Professor James Fenton

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the poet and writer James Fenton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life as a boy chorister, the death of his mother when he was just 10 and about his experiences as a foreign correspondent. It was in this capacity that he travelled with the Viet Cong when they captured Saigon, and fled from the Khmer Rouge when they entered Phnom Penh. He has also worked as a political and literary journalist and as a theatre critic. He'll be ruminating on the joys of his present incarnation as Professor of Poetry at Oxford University. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem Dies Irae by Giuseppe Verdi

Book: Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri

Luxury: Snorkel, mask and harpoon