This week's castaway on the mythical desert island is someone who welcomes the isolation her exile can offer - she is singer and songwriter Joan Armatrading. An intensely shy and private person, renowned for her powerfully emotional songs, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her first impressions of England when she arrived here as a small girl 31 years ago from the Caribbean. She'll also be discussing her music, and the fame which it has brought - something she still finds surprising, and often quite overwhelming.

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

Favourite track: Madame George by Van Morrison

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who has experienced the delights of international stardom and acclaim, and the misery of failure when his fame turned sour and his popularity plummeted. The flamboyant Boy George will be talking to Sue Lawley about the ups and downs of his professional and private life.

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

Favourite track: It Must Be Love by Madness

Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the Rt Hon Tony Benn MP.

He'll be discussing his long and turbulent career as one of this country's most eloquent socialists - he served in every Labour government of the 1960s and 1970s. He'll also be talking about the many stories that have always surrounded him: is it true, for example, that he is 'wired for sound' and records every conversation he has? And has he really drunk enough cups of tea in his lifetime to displace the QE2?

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

Favourite track: Madrigal by Stephen Benn

Sue Lawley's castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is someone who's face graced the covers of fashion magazines the world over more than 20 years ago when she was still a teenager.

The name 'Twiggy' was synonymous with *the* look of the 1960s - waif-like and doe-eyed. Today, she has matured into a successful actress, singer and dancer, and she'll be talking about those early, heady days, and how she managed to survive the media hype that surrounded her wherever she went.

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

Favourite track: Yesterday by The Beatles

The first castaway of 1989 in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most senior church leaders - the Most Reverend Robert Runcie, the 102nd Archbishop of Canterbury. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his Liverpool childhood and his war years when, as a tank commander, he won the military cross.

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

Favourite track: The Sanctus

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is a man who has, at times, endured a different isolation from that imposed by the mythical island. But along with his frequently turbulent political career, he has also enjoyed the close companionship of his fellow crew members when captaining his yacht to resounding victories, as well as conducting some of the greatest orchestras in the world. Former Prime Minister the Rt Hon Edward Heath will be discussing his many achievements - political, nautical and musical - as well as his plans for the future in Desert Island Discs.

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

Favourite track: Prisoners' Chorus by Ludwig van Beethoven

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is actor Charles Dance. A man once termed "the thinking woman's crumpet", it's a description he doesn't take too seriously. But he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his matinee idol image, his early days as an aspiring actor and the role which turned him into an international star - the dashing Guy Perron in the widely-acclaimed TV series The Jewel in the Crown.

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

Favourite track: La Bottega Dei Miracoli by Nicola Poivanni

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a philosopher, academic and mistress of Girton College, Cambridge; but Lady Mary Warnock is perhaps best known for her work in the public arena, on committees looking at a wide range of ethically-controversial subjects, including embryo research and animal experimentation.

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

She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about these difficult areas and also her early days as an academic when she was also bringing up five children. Throughout her life, music has also been a dominant theme and she'll be carrying out the difficult task of choosing eight records to accompany her to the desert island.

Favourite track: My Beloved Spake by Henry Purcell

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a man who prefers to shun any sort of label, but has already attracted quite a number of them - writer, actor, raconteur, wit - but it is as a so-called 'alternative comedian' that Stephen Fry has been most remarkable, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his somewhat chequered past and his highly successful present.

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

Favourite track: The Magic Fire Music (Die Walkure) by Richard Wagner

Sue Lawley's castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is jockey Bob Champion - a man who, against all the odds, fought back after he was diagnosed as having cancer to win one of the most coveted prizes in his field - in 1981 he rode Aldaniti to a stunning victory in the Grand National. He'll be talking about his passion for riding, his fight against his illness and the two children who, contrary to all medical predictions, he has since fathered.

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

Favourite track: Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon and Garfunkel