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BBC Radio 4


Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.


Desert Island Discs

Ash Atalla is a television producer whose first hit was the BBC sitcom The Office, starring Ricky Gervais. He followed it up with the IT Crowd, People Just Do Nothing, Big Boys and Stath Lets Flats. His haul of awards from these programmes include six BAFTAs, four Royal Television Society awards, a Golden Globe and an Emmy.
 
Ash was born in Cairo and when he was six months old he contracted polio. He has been a wheelchair user all his life and believes the challenges he faced in his early life ignited his drive and ambition.

Ash graduated from the University of Bath with a degree in Business Administration and became a stockbroker for an investment bank. It was a fleeting career as he soon realised he wasn’t a natural when it came to numbers. His next stop was the BBC where he eventually joined the comedy department.

Ash produced both series of The Office and, after leaving the BBC, moved on to the award-winning Channel 4 comedy series the IT Crowd and later the BBC’s People Just Do Nothing, the sitcom about a London pirate radio station. 

He co-founded the production company Roughcut TV in 2007 and recently produced the six-part drama series Little Disasters, starring Jo Joyner and Diane Kruger.

Ash lives in London.

DISC ONE: Everything She Wants - Wham! 
DISC TWO: Enta Omri (“You Are My Life”) - Umm Kulthum 
DISC THREE: At Night - Shakedown
DISC FOUR: Against All Odds (Take a Look at Me Now) - Phil Collins
DISC FIVE: My Ever Changing Moods - The Style Council
DISC SIX: Handbags and Gladrags – Rod Stewart
DISC SEVEN: The Universal - Blur 
DISC EIGHT: The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

BOOK CHOICE: Rewire Your Anxious Brain: Stop Overthinking, Find Calm, and Be Present by Nick Trenton 
LUXURY ITEM: An Indian restaurant
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: The Girl is Mine - Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Ash Atalla, producer

Carol Klein is a gardener, broadcaster and longtime contributor to BBC Gardeners’ World. She is a six time Chelsea Flower Show gold medal winner, a certified RHS Horticultural Hero and was awarded the RHS Victoria Medal of Honour. 

Born in 1945 in Lancashire, Carol was the eldest of three children and her love of gardening was evident when she used to bring soil in from the outside as a toddler, and make a garden on the lino floor of her mum’s kitchen. 

She began her career as an art teacher, working for many years in London schools. After meeting her husband, Neil, they eventually moved to Devon to buy a house and create a garden. They have lived in Glebe Cottage for forty seven years and it’s been the base for Carol’s former plant business as well as the location for some of her TV programmes. 

Carol never intended to be a professional gardener. She followed that path after becoming a parent and deciding not to return to her teaching career. After first growing plants successfully for local markets, she then started entering professional garden shows up and down the country winning six Chelsea gold medals in the process. 

Carol lives in Devon with her husband Neil.

DISC ONE: Feeling Good - Nina Simone
DISC TWO: Not Fade Away - Buddy Holly 
DISC THREE: Corrina, Corrina - Bob Dylan 
DISC FOUR: Let’s Stay Together - Al Green 
DISC FIVE: Perfect Day - Lou Reed 
DISC SIX: Tutti Frutti - Little Richard
DISC SEVEN: Skylark (Alauda Arvensis)
DISC EIGHT: Radio, Radio - Elvis Costello & The Attractions

BOOK CHOICE: Flora Britannica by Richard Mabey
LUXURY ITEM: A bottle of perfume
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Skylark (Alauda Arvensis) 

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor

Carol Klein, gardener

Sir Gregory Doran is the former artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. He spent a total of thirty five years with the RSC directing fifty productions in the UK and abroad. He’s been called “one of the great Shakespeareans of his age” and has won multiple awards for his work.

Born in 1958, Greg was brought up near Preston and played a number of female Shakespeare roles when he was a young pupil attending an all-boys secondary school. 

He went on to study English and Drama at Bristol University followed by a stint studying classical acting at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. 

After a few bit parts in TV sitcoms and a spell at Nottingham Playhouse, Sir Greg decided that he would prefer to carve out a career as a director. He went on to stage some of the most critically acclaimed theatre productions – including an all-black cast of Julius Caesar and took Titus Andronicus to South Africa.

More recently, he has been touring the globe on his Shakespeare’s First Folio tour to look at as many different copies of the texts as possible. 

He survives his husband, the actor Sir Anthony Sher whom he met in 1987 whilst they were both part of a production of the Merchant of Venice at the RSC in Stratford. Sir Greg lives in London.

DISC ONE: Giulio Cesare in Egitto, HWV 17, Act 1: Duetto. "Son nata a lagrimar" (Cornelia, Sesto) Composed by Georg Friedrich Händel and performed by Nathalie Stutzmann (contralto) Philippe Jaroussky (counter tenor) Oreo 55 (Orchestra) 
DISC TWO: Sicut cervus – The Choir of Preston Catholic College
DISC THREE: Born Free - Matt Monro 
DISC FOUR: It’s Raining Men - The Weather Girls 
DISC FIVE: Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes - Paul Simon 
DISC SIX: J.S. Bach: Cantata \"Ich habe genug\" BWV 82: I. \"Ich habe genug, ich habe den Heiland\". Performed by Thomas Quasthoff (bass-baritone), Berliner Barock Solisten, conducted by Rainer Kussmaul
DISC SEVEN: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: 2. Andante. Composed by Mozart and performed by Alfred Brendel (piano) and Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner
DISC EIGHT: Where the Bee Sucks - Paul Englishby, Royal Shakespeare Company 
 
BOOK CHOICE: A 1609 copy of Shakespeare’s Sonnets
LUXURY ITEM: A shelf of photo albums
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A, K.414: 2. Andante. Composed by Mozart and performed by Alfred Brendel (piano) and Academy of St Martin in the Fields, conducted by Sir Neville Marriner

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor

Sir Gregory Doran, director

From Paul McCartney to Wham! 

Comedian Sarah Millican shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. 

Her every woman yet no-holds-barred style of comedy has brought her sell-out tours and several of her own highly successful TV series. Revelling in normality and drawing on the difficult, intimate and ofter extruciating moments of being human, she dares to say what most of us are thinking, only she's much funnier.

A Geordie, born in South Shields, her dad was an engineer down the mines and her mum was a hairdresser. They encouraged their daughter in her storytelling and performing even though her childhood shyness meant she'd recite her poetry from behind the living room curtains. 

Later it was pain that first propelled her onto the stage when a broken early marriage provided the catalyst she needed to find the courage to confront the glaring judgement of the audience's gaze. Her rise was then rapid. Within four years she was awarded the Best Newcomer prize at the Edinburgh Fringe.

She says, "People come along and think, 'oh she's being too rude'. They don't realise I'm just like this at home. People think I'm prim and proper at home but I'm not - I'm just me transplanted onto the stage".

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 December 2014.

Sarah Millican

Norma Percy is a documentary film-maker. She has been making programmes for over three decades and her productions have featured a range of political leaders from Tony Blair and Bill Clinton to Mikhail Gorbachev and Slobodan Milošević. 

Her film-making method, which she developed alongside her colleague Brian Lapping, tells the stories of our times by taking viewers into the room where the big decisions were made, with the people who made them.

Norma was born in New York City and majored in Government at Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1963 she moved to London where she studied at the London School of Economics, before finding a job in the House of Commons as a researcher for the MP John Mackintosh.

In 1972 she became a researcher for Brian Lapping, working on the Granada series State of the Nation. Later she produced The Second Russian Revolution and the award-winning Watergate – a five-part BBC series about the Watergate scandal.

Her programmes have won an Emmy, two BAFTAs and four Royal Television Awards. Norma lives in London with her husband, the geneticist Professor Steve Jones. 

DISC ONE: Be Prepared - Tom Lehrer 
DISC TWO: Waltz in C sharp-minor, Op.64 No. 2. Composed by Frederic Chopin and performed by Khatia Buniatishvili 
DISC THREE: Well, Did You Evah? - Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra
DISC FOUR: Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles 
DISC FIVE: Never Say No - The Fantasticks New Off-Broadway Cast 
DISC SIX: Swan Lake, Op. 20, TH.12 / Act 3: The Black Swan. Composed by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and performed by Erich Gruenberg (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Bonynge 
DISC SEVEN: It Ain’t Me Babe - Joan Baez 
DISC EIGHT: Political Science - Randy Newman 

BOOK CHOICE: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust 
LUXURY ITEM: A hot shower
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It Ain’t Me Babe - Joan Baez 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Norma Percy, film-maker

Lord Alf Dubs is a Labour peer and former MP. He came to the UK from Prague in 1939 on one of the Kindertransport trains organised by Sir Nicholas Winton which rescued mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

Alf was born in Prague in 1932. His father was from a Jewish background and was brought up in what was then Northern Bohemia while his mother came from Austria. His father left Prague for London as soon as the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939. In June, when he was six-years-old, Alf was put on a Kindertransport train, arriving at Liverpool Street station two days later where he was met by his father. His mother eventually joined them in London the day before war broke out. 

Alf studied Politics and Economics at the London School of Economics and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Battersea South in May 1979. He lost his seat in 1987 and the following year he was appointed director of the Refugee Council, becoming the first refugee to head up the charity.

In March 2016 Alf tabled an amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act (known as the Dubs Amendment) which asked the Government to accept 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children into the UK. The amendment passed but the Government closed the scheme the following year after accepting 480 children.

In 2016 Alf received the Humanist of the Year award by Humanists UK of which he is also a patron. In 2021 his Czech citizenship was restored making him the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.

DISC ONE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet 
DISC TWO: Smetana: Má Vlast, JB1:112: 2. Vltava. Performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek 
DISC THREE: She's Leaving Home - The Beatles 
DISC FOUR: Bandiera Rossa - Canzoniere del Lame
DISC FIVE: Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D Major, K. 412: I. Allegro. Performed by Barry Tuckwell (French horn), Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner 
DISC SIX: Danny Boy - Daniel O'Donnell 
DISC SEVEN: Take This Waltz - Leonard Cohen
DISC EIGHT: Ode to Joy. Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt

BOOK CHOICE: Germinal by Émile Zola 
LUXURY ITEM: Walking boots 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Lord Alf Dubs, politician and campaigner

Professor Lucy Easthope is an adviser on disaster recovery and planning. 

She’s an expert in planning for and reacting to major incidents: natural disaster, terrorist attacks, pandemics and fires, and is the visiting Professor of Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath.

Born in Merseyside in 1978, Lucy cites the impact of watching the Hillsborough football disaster on TV as a child as one of the driving reasons of her decision to pursue a career in disaster management. Her work has involved working in mortuaries, attending fatal accidents and training teams to react to emergencies. 

Alongside her career, Lucy has written two books about emergency planning and disaster recovery. 

Lucy lives in Shropshire with her husband and two children.

DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem
DISC TWO: Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy. Performed by Matthew Steynor (organ) and The Choir of Queens' College Cambridge, conducted by James Weeks 
DISC THREE: Overture And A Prisoner Of The Crusades (From Chains To Freedom) Composed by Michael Kamen and performed by Greater Los Angeles Orchestra, conducted by Patti Fidelibus
DISC FOUR: Tender - Blur 
DISC FIVE: Trustfall - Pink 
DISC SIX: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman 
DISC SEVEN: Something’s Missing - Come From Away Company 
DISC EIGHT: Thunderstruck - AC/DC 

BOOK CHOICE: The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden 
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered torch
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Tender - Blur 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Professor Lucy Easthope, emergency planner

Romesh Ranganathan is a comedian and BAFTA-winning broadcaster who has been a fixture on British television screens for the past decade. In addition to his TV shows and stand-up tours he presents the Weakest Link on BBC One, Radio Two’s Saturday morning show and another weekly Radio Two programme in which he shares his passion for hip hop music. 

Romesh was born in Crawley in West Sussex where he still lives. His parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka in 1975. His father Ranga was an accountant who spent time in prison for fraud during Romesh’s teenage years. At that point Romesh and his brother were brought up by their mother Sivashanthini – known as Shanthi – who has appeared alongside Romesh on several of his television programmes.

In 2001 Romesh became a maths teacher at the school where he’d previously been a pupil. A few years later he started taking part in open mic evenings where he developed his skills as a stand-up. In 2011 he quit his teaching job to pursue a career in comedy. 

He has spoken candidly about his own mental health and in 2023 he became a patron of the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). 

Romesh lives in Crawley with his wife Leesa and their three sons.

DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem
DISC TWO: Let’s Hear it for the Boy - Deniece Williams 
DISC THREE: The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News 
DISC FOUR: Through the Wire - Kanye West 
DISC FIVE: Broken Clocks - SZA
DISC SIX: Back at One - Brian McKnight 
DISC SEVEN: I Wish - Stevie Wonder 
DISC EIGHT: Bring the Noise - Public Enemy 
 
BOOK CHOICE: Life of Pi by Yann Martel 
LUXURY ITEM: An unlimited supply of aubergine curry 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Back at One - Brian McKnight 

If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, including urgent support, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Romesh Ranganathan, comedian and broadcaster

Abdulrazak Gurnah is emeritus Professor of Post-Colonial Literatures at the University of Kent and the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature. 

Born in Zanzibar in 1948, the second of six children, Abdulrazak grew up in the dying days of the island’s status as a British protectorate before independence was declared in 1963. The revolution which followed made Zanzibar an undesirable and unsafe place to live in for young men of Arab heritage. In 1967, he left to seek opportunities in Britain.

He subsidised his studies through a series of low paid jobs which included strawberry picking, factory work and time as a hospital porter. In the evenings he was studying at night school and after gaining a PhD in English, he joined the University of Kent, eventually becoming a Professor.

Alongside his academic career, Abdulrazak was writing and it took him twelve years to find a publisher for his 1987 debut novel, Memory of Departure.

He has published ten more novels since then, including 1994’s Paradise and 2001’s By the Sea (short and longlisted for the Booker Prize respectively) which explore themes of exile, displacement, belonging and colonialism. He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his body of work and “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. 

He lives in Kent, with his wife, the Guyanese-born scholar, Denise de Caires Narain. 

DISC ONE: Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles
DISC TWO: Petite Fleur - Sidney Bechet 
DISC THREE: Nipepee - Seif Salim 
DISC FOUR: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 - 1. Allegro maestoso. Composed by Clara Schumann. Performed by Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano) and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Holly Mathieson
DISC FIVE: A Day in the Life - The Beatles
DISC SIX: Kaira - Toumani Diabaté
DISC SEVEN: So What - Miles Davis 
DISC EIGHT: Folon - Salif Keita 

BOOK CHOICE: That Glimpse of Truth: The 100 Finest Short Stories Ever Written selected by David Miller 
LUXURY ITEM: A nail clipper 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Petite Fleur - Sidney Bechet 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Abdulrazak Gurnah, writer

Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu is Professor of Pharmaceutical Nanoscience at University College London and President of Wolfson College, University of Cambridge. 

She has devoted her career to harnessing the potential of nanoparticles – which are less than a thousandth of the width of a human hair - to take medicines to hard-to-reach areas of the body such as the back of the eye and the brain. Using nanoparticles in this way is said to increase the efficacy of medicines and reduce side effects. 

Ijeoma was born in London where her parents had settled from Nigeria. At 13 she moved with her family to Nigeria where she developed an enduring love of chemistry.

In 2010 she co-founded a pharmaceutical company Nanomerics with her husband. The company is currently developing eyedrops to treat blindness and a nasal spray to target pain which she hopes will go some way to addressing the opioid crisis. Earlier this year Ijeoma was appointed a DBE in the King’s New Years Honours List.

Ijeoma lives in Cambridge with her husband Andreas. 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

DISC ONE: Chop My Money (I Don’t Care) - P-Square 
DISC TWO: Joromi - Sir Victor Uwaifo 
DISC THREE: Love to Love You Baby - Donna Summer 
DISC FOUR: Zombie - Fela Kuti
DISC FIVE: Coat of Many Colours - Dolly Parton 
DISC SIX: I Have Nothing - Whitney Houston 
DISC SEVEN: Touch Me in The Morning - Diana Ross 
DISC EIGHT: I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today - The Crusaders with Joe Cocker

BOOK CHOICE: Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
LUXURY ITEM: A variety of seeds
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today - The Crusaders with Joe Cocker

Professor Dame Ijeoma Uchegbu, scientist

Elton John began his career as a tea-boy for a music publisher. In conversation with Michael Parkinson, he talks about his first band, Bluesology, about his songwriting partnership with the lyricist Bernie Taupin, about how he became an international pop star and about his long association with Watford Football Club.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Enigma No 9 - Nimrod by Edward Elgar
Book: Interview With a Vampire by Anne Rice
Luxury: Telephone

Elton John

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