Podcasts by Desert Island Discs: Archive 2005-2010

Sandie Shaw from 2010-12-26T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer Sandie Shaw.

With her melodic, velvety voice, bare feet and Sassoon bob she was the epitome of everything that was swinging about the '60s.

Sh...

Nick Park from 2010-12-19T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Oscar-winning animator Nick Park.

His most famous creations are Wallace and Gromit: Gromit the silent but wise dog; Wallace, his well meaning owner with nota...

Sir Torquil Norman from 2010-12-12T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway week is the aviator, inventor and arts patron, Sir Torquil Norman.

He comes from a family where derring-do is in the DNA - his grandfather was a pioneering airman,...

Frances Wood from 2010-12-05T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer and historian Frances Wood.

As head of the Chinese collection at the British Library she is the gatekeeper to some of the rarest printed texts in the...

Robert Harris from 2010-11-28T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the best-selling writer Robert Harris.

He was, apparently, a political junkie from a young age; he was just six when he wrote the essay: 'Why me and my dad don'...

Alice Cooper from 2010-11-21T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the rock musician Alice Cooper.

As a teenager he says it was British music that he tuned in to - listening to The Beatles, The Yardbirds and The Who. He realise...

Anna Del Conte from 2010-11-19T09:45

Kirsty Young's castaway is the cookery writer Anna Del Conte.

Born to a wealthy Milanese family, she arrived in Britain in 1949 where her Italian ingenuity with food was sorely needed in ...

Ian McMillan from 2010-11-07T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and broadcaster Ian McMillan.

Thirty years ago he was working in a factory gluing together tennis ball halves. Then he got a grant, chucked in his job ...

Nick Clegg from 2010-10-24T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg.

Of his career, he says: "Joining the Liberal Party was a no brainer for me - when you're a you...

Michael Mansfield from 2010-10-17T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the barrister Michael Mansfield.

He is one of Britain's leading QCs - the Birmingham six, the Marchioness disaster, the Stephen Lawrence trial and the death of J...

Sarah Doukas from 2010-10-10T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the founder of Storm model agency, Sarah Doukas.

She has never, she says, had a normal career - after running away from school, she ran bric-a-brac stalls in Lo...

Johnny Vegas from 2010-10-03T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the entertainer Johnny Vegas.

As a stand-up comic he made his name as one of the most brilliant and unpredictable acts on the circuit. His stage persona was a b...

Sir Tom Jones from 2010-09-26T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer Sir Tom Jones.

In a career spanning fifty years he's sold 150 million albums and his hits have included It's Not Unusual, What's New Pussycat? and De...

Kathy Burke from 2010-08-15T10:15

From Lady Gaga to The Specials. Actor and director Kathy Burke shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

She became a household name for her comedy performances, working with Harry En...

Lord David Cobbold from 2010-08-08T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs is Lord David Cobbold.

He was just 32 years old when he took over the ancestral pile Knebworth House and he succeeded in turning a crumbling...

Jimmy Mulville from 2010-08-01T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Jimmy Mulville.

He began his life in comedy as a performer and writer but success in front of the camera clearly wasn't enough - he set up the production company...

Lynn Barber from 2010-07-25T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the interviewer Lynn Barber.

A master of the profile interview, her razor-sharp observations have earned her the nickname the Demon Barber and won her a stack o...

Tim Robbins from 2010-07-18T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Oscar-winning actor, writer and director Tim Robbins.

His film credits include The Shawshank Redemption, Dead Man Walking, The Hudsucker Proxy and Mystic Ri...

Dr Gwen Adshead from 2010-07-11T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the forensic psychotherapist Dr Gwen Adshead.

A consultant at Broadmoor Hospital, it is her job to try to understand the behaviour of some of the most vilified ...

Dame Fanny Waterman from 2010-07-04T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Dame Fanny Waterman.

It was during a sleepless night, more than forty years ago, that she came up with the idea of launching a piano competition in Leeds. Since ...

Tony Adams from 2010-06-27T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the footballer Tony Adams.

He's one of the few people who know at first hand the pressures and joys of captaining the England team. And, after signing as a scho...

Lewis Gilbert from 2010-06-20T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the film director Lewis Gilbert.

His career started in the 1920s when he was a child actor in silent movies. Over the next seven decades, he went on to direct H...

Frank Skinner from 2010-06-13T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian Frank Skinner.

As a football-obsessed comic whose stand-up routines were peppered with details of his personal life, he became the poster-boy for t...

Gyorgy Pauk from 2010-05-30T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the violinist Gyorgy Pauk.

In a career spanning fifty years, he has played with all the best orchestras and continues to teach masterclasses around the world. <...

Dame Stephanie Shirley from 2010-05-23T10:15

Entrepreneur Dame Stephanie Shirley joins Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs.

As a child, she escaped Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport - travelling across Europe for two days in a tra...

Rob Brydon from 2010-05-16T10:15

The comedian and actor Rob Brydon joins Kirsty Young on Desert Island Discs.

Growing up in Port Talbot, South Wales, he discovered performing when he was a teenager and says he came alive...

Fay Weldon from 2010-05-09T10:15

The writer Fay Weldon joins Kirsty Young to choose her Desert Island Discs.

The author of dozens of novels, essays and radio and TV dramas, she says she spends so much time inventing char...

Emma Thompson from 2010-03-28T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Emma Thompson.

Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, Much Ado About Nothing and Howards End are just a handful of her notable screen credits in a dazzli...

Frank Cottrell-Boyce from 2010-03-21T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Frank Cottrell Boyce.

His film credits include Hilary and Jackie, Welcome to Sarajevo and 24 Hour Party People. He's also written TV soaps, radio and ...

Duncan Bannatyne from 2010-03-14T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne.

He made his name appearing on the TV show Dragons' Den as a no-nonsense investor with an eye for the bottom line. He made his fort...

Maggie Aderin-Pocock from 2010-03-07T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock.

She has, she says, a special relationship with the moon, one that started when she first saw The Clangers as a small child....

June Spencer from 2010-02-28T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is actress June Spencer.

She is one of the best-loved matriarchs in broadcasting. As Peggy Woolley in The Archers, she's the only original member of the cast still ...

Sir Clive Woodward from 2010-02-21T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the former England rugby coach Sir Clive Woodward.

He took England to World Cup glory in 2003, becoming the first ever northern hemisphere side to win the trophy...

Professor Jim Al-Khalili from 2010-02-14T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the physicist Professor Jim Al-Khalili.

He's spent his adult life studying sub-atomic particles - and trying to explain them to the rest of us. He fell in love ...

Gok Wan from 2010-02-07T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the stylist Gok Wan.

Dispensing fashion advice and hugs in equal measure, he aims, he says, to 'make women feel like women, not like turkeys'.

Yet although...

Mary Beard from 2010-01-31T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the classicist Mary Beard.

A professor at Cambridge, she's that rare thing: a university academic who writes for the masses. Her popular books, blog, articles a...

Frank Warren from 2010-01-24T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the boxing promoter Frank Warren.

He has managed and promoted some of the biggest names in the sport, including Joe Calzaghe, Prince Naseem Hamed, Ricky Hatton a...

James Ellroy from 2010-01-17T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is American crime writer James Ellroy.

His books have been translated into 30 languages and, according to the New York Times, he is the author of some of the most p...

Mary Portas from 2010-01-10T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Mary Portas.

She's made an art-form out of turning heads, and her galleries have been the enormous plate-glass windows of Harrods, Topshop and Harvey Nichols. <...

John Copley from 2010-01-03T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the opera director John Copley.

Throughout his sixty year career he's worked with all the greats at the major opera houses of the world. He introduced Luciano P...

David Tennant from 2009-12-27T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor David Tennant.

He has been voted the best Dr Who ever and has redefined the Time Lord for a generation of parents and children.

As a child he w...

Sir Michael Caine from 2009-12-20T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this Christmas is Sir Michael Caine.

In a film career that has spanned more than four decades he has won two Oscars; his credits include Alfie, The Italian Job, Han...

Lord Coe from 2009-12-13T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Sebastian Coe.

It is more than a quarter of a century since his rivalry with fellow middle-distance runner Steve Ovett enraptured the nation.

After ret...

Baroness Scotland from 2009-12-06T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Attorney General, Baroness Scotland.

She is the government's chief law officer, a position as significant as it is isolated. She was on course to be the fir...

Morrissey from 2009-11-29T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Morrissey.

As the lead singer of The Smiths he captivated a generation of angst-ridden teenagers and, a quarter of a century later, he remains the outsider's out...

Sir Stuart Rose from 2009-11-22T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Sir Stuart Rose. As the boss of Marks and Spencer, he has held a national institution - and the nation's knickers - in his hands. After seeing off a hostile takeover b...

Julia Donaldson from 2009-11-15T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the children's author Julia Donaldson. The Gruffalo is her best known creation. Published 10 years ago, it's become a modern classic; it has sold more than four millio...

Anthony Julius from 2009-11-13T09:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the lawyer and writer Anthony Julius. He was already renowned in legal circles when, in 1996, he moved into the public arena, representing Princess Diana in her divorc...

Jerry Springer from 2009-11-01T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the talk show host Jerry Springer. His life has been split between serving the public and outraging them. His first career was in politics where, as a life-long Democr...

Professor Colin Pillinger from 2009-10-25T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the scientist Professor Colin Pillinger. A world-class planetary scientist, his first job was for NASA, analysing the lunar samples brought back by Apollo 11. He is be...

Jan Pienkowski from 2009-10-18T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the illustrator Jan Pienkowski. He was born in Warsaw before the Second World War and lived through the uprising of 1944. He spent his childhood in Poland, Bavaria, Vi...

Steve Coogan from 2009-10-11T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and actor Steve Coogan. As a child he found he had a knack for impressions, a talent which led him to work on Spitting Image. Recently he has also found s...

Dame Ellen MacArthur from 2009-10-04T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the solo yachtswoman Dame Ellen MacArthur. She was 28 when she became the fastest person to sail solo around the world, and has been called the 'first true heroine of ...

Barry Manilow from 2009-09-27T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Barry Manilow. He has been a hugely successful performer for more than 30 years but, in this intimate interview, Manilow describes how it was never the career he inten...

Roberto Alagna from 2009-08-16T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer Roberto Alagna. He is one of the most celebrated tenors in the world and one half of opera's golden couple; his wife is the soprano Angela Gheorghiu. Yet, h...

Dame Joan Bakewell from 2009-08-09T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the broadcaster Dame Joan Bakewell. Born in Stockport in 1933, it was in the 1960s that she first started to shape the cultural agenda, interviewing the likes of Kings...

Nicky Haslam from 2009-08-02T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the interior designer, socialite and one-time cowboy, Nicky Haslam. His life defies easy description. In America in the 1960s, he was part of Andy Warhol's circle of f...

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from 2009-07-26T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the food writer and cook Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall. Famous for making paté out of placenta and dining on such delicacies as squirrel and rook in his TV programmes, h...

David Mitchell from 2009-07-19T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is comedian David Mitchell. Mitchell has won two Bafta awards and, as a sitcom actor, sketch show writer and humorous columnist, has never been in greater demand.

B...

Prof Hugh Pennington from 2009-07-12T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Professor Hugh Pennington. Professor Pennington has spent his life trying to understand diseases and how they spread. He has chaired two major enquiries into E. coli, ...

Harvey Goldsmith from 2009-07-05T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the impresario and promoter Harvey Goldsmith. From the Rolling Stones to Pavarotti, and with pretty well every other name in music inbetween, he has been one of the co...

Arlene Phillips from 2009-06-28T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the choreographer, Arlene Phillips. In a career spanning 40 years, she set up the dance group Hot Gossip and has masterminded numerous music videos and West End shows....

Martin Shaw from 2009-06-21T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor Martin Shaw. He has been one of Britain's most popular stage and television actors of the past 40 years and has taken on more than 100 different roles. Yet M...

Lord Healey from 2009-06-14T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Labour peer and former Chancellor of the Exchequer, Denis Healey. As a politician, he was known for his sharp intellect and biting oratory and now, as he approache...

Piers Morgan from 2009-06-07T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the journalist and broadcaster Piers Morgan. He spent more than a decade as a Fleet Street editor and pioneered a style of journalism that devoured the day-to-day live...

Caroline, Countess of Cranbrook from 2009-05-31T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is Caroline, Countess of Cranbrook. Caroline has travelled the world to see how different zoos worked, spent years living in the jungle and, when she returned to Britain,...

Barry Humphries from 2009-05-24T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and performer Barry Humphries. For decades he has enjoyed global fame with his grotesque comic creations, the Melbourne housewife Dame Edna Everage and th...

Peter Sallis from 2009-05-17T10:15

Kirsty Young invites actor Peter Sallis to choose eight records to take to Radio 4's mythical desert island. As the unassuming Clegg in Last of the Summer Wine and the equally mild-mannered Wall...

Whoopi Goldberg from 2009-05-10T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the comic and actress Whoopi Goldberg. As a child she used to practise the acceptance speeches she was sure she would one day make - little surprise then tha...

Sebastian Faulks from 2009-03-29T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Sebastian Faulks. He is best known for his novel Birdsong, which told in shocking detail the misery of life in the Flanders trenches. It was publi...

Athene Donald from 2009-03-22T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the scientist Athene Donald. A Cambridge professor and fellow of the Royal Society, she has dedicated much of her life to studying everyday objects like plas...

Baaba Maal from 2009-03-15T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician Baaba Maal. He's among the best known African artists in the West, performing at events as diverse as the Glastonbury Festival and the Proms. Bo...

Richard Madeley from 2009-03-08T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Richard Madeley. It's 20 years since he opened the first edition of ITV's This Morning programme with his wife Judy Finnigan and, in the years since, pretty ...

Lord Rix from 2009-03-01T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Brian Rix. For many years he brought farce to a large and appreciative audience - dropping his trousers thousands of times for the ben...

David Walliams from 2009-02-22T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is David Walliams. He has seen extraordinary success - as one half of the comedy duo behind Little Britain, as a cross-channel swimmer an...

Professor Dame Kay Davies from 2009-02-15T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the scientist Professor Kay Davies. She has dedicated much of her life to finding a cure for the severest form of muscular dystrophy. Before she was 40, she ...

David Suchet from 2009-02-08T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor David Suchet. He has won armfuls of awards for his work - most recently an Emmy for his portrayal of Robert Maxwell - but he is best known for the ...

Thomas Quasthoff from 2009-02-01T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the bass-baritone Thomas Quasthoff. He has performed in concert halls the world over under the batons of the finest conductors and, while he made his name as...

Alan Sillitoe from 2009-01-25T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Alan Sillitoe. 50 years ago his debut novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning captured the truth and brutality of post war working class life. It ...

Vincent Cable MP from 2009-01-18T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Liberal Democrat Treasury Spokesman, Vince Cable. He studied economics at Cambridge and had a rich career before entering parliament in 1997. Now, he's b...

Ruth Padel from 2009-01-11T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet Ruth Padel. She is a highly acclaimed writer who is fascinated with the natural world around her. She's said of her poetry: "wildness, and wild anim...

Simon Murray from 2009-01-04T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the adventurer and businessman Simon Murray. What many of us would struggle to do over three life-times he has managed in one - as a teenager, nursing a brok...

Baroness Haleh Afshar from 2008-12-28T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Baroness Haleh Afshar. An expert in Middle Eastern Affairs, she's a professor of politics and women's studies and Islamic law as well as being a cross-bench ...

James Nesbitt from 2008-12-21T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is James Nesbitt. He is one of our most popular and successful actors and his long list of credits includes Cold Feet, Bloody Sunday, Jekyll and Murphy's Law. I...

Michael Deeley from 2008-12-14T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Oscar-winning film producer Michael Deeley. Over the past 40 years he's been involved in some of the most highly acclaimed movies we've seen, including D...

Marcus du Sautoy from 2008-12-07T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the mathematician Marcus du Sautoy.

A professor of mathematics at Oxford University and a fellow of New College, he has recently been named as the nex...

Michael Eavis from 2008-11-30T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Michael Eavis. It's more than 30 years since he launched the Glastonbury Festival at his dairy farm in Somerset. Back in 1970, the hea...

Janet Street-Porter from 2008-11-23T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Janet Street-Porter. Born, she says, with 'frilly teeth, big glasses and beige hair' she also came with a healthy measure of ambition, brains and creativity ...

David Davis MP from 2008-11-16T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Conservative politician David Davis. Born just before Christmas in 1948 to a single mother he was brought up in poverty in first York and then London. He...

Allan Ahlberg from 2008-11-14T09:00

Kirsty Young's castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of our best-loved children's authors, Allan Ahlberg. He started writing stories for children at his wife Janet's suggestion - she ...

Shami Chakrabarti from 2008-11-02T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti. A pithy and incisive speaker, she is rarely out of the media spotlight and has been voted 'one of our most inspir...

Ian Bostridge from 2008-10-26T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the tenor Ian Bostridge. He is regarded as one of the great Lieder singers of our time and has delighted audiences in opera houses and concert halls the worl...

Randy Newman from 2008-10-19T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the American composer, singer and song-writer Randy Newman. Colleagues say he stands shoulder-to-shoulder with musical legends Cole Porter and George Gershwi...

Sanjeev Bhaskar from 2008-10-12T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sanjeev Bhaskar. A writer, comic and actor, Sanjeev has brought the British Asian experience into mainstream comedy with his television programmes Goodness G...

David McVicar from 2008-10-05T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the opera director David McVicar. He is hailed as the opera director of his generation and is in such great demand that he's booked up for the next five year...

Miriam Margolyes from 2008-09-28T10:15

Kirsty Young's guest on Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Miriam Margolyes. Her rich career has seen her work with directors such as Martin Scorsese and Baz Luhrmann and she's won awa...

Ruthie Henshall from 2008-08-17T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Ruthie Henshall. A West End and Broadway star she has performed in many of the most successful productions of the past twenty years, including Mi...

AC Grayling from 2008-08-10T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the philosopher Professor A C Grayling. He was a child growing up in Africa when he was first drawn to philosophy because it offered, he says, a licence to s...

Richard Ingrams from 2008-08-03T10:15

Kirsty Young's guest on Desert Island Discs this week is Richard Ingrams. Former editor and a founder of the satirical magazine Private Eye, he's one of the godfathers of contemporary British sa...

Antonia Fraser from 2008-07-27T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Antonia Fraser. Born Antonia Pakenham, the eldest of eight children, it was while growing up in Oxford that she became fasc...

John Stefanidis from 2008-07-20T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is one of the world's leading interior designers, John Stefanidis. Described as brilliant and inimitable, his work has blazed a trail since the late 1960s. The ...

Felicity Lott from 2008-07-13T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the soprano, Dame Felicity Lott. She is one of Britain's best known and best loved singers and has given performances in opera houses the world over under th...

Antonio Carluccio from 2008-07-06T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the cook Antonio Carluccio. He's been hailed as perhaps the best Italian cook in Britain today and the flavours and methods he holds dear are the ones he lea...

Posy Simmonds from 2008-06-29T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week the cartoonist, writer and illustrator Posy Simmonds. Her social observation and sharp wit gained a loyal following in The Guardian where - among their stripped...

Ara Darzi from 2008-06-22T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the pioneering surgeon Professor Ara Darzi. He was born in Iraq and brought up in Baghdad but he moved to Ireland when he was 17 to study medicine. He came t...

Peter Carey from 2008-06-20T08:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Peter Carey. He says he grew up in his homeland "thinking that Australian history was dull and Australian literature was dull" and that he develop...

Bill Bailey from 2008-06-08T10:15

Kirsty's castaway this week is the comedian and actor, Bill Bailey. Lauded for his hugely inventive stand up, he has carved out a highly successful career with an altogether atypical approach. H...

Lord Woolf from 2008-06-01T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the former Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales Lord Woolf. Throughout his career, he has been at the forefront of shaping our justice system. Following t...

Howard Goodall from 2008-05-25T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the composer Howard Goodall. He's a man of eclectic musical tastes and talents creating choral works, popular TV show themes like Black Adder and The Vicar o...

Diane Abbott from 2008-05-18T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the MP Diane Abbott. She was the first black woman to become a Member of Parliament and, after her election in 1987, she said she would find herself sitting ...

Annie Lennox from 2008-05-11T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is one of our most successful singer-songwriters, Annie Lennox. Her extraordinary voice has captivated us for more than a quarter of a century and, as one half ...

Penelope Wilton from 2008-03-30T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Penelope Wilton. Her first love is the theatre and she's been highly acclaimed for her stage work in plays by Ibsen, Shaw, Shakespeare, Beckett -...

Stanley McMurtry from 2008-03-23T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the cartoonist Mac. He's been the Daily Mail's cartoonist for the past 38 years - and it's his job, he says, to make the "dreary news copy of the daily paper...

Tariq Ali from 2008-03-16T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the radical thinker, writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali. Forty years since the streets of London were filled with demonstrators, Tariq Ali describes how he cam...

Liz Smith from 2008-03-09T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week 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 l...

Michael Ball from 2008-03-02T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor and singer Michael Ball. For more than 20 years he's been the West End's leading man - winning stacks of awards, building a hugely successful recor...

David Dimbleby from 2008-02-24T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster David Dimbleby. When he was born, in 1938, his father Richard was already a national institution. Richard recorded reports from bombers flyin...

Martin Evans from 2008-02-17T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Nobel Prize-winning scientist Professor Sir Martin Evans. He is known as the grandfather of embryonic stem-cell research because of the breakthrough he m...

Oleg Gordievsky from 2008-02-10T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Oleg Gordievsky. He is the highest-ranking KGB officer ever to become a spy for the British. The insights he gave into the Soviet hierarchy and culture over ...

Beryl Bainbridge from 2008-02-03T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Dame Beryl Bainbridge.

She grew up in Liverpool - in a home filled with acrimony and argument - and started writing when she was still a ch...

Rory Stewart from 2008-01-20T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the former diplomat, traveller and writer, Rory Stewart. His life has been part establishment convention, part wild adventure. He went to Eton, Oxford and th...

Simon Rattle from 2008-01-13T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sir Simon Rattle. For the past five years he has been Principal Conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic - regarded by many as the finest symphony orchestra in t...

John Humphrys from 2008-01-06T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster and journalist John Humphrys. For 21 years he has been at the helm of Today, Radio 4's flagship news and current affairs programme. Millions ...

Karren Brady from 2007-12-30T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the businesswoman Karren Brady. She is known as the First Lady of Football - and it's a moniker that is well earned. When she became Managing Director of Bir...

Victoria Wood from 2007-12-23T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Victoria Wood. For decades she has been one of our best-loved writers and performers. The television series she's made - including Acorn Antiques, Dinnerladi...

Paul Weller from 2007-12-16T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician Paul Weller. As the lead singer of The Jam, the founder of The Style Council and a hugely successful solo artist, he is one of the most revered ...

Alec Jeffreys from 2007-12-09T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys - the scientist who discovered genetic fingerprinting. It is 25 years since his 'Eureka moment' - when, pulling an X-ray photogra...

Steven Isserlis from 2007-12-02T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the cellist Steven Isserlis. It is, perhaps, little surprise that music has been central to his life. He was born into a family that already boasted a pianis...

Armistead Maupin from 2007-11-25T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Armistead Maupin. Regarded as one of the 'great social satirists of his era', he made his name with his Tales of the City novels, chronicling the ...

Eliza Manningham-Buller from 2007-11-18T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller. She has recently stepped down as Britain's top spy-master - or more correctly, the Director-General of MI5. She took the helm i...

Jung Chang from 2007-11-16T09:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Jung Chang. Jung was born in the years after Mao came to power in China and as a child she took part in the Great Leap Forwards by collecting sauc...

Nicholas Parsons from 2007-11-04T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Nicholas Parsons. Actor, quizmaster, cabaret performer, straight man, panel show host and fully-qualified marine mechanical engineer to boot; spanning more t...

Lord Joffe from 2007-10-28T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Joel Joffe. For many years he was the chairman of Oxfam, before that he set up a hugely successful insurance company and most recently he's been campaigning ...

Ronnie Corbett from 2007-10-21T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is an entertainer so central to British popular culture he can be identified by the outline of his glasses alone - Ronnie Corbett. For more than 50 years, from ...

Jill Balcon from 2007-10-14T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Jill Balcon. She has the voice of an old friend - and it's not surprising, she was a BBC radio announcer during the war and has been acting and p...

Alan Johnson from 2007-10-07T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Secretary of State for Health, Alan Johnson. He has the task of managing one of the most challenging briefs of government - and the stakes are raised fur...

George Michael from 2007-09-30T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is George Michael. 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 two...

Vladimir Jurowski from 2007-08-19T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the conductor Vladimir Jurowski. Described as the most active and influential conductor in Britain today, he has been the musical director at Glyndebourne fo...

Felix Dennis from 2007-08-12T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the publisher Felix Dennis. He blossomed among the flower power generation, finding fame as one of the defendants in the notorious Oz Magazine obscenity tria...

Andrew Davies from 2007-08-05T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Andrew Davies. He is the king of television adaptation; Pride and Prejudice, Vanity Fair, Middlemarch and Tipping the Velvet are just a few of the...

Nicola Horlick from 2007-07-29T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the investment banker Nicola Horlick. She has, perhaps, done more than anyone else to shatter the glass ceiling - a mother of six children and now stepmum to...

Thomas Keneally from 2007-07-22T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Thomas Keneally. He had already been nominated for the Booker Prize three times when he published a historical novel that many said should not hav...

Oliver Postgate from 2007-07-15T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the animator Oliver Postgate. As the creator of Noggin the Nog, The Clangers and Bagpuss, Oliver holds a special place in many childhoods. So it may come as ...

Simon Russell Beale from 2007-07-08T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor Simon Russell Beale. Critics are torn over their descriptions of him: to some, he's the greatest stage actor in Britain today. To others, merely th...

Wangari Maathai from 2007-07-01T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the environmentalist and human rights campaigner Wangari Maathai. Known these days as 'Africa's Forest Goddess' for her pioneering work fighting soil erosion...

Ricky Gervais from 2007-06-24T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Ricky Gervais. In just twelve episodes, his show The Office changed the face of British television comedy. At its centre was the comic monster, David Brent, ...

Christy Moore from 2007-06-17T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Irish musician Christy Moore. His stature and influence in folk music is unparalleled - Bono, Elvis Costello and Billy Bragg are among those who cite him...

Yoko Ono from 2007-06-10T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Yoko Ono. She was already an avant-garde artist in her own right when, in 1968, she started dating one of the most famous men in the world, John Lennon. Then...

Tom Blundell from 2007-06-03T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the leading scientist Professor Sir Tom Blundell. His specialism is in molecular biology, which involves studying the tiniest building blocks of life under a...

Paul McKenna from 2007-05-27T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Paul McKenna. He is Britain's best known hypnotist and made his name on prime-time TV. Millions used to watch on Saturday nights as he mesmerised ordinary pe...

Greg Dyke from 2007-05-20T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Greg Dyke. A top flight TV executive known for being instinctual and populist, his appointment as BBC Director-General was an uncharacteristically bold move ...

Joanna Lumley from 2007-05-13T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Joanna Lumley. She first found fame as the high-kicking glamour-puss Purdey in the 1970s show The New Avengers, but the role that cemented her in...

Ben Helfgott from 2007-04-01T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott. His inspirational journey has taken him from the horrors of Nazi-occupied Poland to the highs of ...

Professor Raymond Tallis from 2007-03-25T10:01

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the physician, philosopher, novelist and poet Professor Raymond Tallis. His specialism is the care of elderly patients - it's an area that he combines with h...

Jo Brand from 2007-03-18T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the stand-up comedian Jo Brand. From the word go she always anticipated she would be heckled about her weight and appearance. While most people would run a m...

Andy Kershaw from 2007-03-11T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster and journalist Andy Kershaw. His career to date is as distinctive as his delivery - he combines an evangelical enthusiasm for world music wit...

JP Donleavy from 2007-03-04T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer J P Donleavy. The author of a dozen novels as well as numerous plays and short stories, he remains best known for his first novel, The Ginger Man,...

Andrew Neil from 2007-02-25T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the journalist Andrew Neil. For 11 years he was editor of The Sunday Times. Under him, the paper broke the story of Israel's nuclear capabilities, revealed t...

Grayson Perry from 2007-02-18T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the artist Grayson Perry. For more than 20 years his work was broadly unknown outside the narrow confines of the art world. But in 2003 he became a household...

Paul Abbott from 2007-02-11T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the screen writer Paul Abbott. He has written some of the most controversial and successful television programmes of the past decade. Shameless, Clocking Off...

Neil Tennant from 2007-02-04T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the singer and songwriter Neil Tennant. He is best known as one half of The Pet Shop Boys which, over the past 20 years, has been one of Britain's most succe...

Brian Aldiss from 2007-01-28T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Brian Aldiss. He is best known for pioneering, alongside JG Ballard, a new wave of British science fiction writing in the 1960s. He says science f...

Ann Daniels from 2007-01-21T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Polar explorer Ann Daniels. Before she was 30, she hadn't so much as walked with a rucksack and had no experience of navigating with a compass. Then her ...

Edna O'Brien from 2007-01-14T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Edna O'Brien. Described as a 'poet of heartbreak' her lyrical storytelling captures the fragility and pain of the human condition, reflecting the ...

Lady Natasha Spender from 2007-01-07T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician Lady Natasha Spender. She was born at the end of the First World War and has spent her life immersed in the arts. Gifted with perfect pitch, she...

Anthony Horowitz from 2006-12-31T11:15

Kirsty Young's first castaway of 2007 is the writer Anthony Horowitz. He's a prolific author. His first novel was published when he was 23 and, as well as a series of children's books featuring ...

Gloria Hunniford from 2006-12-24T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the broadcaster Gloria Hunniford. She's one of our most popular interviewers and presenters and for 40 years has been a warm, but always incisive, figure on ...

Arnold Wesker from 2006-12-17T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the playwright Sir Arnold Wesker. He's a prolific writer and has penned more than 40 plays as well as books of poetry, short stories, children's tales and mo...

Karl Jenkins from 2006-12-10T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Britain's most successful contemporary composer, Karl Jenkins. He is most famous for developing a style that fuses his classical background with his interest...

Raymond Gubbay from 2006-12-03T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the music impresario Raymond Gubbay. For 40 years he has brought popular classics and opera to the masses. His name has become synonymous with glittering eve...

Matt Lucas from 2006-11-26T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the comedy performer and writer Matt Lucas. As one half of the team that created the hit TV show Little Britain, he's been responsible...

Stephen King from 2006-11-19T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the author Stephen King. He's written more than 40 novels, won 23 major awards and sold hundreds of millions of books worldwide. He is best known for his tal...

Lord Stevens from 2006-11-17T09:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the former head of the Metropolitan Police, Lord Stevens. Although he was to become known as 'the policeman's policeman', it was not his first career choice ...

Humphrey Lyttelton from 2006-11-05T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the veteran jazz musician and radio presenter Humphrey Lyttelton. To Radio 4 listeners, he's best known as Chairman Humph who has spent more than 30 years pi...

Heston Blumenthal from 2006-10-29T11:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the chef Heston Blumenthal. He is one of only three chefs working in Britain today to be awarded three Michelin stars and last year his restaurant, The Fat D...

Camila Batmanghelidjh from 2006-10-22T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the children's campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh. Camila Batmanghelidjh has devoted her life to the kind of children most people would cross the street to avo...

Robert Fisk from 2006-10-15T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the journalist Robert Fisk. He is one of our most distinguished foreign correspondents and has spent his life covering conflicts around the world - the past ...

Jane Horrocks from 2006-10-08T10:15

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actress Jane Horrocks. She specialises in unconventional, complex roles - from the eccentric secretary Bubble in the cult sit-com Absolutely Fabulous to ...

Quentin Blake from 2006-10-01T10:15

Kirsty Young's first castaway is one of our most popular illustrators, Quentin Blake. His work is immediately recognisable and is full of energy, anarchy and joy. An award-winning author in his ...

Dame Joan Plowright from 2006-08-27T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Joan Plowright.

Dame Joan Plowright is an actress who has been at the forefront of her profession since she first appeared at the Royal Court...

A A Gill from 2006-08-20T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the critic and columnist A A Gill. His witty, first-person articles have earned him a whole host of awards and a loyal following. But his life as a successful ...

Simon Cowell from 2006-08-13T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the television star Simon Cowell. Simon Cowell is one of our most successful pop music moguls. He is the mastermind behind more than 100 number one songs in Br...

Michael Rosen from 2006-08-06T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the author and children's poet Michael Rosen. Since his first book, Mind Your Own Business, was published more than than 30 years ago, he has been credited wit...

David Edgar from 2006-07-30T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is a playwright whose work has chronicled Britain's changing political landscape over the past 30 years. David Edgar was brought up in a leafy suburb of Birmingha...

Dr Hanna Segal from 2006-07-23T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the psychoanalyst Dr Hanna Segal. Hanna Segal is one of the most distinguished psychoanalysts of our time. She was born in Poland at the end of the First World...

Ian Rankin from 2006-07-16T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer Ian Rankin. Ian Rankin is an award-winning writer of crime fiction and the creator of the Scottish detective John Rebus who has featured in 17 novel...

Monty Don from 2006-07-09T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the gardener and broadcaster, Monty Don. Three years ago Monty Don became the nation's most high-profile gardener when he took over from Alan Titchmarsh as the...

Lord Browne from 2006-07-02T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the chief executive of BP, John Browne. His father had also worked for the company and through visits to Iran as a boy, he witnessed spectacular oil-well blow-...

Peter Mansfield from 2006-06-18T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Nobel prize-winning physicist Sir Peter Mansfield. His work in magnetic resonance imaging more than 30 years ago led to the development of the MRI scanner,...

George Davies from 2006-06-11T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the retail legend George Davies. In the 1980s he changed the shape of our high streets with his chain Next. In the 1990s he made supermarket clothes fashionabl...

Armando Iannucci from 2006-06-04T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the satirist Armando Iannucci. He has lampooned news journalism with his creations On the Hour and The Day Today and plumbed the shallows of the chat show circ...

Rt Hon David Cameron MP from 2006-05-28T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Rt Hon David Cameron MP, Leader of the Conservative Party and Leader of the Opposition. He was elected last December, beating his rival David Davis by more tha...

Sir Digby Jones from 2006-05-21T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Director General of the CBI, Sir Digby Jones. He was born and grew up in the West Midlands at a time where 'the Austin' car plant formed the 'centre of the...

Darcey Bussell from 2006-05-14T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the ballerina Darcey Bussell OBE. At the age of twenty, she became the Royal Ballet's youngest Principal and went on to dance on the international stage in Par...

Daniel Barenboim from 2006-05-07T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim. As this year's Reith Lecturer on Radio 4 he described how he interprets and understands life through music. On Dese...

Terence Stamp from 2006-03-12T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Terence Stamp. Terence Stamp was one of the new group of confident, beautiful, working class young people who came to define the 1960s. He shared a f...

Jack Higgins from 2006-03-05T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the thriller writer Harry Patterson - otherwise known as Jack Higgins. Harry Patterson grew up in the midst of the violence and disarray of 1940s Belfast and t...

Rachel Whiteread from 2006-02-26T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Rachel Whiteread.

She came to public prominence in 1993 with the life-size concrete cast of a Victorian house in East London. The sculpture pr...

Frederic Raphael from 2006-02-19T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the screen writer Frederic Raphael. For 50 years Frederic Raphael has written witty scripts for television and the silver screen. He won an Oscar for his film ...

Karen Armstrong from 2006-02-12T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the author Karen Armstrong. She writes books about the world's religions, trying to explain that their strength lies not in dogma but profound and enduring tru...

Jeremy Irons from 2006-02-05T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Jeremy Irons.

He made his name playing Charles Ryder in Brideshead Revisited in 1981 and became known for his quintessentially English roles. I...

Rt Hon Shirley Williams from 2006-01-29T11:01

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the politician Baroness Williams of Crosby. Shirley Williams has spent her life immersed in politics. Her father was a Labour Party activist and her mother the...

John Sutherland from 2006-01-22T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer and academic John Sutherland. He is the recently retired Lord Northcliffe Professor of Modern English Literature at University College, London, a pa...

Frankie Dettori from 2006-01-15T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the jockey Frankie Dettori. Over the past two decades he's won more than 2,000 races including most of the classics at home and abroad and has been Champion Jo...

Richard Griffiths from 2006-01-08T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is one of this country's leading character actors - Richard Griffiths. Most recently, he won three Best Actor awards for playing the English master in Alan Bennet...

Kelly Holmes from 2006-01-01T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway is the athlete Dame Kelly Holmes. Kelly Holmes was the heroine of the Athens Olympics. She achieved her lifetime's ambition when, at the age of 34, she won gold medals in t...

John Rutter from 2005-12-25T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the composer John Rutter. He is the most celebrated and successful composer of carols alive today and this Christmas his music will be heard in concerts and ch...

Maggi Hambling from 2005-12-18T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Maggi Hambling. Above all else, she is known as a painter of people. Over the past 30 years she has painted George Melly, Stephen Fry and Michael G...

David Hope from 2005-12-11T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the former Archbishop of York, David Hope. For a decade he was the second most important prelate in the Church of England but, earlier this year, he handed in ...

Colin Firth from 2005-12-04T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Colin Firth. He created an iconic moment in British television history when, as Jane Austen's hero Mr Darcy, he emerged wet-shirted from his stately...

Sir David Frost from 2005-11-27T11:15

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the veteran broadcaster Sir David Frost - the only British television presenter to have interviewed seven American presidents and six British Prime Ministers who ...

Mary Midgley from 2005-11-20T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the philosopher Mary Midgley. For the last 30 years Mary Midgley has been one of Britain's leading moral philosophers. She has been called "the most frightenin...

Renee Fleming from 2005-11-18T09:00

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the soprano Renée Fleming. Renée Fleming is one of the greatest sopranos on the world's stages today. She has won critical acclaim for her interpretations of ...

Chris Evans from 2005-11-06T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the broadcaster Chris Evans. He is one of the most creative and influential broadcasters of his generation. He has been hailed as the saviour of more than one ...

Boris Johnson MP from 2005-10-30T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the politician and journalist Boris Johnson. He is one of the most popular and unpredictable MPs on the Conservative party benches and, under his editorship, t...

Mario Testino from 2005-10-23T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway is one of the world's most successful fashion photographers, Mario Testino.

Kate Moss, Catherine Zeta Jones and Madonna are among the women who have posed for him an...

Jacqueline Wilson from 2005-10-16T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson. She's won just about every award going for children's fiction and, in a career spanning more than 30 years, has writ...

Michael Winner from 2005-10-09T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the film director Michael Winner. Michael Winner is a film-maker, restaurant critic and columnist who has been called Britain's 'Jester Laureate'. He has enjoy...

Frank Gardner from 2005-10-02T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the BBC's Security Correspondent, Frank Gardner. For 10 years, he has been the BBC's expert on the Middle East - always authoritative and insightful, his analy...

Julian Clary from 2005-09-25T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the comedian Julian Clary. Julian Clary brought camp out of the closet and into the TV mainstream. In the late 1980s he burst onto television screens as The Jo...

Brenda Blethyn from 2005-09-18T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Brenda Blethyn. Brenda Blethyn is one of our most versatile and talented actresses with film credits that include Secrets and Lies, Little Voice, S...

Ronald Searle from 2005-07-10T10:15

Sue Lawley travels to Provence in the south of France to meet the illustrator and satirist Ronald Searle in his first recorded interview in more than 30 years. Ronald Searle is arguably Britain'...

Paulo Coelho from 2005-07-03T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the author Paulo Coelho. Paulo Coelho is a publishing phenomenon - his books have sold more than 65 million copies and he counts Bill Clinton and Madonna among...

Ruby Wax from 2005-06-26T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the broadcaster and comedian Ruby Wax. Her brass neck and immunity to embarrassment led to her pioneering a new brand of journalism which saw celebrities, film...

Alexander McCall Smith from 2005-06-19T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the author Alexander McCall Smith. Alexander McCall Smith was an established professor of law, an expert on ethics and a part time musician when, at the age of...

Betsy Blair from 2005-06-12T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Betsy Blair. She was an actress in Hollywood during its heyday and is best known for her role in Marty, the Oscar-winning tale of a shy butcher and lonely teac...

Nigel Slater from 2005-06-05T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the cookery writer Nigel Slater. The British public have taken Slater and his recipes to their hearts and - crucially - their kitchens in recent years, encoura...

Satish Kumar from 2005-05-29T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the peace campaigner Satish Kumar. He has dedicated his life to promoting a peaceful, measured way of living; walking thousands of miles to raise awareness for...

David King from 2005-05-22T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Government's Chief Scientific Adviser Prof Sir David King. He's had a testing four and a half years in the job - his tenure has coincided with an epidemic ...

Imelda Staunton from 2005-05-15T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Imelda Staunton. Imelda Staunton is one of the UK's most versatile and popular actresses. Through a career spanning nearly 30 years she has consist...

Josephine Cox from 2005-05-08T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the novelist Josephine Cox. Josephine Cox is one of Britain's most popular authors. She became an overnight publishing sensation at the relatively late age of ...

Katharine Whitehorn from 2005-05-01T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the journalist Katharine Whitehorn. Katharine Whitehorn was the first journalist to write a column about her personal and domestic life and draw broader truths...

Jarvis Cocker from 2005-04-24T10:15

Pulp's singer and musician, Jarvis Cocker is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Jarvis formed the band Pulp in the late 1970s and says that as a gawky, self-conscious teenager he felt pop music did n...

Patrick Stewart from 2005-04-17T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Patrick Stewart

Patrick Stewart had to wait a long time for fame. The Shakespearean actor was nearly 50 when he was offered the role of Captain...

Philippe Petit from 2005-04-10T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the high wire walker Philippe Petit. Since the age of 17 Petit had been, in his own words, a 'wandering troubadour', making a living by doing magic in the salo...

Lorin Maazel from 2005-04-03T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the musical director of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra Lorin Maazel.

He was a child prodigy whose career as a conductor has survived, and thrived, ...

Yvonne Brewster from 2005-03-27T10:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the theatre director Yvonne Brewster. She has been a major force in black British theatre for the last 20 years. Born into a wealthy family in Jamaica, Yvonne ...

Raymond Briggs from 2005-03-20T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs. For millions of children, Christmas would be incomplete without Briggs's story The Snowman, which has been shown on ...

Stephen Poliakoff from 2005-03-13T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the playwright and director Stephen Poliakoff. Stephen Poliakoff is probably best known for his explorations of the themes of memory, family and history in his...

Alison Richard from 2005-03-06T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the academic Professor Alison Richard. Professor Alison Richard is Cambridge University's first full-time female Vice-Chancellor. An anthropologist by training...

Geoffrey Palmer from 2005-02-27T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actor Geoffrey Palmer. Best known for his roles in The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin, Butterflies and As Time Goes By, he had to wait a long time to bec...

David Starkey from 2005-02-06T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Dr David Starkey. Dr David Starkey forsook the ivory towers of academia to popularise history as a constitutional commentator in the press and as a broadcaster...

Peter Maxwell Davies from 2005-01-30T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Peter Maxwell Davies.

He is one of Britain's greatest living composers. His career has seen him go from enfant terrible and champion of new music, writi...

Dr Jonathan Miller from 2005-01-23T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is Dr Jonathan Miller. Jonathan Miller has been an influential and prolific force in British intellectual life since the 1960s. A writer, theatre and opera direct...

Sam Taylor-Wood from 2005-01-16T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the artist Sam Taylor-Wood. She is known for her photography and short films, including 'David' - a film of the footballer David Beckham sleeping - and her 365...

Andy McNab from 2005-01-09T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the former SAS soldier turned author Andy McNab.

After being abandoned as a baby, he was adopted and was brought up in the Peckham area of South London....

Carlos Acosta from 2005-01-02T11:15

Sue Lawley's castaway is the dancer Carlos Acosta. Carlos Acosta is one of the greatest ballet dancers of his generation. He is the first black principal dancer at Covent Garden. Tocororo, the s...