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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LAST EPISODE

Classic Desert Island Discs...

09.25.2022

Sue Lawley’s castaway is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs, in a programme first broadcast in 2005. Raymond died in August 2022, aged 88.

Desert Island Discs episodes:

09.25.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - Raymond Briggs Sue Lawley’s castaway is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs, in a programme first broadcast in 2005. Raymond died in August 2022, aged 88.
09.18.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - Kay Mellor Kirsty Young casts away Kay Mellor, who died in May this year at the age of 71.
09.11.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - Baroness Sue Campbell Lauren Laverne's castaway is Baroness Sue Campbell, Director of Women's Football at the FA. First broadcast in 2020.
09.03.2022 John Legend, musician The American singer and songwriter John Legend has won two Emmys, 12 Grammys, an Oscar and a Tony award – making him one of only 16 living artists to have won all four honours. One of his songs, All of ...
08.28.2022 Clare Smyth, chef Clare Smyth is a highly acclaimed chef and is the first British woman to win the coveted three Michelin stars for her work. She opened her London restaurant, Core, in 2017, and before that she ran Restaurant Gordon Ramsay, which ...
08.21.2022 Kate Moss, model Kate Moss came to fame in the 1990s, and her distinctive look went on to embody the era of Cool Britannia. She has appeared on the cover of hundreds of magazines and starred in campaigns for many of the top ...
08.13.2022 Kate Ewart-Biggs, Deputy Chief Executive, British Council Kate Ewart-Biggs is the deputy chief executive of the British Council, which aims to build connections between the UK and countries worldwide, through education programmes, language learning and cultural activities. Kate was born into a diplomatic family and her early ...
08.06.2022 Andrew Ramroop, tailor Andrew Ramroop is a Savile Row tailor, whose international client list has included film stars and royalty. Andrew grew up in a remote village in Trinidad and sewed his first garment at the age of nine, creating a simple pair ...
07.31.2022 Adele, singer and songwriter Adele is a singer and songwriter who has achieved record-breaking sales and global recognition for her four albums which document her life from the age of 19 onwards. Her cache of awards includes 15 Grammys and nine BRITs. She also ...
07.24.2022 Bono, singer and songwriter Bono is a singer, songwriter and the frontman of U2, one of the most recognisable and successful bands in music history. They have sold over 170 million albums, won 22 Grammys – more than any other band – and two ...
07.17.2022 Rita Tushingham, actor Rita Tushingham first won international acclaim as a teenager, playing Jo in the film A Taste of Honey. Her performance in this 1961 kitchen sink drama earned her a BAFTA, a Golden Globe and the Best Actress award at the ...
07.10.2022 Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC Frances O’Grady is the General Secretary of the Trades Union Congress (TUC), the UK's umbrella group for unions, representing millions of workers. She is the first woman in the 154 year history of the TUC to hold this post, which ...
07.03.2022 Jon Ronson, writer and broadcaster Jon Ronson is a writer and broadcaster whose award-winning podcast and Radio 4 series Things Fell Apart investigated the stories behind today’s culture wars. His television programmes and books – from Them: Adventures with Extremists to So You’ve Been Publicly ...
06.26.2022 David Harewood, actor and presenter David Harewood is a British actor and presenter who found global fame playing the CIA director David Estes in the acclaimed TV drama series Homeland. He was the first black actor to play Othello at the National theatre in 1997 ...
06.18.2022 Ellie Simmonds, swimmer Ellie Simmonds has competed at four Paralympic Games, winning five gold medals and breaking world records on the way. She first came to national attention at the age of 13, when she won two golds at the Beijing 2008 Paralympics, ...
06.12.2022 Bradley Walsh, presenter and actor Bradley Walsh is a familiar face to many millions of TV viewers, as the host of quiz shows including The Chase and Blankety-Blank, and as an actor in dramas such as Doctor Who and The Larkins. Bradley was born in ...
06.05.2022 Fiona Hill, foreign affairs specialist Fiona Hill is a foreign affairs specialist who advised Presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump. She came to wider public attention in 2019 when she testified against President Trump during his first impeachment. Fiona was born in ...
05.29.2022 Desert Island Discoveries - Lauren Laverne and Vick Hope Lauren shares handpicked gems from the Desert Island Discs back-catalogue with Radio 1 presenter Vick Hope, including Bob Mortimer, Maya Angelou, Joe Wicks, Sophia Loren, Tom Hanks, Dame Pat McGrath and Sinéad Burke.
05.22.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - George Michael Kirsty Young's castaway this week is George Michael, in a programme first broadcast in 2007. As a singer and songwriter he has enjoyed massive global success for a quarter of a century. He's sold more than 100 million records, won ...
05.15.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - Maya Angelou The writer Maya Angelou talks to Michael Parkinson, in a programme first broadcast in 1988. Maya Angelou died in 2014, at the age of 86.
05.10.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - June Brown Kirsty Young talks to June Brown, in a programme first broadcast in 2017. June died at the age of 95 on 3rd April 2022. June enjoyed a very long acting career, initially on stage, and she was best known for ...
05.01.2022 Classic Desert Island Discs - Jens Stoltenberg 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 ...
04.24.2022 Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids Winnie Byanyima is a human rights advocate and executive director of Unaids, the joint UN Programme which was set up to eradicate Aids as a threat to public health by 2030. Winnie was born in the village of Ruti, in ...
04.17.2022 Alan Cumming, actor Alan Cumming's wide-ranging career on stage includes playing Hamlet, starring opposite Daniel Radcliffe in Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and – perhaps most notably - taking the role of the Emcee in the musical Cabaret in London and New York to great ...
04.10.2022 Robert Plant, singer and songwriter Robert Plant is a singer and songwriter who was Led Zeppelin’s frontman from the band’s inception in 1968 until it disbanded in 1980. Led Zeppelin sold hundreds of millions of albums and in their heyday acquired a reputation for unbridled ...
04.03.2022 Oti Mabuse, dancer Oti Mabuse is a dancer, choreographer and TV talent show judge. She has enjoyed great success on the BBC show Strictly Come Dancing and is one of only two professional dancers to win the glitterball trophy twice. Oti was born ...
03.07.2022 Desert Island Discs is now first on BBC Sounds Looking for the latest episode? New episodes of Desert Island Discs will now be available first on BBC Sounds for four weeks before other podcast apps. If you haven’t already, you can download the BBC Sounds app to listen to ...
02.27.2022 Professor Nick Webborn, Chair of the British Paralympic Association Professor Nick Webborn has chaired the British Paralympic Association since 2017. He is a world-leading expert on Paralympic sports medicine and the most widely-published author on the subject. He has attended 11 Paralympic and one Olympic Games. He was born ...
02.20.2022 Anne Tyler, writer Anne Tyler is a novelist and short story writer. Her 23 novels include the Accidental Tourist, Dinner at the Homesick Restaurant and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Breathing Lessons. Anne was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1941, the oldest of four children. ...
02.13.2022 Leslie Caron, actress Leslie Caron is an award-winning actress and dancer who starred in some of the most memorable films of Hollywood’s golden age including An American in Paris and Gigi. Leslie was first cast away on Desert Island Discs in 1956 when ...
02.06.2022 Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter specialises in medical statistics. He is the Chair of the Winton Centre for Risk and Evidence Communication at Cambridge University, and one of the most frequently cited experts in his field. During the Covid 19 pandemic, ...
01.30.2022 Lyse Doucet, journalist Lyse Doucet is the BBC’s award-winning chief international correspondent, reporting from a range of postings including in Kabul, Islamabad, Tehran and Jerusalem for nearly 40 years. Lyse was born in Bathhurst, New Brunswick, in eastern Canada and after graduating with ...
01.23.2022 John Caudwell, businessman John Caudwell is a businessman and philanthropist who founded the mobile phone company Phones 4U in 1996. It became the UK’s largest independent mobile phone retailer and made him one of Britain’s most successful businessmen. John was born in Birmingham ...
01.16.2022 Deborah Levy, writer Deborah Levy is a writer whose novels Swimming Home and Hot Milk were both shortlisted for the Booker Prize. Last year she published the final instalment of her ‘living autobiography’ trilogy of memoirs, and her earlier work includes plays for ...
01.09.2022 Simon Reeve, broadcaster and writer Simon Reeve is a broadcaster and writer best known for his TV documentaries which combine travel and adventure with investigations into the challenges faced by the places he visits. His journeys have taken him across jungles, deserts, mountains and oceans, ...
12.28.2021 Richard Osman, writer and broadcaster Richard Osman is a broadcaster, TV producer and writer who co-presents the quiz show Pointless on BBC One. His first novel, The Thursday Murder Club, was a publishing phenomenon, selling more than a million copies, and the follow-up became one ...
12.19.2021 Dame Prue Leith, writer and broadcaster Dame Prue Leith is a broadcaster, writer, former restaurateur and a judge on the television show the Great British Bake Off. Prue was born in Cape Town, South Africa, during the era of Apartheid. After leaving school she moved to ...
12.12.2021 Jack Thorne, screenwriter Jack Thorne is a writer who has enjoyed great success with his scripts for the stage, cinema and television, winning five BAFTA awards for his TV work. His theatre credits include the international hit play Harry Potter and the Cursed ...
12.05.2021 Helen Macdonald, writer and naturalist Helen Macdonald is a writer and naturalist who is best known as the author of H is for Hawk which won the 2014 Samuel Johnson Prize and the Costa Book Award, and topped the sales charts. The book chronicles her ...
11.28.2021 Neil Gaiman, writer Neil Gaiman is a writer whose list of titles spans many forms from novels, including American Gods, to children’s stories such as Coraline and the comic book the Sandman. Neil grew up in East Grinstead and after finishing school he ...
11.21.2021 Carl Hester, dressage rider Carl Hester is a dressage rider who has competed in six Olympic Games, winning a team gold at London 2012. Carl grew up on Sark in the Channel Islands, where cars are banned and horses are part of the island’s ...
11.19.2021 Dame Jo da Silva, engineer Dame Jo da Silva is a structural engineer and disaster relief specialist. Her humanitarian work has taken her from Sri Lanka in the wake of the Tsunami to Pakistan and Haiti to help with their post-earthquake recovery. Jo was born ...
11.07.2021 Joanne Harris, writer Joanne Harris is a writer who is best known for her novel Chocolat, which was made into an Oscar-nominated feature film starring Juliette Binoche and Johnny Depp. The daughter of an English father and French mother, Joanne was born in ...
10.31.2021 Peter Schmeichel, footballer Peter Schmeichel is widely regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers in the modern game. In 1999, he captained Manchester United in one of the most astonishing comebacks in football, as United won the Champions League with two goals in ...
10.24.2021 Michael Sandel, philosopher Michael Sandel is a political philosopher and professor of government theory at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He has also presented the BBC Radio 4 series The Public Philosopher and The Global Philosopher, in which he examines the thinking behind ...
10.17.2021 Deborah Meaden, businesswoman Deborah Meaden is a businesswoman and entrepreneur. She’s been one of the investment ‘Dragons’ in the BBC TV series since 2006. Destined to be a successful entrepreneur, Deborah Meaden launched her first business straight out of college at nineteen years ...
10.10.2021 Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano The mezzo-soprano Dame Sarah Connolly has sung at the most prestigious venues around the world, including the Royal Opera House, London and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, as well as Glyndebourne, Vienna and Bayreuth. In 2009 she was a ...
10.03.2021 Tom Ilube, entrepreneur Tom Ilube is an entrepreneur, known for his successful start-up companies, and a philanthropist. He recently took up the post of chairman of the Rugby Football Union. He was born in 1963 to a Nigerian father and a British mother, ...
09.26.2021 Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian Tracey Ullman was the first woman to be offered her own television sketch show – both in Britain and America – and has starred in film and television dramas alongside Meryl Streep, Cate Blanchett and Hugh Grant. The Emmy-winning Tracey ...
09.19.2021 Baroness Hale of Richmond, former judge. Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. In 2019 she announced the court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. ...

Older episodes

Desert Island Discs

What's Desert Island Discs about?

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Desert Island Discs episodes:

Classic Desert Island Discs - Raymond Briggs

Classic Desert Island Discs - Kay Mellor

Classic Desert Island Discs - Baroness Sue Campbell

John Legend, musician

Clare Smyth, chef

Kate Moss, model

Kate Ewart-Biggs, Deputy Chief Executive, British Council

Andrew Ramroop, tailor

Adele, singer and songwriter

Bono, singer and songwriter

Rita Tushingham, actor

Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC

Jon Ronson, writer and broadcaster

David Harewood, actor and presenter

Ellie Simmonds, swimmer

Bradley Walsh, presenter and actor

Fiona Hill, foreign affairs specialist

Desert Island Discoveries - Lauren Laverne and Vick Hope

Classic Desert Island Discs - George Michael

Classic Desert Island Discs - Maya Angelou

Classic Desert Island Discs - June Brown

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jens Stoltenberg

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids

Alan Cumming, actor

Robert Plant, singer and songwriter

Oti Mabuse, dancer

Desert Island Discs is now first on BBC Sounds

Professor Nick Webborn, Chair of the British Paralympic Association

Anne Tyler, writer

Leslie Caron, actress

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician

Lyse Doucet, journalist

John Caudwell, businessman

Deborah Levy, writer

Simon Reeve, broadcaster and writer

Richard Osman, writer and broadcaster

Dame Prue Leith, writer and broadcaster

Jack Thorne, screenwriter

Helen Macdonald, writer and naturalist

Neil Gaiman, writer

Carl Hester, dressage rider

Dame Jo da Silva, engineer

Joanne Harris, writer

Peter Schmeichel, footballer

Michael Sandel, philosopher

Deborah Meaden, businesswoman

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano

Tom Ilube, entrepreneur

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian

Baroness Hale of Richmond, former judge.

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