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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

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

Keith Floyd

Sue's Lawley's castaway this week is the zoologist turned author and broadcaster Desmond Morris. He made his name with The Naked Ape first published in 1967 in which he persuasively argued the case for viewing man as a 'risen ape' rather than a 'fallen angel'. To him, humans should be observed like any other beast in the animal kingdom. The book has sold more than 12 million copies and has been translated into 23 languages. Dozens more books have followed including The Human Zoo, which compared the social problems of humans living in cities to the behaviour of stressed animals in a zoo. 

He's also a successful artist - once holding the directorship of the Institute of Contemporary Arts - and he's exhibited his work at galleries around the world.

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

Favourite track: Imagine by Alex Parks
Book: Tales from Arabia: One Thousand and One Nights by Richard Burton
Luxury: Snorkel

Desmond Morris

Kirsty Young's guest on Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Miriam Margolyes. Her rich career has seen her work with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann and she's won awards and acclaim for her film work, her theatre performances and her book readings. She made the leap from the Cambridge Footlights to become one of our most successful and popular character actresses. Yet, despite having one of the most sought after voices in the business, she says she hasn't had the career that she aspired to. She yearned to be taken more seriously and given meatier roles but, she jokes, Joan Plowright always stood in her way. On stage she seems to have the confidence and chutzpah of someone who is beyond embarrassment - but in reality, she says, for most of her life she has simply been a 'frightened little muffin'.

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

Favourite track: The opening of the Fourth movement of the Trout Quintet by Franz Schubert
Book: Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens
Luxury: A flush toilet.

Miriam Margolyes

Kirsty Young's castaway is the tennis player and commentator, John McEnroe. He won three singles and five doubles Wimbledon titles, four singles and four doubles at the US Open and was ranked number one in the world for four consecutive years in the 1980s. 

John McEnroe grew up in New York and didn't pick up a tennis racquet until the age of eight, but his talent was quickly spotted and he began to compete in junior tournaments. In 1977, aged 18 and between high school and university, he qualified for the main draw at Wimbledon and reached the semi-finals where he lost to Jimmy Connors. By the end of the tournament his on-court behaviour - shouting, haranguing umpires and abusing his racquet - earned him the nickname 'Superbrat'.

He made his first Wimbledon final against Bjorn Borg in 1980. In one of the finest matches in history, despite winning a tiebreak 18-16 to win the fourth set, he lost the match. He beat Borg the following year to win his first Wimbledon singles title. 1984 was the best year in John's career: he won 82 out of 85 matches he played, but it was also the year when he was beaten at the French Open by Ivan Lendl, who replaced him as number one.

John married the actress Tatum O'Neal in 1986. They divorced in the mid-1990s and he has been married to the singer Patty Smyth since 1997. Since retiring in 1992, in addition to his role as tennis commentator, he has been a coach and runs his own tennis academy. He still plays in tennis tournaments.

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

John McEnroe

Ann Cleeves is a crime writer best known for two series of novels, both of which have been adapted for television. Vera, for ITV, features her detective Vera Stanhope, and Shetland, for the BBC, focuses on DI Jimmy Perez, who works for the Shetland police. 

Born in 1954, Ann grew up in Herefordshire and Devon. After secondary school she spent a year providing childcare for a family in London before reading English at the University of Sussex. She dropped out of her degree course, and by chance, was offered a job as assistant cook at the bird observatory in Fair Isle, despite not knowing how to cook, nor anything about birds. She met her husband Tim there, who came as a visiting bird watcher.

They spent four years on the tiny tidal island of Hilbre off the Wirral peninsula, where Ann started to write. Her debut novel was published in 1986 and she has published a book a year since then. Her first Shetland novel, Raven Black, appeared in 2006 and won the Duncan Lawrie Dagger, at the time the richest crime-writing prize in the world. Her second breakthrough came when a TV producer picked up a second-hand copy of one her novels featuring her dishevelled detective Vera Stanhope and decided it would make perfect prime-time viewing. In October 2017, Ann received the Diamond Dagger from the Crime Writers’ Association, the highest honour in British crime writing, awarded by fellow crime authors. In 2018, she published the final of eight Shetland novels, and this autumn will see the publication of the first of a new Vera series set in Devon. 

Her husband Tim died in December 2017. Ann lives in Whitley Bay, with her two daughters and six grandchildren nearby.

BOOK CHOICE: The Balkan Trilogy by Olivia Manning
LUXURY: Pen and paper
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Suzanne by Leonard Cohen

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Cathy Drysdale

Ann Cleeves, writer

Lauren Laverne talks to Ian Wright in an episode first broadcast in 2020.

Ian Wright is a former professional footballer and now a football pundit on TV and radio. He began his career at Crystal Palace before moving to Arsenal where he became their highest goal scorer of all time, a record only surpassed eight years later by Thierry Henry.

Born to a Jamaican couple in south-east London, Ian grew up with his mother and step-father. His biological father had left the family when Ian was under two years old. Things at home were difficult and Ian spent as much time as possible outside playing football.

At his primary school a teacher, Mr Pigden, took him under his wing and Ian would later credit him with changing his life. He left his secondary school at the age of 14 to get a job. Although he took part in trials for many professional football clubs as a teenager, he was never selected. He continued to play for amateur sides. By the age of 21, he had three children to provide for, so when Crystal Palace came calling in 1985, he turned them down three times before accepting a two-week trial, followed by a three-month contract. His football career had finally begun.

After impressing as a forward at Palace, he was bought by Arsenal for a record fee in 1991. He was called up to the England squad the same year and would go on to collect 33 caps. He spent his last couple of years in professional football at a number of clubs around the country and in total, he played 581 league games, scoring 387 goals for seven clubs in England and Scotland. Since his retirement from football in 2000, he has had a career as a pundit on both TV and radio.

He has eight children and has been happily married to his second wife, Nancy, since 2011.

DISC ONE: The Marriage of Figaro: Duettino - Sull'aria by Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, composed by Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
DISC TWO: Looking For You by Kirk Franklin
DISC THREE: River Deep Mountain High by Ike and Tina Turner
DISC FOUR: Redemption Song by Bob Marley & The Wailers
DISC FIVE: Mysteries of the World by MSFB
DISC SIX: Endlessly by Randy Crawford
DISC SEVEN: Crown by Stormzy
DISC EIGHT: Just Fine by Mary J Blige

BOOK CHOICE: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
LUXURY ITEM: A seven iron golf club and golf balls
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Endlessly by Randy Crawford

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Cathy Drysdale

Classic Desert Island Discs - Ian Wright

Mark Steel is a writer, comedian and radio presenter. 

His performing career began as a poet in the alternative comedy scene in the early eighties at the Comedy Store. A regular presenter on Radio 4, he began his award winning series, Mark Steel’s in Town in 2009. 

Alongside his performing career, he’s been a regular newspaper columnist writing for the Guardian and Independent Newspapers.
 
Mark was born in 1960 and adopted at ten days old by Doreen and Ernie. He grew up in Swanley, Kent and left home at 18 to live in a squat in Crystal Palace. 
After his own son was born, Mark spent many years tracing his birth parents and eventually met up with his genetic father who had been a professional gambler and a friend of Lord Lucan.
Mark has two children and lives in London.

DISC ONE: My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small 
DISC TWO: Janie Jones - The Clash 
DISC THREE: San Quentin (Live at San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA - February 1969) - Johnny Cash 
DISC FOUR: Killing in the Name - Rage Against The Machine
DISC FIVE: Trøllabundin - Eivør Pálsdóttir 
DISC SIX: Love Me or Leave Me - Nina Simone
DISC SEVEN: Into My Arms - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
DISC EIGHT: 1977 - Ana Tijoux
 
BOOK CHOICE: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack
LUXURY ITEM: A piano 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Love Me or Leave Me - Nina Simone

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Mark Steel, comedian

Former cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent is the first Black woman to play for England and she was part of the team which won the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2009. Today she is a broadcaster and cricket commentator for Channel 4, Sky Sports and the BBC’s Test Match Special.

Ebony was born in south London and as a child it was football that caught her attention, especially Liverpool FC and her hero Robbie Fowler. At primary school she was encouraged to have a go at cricket through a charity called Cricket For Change which was set up to encourage more state school children into the sport. Holding a bat in her hands for the first time, she hit the ball as hard as she could and, as she watched it soar through the air, she was hooked.

Ebony started out playing for Surrey Cricket Club’s Under 11’s team as a bowler. In 2003 a serious back injury forced her to stop playing and she thought her sporting career was over. She was determined to prove the medics wrong so she retrained as a batswoman as batting was easier on her back.

In 2007 she made her debut for England and two years later was part of the World Cup-winning team. In 2020 Ebony joined forces with Surrey Cricket Club and founded the African-Caribbean Engagement Programme (ACE) to build grassroots cricket programmes for young people in black communities across the UK. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE for her services to cricket and charity.

DISC ONE: Cold Sweat - James Brown 
DISC TWO: Girlie Girlie - Sophia George 
DISC THREE: Pass Me Over - Anthony Hamilton 
DISC FOUR: A Long Walk - Jill Scott 
DISC FIVE: Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin 
DISC SIX: Never Forget - Take That 
DISC SEVEN: Superheroes - Stormzy 
DISC EIGHT: Work To Do - The Isley Brothers 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
LUXURY ITEM: A drum kit 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Long Walk - Jill Scott 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Ebony Rainford-Brent, former England cricketer

Cher has been a global star for over six decades. Her career has spanned music, television and film and throughout that time her outfits have made flamboyant fashion statements. 

She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California and had a peripatetic childhood. Her mother married six times and with each new husband the family moved house.

In 1962, when she was 16, Cher met Sonny Bono in a coffee shop. She moved in with Sonny as his housekeeper and personal assistant and began singing backing vocals for his boss, the music producer Phil Spector. In 1965 Sonny and Cher released I Got You Babe which reached number one in the US and UK charts – knocking the Beatles off the top of the chart.

Cher is an award-winning actor who has starred in films including Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck. In October 1998 she released her 22nd studio album Believe – the title track remains the biggest-selling number one by a solo female artist in British chart history.

DISC ONE: Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum 
DISC TWO: Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley 
DISC THREE: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Ilene Woods 
DISC FOUR: Evil - Stevie Wonder 
DISC FIVE: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers 
DISC SIX: I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt 
DISC SEVEN: Minute By Minute - The Doobie Brothers
DISC EIGHT: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby 
LUXURY ITEM: An eyelash curler 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley

Cher, singer and actor

Gareth Southgate OBE is the most successful England men’s football manger in the modern game. 

He holds the record as the man who has represented England in more games than anyone else, with 102 games as men's senior team manager, 57 caps as a player and 37 as men's under-21 head coach, leading to a total of 196 games in which he has been involved as a player or coach.

It’s a remarkable career and one which shows his resilience and determination. Ever since he joined a football team as a schoolboy, he dreamed of being a footballer and perhaps one day, wearing the England shirt. He was rejected by Southampton as a teenager and was determined to come back and succeed. He managed to do that, playing for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough as a defender and midfielder. After his playing career ended he went into management eventually becoming one of the England national team’s most successful managers. Along the way, his different approach to leadership in sport, together with his quest to understand what is Englishness makes him one of the most impressive football managers in England’s history. 

Southgate is an Ambassador for The Prince's Trust and Help for Heroes.

DISC ONE: The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby and the Range 
DISC TWO: Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters 
DISC THREE: Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears 
DISC FOUR: The Whole of the Moon - Waterboys 
DISC FIVE: One - Mary J. Blige, U2
DISC SIX: Shape of You (Stormzy Remix) - Ed Sheeran 
DISC SEVEN: Someone Like You - Adele 
DISC EIGHT: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi 
 
BOOK CHOICE: The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters 
LUXURY ITEM: Coffee 
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi 

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor

Gareth Southgate OBE, football manager

P D James was born in Oxford, later moving to Ludlow on the Welsh Borders where she experienced a childhood which she says had more in common with a Victorian childhood than anything today. She was a well-behaved, quiet child who entertained herself and her siblings by telling and writing stories. Phyllis attended an old-fashioned grammar school where she enjoyed English lessons. She says "I knew I was going to write books".

Because of financial pressures at home, she had to leave school at sixteen, first following her father into the tax office, then in a theatre where she met her husband, who was training to be a doctor. World War Two intervened and, because her husband returned from work in the Medical Corps with a severe mental illness, Phyllis had to be the main breadwinner, working as principal hospital administrator at the North West Regional Hospital Board, London in charge of five psychiatric hospitals. It wasn't until she was thirty-nine years old, whilst working in the hospital, that Phyllis began her first novel, Cover Her Face. "I knew it was something I was going to do, and it was just that life was so busy I didn't get round to it". She chose the name P D James because it looked good on a book jacket, and crime genre because she didn't want to draw on autobiographical details. 

The book was immediately accepted by a publisher, and in 1979 she gave up her other jobs to become a full-time writer, focusing on Detective Adam Dalgleish of Scotland Yard as her main character. P D James was awarded the OBE in 1982, she has chaired the Booker Prize panel of judges, has been on the BBC Board of Governors, was made an Associate fellow, Downing College, Cambridge in 1986 and made a Life Peer in 1992. Her books have made her a household name and she is now working on her 17th novel.

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

Favourite track: The Opening Chorus of the St Matthew Passion by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Luxury: Pencils and paper

P D James

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