The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist Maeve Binchy. During her Catholic childhood in a small Irish village, she nurtured an ambition, not just to lead a life of religious devotion, but to become a saint. Later on, she aspired to the legal profession, where her horizons stretched far beyond barristers and briefs to, at the very least, Chief Justice of Ireland. But it was ultimately as a writer that Maeve Binchy achieved enormous success, with novels like Light a Penny Candle and many others making her name as one of the most successful popular authors of her time. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood in Ireland, the loss of her religious faith and her ultimate success as an author of popular fiction. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: The Brendan Theme by Liam O'Flynn
Book: Teach Yourself Bridge
Luxury: Photograph album

Maeve Binchy

Guests are invited to choose the eight records they would take to a desert island

Personal Journals

Society & Culture

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is television cook Keith Floyd. Renowned for his garrulous charm as much as for his culinary expertise, he'll be describing the chronicle of failure that dogged him through spells in the Army, as a cub reporter, as an antiques dealer and as a restaurateur. He'll also be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for good food, music and the elusive nature of romantic happiness. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: Hey Jude by The Beatles
Book: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake
Luxury: Pair of handmade blue suede shoes

Keith Floyd

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists. This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison
Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan
Luxury: Pencil

Brian Keenan

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the great European artists of today - Eduardo Paolozzi. One of his positions is Her Majesty's Sculptor In-ordinary for Scotland - a post rather like the Poet Laureate for Sculpture, but with no duties attached to it. But such eminence in the artistic world is in stark contrast to Sir Eduardo's humble beginnings as the son of Italian immigrants who had an ice-cream shop in Edinburgh. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood, when he was sent to Fascist youth camps in Italy for three months at a time, and the subsequent imprisonment and vilification which fell upon him and his family at the outbreak of war in 1940. He'll also be contemplating his years at the Slade and his flight to the artistic freedom of the Paris of Giacometti, Leger and Picasso.  [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges by Maurice Ravel
Book: A tropical plant book in Italian with English gloss
Luxury: Hurdy gurdy

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs rejoices in the title of the Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich in the County of Kent.  A tireless campaigner on myriad issues, she brings to her work a commodity which is often in short supply in political life - a healthy sense of humour. Among other things, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her career, during which she has risen from being Mayor of Cambridge to Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - all without taking a single exam. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: I'll Follow My Secret Heart by Noel Coward
Book: George V by Kenneth Rose
Luxury: Crown jewels (so someone will look for her)

Baroness Trumpington

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the black American singer Elisabeth Welch, who, in a career spanning 60 years, made famous such songs as Love For Sale, Soloman and Stormy Weather. Her first big break came in 1931 in the Broadway show The New Yorkers. The show made her a star and also gave her the lasting friendship of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Having been the toast of London, Paris and New York in pre-war years, her music still appeals across the generations. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]  Favourite track: Just One Of Those Things by Frank Sinatra
Book: Who's Who In The Theatre
Luxury: Photo of mother

Maeve Binchy

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