Desert Island Discs

By BBC Radio 4

Personal Journals Society & Culture

What's Desert Island Discs about?

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

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Tim Peake, astronaut

01.24.2021

Major Tim Peake, is an Army Air Corps officer and a European Space Agency astronaut. He was the first British astronaut to carry out a spacewalk. As a child, he became interested in aviation, visiting air shows with his father ...

Desert Island Discs episodes:

01.24.2021 Tim Peake, astronaut Major Tim Peake, is an Army Air Corps officer and a European Space Agency astronaut. He was the first British astronaut to carry out a spacewalk. As a child, he became interested in aviation, visiting air shows with his father ...
01.17.2021 Samantha Power Samantha Power was the USA's youngest ever ambassador to the UN, during President Barack Obama’s second term, and is a writer and academic. She has just been invited to join president-elect Joe Biden's administration. Samantha was born in London but ...
01.10.2021 David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster David Olusoga is a historian, writer and broadcaster who has presented a range of programmes including the BBC’s A House Through Time and Civilisations. He is currently professor of public history at Manchester University. Born in Lagos, the second child ...
12.27.2020 Colonel Lucy Giles Colonel Lucy Giles is an officer of the British Army’s Royal Logistic Corps and is currently President of the Army Officer Selection Board - the first woman to take on this role. After attending her local comprehensive school in Wincanton, ...
12.20.2020 Sir Cliff Richard Sir Cliff Richard makes a second trip to the island he first visited 60 years ago, when he had just turned 20, but had already topped the UK charts three times. Over the course of his career, Sir Cliff has ...
12.13.2020 Minette Batters Minette Batters is the first woman to become President of the National Farmers' Union, representing 47,000 members. She was first elected to the post in 2018 for two years, and was re-elected in March 2020. Minette runs a tenanted family ...
12.06.2020 Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar is Director of the Wellcome Trust, a global charitable foundation which funds scientific research. He is a member of Sage, the scientific group currently advising the government on Covid-19. He is the youngest of six children ...
11.29.2020 Helen Oxenbury Helen Oxenbury is an illustrator of children’s books whose work has featured in many very popular titles for younger readers including the award-winning We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen. Helen has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice ...
11.22.2020 Arsène Wenger, former football manager Arsène Wenger was the manager of Arsenal FC for 22 years, becoming the longest-serving and most successful manager in the club’s history. He was born in Strasbourg in 1949 and grew up as the youngest of three children in the ...
11.15.2020 Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition Sir Keir Starmer is the leader of the Labour Party, and the leader of the opposition. Named after Keir Hardie, a founding father of the Labour party, he was elected leader seven months ago in the wake of Labour’s heavy ...
11.13.2020 David Mitchell, novelist David Mitchell has published eight novels, two of which – number9dream and Cloud Atlas – have been shortlisted for the Booker Prize. He has also translated two books on autism from Japanese, working with his Japanese wife: their son is ...
11.01.2020 Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust Hilary McGrady is Director General of the National Trust. She was born in Lisburn, Northern Ireland, in 1966, where her father was a builder while her mother looked after Hilary and her two older siblings. She spent her childhood roaming ...
10.25.2020 Chris Boardman, cyclist Chris Boardman is an Olympic cyclist, businessman and the Cycling and Walking Commissioner for Greater Manchester. Both his parents were keen competitive amateur cyclists and they backed Chris as he gradually became interested in the sport as a teenager. He ...
10.18.2020 Professor Averil Mansfield, retired surgeon Averil Mansfield is a retired vascular surgeon and was the first female Professor of Surgery in the UK when she was appointed in 1993. She was born in 1937 in Blackpool, where her father worked as a welder on the ...
10.15.2020 Baroness Floella Benjamin, DBE Baroness Floella Benjamin DBE is a Trinidadian-British broadcaster, writer and politician. She became a familiar face to millions of viewers through her work on children's television, most notably on Play School, which she first presented in 1976. She was born ...
10.04.2020 Samantha Morton, actor Samantha Morton is an actor and director. She has appeared in films directed by Woody Allen and Steven Spielberg, and is also known for her work on independent productions, often with serious themes such as prostitution and bereavement. She has ...
09.27.2020 Yusuf Cat Stevens, musician Yusuf Cat Stevens is a singer-songwriter who first enjoyed success more than 50 years ago. He was born Steven Demetre Georgiou in July 1948. His Greek Cypriot father and his Swedish mother ran a restaurant in the West End of ...
09.20.2020 Bernardine Evaristo, writer Bernardine Evaristo won the Booker Prize in 2019 for her novel, Girl, Woman, Other. She is Professor of Creative Writing at Brunel University London. Bernardine was born in May 1959, the fourth of eight children, to an English mother and ...
09.13.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Jack Charlton The ball rolled past the gap between him and Gordon Banks and into the back of the net. The Germans were one goal up. Jack Charlton, Sue Lawley's castaway, recalls the match which was to bring him to his knees ...
09.06.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Liz Smith Kirsty Young's castaway is the actress Liz Smith. Her story is a triumph of talent and perseverance over circumstance. Her mother died when she was tiny, her father walked out of her life and for many years she was brought ...
08.30.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Terry Jones Roy Plomley's castaway is the Monty Python comedian Terry Jones, in a programme first broadcast in 1983. Terry Jones died in January 2020, at the age of 77.
08.23.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Wendy Cope Wendy Cope is one of England’s most popular and widely-read contemporary poets. Wendy was born in Erith, Kent. Her father was 29 years older than her mother and she was sent to boarding school at the age of seven. Although ...
08.16.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Bryan Stevenson Kirsty Young's castaway is Bryan Stevenson. An American lawyer, he is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a private, not-for-profit organisation working on death penalty cases, cases of children sentenced as adults, prison and sentencing reform, ...
08.10.2020 Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate Maria Balshaw is the Director of Tate, overseeing four major art galleries: Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool, Tate Modern and Tate St Ives. Maria was born in 1970 in Birmingham, and grew up in Northampton, where her father, Walter, was a ...
08.02.2020 Steve Backshall, Explorer Steve Backshall is an explorer, naturalist and broadcaster. His BAFTA-winning programmes bring viewers of every generation closer to nature – from the children's series Deadly 60, featuring close encounters with the most dangerous and venomous creatures on earth, to Blue ...
07.26.2020 Sharon Horgan, writer, actor, producer Sharon Horgan is a writer, actor and producer best known for co-writing and co-starring in the Channel 4 series Catastrophe with US comedian Rob Delaney. Sharon was born in 1970 in east London, where her parents Ursula and John were ...
07.19.2020 Annie Nightingale, DJ Annie Nightingale was BBC Radio 1’s first female presenter and is its longest-serving DJ, celebrating her 50th anniversary at the station this year. Born and brought up in south west London, she fell in love with the romance and mystery ...
07.12.2020 Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO Jens Stoltenberg is the Secretary General of NATO and a former Prime Minister of Norway. Although he was born into a political family in Norway, he grew up thinking he would become a statistician, before turning to a career in ...
07.05.2020 Helen Fielding, author Helen Fielding, writer and journalist, is best known for creating Bridget Jones, who first appeared in a newspaper column in the Independent in 1995, in the form of a diary detailing the single 30-something’s exploits in London as she tried ...
06.28.2020 Helen McCrory, actress Helen McCrory shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would want to take with her if cast away to a desert island. Helen McCrory OBE is one of the most versatile and critically acclaimed actresses working today. On screen ...
06.21.2020 Mark Johnston, racehorse trainer Racehorse trainer Mark Johnston is a lynchpin of British flat racing. In August 2018 - when 20-1 shot Poet's Society, ridden by Frankie Dettori, streaked to victory at York - Mark became the most prolific winning trainer in British racing ...
06.14.2020 Joe Wicks, fitness trainer and author Joe Wicks, professionally known as The Body Coach, is a fitness and nutrition coach. Since the lockdown, he has been running daily free virtual PE lessons for children and adults stuck at home. In March he became a Guinness World ...
06.07.2020 Martin Lewis, financial campaigner Martin Lewis is a financial journalist, campaigner and broadcaster. His high-profile campaigns on bank charges, student finance, and mental health and debt have made headlines, and millions of people subscribe to his weekly money tips email. He founded the Money ...
05.31.2020 Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, former nurse Elizabeth Anionwu is a retired nurse, campaigner and Emeritus Professor of Nursing at the University of West London. A fellow of the Royal College of Nursing, she spent 40 years in the profession and has been named one of the ...
05.24.2020 Charles Hazlewood, conductor Charles Hazlewood is a conductor and the founder of Paraorchestra, the world's first professional ensemble of disabled musicians. Once described as the Heston Blumenthal of orchestral music, Charles has spent his career challenging Britain’s musical palate, exploding boundaries and expanding ...
05.17.2020 Sinead Burke, disability rights activist and teacher Sinead Burke is a disability rights activist and teacher. She has combined her love of education and style to campaign for more representation of diversity in the fashion industry. Born in Dublin, Sinead has achondroplasia – a genetic condition which ...
05.10.2020 Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate Simon Armitage was appointed Poet Laureate in 2019. His poems celebrate the everyday and the ordinary with wit and affection. But beyond the wood chip and washing lines he addresses the complexities and the profound feelings that underpin daily life. ...
05.03.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Lubaina Himid Lauren Laverne's castaway is the artist Lubaina Himid. The programme was first broadcast in June 2019.
04.26.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - John Cooper Clarke Lauren Laverne's castaway is the poet John Cooper Clarke. The programme was first broadcast in July 2019.
04.19.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Albert & Michel Roux Michael Parkinson's castaways are the restaurateurs and chefs Albert and Michel Roux (broadcast in 1986). Michel died in March 2020 at the age of 78.
04.12.2020 Classic Desert Island Discs - Jilly Cooper Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Jilly Cooper, best known for her best-selling series of romantic novels The Rutshire Chronicles.
03.29.2020 Brian Cox, actor Brian Cox CBE is a Scottish actor whose career spans almost 60 years, from his early days sweeping the stage at his local theatre in Dundee to his current Golden Globe-winning role as the media patriarch Logan Roy in the ...
03.22.2020 Dame Helena Morrissey, financier and campaigner Dame Helena Morrissey is a former City fund manager and chief executive of a major investment company, who has also campaigned to boost the number of women in the boardroom. Newspapers regularly describe her as 'Superwoman', because alongside her many ...
03.15.2020 Daniel Radcliffe, actor Daniel Radcliffe reached a global audience in the title role of the hugely successful Harry Potter films. He has also appeared on Broadway and in the West End, as well as in over a dozen films since the final part ...
03.08.2020 Chris Riddell, illustrator, author and political cartoonist Chris Riddell is an illustrator, author of children’s books and a political cartoonist. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Children’s Laureate, and he has won three Greenaway Medals for his work – more than any other illustrator. He was ...
03.01.2020 Dorothy Byrne, journalist Dorothy Byrne is the head of News and Current Affairs at Channel 4, and has worked in journalism for more than four decades. In 2018 she received the Outstanding Contribution Award at Royal Television Society Journalism Awards, and her recent ...
02.23.2020 Melanie C Melanie Chisholm - known as Melanie C - is a singer and songwriter who found global fame as one fifth of the Spice Girls, the most commercially successful female group ever. Melanie was one of 400 other hopefuls who answered ...
02.16.2020 Ian Wright, former footballer and broadcaster 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 ...
02.09.2020 Zoe Ball, broadcaster Zoe Ball is a radio and television presenter. She became the first woman to present the BBC Radio 1 Breakfast Show in 1997, and then the first woman to present the Radio 2 Breakfast Show in 2019. Zoe grew up ...
02.02.2020 Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge Sonita Alleyne is the Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, the first woman to hold the post and - more significantly - the first black master of any Oxbridge college. In her previous career in the media, she was the co-founder ...

Older episodes

Desert Island Discs

What's Desert Island Discs about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

Desert Island Discs episodes:

Tim Peake, astronaut

Samantha Power

David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster

Colonel Lucy Giles

Sir Cliff Richard

Minette Batters

Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar

Helen Oxenbury

Arsène Wenger, former football manager

Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition

David Mitchell, novelist

Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust

Chris Boardman, cyclist

Professor Averil Mansfield, retired surgeon

Baroness Floella Benjamin, DBE

Samantha Morton, actor

Yusuf Cat Stevens, musician

Bernardine Evaristo, writer

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jack Charlton

Classic Desert Island Discs - Liz Smith

Classic Desert Island Discs - Terry Jones

Classic Desert Island Discs - Wendy Cope

Classic Desert Island Discs - Bryan Stevenson

Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate

Steve Backshall, Explorer

Sharon Horgan, writer, actor, producer

Annie Nightingale, DJ

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO

Helen Fielding, author

Helen McCrory, actress

Mark Johnston, racehorse trainer

Joe Wicks, fitness trainer and author

Martin Lewis, financial campaigner

Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, former nurse

Charles Hazlewood, conductor

Sinead Burke, disability rights activist and teacher

Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate

Classic Desert Island Discs - Lubaina Himid

Classic Desert Island Discs - John Cooper Clarke

Classic Desert Island Discs - Albert & Michel Roux

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jilly Cooper

Brian Cox, actor

Dame Helena Morrissey, financier and campaigner

Daniel Radcliffe, actor

Chris Riddell, illustrator, author and political cartoonist

Dorothy Byrne, journalist

Melanie C

Ian Wright, former footballer and broadcaster

Zoe Ball, broadcaster

Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

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