Desert Island Discs: Archive 1996-2000

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Rolf Harris. He's the presenter of one of the most popular television programmes, Animal Hospital, but he's an artist and a musician too. He shot to the top of the charts on many occasions with musical hits as varied as Tie Me Kangaroo Down and Stairway to Heaven. Both of which featured his own unique invention, the wobble board.

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

Favourite track: Gendarmes Quartet by Rolf Harris

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the poet Rita Dove. The first African-American to become the US Poet Laureate, Rita Dove was brought up to believe that education was the key to the Great American Dream. As a child she would lose herself in the local library, but she learned the art of story-telling from her aunts as they swapped tales about the Great Depression, civil rights, and, of course, motherhood.

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

Favourite track: Koln Concert by Keith Jarrett

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the conductor Sir Roger Norrington. Known for conducting music at a cracking pace, he argues that it's the way the great composers would have played it. Music should be fun, he says, it should entertain - and never, ever, be pompous. He 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: Brandenburg Concerto No.6 by Johann Sebastian Bach

Sue Lawley's castaway is the actress Patricia Routledge.

Once voted the nation's favourite actress for her television roles as Hyacinth Bucket and Hetty Wainthrop, she has also been successful in the theatre, in musicals, and of course in Alan Bennett's monologues Talking Heads. 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: String Quintet in C Major - Adagio by Franz Schubert

The castaway on this week's Desert Island Discs is Rick Stein.

When the police closed his discotheque down because of too many fights on a Saturday night, all he had left was his restaurant licence. Living by the sea, he took the obvious option and opened a fish restaurant. Today he is Britain's best sea food chef and a passionate advocate for the pleasures of cooking and eating fish. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he talks about his 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: Concerto for Flute, Harp & Orchestra in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Rod Steiger. He talks about The Method, Marlon Brando and the depression which dogged him for nearly a decade. And he confesses why he couldn't go to the desert island without Frank Sinatra.

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

Favourite track: Send in the Clowns by Sarah Vaughn

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Martin Pipe. He has turned horse training into a science. His animals have the choice of a swimming pool, indoor canter and walking machine, while the on-site laboratory monitors their temperature, blood and weight throughout the day. Yet he retains his love for the horses themselves - a passion which has made him one of the most successful trainers in Britain.

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

Favourite track: Oh Carol by Neil Sedaka

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Paddy Moloney. As the founder of the Chieftains he has taken Irish folk music around the world. No purist, some of his most popular pieces are influenced by other countries folk songs, most notably China, Spain and South America. He's collaborated with popular musicians too, sharing a stage with Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello and The Corrs.

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

Favourite track: Coast of Malabar by The Chieftains with Ry Cooder

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Profesor Igor Aleksander. He has been researching artificial conciousness for over 30 years. His first machine, Wisard, could recognise faces. His latest, Magnus, can think. He predicts that soon our computors will be so intelligent we won't be able to switch them off at the end of the day without feeling guilty.

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

Favourite track: Agnus Dei from Requiem by Giuseppe Verdi

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the Shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe. Since the last election she has used her free time to write a novel, but has no plans to become a full time author since politics remains her passion. Some two years after she spiked Michael Howard's bid to become leader of the Conservative Party, she is herself being talked about as a possible Tory Leader.

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

Favourite track: How Great Thou Are by Aled Jones