Podcasts by Desert Island Discs

Peter White, broadcaster from 2023-12-10T11:15

Peter White is an award-winning broadcaster. In 2024 he will celebrate 50 years presenting Radio 4’s In Touch, the programme for blind and visually impaired people. He is also one of the prese...

Lea Salonga, singer and actor from 2023-12-03T00:03

Lea Salonga was just 18 when she became an international theatre star, taking a leading role in the world premiere production of the musical Miss Saigon in 1989. Her performance - first in Londo...

Professor Dame Lesley Regan, obstetrician and gynaecologist from 2023-11-26T12:00

Professor Dame Lesley Regan is the Government’s first Women’s Health Ambassador for England. She is one of the main drivers behind the upcoming Women’s Health Strategy which aims to tackle the ...

Patrick Grant, designer and broadcaster from 2023-11-19T00:33

Patrick Grant is a designer, clothing entrepreneur and a judge on the BBC TV programme The Great British Sewing Bee.

Patrick was born in Edinburgh in 1972. His interest in clothes and i...

Dame Donna Langley, film studio executive from 2023-11-12T12:00

Dame Donna Langley is chairman and chief content officer for the NBC Universal Studio Group, the first British woman in history to run a major Hollywood film studio. She green lit Christopher No...

Greg Jackson, entrepreneur from 2023-11-05T12:00

Greg Jackson is the founder and CEO of Octopus Energy. The company is the UK’s second largest domestic energy provider with over five million customers and is one of Europe’s leading investors ...

Katherine Ryan, comedian from 2023-10-29T11:15

Katherine Ryan is a Canadian comedian and writer. Her edgy and provocative routines have led to sell-out tours, comedy specials on television and her sitcom series The Duchess. Based on her ex...

Lucinda Russell, horse trainer from 2023-10-22T11:00

Lucinda Russell is a Scottish racehorse trainer. Her stables in Kinross have sent out almost 900 winners, including two Grand National champions. She is one of only two Scottish trainers and fou...

Adrian Edmondson, actor, writer from 2023-10-14T23:57

Adrian Edmondson first shot to national fame in 1982, playing the studded punk Vyvyan in the TV sitcom The Young Ones, set in a seedy student flat. The cast largely came from the developing alte...

Shirley Collins, folk singer from 2023-09-02T23:01

Shirley Collins first enjoyed success as one of the leading figures in the British folk revival of the 1960s. She initially performed with her sister, Dolly Collins, and also collaborated with o...

Toto Wolff, Formula 1 executive from 2023-08-27T11:00

Toto Wolff is CEO and Team Principal of the Mercedes Formula 1 motor racing team. He has led the team to an unprecedented seven consecutive drivers’ championships – six with Lewis Hamilton - and...

Simon Woolley, crossbench peer from 2023-08-20T11:00

Simon Woolley, Lord Woolley of Woodford, is principal of Homerton College at Cambridge University. He is the first black man to head an Oxbridge college. He is a co-founder of Operation Black V...

Jill Scott, footballer from 2023-08-12T23:28

Jill Scott is the second most capped England footballer ever, playing for her country 161 times. Before her retirement last year, she played in ten major international tournaments and was part o...

Peter Doig, artist from 2023-08-05T23:38

Peter Doig is one of Britain’s most successful living artists. His paintings have been exhibited at major galleries around the world, winning wide critical acclaim and selling for tens of millio...

Stanley Tucci, actor from 2023-07-30T11:00

Stanley Tucci is an actor, director and writer who is known for his roles in a broad range of feature films including the Devil Wears Prada, Julie and Julia and the Hunger Games. More recently ...

Kate Mosse, writer from 2023-07-22T23:16

Kate Mosse OBE is a British novelist and broadcaster. She is the author of ten novels and short story collections, including The Joubert Family Chronicles and the best-selling Languedoc Trilogy....

Adam Kay, writer from 2023-07-16T11:00

Adam Kay is a writer whose memoir This is Going to Hurt; Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor won the Book of the Year prize at the National Book Awards and has sold over three million copies. It ...

Claudia Rankine, poet from 2023-07-09T11:00

Claudia Rankine is a poet, essayist and playwright. She is best known for her book Citizen: An American Lyric which combines short stories about everyday injustices experienced by people of col...

Jeremy Bowen, journalist from 2023-07-02T11:00

Jeremy Bowen is the BBC’s award-winning international editor. He has been reporting from the world’s conflict zones, including Iraq, Bosnia, the Middle East and Ukraine, for more than 30 years....

Ronnie O'Sullivan, snooker player from 2023-06-24T23:25

Ronnie O’Sullivan OBE is currently ranked the number one snooker player in the world, and is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the history of the sport.

He has won the Mast...

Professor Sharon Peacock, scientist from 2023-06-18T11:00

Professor Sharon Peacock is professor of public health and microbiology at Cambridge University. In March 2020 she set up the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium to map the genetic sequenc...

Simon Pegg, actor from 2023-06-11T11:00

Simon Pegg is an actor and screenwriter who became a household name after appearing in two of Hollywood’s most successful film franchises – Mission: Impossible and Star Trek. He also won many f...

Professor Peter Hennessy, historian from 2023-06-04T11:00

Professor Peter Hennessy is one of the UK’s leading contemporary historians. He has written acclaimed and important books about politics, the civil service, the intelligence agencies and the Br...

Dara Ó Briain, comedian and television presenter from 2023-04-23T10:15

Dara Ó Briain has toured the world as a stand-up comedian, and hosted the BBC’s satirical series Mock the Week for 17 years. A science graduate with a love of astronomy, he co-presented the BBC...

Liz Carr, actor and activist from 2023-04-19T09:06

Liz Carr is most widely known for her role as the forensic examiner Clarissa Mullery in the long-running BBC TV drama Silent Witness. She appeared in more than 70 episodes, from 2013 until 2020....

Amanda Blanc, businesswoman from 2023-04-09T10:15

Amanda Blanc is the group CEO of the insurance company Aviva. She is one of a handful of women at the top of FTSE 100 companies and has spoken out against the sexism and misogyny many – includin...

Robert Webb, comedian from 2023-04-01T23:10

Robert Webb first reached a wide audience as the co-star of Channel 4’s longest running sitcom, the BAFTA-award winning Peep Show. With his long-standing comedy partner David Mitchell, he also c...

Sonia Boyce, artist from 2023-03-26T10:15

In 2022 Sonia Boyce became the first Black British woman to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale exhibition. She also took home the coveted Golden Lion Award for her installation Feeling He...

Jenny Beavan, costume designer from 2023-03-19T00:35

Jenny Beavan has won three Oscars for her costumes for the films Room with a View, Mad Max: Fury Road and Cruella, and has received nine further Academy Award nominations.

She was born in...

David Sedaris, writer from 2023-03-12T11:15

David Sedaris is a writer whose humorous stories and wry takes on everyday encounters have led to 13 bestselling books and many radio programmes including Meet David Sedaris on BBC Radio 4. His...

Lesley Manville, actor from 2023-03-05T00:10

Lesley Manville made her debut on the West End stage as a teenager in 1972, and since then has taken on a wide range of roles on stage and screen, including an Oscar-nominated performance in the...

Professor Corinne Le Quéré, climate scientist from 2023-02-26T11:15

Corinne Le Quéré is the Royal Society Research Professor of Climate Change Science at the University of East Anglia where she studies the way marine ecosystems respond to climate change. She us...

Michael Pollan, writer from 2023-02-19T12:00

Michael Pollan’s award-winning writing about plants, nature and food combines anthropology and philosophy with culture, health and natural history. Time Magazine has named him one of the 100 mo...

Gabby Logan, broadcaster from 2023-02-12T12:00

Gabby Logan presents a range of popular BBC sports programmes and hosts high-profile sporting events including the Olympics, Premiership football and the World Cup.

Gabby was born in Lee...

Sir Malcolm Walker, retailer from 2023-02-05T00:10

Sir Malcolm Walker is the chairman and co-founder of the frozen food supermarket chain Iceland.

He was brought up in Grange Moor, West Yorkshire. He was just 14 when his father died, and ...

Kirsty Young, broadcaster from 2023-01-22T00:44

Kirsty Young was the award-winning presenter of Desert Island Discs between 2006 and 2018, interviewing 496 castaways. Her TV work includes BAFTA-winning coverage of events marking the centenary...

Steven Spielberg, director from 2023-01-15T12:00

Steven Spielberg is the most successful director of his generation and the highest-grossing director of all time: his films have taken more than $10 billion worldwide. From Jaws to E.T. and Jur...

Cate Blanchett, actor from 2023-01-08T00:22

Cate Blanchett is arguably the most celebrated Australian actor ever, winning two Academy Awards, three BAFTAs, three Golden Globes and dozens of other honours around the world.

She grew ...

Edward Enninful, editor from 2023-01-01T12:00

Edward Enninful is the editor-in-chief of British Vogue and the editorial director of Vogue in Europe.

Edward was born in the port city of Takoradi in Ghana in 1972. His father was a major...

Baz Luhrmann, director from 2022-12-25T12:00

Baz Luhrmann is an Australian director whose debut film, Strictly Ballroom, became one of Australia’s most successful releases, and also inspired the title of the BBC’s popular Saturday night da...

Barry Hearn, sports promoter from 2022-12-18T12:00

Barry Hearn is a promoter who has been at the forefront of some of the biggest snooker, boxing and darts events in the last 40 years. He played a central role in turning snooker into a televisio...

Professor Jean Golding, epidemiologist from 2022-12-11T12:00

Professor Jean Golding is an epidemiologist who is best known for founding the Children of the Nineties study - more formally known as the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children. The mo...

Richard E Grant, actor from 2022-12-04T00:10

Richard E Grant was born in Swaziland, now Eswatini, one of the smallest countries in Africa, and took his first steps as an actor as a teenager in the local amateur theatre company.

He st...

Professor Angela Gallop, forensic scientist from 2022-11-27T12:00

Professor Angela Gallop is a forensic scientist who has helped solve some of the most notorious violent crimes in recent British history including the killings of Stephen Lawrence, Damilola Tayl...

Rick Rubin, music producer from 2022-11-20T12:00

Rick Rubin is a multiple Grammy-winning record producer who has worked with a wide range of artists including Adele, the Beastie Boys and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. He also reinvigorated the ca...

Maxine Peake, actor from 2022-11-13T12:00

Maxine Peake is an actor and writer who first came to public attention in 1998 as Twinkle in the Victoria Wood sitcom Dinnerladies. She went on to play Veronica in Paul Abbott’s series Shameles...

Kevin Sinfield, rugby player from 2022-11-06T00:10

Kevin Sinfield OBE is one of the most decorated players in the history of English rugby league. He captained Leeds Rhinos and the England team, and was runner-up in the BBC Sports Personality of...

Dr Waheed Arian, doctor from 2022-10-30T12:00

Dr Waheed Arian is a radiologist who set up a charity called Arian Teleheal in 2015. The charity enables volunteer doctors in the west to advise colleagues in conflict zones using smartphone te...

Jay Blades, presenter and furniture restorer from 2022-10-23T11:00

Jay Blades is a furniture restorer who is best known for presenting the Repair Shop on BBC One. The programme, which attracts many millions of viewers, brings old and damaged family treasures b...

Sue Barker, presenter and tennis player from 2022-10-16T11:00

Sue Barker is a television presenter and former professional tennis player. She presented the BBC’s Wimbledon coverage for nearly three decades, before stepping down this year, when she received...

John Legend, musician from 2022-09-03T23:10

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,...

Clare Smyth, chef from 2022-08-28T00:00

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 r...

Kate Moss, model from 2022-08-21T11:00

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 ma...

Kate Ewart-Biggs, Deputy Chief Executive, British Council from 2022-08-13T23:05

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...

Andrew Ramroop, tailor from 2022-08-06T23:05

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 th...

Adele, singer and songwriter from 2022-07-31T11:00

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 include...

Bono, singer and songwriter from 2022-07-24T11:00

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 ot...

Rita Tushingham, actor from 2022-07-17T11:00

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...

Frances O'Grady, General Secretary of the TUC from 2022-07-10T00:00

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 ...

Jon Ronson, writer and broadcaster from 2022-07-03T11:00

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 ...

David Harewood, actor and presenter from 2022-06-26T11:00

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...

Ellie Simmonds, swimmer from 2022-06-18T23:10

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 gold...

Bradley Walsh, presenter and actor from 2022-06-12T11:00

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. Listen

Fiona Hill, foreign affairs specialist from 2022-06-05T11:00

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 T...

Desert Island Discoveries from 2022-05-29T10:45

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 McG...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jens Stoltenberg from 2022-05-01T10:45

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...

Winnie Byanyima, executive director of Unaids from 2022-04-24T10:45

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...

Alan Cumming, actor from 2022-04-17T00:00

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 t...

Robert Plant, singer and songwriter from 2022-04-10T10:45

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 the...

Oti Mabuse, dancer from 2022-04-03T00:00

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 glitter...

Desert Island Discs is now first on BBC Sounds from 2022-03-07T04:00

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...

Professor Nick Webborn, Chair of the British Paralympic Association from 2022-02-27T11:45

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. ...

Anne Tyler, writer from 2022-02-20T11:45

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 w...

Leslie Caron, actress from 2022-02-13T11:45

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...

Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter, statistician from 2022-02-06T11:45

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 freque...

Lyse Doucet, journalist from 2022-01-30T11:45

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 ...

John Caudwell, businessman from 2022-01-23T11:45

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...

Deborah Levy, writer from 2022-01-16T11:45

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 o...

Simon Reeve, broadcaster and writer from 2022-01-09T11:45

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 jo...

Richard Osman, writer and broadcaster from 2021-12-28T17:56

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 th...

Dame Prue Leith, writer and broadcaster from 2021-12-19T11:45

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 A...

Jack Thorne, screenwriter from 2021-12-12T11:45

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 int...

Helen Macdonald, writer and naturalist from 2021-12-05T11:45

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 boo...

Neil Gaiman, writer from 2021-11-28T11:45

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 ...

Carl Hester, dressage rider from 2021-11-21T11:45

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 a...

Dame Jo da Silva, engineer from 2021-11-19T09:45

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 ...

Joanne Harris, writer from 2021-11-07T11:45

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 Englis...

Peter Schmeichel, footballer from 2021-10-31T11:45

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 Unite...

Michael Sandel, philosopher from 2021-10-24T10:45

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 Philosoph...

Deborah Meaden, businesswoman from 2021-10-17T10:45

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 Meade...

Dame Sarah Connolly, mezzo-soprano from 2021-10-10T10:45

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 Glyndeb...

Tom Ilube, entrepreneur from 2021-10-03T10:45

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 ...

Tracey Ullman, actor and comedian from 2021-09-26T10:45

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 Blanchet...

Baroness Hale of Richmond, former judge from 2021-09-19T10:45

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 Par...

Michael Holding, cricketer from 2021-09-12T10:45

Michael Holding is a cricket commentator and former West Indies bowler. He’s widely regarded as one of the greatest fast bowlers in the history of international cricket. In July 2020 when rain s...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Lauren Bacall from 2021-09-05T10:45

Roy Plomley talks to the actor Lauren Bacall in a programme first broadcast in 1979.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Charlie Watts from 2021-08-29T10:45

Sue Lawley talks to the Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts, who died at the age of 80 on 24 August 2021. The programme was first broadcast in 2001.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Steve McQueen from 2021-08-22T10:45

Kirsty Young talks to the director Steve McQueen in a programme first broadcast in 2014.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Ruth Jones from 2021-08-15T10:45

Lauren Laverne talks to the actor and writer Ruth Jones in a programme first broadcast in 2019.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Tom Daley from 2021-08-08T10:45

Lauren Laverne talks to the diver Tom Daley, in a programme first broadcast in 2018.

Nazir Afzal, lawyer from 2021-08-01T10:45

Nazir Afzal is a solicitor and the former chief crown prosecutor for north-west England. Among his notable cases, he brought the Rochdale sex grooming gangs to trial in 2012.

Nazir’s paren...

Robert Macfarlane, writer from 2021-07-25T10:50

Robert Macfarlane is a writer whose books about the natural world, including The Wild Places and The Old Ways, have won many prizes and taken root in the best-seller charts.

He was born i...

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill, athlete from 2021-07-18T10:45

Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is an Olympic gold medallist and three-time world champion heptathlete, and is one of the most successful women in British sporting history. She was the face of Team GB ...

Professor Noel Fitzpatrick, veterinary surgeon from 2021-07-12T11:29

Professor Noel Fitzpatrick is a veterinary surgeon who presents the television series The Supervet. He has pushed the boundaries of treatment available to animals and has developed ground break...

Paul Costelloe, fashion designer from 2021-07-04T10:45

Paul Costelloe is a fashion designer who recently celebrated his 36th year showing at London Fashion Week, making him the event’s longest-standing designer.

Paul was born in Dublin where h...

Margaret Busby, publisher from 2021-06-27T10:45

Margaret Busby is a publisher and editor who was the chair of the Booker Prize jury in 2020.

She has spent a life time in the literary world and was the youngest person and first black wom...

Richard Wilson, actor and director from 2021-06-20T10:45

Richard Wilson is an actor and director who became a household name when he played the part of Victor Meldrew in the BBC sitcom One Foot in the Grave.

Richard was born in Greenock in Scot...

Yo-Yo Ma, musician from 2021-06-13T10:45

Yo-Yo Ma is a cellist and one of the world's most high-profile classical musicians. He has performed for eight US Presidents, appeared in concert halls across the globe and reached new audiences...

Heather Hallett, former judge and crossbench peer from 2021-06-06T10:45

Heather Hallett, Baroness Hallett of Rye, is a former judge and a cross-bench peer.

Called to the Bar in 1972, Heather practised family, civil and criminal law, eventually specialising in...

Amanda Khozi Mukwashi, charity CEO from 2021-05-30T10:45

Amanda Khozi Mukwashi is the chief executive of Christian Aid, leading development and humanitarian work in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, Latin America and the Caribbean.

Amanda was bo...

Alexei Sayle, comedian from 2021-05-23T10:45

Alexei Sayle is a comedian and writer, who began his career just over 40 years ago at the small Comedy Store venue in London, which proved a launch-pad for a new generation of comic stars.

Brian Greene from 2021-05-16T10:45

Brian Greene is a theoretical physicist, mathematician and writer, whose area of research is string theory. His books and broadcasts distil the complexities of science for a general audience, le...

Billie Piper, actor from 2021-05-09T10:50

Billie Piper is an Olivier Award winning actor and former pop star.

She was born in Swindon in September 1982, and her parents nurtured her interests in dance and drama from a young age. <...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Desmond Tutu from 2021-05-02T10:45

Sue Lawley talks to former Archbishop of Capetown Desmond Tutu in a programme first broadcast in 1994. Desmond Tutu celebrates his 90th birthday this year.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Helen McCrory from 2021-04-22T09:10

Lauren Laverne talks to the actress Helen McCrory, in a programme first broadcast in 2020. Helen McCrory died in April 2021, at the age of 52.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Kathleen Turner from 2021-04-18T10:45

Sue Lawley interviews the actor Kathleen Turner in a programme first broadcast in 2000.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Russell T Davies from 2021-04-11T10:45

Russell T Davies is one of the U.K.'s most successful television writers. He spent his teenage years learning his dramatic craft with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre, and his career in television ...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Murray Walker from 2021-04-04T10:45

Kirsty Young talks to motor racing commentator Murray Walker, in a programme first broadcast in 2014. Murray Walker died in March 2021, at the age of 97.

Professor Sir Simon Wessely from 2021-03-28T10:45

Professor Sir Simon Wessely is the first ever psychiatrist to be awarded a Regius professorship – an honour bestowed by the Queen. He is professor of psychological medicine at the Institute of P...

Maggie O'Farrell, writer from 2021-03-21T11:45

Maggie O’Farrell has written eight novels, a memoir and a children’s book. In 2020 her novel Hamnet won the Women’s Prize for Fiction, and was also named Waterstones Book of the Year.

Magg...

Dame Louise Casey, crossbench peer from 2021-03-14T11:45

Baroness Casey of Blackstock is a former civil servant specialising in social welfare, who has worked under five prime ministers. She has taken on some of UK society’s most difficult issues, in...

Mark Strong, actor from 2021-03-07T11:50

Mark Strong has appeared in more than 60 films, along with numerous TV dramas and plays.

His career took off after he won a leading role in the landmark 1996 BBC series Our Friends in the...

Claire Horton, charity worker from 2021-02-28T11:45

Claire Horton is the former chief executive of Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, and is currently director general of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

She joined Battersea in 2010 durin...

Sophia Loren from 2021-02-21T11:45

Sophia Loren is the first performer to win the Best Actress Academy Award for a role in a foreign language film. She won in 1962 for her performance in Vittorio De Sica’s film Two Women in whic...

Malala Yousafzai, activist from 2021-02-14T11:45

Malala Yousafzai is an activist who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize when she was 17 - becoming the youngest winner in its history. Today she is known globally for her human rights advocacy and...

George McGavin, entomologist and broadcaster from 2021-02-07T11:45

George McGavin is an entomologist, explorer and broadcaster, who has spread the word about the importance of insects to audiences in their millions.

Born in Glasgow, he grew up in Edinbu...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Cliff Richard in 1960 from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Cliff Richard talks about growing up in India and discovering that he had a talent for music; how it feels to leave his teenage years behind him and his intention to embark on his next movie role -...

Debbie Wiseman from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young interviews the composer Debbie Wiseman. Her work is wide ranging, but her talents are most often employed in crafting lyrical, melodic scores for film and TV. Her credits include Land...

Sir Roy Strong from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the historian, gardener and diarist Sir Roy Strong. He stormed the establishment in the 1960s - a proto-meritocrat, in possession of a sharp mind, fizzing ambi...

Sally Wainwright from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Sally Wainwright. TV is her chosen medium and Last Tango In Halifax, Happy Valley or Scott & Bailey are watched by millions of viewers. Her ear for ...

Marin Alsop from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the conductor, Marin Alsop. Music Director of both The Baltimore Symphony and The Sao Paulo State Symphony Orchestra, she is a maestro with a mission: music, s...

Steve McQueen from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway is the artist and director Steve McQueen. These days his talents are well recognized - his art has won The Turner Prize and his most recent movie, "12 Years A Slave" scoope...

Malcolm Gladwell from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

The writer Malcolm Gladwell is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. Always concise, frequently counterintuitive and unexpectedly beguiling, his work orders the world in a way that ...

Guy Garvey from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Guy Garvey, musician and frontman of Elbow, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert island Discs. Front man of the group "Elbow" his voice and lyrics have helped the band win pretty much every m...

Dame Wendy Hall from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the Royal Society, Dame Wendy fought long and hard to prove that her type of web science was highly significant and here to stay. If algebraic to...

Doug Allan from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Doug Allan is Kirsty's castaway this week. He's spent thirty-five years capturing unique footage of animals in some of the most remote and least hospitable places on earth. If you've watched fuzzy...

Anne Reid from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Actress Anne Reid is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. For a long time the bedrock of Anne Reid's successful career seemed to be her perfectly nuanced portrayal of a variety of ...

Sir Michael Marmot from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Professor Sir Michael Marmot is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs. He's an epidemiologist who has spent his career studying what the key factors are in leading a long and healthy ...

Lily Allen from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the singer-songwriter Lily Allen. Less than a decade ago she dipped her toe in musical waters by releasing her demos on social media, this summer she's one of ...

Judy Murray from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Judy Murray. A tennis coach since she was 17, she's the current British captain of the Fed Cup, the premier team competition in women's tennis, and was herself...

Raja Shehadeh from 2021-01-31T22:10:42.023393

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Palestinian author and human rights activist, Raja Shehadeh. Born in Ramallah in the West Bank, his life and writing has been dominated by displacement, st...

Monica Galetti, chef and restaurateur from 2021-01-31T11:45

Monica Galetti is a chef, restaurateur and cook book writer, who is also known as a judge on the television series MasterChef: the Professionals.

Born on the island of Upolu in Western Sam...

Tim Peake, astronaut from 2021-01-24T12:00

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 avia...

Samantha Power from 2021-01-17T11:45

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 ...

David Olusoga, historian and broadcaster from 2021-01-10T11:45

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 histo...

Colonel Lucy Giles from 2020-12-27T12:00

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 at...

Sir Cliff Richard from 2020-12-20T11:45

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 car...

Minette Batters from 2020-12-13T11:45

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...

Professor Sir Jeremy Farrar from 2020-12-06T11:45

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...

Helen Oxenbury from 2020-11-29T11:45

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 Ro...

Arsène Wenger, former football manager from 2020-11-22T11:45

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 ...

Sir Keir Starmer, Leader of the Opposition from 2020-11-15T11:45

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...

David Mitchell, novelist from 2020-11-13T09:45

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 Japane...

Hilary McGrady, Director General of the National Trust from 2020-11-01T11:45

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 tw...

Chris Boardman, cyclist from 2020-10-25T11:45

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 ...

Professor Averil Mansfield, retired surgeon from 2020-10-18T10:45

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 w...

Baroness Floella Benjamin, DBE from 2020-10-15T09:56

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 notab...

Samantha Morton, actor from 2020-10-04T10:45

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 th...

Yusuf Cat Stevens, musician from 2020-09-27T10:45

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 moth...

Bernardine Evaristo, writer from 2020-09-20T10:45

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 f...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jack Charlton from 2020-09-13T10:00

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...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Liz Smith from 2020-09-06T10:45

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 ...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Terry Jones from 2020-08-30T10:00

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.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Wendy Cope from 2020-08-23T10:00

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 ...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Bryan Stevenson from 2020-08-16T10:00

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 pe...

Your Desert Island Discs from 2020-08-11T09:45

Listeners choose the music that has been special to them during the weeks of lockdown. With Jane Moss, Hugh Mullally, Ailish Douglas, Professor Jason Warren, Niti Acharya, Margery Hookings, Sim...

Maria Balshaw, Director of Tate from 2020-08-10T15:30

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...

Steve Backshall, explorer from 2020-08-02T10:45

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, featu...

Sharon Horgan, writer, actor, producer from 2020-07-26T10:45

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 Lo...

Annie Nightingale, DJ from 2020-07-19T10:45

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 Londo...

Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of NATO from 2020-07-12T10:45

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 stat...

Helen Fielding, author from 2020-07-05T10:45

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 ...

Helen McCrory, actress from 2020-06-28T10:45

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 accla...

Mark Johnston, racehorse trainer from 2020-06-21T10:45

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 mo...

Joe Wicks, fitness trainer and author from 2020-06-14T10:59

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. ...

Martin Lewis, financial campaigner from 2020-06-07T10:45

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 millio...

Professor Dame Elizabeth Anionwu, former nurse from 2020-05-31T10:45

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 professio...

Charles Hazlewood, conductor from 2020-05-24T10:45

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 mus...

Sinead Burke, disability rights activist and teacher from 2020-05-17T10:45

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 ...

Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate from 2020-05-10T10:45

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 comple...

Classic Desert Island Discs - Lubaina Himid from 2020-05-03T11:00

Lauren Laverne's castaway is the artist Lubaina Himid. The programme was first broadcast in June 2019.

Classic Desert Island Discs - John Cooper Clarke from 2020-04-26T11:00

Lauren Laverne's castaway is the poet John Cooper Clarke. The programme was first broadcast in July 2019.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Albert&Michel Roux from 2020-04-19T11:00

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.

Classic Desert Island Discs - Jilly Cooper from 2020-04-12T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Jilly Cooper, best known for her best-selling series of romantic novels The Rutshire Chronicles.

Brian Cox, actor from 2020-03-29T11:00

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 ...

Dame Helena Morrissey, financier and campaigner from 2020-03-22T12:00

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...

Daniel Radcliffe, actor from 2020-03-15T12:00

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 s...

Chris Riddell, illustrator, author and political cartoonist from 2020-03-08T12:00

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 – mo...

Dorothy Byrne, journalist from 2020-03-01T12:00

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 Roy...

Melanie C from 2020-02-23T12:00

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 o...

Ian Wright, former footballer and broadcaster from 2020-02-16T12:00

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...

Zoe Ball, broadcaster from 2020-02-09T12:00

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...

Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge from 2020-02-02T12:00

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 th...

Anne Enright, writer from 2020-01-26T12:00

Anne Enright won the Booker Prize for her fourth novel, The Gathering, in 2007, and was appointed the inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction in 2015. She has written seven novels, two collections...

Dame Sue Campbell, Director Women's Football at the FA from 2020-01-19T12:00

Dame Sue Campbell is the Director of Women’s Football at the Football Association. The women’s game has become increasingly popular recently and last year the England team - the Lionesses - mad...

Michael Lewis, writer from 2020-01-12T12:00

Michael Lewis is a best-selling non-fiction writer and journalist. He initially worked for an investment bank, and his experiences of Wall Street excess in the 1980s informed his acclaimed first...

Rupert Everett, actor from 2020-01-09T12:43

Rupert Everett is an actor, writer and director whose breakthrough came in 1981 when he was cast as a gay schoolboy in Another Country, Julian Mitchell's play and subsequent film.

Rupe...

Stephen Merchant, writer, comedian and actor from 2019-12-22T12:00

Stephen Merchant first came to fame with the TV sitcom The Office, which he co-wrote and co-directed with Ricky Gervais. He continued to work with Gervais on the series Extras, Life is Short and...

Heidi Thomas, screenwriter from 2019-12-15T12:00

Heidi Thomas is a screenwriter and playwright best known for Call the Midwife. The BBC TV series, which began in 2012, was originally a six part adaptation of a trilogy of memoirs by Jennifer W...

Professor Russell Foster, professor of circadian neuroscience from 2019-12-08T12:00

Professor Russell Foster is head of the Sleep and Circadian Neuroscience Institute at the University of Oxford, professor of circadian neuroscience and the director of the Nuffield Laboratory of...

Asif Kapadia, film director from 2019-12-01T12:00

Asif Kapadia is an Academy Award-winning film director, renowned for his documentaries about the musician Amy Winehouse, the Brazilian motor racing star Ayrton Senna, and the Argentinian footbal...

Isabella Tree, writer and conservationist from 2019-11-24T12:00

Isabella Tree is a conservationist and writer of the award-winning book Wilding: the Return of Nature to a British Farm, which tells the story of rewilding a 3,500 acre farm estate in Sussex, wh...

Stephen Graham, actor from 2019-11-17T12:00

Stephen Graham is an actor, whose credits include key roles in films including This is England and The Irishman, and in TV dramas such as Boardwalk Empire and Line of Duty.

Stephen was bo...

Lauren Laverne picks some of her favourite episodes from 2019-11-13T17:09

Hear stories & track choices from castaways including Len Goodman, Maya Angelou and Stephen Hawking.

Kimberley Motley, lawyer from 2019-11-10T11:15

Kimberley Motley is an American attorney and the first foreign lawyer to practise in Afghanistan.

Born in 1975 to an African-American father and a North Korean mother, she grew up in a poo...

Russell T Davies, screenwriter from 2019-11-03T12:00

Russell T Davies is one of the U.K.’s most successful television writers. He spent his teenage years learning his dramatic craft with the West Glamorgan Youth Theatre, and his career in televis...

Wendell Pierce, actor from 2019-10-27T12:00

Wendell Pierce is an American actor best known for his role as Bunk Moreland in the television series The Wire. Since the series ended in 2008, he has made around 40 film and television appearan...

Dame Glenys Stacey, former Chief Inspector of Probation from 2019-10-20T11:00

Dame Glenys Stacey has spent 40 years in public service, including high profile work as a regulator in key areas of national life. She has just stepped down after her five year term as Her Maje...

Baroness Arminka Helić from 2019-10-14T10:59

Baroness Arminka Helić is credited with persuading William Hague, the former foreign secretary, and the actor and director Angelina Jolie to launch the Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Ini...

Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer&lyricist from 2019-10-06T11:00

Lin-Manuel Miranda is best known as the composer, lyricist and original star of the multi-award-winning Broadway musical, Hamilton. It won the 2016 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, 11 Tony Awards and Gr...

Sabrina Cohen-Hatton, firefighter from 2019-09-29T11:00

Dr Sabrina Cohen-Hatton is the Chief Fire Officer for West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service. She is one of the most senior women in the Fire and Rescue Service in the UK.

After spending so...

Thom Yorke, musician from 2019-09-22T11:00

Thom Yorke has been the front man of Radiohead, one of Britain’s most successful British bands, for 34 years. They have sold over 30 million albums worldwide, and have won three Grammys and four...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Lemn Sissay from 2019-09-15T11:00

Another chance to hear Lemn Sissay's Desert Island Discs from October 2015. Interviewed by Kirsty Young. As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his bi...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Judith Kerr from 2019-09-08T11:00

Another chance to hear Judith Kerr, interviewed by Sue Lawley. From February 2004. A writer and illustrator known to generations of children both for her charming Mog picture-books and for her car...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Daniel Kahneman from 2019-09-01T11:00

Another chance to hear Daniel Kaheneman, interviewed by Kirsty Young in August 2013. Widely acknowledged as one of the world's most influential living psychologists, his many years of study have c...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Professor Monica Grady from 2019-08-25T11:00

Another chance to hear Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University, interviewed by Kirsty Young in July 2015. Well-known in scientific circles, at NASA and the E...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Freddie Flintoff from 2019-08-18T11:00

One of the best players of his generation, he was part of the England team that won the Ashes in 2005, a year that marked his sporting coming of age. On the strength of that historic victory he was...

Jo Fairley, businesswoman from 2019-08-11T11:00

Jo Fairley is a businesswoman and writer. She co-founded the Green & Black’s chocolate company with Craig Sams, her husband, and has launched several other successful ventures since then. Listen

Sir Tim Waterstone, businessman from 2019-08-04T11:00

Sir Tim Waterstone is the founder of the bookshop chain that bears his name. Born in May 1939, he was the youngest of three children. His father, who worked for a tea company all his life, serve...

Dame Sally Davies, chief medical officer, England from 2019-07-28T11:00

Dame Sally Davies is the outgoing Chief Medical Officer for England. She will take up her next post as Master of Trinity College, Cambridge, later this year.

She was born in Birmingham in...

John Cooper Clarke, poet from 2019-07-21T11:00

John Cooper Clarke first achieved fame with his poetry during the punk rock era of the late 1970s. Born in Salford in 1949 to Hilda and George, he suffered from tuberculosis as a child and was s...

Marcus Wareing, chef from 2019-07-14T11:00

Marcus Wareing is a prize-winning chef, restaurateur, TV presenter and cookery book writer, who gained his first Michelin star at the age of just 26.

He grew up in Southport, and by the a...

Sue Biggs, DG Royal Horticultural Society from 2019-07-07T11:00

Sue Biggs is the Director General of the Royal Horticultural Society.

She’s been at the helm of the RHS since 2010 and during that time, its membership has grown to more than half a mill...

Jared Diamond, academic and author from 2019-06-30T11:00

Jared Diamond is Professor of Geography at the University of California, Los Angeles, although his interests and expertise range far wider, from physiology to ornithology, history to ecology and...

Emily Eavis from 2019-06-23T11:00

Emily Eavis is co-organiser of the Glastonbury Festival. Together with her husband and her father, she masterminds the booking of bands and oversees the setting up of what is the largest greenf...

Nitin Sawhney, musician, producer, composer from 2019-06-16T11:00

Nitin Sawhney is a composer, musician and producer working in the worlds of music, film, video games, dance and theatre. He has released 10 studio albums, scored over 50 films and television pro...

Professor Monica McWilliams, social scientist from 2019-06-09T11:00

Professor Monica McWilliams is an academic, peace campaigner and former politician.

In 1996, she was the co-founder of the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition political party and was elect...

Lubaina Himid, artist from 2019-06-02T11:00

Lubaina Himid is a Turner Prize-winning artist, curator and Professor of Contemporary Art at the University of Central Lancashire.

Lubaina was born in Zanzibar in 1954. Her mother was fr...

Derren Brown, illusionist from 2019-05-26T11:00

Derren Brown, illusionist and mentalist, chooses the eight tracks, book and luxury he want to take with him if cast away to a desert island.

BOOK CHOICE: Collected works of Carl Jung LUXU...

Pat McGrath, makeup artist from 2019-05-19T11:00

Pat McGrath is a renowned make-up artist. She works with the world’s top designers, photographers, editors and models, creating images for the pages of the world’s most glamorous magazines. She ...

Louis Theroux from 2019-05-12T11:00

Louis Theroux is a television documentary maker. He has received two BAFTAs and a Royal Television Society Award for his work which includes the series Louis Theroux’s Weird Weekends and When Lo...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Tracey Emin from 2019-05-05T11:00

Another chance to hear artist Tracey Emin's Desert Island Discs, with Sue Lawley, first broadcast in November 2004. Tracey Emin is one of the most successful and controversial artists to emerge du...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell from 2019-04-28T11:00

Another chance to hear Professor Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell choose her Desert Island Discs, with Sue Lawley. First broadcast 24th December, 2000. Jocelyn Bell Burnell was only twenty-four when she m...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Mary Berry from 2019-04-21T11:00

Another chance to hear Mary Berry's Desert Island Discs with Kirsty Young from 2012. Mary Berry is one of the UK's best-known and respected cookery writers. More than six million copies of her book...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Ade Adepitan from 2019-04-14T11:00

Another chance to hear Paralympian and broadcaster Ade Adepitan interviewed by Kirsty Young in 2012. When he's not stuck in a studio explaining the intricacies of Goalball he's reporting from the r...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Ricky Gervais from 2019-04-07T11:00

Another chance to listen to the comedian, Ricky Gervais speaking to Kirsty Young in 2007. In just twelve episodes, his show The Office changed the face of British television comedy. At its centre w...

Martin Freeman, actor from 2019-03-31T11:00

Martin Freeman is a multi-award winning actor, best known for his roles as the lovable Tim in BBC Two’s The Office and as Dr Watson to Benedict Cumberbatch’s Sherlock Holmes. He also played Bil...

Jacqueline de Rojas, President of techUK from 2019-03-24T12:00

Lauren Laverne’s castaway this week is Jacqueline de Rojas, the President of techUK, the body that represents 900 companies in the technology sector. She is Chair of the Board of Digital Leaders...

Marlon James, writer from 2019-03-17T12:00

Marlon James is a writer who won the Man Booker Prize in 2015 for A Brief History of Seven Killings, a novel which centres on an attempt to assassinate Bob Marley. Marlon was the first Jamaican ...

Dame Esther Rantzen, broadcaster and campaigner from 2019-03-10T12:00

Dame Esther Rantzen is best known as the presenter of the long-running TV series That’s Life, which began on BBC One in 1973. She was both presenter and producer of the programme, which was hug...

Trevor Sorbie, hairdresser from 2019-03-03T12:00

Trevor Sorbie is known as an innovative hairdresser and is the founder of the charity, MyNewHair.

Born into a family of hairdressers – both his father and grandfather were barbers – he sp...

Margaret MacMillan, historian from 2019-02-24T12:00

Professor Margaret MacMillan is a Canadian historian, author and broadcaster. In 2018 she delivered the Reith Lectures on BBC Radio 4, in which she examined the tangled history of war and socie...

Ann Cleeves, writer from 2019-02-17T12:00

Ann Cleeves is a crime writer best known for two series of novels, both of which have been adapted for television. Vera, for ITV, features her detective Vera Stanhope, and Shetland, for the BBC,...

Cressida Dick, Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police from 2019-02-10T12:00

Cressida Dick is Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police.

She was born in 1960, the youngest child of two university professors. Her parents divorced when she was still at primary school a...

Bob Mortimer, comedian from 2019-02-03T12:00

Bob Mortimer is a comedian best known for his work with his comedy partner Vic Reeves. For 30 years, he and Vic have appeared in numerous TV series together, including Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out,...

Wendy Cope, poet from 2019-01-27T12:00

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 s...

James Rebanks, shepherd and writer from 2019-01-20T12:00

James Rebanks is a shepherd and the best-selling author of The Shepherd’s Life.

Born in Cumbria in 1974, he grew up venerating his grandfather, who taught him what he needed to know in or...

Ruth Jones, actor and writer from 2019-01-13T12:00

Ruth Jones is an actor and writer. She co-created and starred in the award-winning TV comedy series Gavin and Stacey, and also wrote and took the title role in the comedy drama Stella, which ra...

Jeremy Deller, artist from 2019-01-06T12:00

The Turner Prize-winning artist Jeremy Deller is perhaps best known for We’re Here Because We’re Here, a moving and powerful memorial to the Battle of the Somme, and The Battle of Orgreave – a r...

Alan Carr, comedian from 2018-12-23T12:00

Alan Carr, comedian and chat show host, is known for his love of silliness, dressing up and camp daftness. His stand-up shows have filled arenas, and on TV he co-hosted the Friday Night Project ...

Hella Pick, journalist from 2018-12-19T15:55

As one of the Guardian’s first female foreign correspondents, Hella Pick reported on events that shaped the world in the second half of the 20th century, from Martin Luther King's civil rights a...

Mariana Mazzucato, economist from 2018-12-16T12:00

Professor Mariana Mazzucato is an economist, who focuses on value and innovation.

Born in Italy, Mariana moved to America as a child, when her father accepted a post at Princeton Univers...

Gary Barlow, singer-songwriter from 2018-12-09T12:00

Gary Barlow, musician and Take That lead singer, has written more than a dozen chart-topping songs, and has received six Ivor Novello awards including the award for Outstanding Contribution to B...

Tom Kerridge, chef from 2018-12-02T12:00

Tom Kerridge is a chef, restaurateur and TV presenter.

Tom made his name with his Buckinghamshire pub The Hand and Flowers, which he opened with his wife in 2005. It is the only British p...

Kate Atkinson, novelist from 2018-11-25T12:00

Kate Atkinson won the Whitbread Book of the Year Award for her 1995 debut novel Behind the Scenes at the Museum, and has won the Costa Novel Award twice, for Life After Life in 2013 and for A Go...

Tracey Thorn, musican and writer from 2018-11-18T12:00

Tracey Thorn, musician and writer, is best known as one half of the duo Everything but the Girl. Brought up in Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire, she bought her first guitar, a black Les Paul copy, ...

Vanley Burke, photographer from 2018-11-04T12:00

Vanley Burke is a Jamaican-born photographer often described as the Godfather of Black British Photography. His body of work is regarded as the greatest photographic record of African Caribbean ...

Jacqueline Gold from 2018-10-28T12:00

Jacqueline Gold is the CEO of the retail brands Ann Summers and Knickerbox. She joined the business at the age of 19 for work experience, and faced resistance because her father, David Gold, wa...

Venki Ramakrishnan from 2018-10-21T11:00

Venki Ramakrishnan is a Nobel Prize-winning molecular biologist.

He is most renowned for his research into the atomic structure of the ribosome - a complex molecule in the cell which tran...

Nile Rodgers from 2018-10-14T11:00

Nile Rodgers is a Grammy-winning composer, musician, and producer. With his own band, Chic, he's been enticing people on to the dance floor since the mid-1970s with hits like Le Freak and Good T...

Thea Musgrave from 2018-10-07T11:00

Composer Thea Musgrave celebrated her 90th birthday this year, an event marked by celebrations and concerts around the world, including the BBC Proms and the Edinburgh International Festival. Sh...

Tom Daley from 2018-09-30T11:00

Tom Daley started diving aged seven and by the age of 14 was representing Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. He has won six British Championships, three European Championships and wo...

Henry Marsh from 2018-09-23T11:00

Henry Marsh is a neurosurgeon, who pioneered a technique of operating on the brain while the patient is under local anaesthetic. The procedure is now standard practice. He is also an acclaimed w...

Danielle de Niese from 2018-09-16T11:00

Danielle de Niese is a soprano who has taken starring roles with leading opera companies around the world. She was born in Melbourne, Australia, to Sri Lankan parents, and at the age of eight s...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Malorie Blackman from 2018-09-09T11:00

Another chance to listen to the writer speaking to Kirsty Young in 2013. A prolific and multi-award winning author, Malorie Blackman has powered her way to success not just through talent but deter...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Dame Cicely Saunders from 2018-09-02T11:00

Another chance to listen to the founder of the Hospice Movement speaking to Sue Lawley in 1995. Dame Cicely Saunders talks about her schooldays at Roedean, how she trained as a nurse and much later...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Cilla Black from 2018-08-26T11:00

Another chance to listen to the singer and television presenter speaking to Sue Lawley in 1988. Cilla Black reveals her three remaining burning ambitions in life: to make a number-one record, to be...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Brian Redhead from 2018-08-19T11:00

Another chance to listen to the journalist and broadcaster speaking to Michael Parkinson in 1986. Brian Redhead presented the Today programme for almost 20 years. He talks about his appearance on C...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Sir Michael Tippett from 2018-08-12T11:00

Another chance to listen to the composer speaking to Roy Plomley in 1985. Sir Michael Tippett is regarded as one of the foremost composers of the twentieth century. Other than a period as Director ...

Pam Ayres from 2018-08-05T11:00

Pam Ayres is a poet and broadcaster.

Pam was born in the Vale of the White Horse and retains her characteristic Berkshire burr. She is the youngest of six children, and grew up in the comp...

Marianne Elliott from 2018-07-29T11:00

Marianne Elliott is the first woman to win two Tony awards for theatre direction: the first for War Horse and the second for The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time. Both transferred t...

Baroness Newlove from 2018-07-22T11:00

Baroness Newlove is the Victims' Commissioner for England and Wales. She became a campaigner after her husband, Garry Newlove, was murdered by several youths in 2007. Born in Salford in 1961 she...

Billie Jean King from 2018-07-15T11:00

Billie Jean King won 39 Grand Slams and a total of 20 Wimbledon titles and is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time.

Born in California in 1943, she was the eldest da...

Philip Treacy from 2018-07-08T11:00

Philip Treacy is one of the most prolific and acclaimed hat designers working in the UK.

His work was very much in evidence at this year's Royal Wedding and at Royal Ascot. Meghan Markle ...

Guy Singh-Watson from 2018-07-01T11:00

Guy Singh-Watson is an organic farmer and founder of Riverford, a major British supplier of organic vegetables through a box delivery scheme. Born in 1960 and the youngest of five children, his ...

Martina Cole from 2018-06-24T11:00

Martina Cole is a British crime writer, known to her fans as the Queen of Crime.

Martina has written 24 novels, 15 of which have topped the original fiction sales charts - more than any o...

John Motson from 2018-06-17T11:00

John Walker Motson, OBE, also known as Motty, has been commentating on football since 1971. He covered more than 2000 games on television and radio, including all the major football championship...

Professor Carlos Frenk from 2018-06-10T11:00

Professor Carlos Frenk is a cosmologist and one of the originators of the Cold Dark Matter theory for the formation of galaxies and the structure of the universe. He has worked at Durham Univers...

Gillian Reynolds from 2018-06-03T11:00

Gillian Reynolds spent 42 years as the radio critic of the Daily Telegraph before she was headhunted by the Sunday Times at the age of 82. Born into a working class family in Liverpool, her moth...

David Baddiel from 2018-05-27T11:00

David Baddiel is a comedian and writer. Known both for his solo work and for his comedic collaborations with, among others, Rob Newman and Frank Skinner, he has also written a screenplay, a musi...

Dr Sue Black from 2018-05-20T11:00

Dr. Sue Black is a computer scientist, academic and social entrepreneur. She was instrumental in saving Bletchley Park, the home of vital codebreaking during the second world war. Currently an h...

Sir Peter Lampl from 2018-05-13T11:00

Sir Peter Lampl is a philanthropist who has given over £50 million and worked for 20 years to combat educational inequality. In 1997 he founded the Sutton Trust with the aim of improving social ...

Abi Morgan from 2018-05-06T11:00

Abi Morgan is a screenwriter and playwright best known for TV dramas The Hour, River and The Split and the films Shame, Suffragette and The Iron Lady. She won two Emmy Awards for The Hour, as we...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Sue Townsend from 2018-04-29T11:00

Another chance to listen to the writer speaking to Sue Lawley in 1991. Her most famous creation was Adrian Mole, and, in many respects, his life mirrored her own: like her hero, she came from a poo...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Annie Lennox from 2018-04-22T11:00

Another chance to listen to the singer-songwriter speaking to Kirsty Young in 2008. Her extraordinary voice has captivated us for decades and, as one half of the group Eurythmics and as a solo arti...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Stephen Hawking from 2018-04-15T11:00

Another chance to listen to the theoretical physicist speaking to Sue Lawley in 1992. Stephen Hawking wrote the best-selling A Brief History of Time and was the founder of the Centre for Theoretica...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Victoria Wood from 2018-04-08T11:00

Another chance to listen to the comedian speaking to Kirsty Young in 2007. For decades she was one of our best-loved writers and performers. The television series she made - including Acorn Antique...

Classic Desert Island Discs: Hugh Masekela from 2018-04-01T11:00

Another chance to listen to the world famous musician speaking to Sue Lawley in 2004. As a boy growing up in the impoverished townships of South Africa, he was inspired to learn the trumpet after s...

Anne-Marie Duff from 2018-03-25T11:00

Anne-Marie Duff is a stage and screen actor.

Born in 1970 to Irish parents, she grew up in a working class household in west London. A shy child and a voracious reader, she took acting cla...

David Byrne from 2018-03-18T12:00

David Byrne was a founding member of the band Talking Heads. Born in Dumbarton, Scotland, he emigrated first to Canada and then to the USA before the age of ten.

He started playing in ban...

John Gray from 2018-03-11T12:00

John Gray is a philosopher. His academic career included professorships at Oxford University and the London School of Economics, and visiting professorships at Harvard and Yale in the USA. He re...

Matt Smith from 2018-03-04T12:00

Matt Smith is best known as the eleventh Timelord in the BBC One series, Doctor Who. At 26, he became the youngest actor to take the part.

His future looked set to be in football: he play...

Dame Minouche Shafik from 2018-02-25T12:00

Dame Minouche Shafik is the director of the London School of Economics and a former Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. She was born in Egypt but her family had to flee the country when she ...

Christopher Nolan from 2018-02-18T12:00

Christopher Nolan is best known for reviving the Batman film franchise and for directing the blockbusters Inception and Dunkirk. His films have taken nearly $5 billion at the box office. Born in...

Chi-chi Nwanoku from 2018-02-11T12:00

Chi-chi Nwanoku is a double bass player and founder of Europe's first professional majority black and minority ethnic orchestra, Chineke!.

Chi-chi is the eldest of five children, born to a...

Jack Whitehall from 2018-02-04T12:00

Jack Whitehall, stand-up comedian, actor, sit-com writer and producer is Kirsty Young's castaway.

He co-wrote and starred in the sitcoms Fresh Meat and Bad Education. He and his father lau...

Garry Kasparov from 2018-01-28T12:00

Garry Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, who became the youngest ever world champion at the age of 22. He is also a writer and a political activist.

He grew up in the Soviet Union, ...

Christina Lamb from 2018-01-22T13:31

Christina Lamb is chief foreign correspondent for the Sunday Times and travels the world reporting from war zones and hot spots, speaking not just to key protagonists but also seeking out and de...

Angela Hartnett from 2018-01-14T12:00

Angela Hartnett is a chef, TV presenter and cookery writer. She holds a Michelin star and runs her own restaurants.

Angela was born in 1968 to an Italian mother and Irish father, and her ...

Charlie Brooker from 2018-01-07T12:00

Charlie Brooker is a satirist, broadcaster and writer. He created the Emmy-award winning series, Black Mirror, and presents Screenwipe and Newswipe which won Best Comedy Entertainment Show award...

75 Years of Desert Island Discs from 2017-12-31T12:00

75 Years of Desert Island Discs - Kirsty Young ends the programme's anniversary year with some gems from the archive, including the creator of the format, Roy Plomley, actress Bebe Daniels, broa...

Bruno Tonioli from 2017-12-24T12:00

Bruno Tonioli, dancer, choreographer and a judge on BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing, is Kirsty's guest. He was brought up in Ferrara, Northern Italy, and was the only child of hard-working pare...

Christine McVie from 2017-12-17T12:00

Christine McVie enjoyed huge success with Fleetwood Mac, penning many of their signature songs including You Make Loving Fun, Oh Daddy, Little Lies, Everywhere and Songbird. The band has sold mo...

Kelsey Grammer from 2017-12-10T12:00

Kelsey Grammer is best known for his two-decade-long portrayal of psychiatrist Dr Frasier Crane which began on the NBC sitcom Cheers. He continued the role in the hugely successful spin-off seri...

Tim Martin from 2017-12-03T12:00

Tim Martin is the chairman and founder of the pub company JD Wetherspoon. He opened his first pub, Martin's Free House, in 1979 in North London. Now the chain employs 37,000 people, in 891 pubs ...

Naomi Klein from 2017-11-26T12:00

The writer and activist Naomi Klein reached an international audience with her first book, the best-selling No Logo, a rallying cry against the power of corporate brands and the replacement of t...

Micky Flanagan from 2017-11-19T12:00

Micky Flanagan found mainstream success as a comedian in 2007 with his autobiographical 'What Chance Change?' show at the Edinburgh fringe, where he was nominated as best newcomer.

Raised...

Anna Pavord from 2017-11-12T12:00

Anna Pavord, writer & gardener, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

Professor Phil Scraton from 2017-11-05T12:00

Professor Phil Scraton is Professor Emeritus at the School of Law at Queen's University Belfast. A criminologist and author, he's director of the Childhood, Transition and Social Justice Initiat...

Kay Mellor from 2017-10-29T12:00

Kay Mellor, OBE, is an English screenwriter and director best known for TV drama series including Band of Gold, Playing the Field, Fat Friends and The Syndicate. She has won a Bafta award, along...

Edna Adan Ismail from 2017-10-22T11:00

Edna Adan Ismail is a midwife and campaigner. As a 12 year old growing up in British Somaliland, her dream was to build her own hospital. It took her some 50 years and all her savings to realise...

Jane Gardam from 2017-10-15T11:00

Jane Gardam is best known for her trilogy of novels about an ex-colonial QC nicknamed Old Filth. A writer for both adults and children, she has won two Whitbread awards, the Katherine Mansfield ...

Sir James MacMillan from 2017-10-08T11:00

Sir James MacMillan is a Scottish composer and conductor. He's one of Britain's most successful living classical composers, with his percussion concerto, Veni Veni Emmanuel, receiving more than ...

Siddhartha Mukherjee from 2017-10-01T11:00

Siddhartha Mukherjee is a cancer specialist. His biography of the disease, The Emperor of All Maladies, won the Pulitzer Prize in 2010. A haematologist and oncologist by training, his research f...

Professor Dame Jane Francis from 2017-09-24T11:00

Professor Dame Jane Francis is the Director of the British Antarctic Survey.

She is no stranger to surviving in extreme conditions, because for much of her career her research has taken h...

Paul Greengrass from 2017-09-17T11:00

Paul Greengrass has directed three Jason Bourne films, starring Matt Damon, Captain Phillips with Tom Hanks in the title role, and the 9/11 film United 93, which earned him an Academy Award nomi...

Dr Kevin Fong from 2017-08-06T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Dr. Kevin Fong. He is a consultant anaesthetist at University College Hospital London, and an expert on space medicine. He is a senior lecturer in Physiology at UCL an...

Sheryl Sandberg from 2017-07-30T11:00

Sheryl Sandberg, Chief Operating Officer of Facebook, is Kirsty Young's castaway. She worked for Google at the beginning of the tech boom before joining Facebook in 2008. Raised in Miami Beach, ...

Jayne-Anne Gadhia from 2017-07-23T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Jayne-Anne Gadhia, Chief Executive of Virgin Money. She is currently the government's Women in Finance Champion. She worked for Fred Goodwin at RBS just prior to the f...

John McEnroe from 2017-07-16T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the tennis player and commentator, John McEnroe. He won three singles and five doubles Wimbledon titles, four singles and four doubles at the US Open and was ranked nu...

Sue Perkins from 2017-07-09T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and TV presenter Sue Perkins.

She and her friend Mel Giedroyc first appeared as a comedy duo at the Edinburgh Fringe over 20 years ago and together...

Professor Carlo Rovelli from 2017-07-02T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the theoretical physicist, Professor Carlo Rovelli. His book 'Seven Brief Lessons on Physics' became one of the fastest-selling science titles of all time, catapulting...

Stella McCartney from 2017-06-25T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the fashion designer Stella McCartney.

Born the middle child of Paul and Linda McCartney, Stella's early years were a paradox: she would either spend h...

Jed Mercurio from 2017-06-18T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Jed Mercurio. Creator of Line of Duty, and an award-winning TV writer, producer, director and novelist, he is one of the few British script-writers to work as an Ameri...

Rick Wakeman from 2017-06-11T11:00

Rick Wakeman, musician and composer, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs

Producer: Paula McGinley.

Sonia Friedman from 2017-06-04T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the theatre producer, Sonia Friedman.

Acclaimed as the most influential producer in British theatre today, she has produced over 160 new shows. They include Fun...

Elif Shafak from 2017-05-28T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Turkish writer Elif Shafak.

Elif Shafak has published ten novels and several volumes of non-fiction and her work is translated into 47 languages. ...

Demis Hassabis from 2017-05-21T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Dr Demis Hassabis. An artificial intelligence researcher and co-founder and CEO of DeepMind, he is also a neuroscientist, a computer games designer, an entrepreneur, a...

Liz Lochhead from 2017-05-14T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer and poet Liz Lochhead.

She was the Makar, the Scottish national poet, between 2011 and 2016.

Liz was born in Motherwell, not far from...

Ed Sheeran from 2017-05-07T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Ed Sheeran. His songs have brought him two Grammys, four Brit awards and global success. Shortly after the release of his latest album, Divide, tracks from i...

Arundhati Roy from 2017-03-26T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer, Arundhati Roy. She won the Booker Prize for her first novel, The God Of Small Things, which has been translated into 40 languages and became the best-selli...

Amanda Levete from 2017-03-19T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the architect Amanda Levete. She won the Stirling prize in 1998 for the Media Centre at Lord's Cricket Ground which she designed with then husband, the late ...

Marian Keyes from 2017-03-12T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Marian Keyes.

Her twelve novels to date have sold 35 million copies and are published in 33 languages. Some of her novels have been adapted for the s...

Jimmy Carr from 2017-03-05T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and television presenter Jimmy Carr.

He is the son of Irish immigrant parents and grew up in Berkshire.

Despite being dyslexic, he got good ...

Dame Katherine Grainger from 2017-02-26T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Olympian and rower, Dame Katherine Grainger. A six-time rowing World Champion across a variety of classes, her silver medal at Rio in 2016 made her the most succes...

Sir Antony Beevor from 2017-02-19T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is military historian, Sir Antony Beevor. His books about some of the key battles of the Second World War are best-sellers and have been credited with reinvigorating the ...

Clive James from 2017-02-16T17:47

Roy Plomley's castaway is broadcaster and writer Clive James.

Favourite track: Baby Love by Diana Ross and The Supremes Book: Book about how to build a plane out of palm fronds and coconut...

June Brown from 2017-02-12T12:00

June Brown is best known today for her role as the long-suffering chain-smoking Dot Cotton (now Dot Branning) in the BBC TV soap EastEnders. She arrived on a three month contract in 1985 and is ...

Nigel Owens from 2017-02-05T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the rugby union referee Nigel Owens.

His steely authority and quick wit on the field have won him worldwide praise - he's widely regarded as one of the...

David Beckham from 2017-01-29T12:00

David Beckham is Kirsty Young's guest as Desert Island Discs celebrates its 75th Anniversary.

As a professional footballer he's the only Englishman to win the league titles in England, Sp...

Desert Island Discs at 75 from 2017-01-28T12:00

Kirsty Young celebrates 75 years of Desert Island Discs with some of the wonderful voices in the archive and chooses some of her favourite interviews from her 10 years as presenter.

From ...

Caitlin Moran from 2017-01-22T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Caitlin Moran.

A columnist for The Times newspaper for 25 years, she's published five books and co-wrote the Channel 4 sitcom Raised by Wolv...

Wayne McGregor from 2017-01-15T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the choreographer Wayne McGregor.

Despite his background in contemporary dance, he has been resident choreographer at the Royal Ballet - the first from outside ...

Pinky Lilani from 2017-01-08T12:00

Pinky Lilani, who was awarded a CBE in 2015 for services to women in business, is the founder of the annual Asian Women of Achievement Awards and the Women of the Future Awards. She also runs he...

Sir Kenneth Grange from 2017-01-01T12:00

Sir Kenneth Grange is a designer. He's been designing elements of our everyday lives for the past six decades. Born in London in 1929, he went to Willesden art school aged fourteen and four year...

Gareth Malone from 2016-12-25T12:00

Gareth Malone is a choirmaster who has coaxed and cajoled people from nervous adults to reluctant teenagers to open their mouths and sing for the pure joy of it - in front of television cameras....

Bruce Springsteen from 2016-12-18T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Bruce Springsteen.

His career has brought him 20 Grammys, two Golden Globes, an Academy Award and his albums sell in their millions around the world. H...

Sir Philip Craven from 2016-12-14T11:40

Sir Philip Craven is the President of the International Paralympic Committee and a former wheelchair basketball athlete.

Craven represented Great Britain in wheelchair basketball at five e...

Davina McCall from 2016-12-11T12:00

Davina McCall is an English television presenter. She began her career on MTV before moving to Channel 4 with the cult hit Streetmate.

She was the presenter of Big Brother during its run o...

Emma Bridgewater from 2016-11-27T12:00

Emma Bridgewater is a British ceramic designer and businesswoman. She set up her pottery business in 1985 in Stoke-on-Trent, when many other manufacturers in the city were either closing down or...

Nicola Adams from 2016-11-20T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Nicola Adams. She made history when she won the first ever Olympic gold medal in women's boxing at London 2012, retaining it in Rio 2016. She is the first woman fighte...

Yotam Ottolenghi from 2016-11-18T09:45

Kirsty Young's castaway is the cookery writer and restaurateur Yotam Ottolenghi. His food mixes the flavours of the Middle East and the Mediterranean and has been credited with changing the way ...

Ali Smith from 2016-11-06T12:00

Ali Smith is a Scottish writer. Born in Inverness in 1962, the youngest of five children by seven years, she says, "I grew up completely alone but with all the comforts of knowing I had a cushio...

Michael Bublé from 2016-11-01T13:09

Kirsty Young's castaway is the singer, Michael Bublé. Born in Burnaby, British Columbia, as a young boy he spent hours listening to his grandfather's record collection which featured the stars o...

Jackie Kay from 2016-10-23T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and writer Jackie Kay. Born in Edinburgh in 1961 to a Scottish mother and a Nigerian father, she was adopted as a baby by a white Scottish couple, Helen and J...

Dr Robert Langer from 2016-10-16T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the scientist Dr Robert Langer. Institute Professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he is the most cited engineer in history, and was awarded the prestig...

Stephen Hough from 2016-10-09T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the concert pianist and composer Stephen Hough.

He discovered he liked playing the piano when he went to visit his aunt's house and could pick out more than one...

Christiane Amanpour from 2016-10-02T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the journalist and broadcaster Christiane Amanpour. Her career as a reporter was forged in some of the world's most hostile environments from Bosnia to Rwanda and Iraq...

Joyce DiDonato from 2016-09-25T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato. Winner of two Grammy Awards, she is best known for her interpretations of Handel, Mozart and Rossini operas. Born into a Catholic family...

Nadiya Hussain from 2016-08-14T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the baker and winner of The Great British Bake Off in 2015, Nadiya Hussain. One of six children born to Bangladeshi parents in Luton, it was her father - a restaurateur...

Michael Heath from 2016-08-07T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the cartoonist Michael Heath. He's been working for newspapers and magazines for sixty years and sold his first drawing to the Melody Maker in the 1950s. For the past tw...

Jilly Cooper from 2016-07-31T11:00

Kirsty Young’s castaway is the writer Jilly Cooper. Her long writing career spans newspaper columns for the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday, non-fiction books on class, marriage and animals in...

Professor Dame Ann Dowling from 2016-07-24T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the engineer and international expert on aircraft noise reduction, Professor Dame Ann Dowling. The first female president of the Royal Academy of Engineering, one of he...

Levi Roots from 2016-07-17T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the entrepreneur, Levi Roots. His business success began following an appearance on BBC Two's Dragon's Den in 2007. With guitar in hand, he sang about his 'Reggae reggae...

Nicole Farhi from 2016-07-10T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the designer and sculptor Nicole Farhi. Born into a Turkish family in France, Nicole's interest in fashion was present from an early age. As a child, she used to design ...

Matthew Barzun from 2016-07-03T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom, Matthew Barzun. Born in New York City as the second of four children to Roger Barzun, a lawyer, and his wife Serita Winthrop, he...

Sara Khan from 2016-06-26T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Sara Khan. A British Muslim human rights activist, she's the director of Inspire, a counter-extremism and women's rights organisation which she co-founded in 2009.Born i...

Barrie Rutter from 2016-06-19T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor and theatre director Barrie Rutter. He is the founder and artistic director of the touring theatre company Northern Broadsides.There was nothing in his backgro...

Warwick Davis from 2016-06-12T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor Warwick Davis. His career began thanks to his grandmother who heard a radio advert calling for short people to be in the latest of George Lucas's Star Wars fil...

David Nott from 2016-06-05T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, David Nott. He works across three London hospitals performing general, vascular, trauma&reconstructive surgery. In addition, for the past two decades, he's ...

Professor Louise Richardson from 2016-05-31T16:35

Kirsty Young's castaway is the political scientist and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University Professor Louise Richardson. She was born in Ireland, is one of seven children and has gone on to have a...

Berry Gordy from 2016-05-22T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the producer Berry Gordy. He founded the Motown record label and his musical empire made worldwide stars of Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Diana Ross&The Supremes, The ...

Inga Beale from 2016-05-15T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the business woman, Inga Beale. She has been the CEO of Lloyd's of London since January 2014 and was the first woman to hold the post in the 325 years since th...

Tom Hanks from 2016-05-08T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Tom Hanks. From 'Big' to 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Captain Phillips' to 'Apollo 13', his long and distinguished film-making career has brought him multiple awards and man...

John Timpson from 2016-03-27T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the businessman, John Timpson. He is chairman of his eponymous high street retailers and the business is in his blood: started by his great-grandfather in 1865 it is now...

Gloria Steinem from 2016-03-20T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer, feminist&activist, Gloria Steinem. At the forefront of the second wave of feminism, she came to prominence after publishing an article entitled "After Black ...

Yinka Shonibare from 2016-03-13T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the artist Yinka Shonibare MBE. His work has populated museums around the globe, with a vivid, subversive and often tragi-comic presence; exploring themes of cultural id...

Dr Dame Sue Ion from 2016-03-06T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the engineer and nuclear scientist Dr Dame Sue Ion. The first woman to be awarded the highly prestigious President's Medal by the Royal Academy of Engineering, she has w...

Hugh Bonneville from 2016-02-28T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Hugh Bonneville. Known around the world for his portrayal of Lord Grantham in ITV's hugely popular Downton Abbey, he made British audiences laugh with his portrayal of t...

Dame Zaha Hadid from 2016-02-21T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the architect, Dame Zaha Hadid. The first woman to be awarded architecture's highest honour, the Pritzker Prize, she designed the Aquatic Centre for London 2012, Glasgow...

Ben Saunders from 2016-02-14T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the polar adventurer Ben Saunders. In his own words he "specialises in dragging heavy things around cold places". He's one of only three people to have skied solo to The...

Professor Dame Carol Black from 2016-02-07T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Professor Dame Carol Black. She is Principal of Newnham College, Cambridge, and is a special adviser to the Department of Health and Public Health England. She is also C...

Bill Gates from 2016-02-04T09:41

Kirsty Young's castaway is Bill Gates. He sat at his first computer while still at school in Seattle, wrote his first computer programme aged just 13 and went on to co-found the company Microsoft,...

Sigrid Rausing from 2016-01-24T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the philanthropist and publisher Sigrid Rausing. Founder of one of the UK's largest philanthropic foundations, her trust has given away around £230m to human rights caus...

Sir Anthony Seldon from 2016-01-17T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the educationalist and writer, Sir Anthony Seldon. Now Vice-Chancellor of Buckingham University, he was the Master of Wellington College. He has written, co-written and ...

Alex Crawford from 2016-01-10T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Sky TV news correspondent Alex Crawford. She's won the Royal Television Society's Journalist of the Year award an unprecedented four times - reporting from the world...

Colm Toibin from 2016-01-03T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Colm Toibin. Best-known for his novels "Brooklyn" - now made into a film - "Nora Webster" and "The Master," he has been nominated for the Booker Prize three t...

Patricia Greene from 2015-12-27T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Patricia Greene. For nearly sixty years she has played the role of Jill in Radio 4's The Archers which celebrates its 65th anniversary on January 1st 2016. Ove...

Commander Chris Hadfield from 2015-12-20T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Chris Hadfield.

He was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and took part in three space missions spending a total of 166 days orbitin...

Kylie Minogue from 2015-12-13T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Kylie Minogue.

With seven number ones and ten million singles sold in the UK, she is the third-biggest selling female artist in Britain and has sold around 70 mi...

Atul Gawande from 2015-12-06T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, author and former Reith lecturer, Atul Gawande.

A general and endocrine surgeon in Boston, he is professor in both the Department of Health Policy &...

Sandi Toksvig from 2015-11-29T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sandi Toksvig.

Host of BBC Radio 4's News Quiz until June 2015, she is also a writer and comedian and recently entered the world of politics, helping t...

Gurinder Chadha from 2015-11-22T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is filmmaker Gurinder Chadha.

Writer, director and producer behind the films Bend it like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach and Bride and Prejudice, she began her career ...

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon from 2015-11-15T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Right Honourable Nicola Sturgeon, MSP.

Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the fifth First Minister of Scotland in the devolved era, she is the f...

Lord Indarjit Singh from 2015-11-13T10:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the broadcaster and religious leader, Lord Indarjit Singh.
Creator of The Sikh Messenger newspaper and co-founder of the Inter Faith Network he also has the distinct...

Marjorie Wallace from 2015-11-01T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the mental health campaigner and Chief Executive of SANE, Marjorie Wallace.

After leaving University College London with a psychology and philosophy degree, her ...

Keith Richards from 2015-10-25T12:00

Keith Richards, member of the Rolling Stones, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.

Keith was born in Dartford and grew up as an only child. He and Mick Jagger went to th...

Professor Sue Black from 2015-10-18T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Professor Sue Black.

She is Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee, founder and past President of the British Association for...

Lemn Sissay from 2015-10-14T16:08

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Lemn Sissay.

As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his birth parents. Born to a young Ethiopian woman wh...

Alison Balsom from 2015-10-04T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician, Alison Balsom.

Widely considered the finest classical trumpet player of her generation, she's performed in all the great concert halls of...

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran from 2015-09-27T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaways this week are the comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.
They've been at the rock-face, mining for laughs, for over 40 years and they've given us plenty of gem...

Dame Judi Dench from 2015-09-20T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Judi Dench.

Born into a family with dramatic leanings, she followed one of her older brothers, Jeffery, to drama school. Having abandoned ideas of...

Dr Bill Frankland from 2015-08-09T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dr Bill Frankland.

Frequently referred to as the "grandfather of allergy", his achievements include the introduction of the pollen count to the British...

Ruth Rogers from 2015-08-02T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the chef and restaurateur, Ruth Rogers.

Born in America, she has become one of the UK's most celebrated cooks. Despite not being a trained chef, she set up The R...

Professor Monica Grady from 2015-07-26T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University.

Well-known in scientific circles, at NASA and the European Space Agency, she came...

Noel Gallagher from 2015-07-19T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician, Noel Gallagher.

He was the principal songwriter of the band Oasis - his younger brother, Liam was the lead singer. Born to Irish parents,...

Imtiaz Dharker from 2015-07-12T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet and artist, Imtiaz Dharker.

Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for her work, her life seems a perfect reflection of the inter-relatedness of The...

Freddie Flintoff from 2015-07-05T11:00

Kirsty's castaway this week is the former England cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff.

One of the best players of his generation, he was part of the England team that won the Ashes in 2005...

Harry Rabinowitz from 2015-06-28T11:00

Kirsty's castaway this week is the conductor and composer Harry Rabinowitz.

His list of credits and collaborations read like a Who's Who of 20th century music - Gracie Fields, Charles Azna...

Stephen Fry from 2015-06-24T12:27

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Stephen Fry.



Comedian, actor, writer, director, presenter & award-ceremony host - his list of accomplishments is long, varied and impressive....

Rebecca Adlington from 2015-06-14T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Rebecca Adlington - Britain's most successful female swimmer.

A multiple medal winner and record breaker she's packed a lot in at a young age, first gr...

Lisa Jardine from 2015-06-10T12:24

Professor Lisa Jardine, academic, biographer and public thinker, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.


Historian, biographer, public thinker, mathematician - her pro...

Pamela Rose from 2015-05-31T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Pamela Rose.

Now aged 97, she was a Bletchley Girl who spent her war years working in total secrecy, painstakingly indexing snippets of information that would pr...

Jimmy Wales from 2015-05-24T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the internet entrepreneur Jimmy Wales.

He is best known as the co-founder of the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia. He grew up in Huntsville, Alabama and was th...

Helen Browning from 2015-05-17T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the farmer, and Chief Executive of the Soil Association, Helen Browning.

Born and brought up on the farm in Wiltshire she runs today, she told her father she wan...

Sir Bradley Wiggins from 2015-05-10T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the cyclist Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Winner of four Olympic gold medals, six track World Championship gold medals and the first Briton to win the Tour de France, cyc...

Paul Hollywood from 2015-03-29T11:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Paul Hollywood.

One of the UK's leading artisan bakers, he's a judge, together with Mary Berry, on BBC One's the Great British Bake Off. The programme ...

Pat Albeck from 2015-03-22T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the designer Pat Albeck.

Born in Hull, Pat went to art school there when she was 16. In 1950, she earned a place at The Royal College of Art to study t...

Robin Millar from 2015-03-15T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the record producer, Robin Millar.

One of the UK's most successful record producers with over 160 gold, silver and platinum discs, he has over forty-fo...

Bryan Stevenson from 2015-03-08T12:00

Kirsty Young's guest this week is Bryan Stevenson.

An American lawyer, he is the founder and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, a private, not-for-profit organisation work...

Julia Samuel from 2015-03-01T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the psychotherapist, Julia Samuel.

Counsellor for Paediatrics at London's St Mary's hospital, Paddington, she works with parents whose children have di...

Jonas Kaufmann from 2015-02-22T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the tenor, Jonas Kaufmann.

Frequently referred to as one of the greatest singers of his generation, both his parents fled East Germany for Munich betwe...

Mark Rylance from 2015-02-15T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor, Mark Rylance.

Born in Kent and brought up in America where his father was a teacher, Mark played Hamlet for the first time while he was stil...

Dan Pearson from 2015-02-08T12:00

Kirsty Young's guest this week is the garden designer, Dan Pearson.

His style is governed by a desire to create a sense of place and he is drawn to wild plants and gardens. Aged just five ...

Professor Angie Hobbs from 2015-02-01T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is Angie Hobbs, Professor of the Public Understanding of Philosophy at the University of Sheffield - a role which has brought her to the attention of a large audience.
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Professor Peter Piot from 2015-01-25T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Director of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor Peter Piot.

As a microbiologist he is known for his research into viruses and into the ...

Julia Cleverdon from 2015-01-18T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the campaigner, Dame Julia Cleverdon.

As head of the charity, Business in the Community, she fine-tuned to perfection the art of persuasion. A phone ca...

Jo Malone from 2015-01-11T12:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the business woman, Jo Malone.

If her name automatically conjures the citrusy scents of lime, basil and mandarin or spicy notes of amber and lavender t...

Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell from 2015-01-04T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the scientist, Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell, who is best known for her work in the field of neuroscience and stroke research. She is now President and Vice-Cha...

Ray Winstone from 2014-12-28T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor Ray Winstone.

Nil By Mouth, Sexy Beast, Vincent, The Sweeney - he's probably best known for totally authentic tough-guy, geezer-parts. But hi...

The Most Reverend Justin Welby from 2014-12-21T13:15

Kirsty Young's castaway for Christmas week is The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.

Ordained as a priest in 1993, 19 years later he was appointed to lead the Anglic...

Sarah Millican from 2014-12-14T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the comedian, Sarah Millican.

Her every woman yet no-holds-barred style of comedy has brought her sell-out tours and several of her own highly successf...

Julie Bentley from 2014-12-07T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the Chief Executive of the Guide Association, Julie Bentley - or, more accurately, Girlguiding.

The name change is surely a clue to the evolving nature...

Damian Lewis from 2014-11-30T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the actor, Damian Lewis.

As part of the wave of British talent that's crashed onto America's shores in recent years his impact has made a deep impressi...

Rt Hon Theresa May from 2014-11-23T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Right Honourable Theresa May MP - the longest serving Home Secretary in fifty years.

For those who think her political lineage seems directly descended from ...

John Agard from 2014-11-16T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet John Agard.

His work is studied widely in British schools. He was the BBC's first poet in residence and along with WH Auden and Philip Larkin,...

Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown from 2014-11-14T10:45

Kirsty Young's guest is former Royal Navy test pilot Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown - the programme's 3000th edition.

The Fleet Air Arm's most decorated pilot, his life reads like a handbook ...

Wendy Dagworthy from 2014-11-02T13:00

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the fashion designer, Professor Wendy Dagworthy.

During her time as Head of Fashion at both Central St Martins and The Royal College of Art she has tau...

Roger Graef from 2014-10-26T13:00

Kirsty Young's guest is filmmaker and criminologist, Roger Graef.

Pioneering in his chosen subjects and style, for the past fifty years he has shone a spotlight on hitherto hidden areas of...