Desert Island Discs: Archive 1996-2000

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the editor and publisher, Ursula Owen. Twenty-five years ago she helped create Virago - the feminist publishing house which promotes women writers. A huge success, it became the focus of much attention when she and her colleague, Carmen Callil, fell out in what became a very public row. Recently, she has revamped the magazine Index on Censorship, which debates the issues surrounding freedom of speech and publishes the work of persecuted writers. The daughter of a Jewish family who fled to Britain from Nazi Germany, she was a quiet, reserved and conformist child. Her friends, she says, still wonder how she grew up to be such an outspoken, strong-minded and opinionated woman.

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

Favourite track: Der Rosenkavalier The Trio From Act Three by Richard Strauss

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the literary critic, Sir Frank Kermode. One of the most influential teachers of his age, he is credited with bringing the new literary theory of Structuralism to this country. Something, as he admits to Sue Lawley, he now profoundly regrets. He traces his life, "lived like tumbleweed in the wind", from a short-sighted, studious boy growing up on the Isle of Man to King Edward Professor of English Literature at Cambridge University.

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

Favourite track: Cantata BWV 106 The Actus Tragicus by Johann Sebastian Bach

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the jazz singer Cleo Laine. Although driven by a great desire to be a performer, and travelling from one audition to another, she confesses to Sue Lawley that when her big break came, it wasn't jazz which attracted her, so much as the leader of the band - John Dankworth. Whether he spotted a cheap singer for the night, or recognised a great talent in the making, it was to be the start of a hugely successful partnership both professionally and personally.

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

Favourite track: Don't Look Back by Jacqueline Dankworth

This week's castaway is an author. In his book The Wasp Factory, the teenage protagonist tortures insects, experiments with bombs and kills a brother and a cousin. But, says Iain Banks, that was "just a phase he was going through". He tells Sue Lawley how, as a writer, he has not developed the filters that most adults do and so views the world with childlike eyes, describing what he sees. And this world, he feels, is very often a violent and terrifying one.

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

Favourite track: Mohammed's Radio by Warren Zevon

Sue Lawley's castaway is comedian Eric Sykes.

Favourite track: Messiah Hallelujah by George Frideric Handel

Sue Lawley's castaway is campaigner Christina Noble.

Favourite track: This Is My Life by Shirley Bassey

Sue Lawley's castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is dub poet Benjamin Zephaniah. As well as talking about his work as a performance poet often working in prisons or schools, Benjamin recalls a time when he was illiterate. He also remembers Nelson Mandela's request to meet him at seven o'clock in the morning to brief him on Margaret Thatcher.

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

Favourite track: Take Five by The Dave Brubeck Quartet

Sue Lawley's castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is concert pianist Joanna MacGregor. As well as talking about her work as a champion of New Music, Joanna remembers her childhood playing piano for gospel choirs and how she had to bribe her way onto the college Steinway with packets of cigarettes. In conversation with Sue Lawley, she talks about her life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island.

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

Favourite track: The Unanswered Question by Charles Ives

This week the castaway on Desert Island Discs is actress Sian Phillips. Sian talks about her award-winning career and her most recent performance as Marlene Dietrich, as well as remembering her 20 years of marriage to Peter O'Toole. In conversation with Sue Lawley, she talks about her life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island.

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

Favourite track: Cosi fan Tutte soave sia il vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sue Lawley's castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is comedian Harry Enfield. As well as talking about characters such as Loadsamoney, Kevin the Teenager and Tory Boy, Harry reveals his reasons for not campaigning with Tony Blair at the general election.

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

Favourite track: Nabucco Overture To Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi