and choosing eight records to accompany her to her desert island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 7 - Final Movement by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Luxury: Denis Healey or large double bed with pillows

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Crispin Tickell, Britain's Ambassador to the United Nations. As well as being an ambassador, he is also a passionate meteorologist and conservationist - a cool diplomat who's made himself an expert on global warming. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his many postings, passions and pastimes.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quartet No 1 by Johannes Brahms Book: Guide To Science by Asimov Luxury: Solar-powered telescope

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Rt Hon John Biffen MP. One of the most popular men at Westminster and a dedicated parliamentarian, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about his early passion for history and politics, his later dismissal from the cabinet by Mrs Thatcher, and also discussing the current debate surrounding the leadership of the Conservative Party.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The English Character (speech) by Stanley Baldwin Book: 1946 Wisden Almanack for cricketers Luxury: Rain gauge

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's leading and most controversial architects Richard Rogers. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about two of his most celebrated designs - the Pompidou Centre in Paris and the Lloyds Building in London - and describing how his passion for the new and the innovative has brought him into disagreement with many critics, including Prince Charles, with whom he shares a passionate concern for the quality of our built environment.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto No 24 Second Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Odyssey by Homer Luxury: His wife, Ruth, but if this is disallowed then a painting

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is scientist Professor Sir George Porter. Currently President of the Royal Society, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his route from the local school - a tin shack called the Tin Lizzie, in the mining village in which he was born - to Nobel Prize winner for chemistry in 1967, and discussing the parlous state of science and science teaching in the 1990s.[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: Non-Equilibrium Thermo Dynamics by Prigogine Luxury: Computer, paper and pen

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Sir Ian Trethowan. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his days as a copy boy earning 27/6d on the Daily Sketch, his early journalistic career, his transition from television presenter to manager of BBC Radio, and some of the dramas and crises which characterised his days as Director-General of the BBC. A lifelong opera lover, he'll also be choosing eight records for his island idyll.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Der Rosenkavalier (Hab Mirs Gelobt) Final Act by Richard Strauss Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is, by his own account, very difficult to classify - his talents span comedy, writing, acting and improvisation. He has appeared in the television adaption of Porterhouse Blue and can be heard on Spitting Image as the voice of Norman Tebbitt and Lord Olivier. He has also appeared in the West End as Napoleon, as well as playing nearly forty supporting roles. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his meteoric rise to fame since he abandoned the academic world just eight years ago.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 2 -The End by Gustav Mahler Book: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens Luxury: A 78rpm record of The Laughing Policeman (to smash on the rocks)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the journalist John Pilger. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his arrival in this country from Australia 28 years ago, and how he went on to become one of the best-known and often most contentious foreign correspondents on the Daily Mirror during the 1960s. His reporting of events from all over the world, but most notably Cambodia, has brought him fame and admiration, as well as criticism and controversy for his campaigning style. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about these issues.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Blue Moon Of Kentucky by Elvis Presley Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Typewriter

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American conductor and virtuoso Michael Tilson Thomas. As well as being an internationally recognised musician, his passion for music and his desire to bring his own enthusiasm to as wide an audience as possible have made him something of a television star in America. In this country, he has been principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly two years, and has been called the most exciting American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi Book: Collected Poems by Raine Maria Rilke Luxury: Yamaha computerised concert grand piano

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Sarah Miles. Discovered at the tender age of 18 by Sir Laurence Olivier, and picked by him to play opposite him in Term of Trial, she went on to entertain and entrance in films like The Servant, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and, perhaps most famously, Ryan's Daughter. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her professional and private life - both of which have been characterised by a fair degree of turmoil and turbulence.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Negro Spiritual by Miles Book: I Ching Luxury: Word processor

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a publisher; a man who came to this country 52 years ago with a 16/6d postal order in his pocket and very poor English. Over half a century later, he is a cultured and successful businessman, renowned for his glittering parties and wide circle of eminent friends, many of whom write books for him. He is Lord Weidenfeld, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his rise from being an impoverished immigrant, to becoming one of Britain's leading intellectual and social figures.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don Giovanni - The Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Luxury: Armchair with coffee machine & rescue signal

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Robin Day. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about going with his father to hear Churchill speak at a political rally when he was a boy, recalling his days at post-war Oxford, the early days at ITN and his long association with politicians in front of the microphone.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Drinking Song by Giuseppe Verdi Book: The Oxford Book of English Verse Luxury: Magnums of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. For over 20 years the guru of pop fans, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life at public school, his work as a DJ in the States in the early 1960s, his family, his passion for Liverpool Football Club and, of course, his lifelong passion for pop music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Teenage Kicks by The Undertones Book: Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell Luxury: Football

This week's castaway is Dennis Skinner MP. Recently described as the backbenchers' backbencher, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about Parliament and politics and choosing eight records to accompany him on his solitary island adventure.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Daddy, What Did You Do in the Strike? by Peggy Seeger Book: Let's Face the Music by Benny Green Luxury: Bike

In this week's edition of Desert Island Discs the castaway is film actor and writer Dirk Bogarde. Among many other things, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about why life as a national heart-throb has never really suited him, about his many years living in Provence and about the film of which he himself is most proud - Visconti's Death in Venice.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: 5th Symphony 4th Movement by Gustav Mahler Book: Akenfield by Ronald Blythe Luxury: Distillery

The castaway in this week's edition of Desert Island Discs is Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. After a lifelong devotion to music, she will be whittling down her choice of eight records with great difficulty. Now Patron of the Leeds Piano Competition and the Yehudi Menuhin School, as well as President of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Duchess of Kent studied music herself until she was twenty-five. Her Royal Highness will be talking to Sue Lawley about her love of music, her Yorkshire childhood and her prolific work for charity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Ave Verum Corpus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A do-it-yourself manual Luxury: Lamp with solar batteries

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actress Pauline Collins. As someone who has been entertaining television audiences for over twenty years in popular series like Emergency Ward 10 and Upstairs, Downstairs, she has simultaneously pursued a theatrical career which recently burgeoned into huge success with her portrayal of Shirley Valentine - the trapped Liverpool housewife who finds escape on a Greek island. It's a part which has won her great acclaim both on the stage and in the recent film version. Pauline Collins will be talking to Sue Lawley about the international star status Shirley Valentine has brought her and recalling milestones and memories of her career.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy Book: Teach yourself physics Luxury: Papers, pencils, paints

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood and his memories of university life, as well as his subsequent journalistic and political experiences, including the more recent upheavals in his political career.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet In A Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by John Donne Luxury: Radio receiver

This episode of Desert Island Discs exists for reference, as part of the most complete possible archive resource of programmes from the long-running series, and was broadcast in 1989. The castaway is Diana Mosley, a Mitford girl who married Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists. During the interview with Sue Lawley, Lady Mosley discusses her contentious continued denial of the Holocaust and admiration for Adolf Hitler, along with her and her husband’s imprisonment during most of the war years and her close friendship with the neighbours who shared her subsequent exile in France, the Duke and Duchess of Windsor. [Programme information updated February 2022]Favourite track: Die Walküre by Richard Wagner Book: Books by Marcel Proust Luxury: Soft pillow

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Seamus Heaney, a Catholic Ulsterman who has been acclaimed by many as the best Irish poet since Yeats. He was recently elected Oxford Professor of Poetry, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his idyllic rural childhood as the eldest of nine children, his transition to university life and the sources of his poetic inspiration.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Quartet No 13 in B Flat Major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Doc Marten boots

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is theatrical producer Michael Codron. During the 30 years he has been in the business, some of Britain's most eminent modern playwrights - John Mortimer, Alan Ayckbourn and Tom Stoppard for example - started their writing careers under his patronage. He's also turned his hand to popular entertainment in the form of hit plays like Crown Matrimonial and There's a Girl in my Soup. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his successes as well as his failures, and the risky but compulsive character of show business life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 1 in C by Georges Bizet Book: Caroline and Charlotte by Alison Plowman Luxury: Jigsaw puzzles

If you were told that this week's Desert Island Discs castaway took ballet lessons as a child, was a moderately angelic choirboy and now plays golf, badminton and cricket, as well as walking long distances for charity, the name of Ian Botham might well not spring immediately to mind. But it will indeed be Mr Ian Botham who'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his exploits on and off the cricket field, as well as discussing his ambition to captain the England team again.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I'm Still Standing by Elton John Book: Encyclopaedia of species of fish of the world Luxury: Fishing rod

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist and travel writer Colin Thubron. Author of books on the Middle East, China and Russia, he will be divulging to Sue Lawley some of the delights and dangers of his many experiences, as well as sharing his passion for music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Love Duet (from Creation) by Franz Joseph Haydn Book: A Year of Grace by Victor Gollancz Luxury: Scuba-diving equipment

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is playwright Alan Plater. He has been writing plays for radio, television, theatre and cinema since the early 1960s, having served his apprenticeship on Z-Cars in the days of live television drama. Since then, he has been associated with major television adaptions like The Barchester Chronicles and Fortunes of War. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his work, as well as recalling his childhood in the north of England in the 1930s and 1940s - an idyllic time for him despite the inconveniences of the Depression and the Blitz.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Fine & Mellow by Billie Holiday Book: Smell of Sunday Dinner by Sid Chaplin Luxury: Writing materials

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is veteran actor Jack Lemmon. With nearly 50 films to his name, including comedy classics like The Odd Couple and Some Like It Hot, as well as more serious films like Missing and The China Syndrome, he's also an accomplished jazz pianist, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for music and the vital part it has played in his life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin Book: A Play in the Fields of our Lord by Peter Matheson Luxury: Piano

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a woman of many passions - passions for places, people and the past. She is photographer Lucinda Lambton, and she'll be sharing her love of the unusual and the beautiful with Sue Lawley.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Quartet (from Act 2 of Fidelio) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Dictionary of National Biography Luxury: Word processor

This week's Desert Island Discs will be a form of tribute to the pianist John Ogdon, who died last month.In the programme, you can hear about his early musical life and his enormous success on the international music scene - a success which was cut short by a devastating nervous breakdown which brought his career to a halt. During his conversation with Sue Lawley, he talked about that illness, his eventual recovery and subsequent return to the concert platform and recording studios.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 1 in B Minor 1st Movement by William Walton Book: The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins Luxury: Steinway piano

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's leading writers, Penelope Lively. Author of eight novels, two of which were shortlisted for the Booker Prize and one which won her the prize in 1987, Moon Tiger, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early childhood in Egypt, her philistine English boarding school and the sources of inspiration for her characters and books.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Ruhe Sanft, Mein Holdes Leben (from Zaide) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Moby Dick by Herman Melville Luxury: Binoculars

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the legendary figures of the British rock music scene - guitarist Eric Clapton. Once known, blasphemously, as 'God', with prolific graffiti announcing 'Eric Clapton is God', he played with, among others, the Yardbirds, Cream and Blind Faith. Dealing successfully with years of alcohol and drug-related problems, he's still one of rock's superstars, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for music and his life of turmoil.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Purple Rain by Prince Book: Barnaby Rudge by Charles Dickens Luxury: Guitar

As part of Radio 4's commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the outbreak of the Second World War, the castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs will be Dame Vera Lynn.She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her own wartime experiences - as the now-legendary 'forces sweetheart' she performed in front of servicemen as far away as Burma, and as close to home as London's Regent's Park, and since then she has been constantly in demand all over the world for her singing and her songs, reviving as they do wartime memories both happy and sad.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Room 504 by Vera Lynn Book: A book of edible fruits and vegetables Luxury: Watercolour paints, brushes and paper

This week's castaway is Sir Thomas Armstrong, formerly Principal of the Royal Academy of Music, and now 91 years old. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his many years of teaching and performing music, judging music competitions and carrying out the almost impossible task of choosing just eight records to take to the mythical island from a lifetime filled with music from an early age.Favourite track: Brigg Fair by Frederick Delius Luxury: Clavichord

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is something of a show business all-rounder - the moving spirit behind BBC TV's That Was the Week That Was, director of the musical Side by Side by Sondheim and currently presenter of Radio 4's Loose Ends. He is, of course, Ned Sherrin, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his idyllic childhood as a Somerset farmer's son, and the many different turns his life has subsequently taken.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: As Time Goes By by Elisabeth Welch Book: No Bed For Bacon by Caryl Brahms Luxury: Seed potatoes

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is the man who, as well as transforming Wimbledon into a multi-million pound industry, manages the professional lives of some of the biggest Wimbledon names - Ivan Lendl and Martina Navratilova, for example. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his formidable business and management skills and how he is now applying them to the world of classical music, taking on clients like Kiri Te Kanawa and Itzhak Perlman.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Drive All Night by Bruce Springsteen Book: Les Miserables by Victor Hugo Luxury: Suntan lotion

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who, over the last seven years, has become a superstar of the small screen, playing the venomous Alexis Carrington in the television soap opera Dynasty. She is, of course, Joan Collins, and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about Alexis, as well as her many other roles, working with such great names as Jack Hawkins, Bette Davis, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby. That's Joan Collins, discussing Hollywood, husbands and the pursuit of happiness.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Intermezzo (from Manon Lescaut) by Giacomo Puccini Book: The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde Luxury: Large bottle of sun tan oil and moisturiser

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is actress Maria Aitken, who will be talking to Sue Lawley about her current reputation as the finest exponent of Noel Coward's leading ladies and her film roles; among them John Cleese's wife in A Fish Called Wanda. She'll also be discussing her many other careers as writer, chatshow hostess and journalist.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Duet (from La Traviata) by Giuseppe Verdi Book: Fun in a Chinese Laundry by Josef von Sternberg Luxury: Amazonian rain maker

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is Director of Friends of the Earth Jonathon Porritt. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his passionate commitment to the preservation of the planet, and also confessing that, even though he is seen by many as the guru of self-sufficiency and all things green, he would be totally at a loss when it came to surviving island life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Humpback Whale Music by Humpback Whales Book: Bleak House by Charles Dickens Luxury: Fountain pen

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is ideally suited to speculate on the pleasures and perils of island life, owning, as he does, his own island. He's Richard Branson, tycoon and entrepreneur, who made his first million while still in his teens, having left school at 15. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his family, his business philosophy and also his daredevil exploits with power boats and hot air balloons.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: In The Air Tonight by Phil Collins Book: Teach yourself Japanese phrase book Luxury: Notebooks and pens

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the country's leading former diplomats, Sir Nicholas Henderson. He has served in Britain's embassies all over the world - including Poland, West Germany and Paris, but was most prominent as our man in Washington during the Falklands War. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the pleasures and pitfalls of this somewhat nomadic, but nevertheless glamorous existence, and choosing eight records to accompany him on this, his final posting.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto No 19 In F Major Third Movement by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Short Stories by Guy de Maupassant Luxury: Sculpture from The Louvre and a box of different seeds

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most successful fashion designers - Katharine Hamnett.She started in the business 10 years ago with a £500 loan, and now runs a company with a £10 million turnover. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the connection between politics and fashion, and also about her famous baggy white t-shirts, which bear political and ecological slogans, and the memorable occasion when she wore one of them on a visit to 10 Downing Street.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Big Head by Max Bygraves Book: The I Ching Luxury: Aircraft carrier (to decorate)

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is one of Britain's greatest and best-loved character actresses, Thora Hird. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her lifelong involvement with the theatre - she first appeared on the stage at eight weeks old - and discussing more recent roles, such as Doris in Alan Bennett's play A Cream Cracker Under the Settee; a part which this year won her the BAFTA award for best television actress.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Onward Christian Soldiers by The Harry Simeone Chorale Book: Scene & Hird by Thora Hird Luxury: Cleansing milk

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most popular comedians, Lenny Henry. His talent emerged at the age of 16, when he was one of the star turns on New Faces, and he has since gone from strength to strength - appearing in television programmes like TISWAS and Three of a Kind, doing unforgettable imitations as well as creating his own characters. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] He'll be giving Sue Lawley glimpses of these characters as well as talking about his time with the Black and White Minstrels, and his most recent role, as one of the moving forces behind Comic Relief, when he and fellow comedians banded together to raise millions of pounds for the people of Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.Favourite track: I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Graphic novels (Comics)

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is someone who now sits at the head of one of this country's most famous theatrical dynasties - the remarkable Redgraves. But Lady Redgrave, as Rachel Kempson, is also a highly-regarded actress in her own right - still treading the boards at the age of 78 - and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her long career on the stage, her marriage to Sir Michael Redgrave and the pitfalls and pleasures of a family which now encompasses three generations of acting talent.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: If The Heart Of A Man by Michael Redgrave Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Luxury: Case of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is biologist and conservationist Miriam Rothschild. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her lifelong fascination with all forms of natural life, including her passion for fleas, worms and butterflies, and also how she welcomes the prospect of exile to the mythical island as an opportunity to discover and investigate unlimited flora and fauna. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cello Suite No 5 - Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica Luxury: Bag of wild flower seed

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Lord Jenkins of Hillhead - formerly Roy Jenkins.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his long and varied political career, which has encompassed periods as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and this country's first President of the European Commission. He'll also be looking back on his Welsh origins and the early days of the Social Democratic Party, of which he was a founding member, as well as challenging his popular image as a claret-drinking intellectual.Favourite track: Theme (from Enigma Variations) by Edward Elgar Book: Who Was Who Luxury: Case of Bordeaux wine