Desert Island Discs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the jockey Peter Scudamore. The son of a jockey who had won the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup - Scu, as he is known throughout the racing fraternity - resisted all attempts to turn him into an estate agent, and followed in his father's footsteps. Having broken nearly every bone in his body, he retired in 1993 after a career which encompassed 1,678 National Hunt victories and the title of Champion Jockey a record eight times. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about jockeys, jumping and his new career, journalism.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Laid by James Book: Book of Verse by Rudyard Kipling Luxury: Snorkeling equipment

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Britt Ekland. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her miraculous transformation from an overweight, buck-toothed ugly duckling with large ears to a beautiful peroxided teenager. She'll also be describing her turbulent marriage to Peter Sellers and her passionate affair with the rock star Rod Stewart.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Mother by John Lennon & Plastic Ono Band Book: Recent editions of magazines, e.g. Vanity Fair; Vogue Luxury: Case of Evian water filled with champagne

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the BBC's Chief News Correspondent Kate Adie. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the pleasures and perils of a job which has taken her to some of the world's most dangerous trouble spots. She'll also be describing how she felt when she was recently reunited with her natural mother after having been happily brought up by her adoptive family in Sunderland.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 6 In E Minor by Ralph Vaughan Williams Book: Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer Luxury: Large Victorian bath with claw feet

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who has devoted his life to helping those who share his own disability - blindness. Sir John Wilson lost his sight at the age of 12 in an accident in his school chemistry laboratory. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, undaunted, he went on to win a scholarship to Oxford, and then, at the age of 30, mortgaged his home and set up the Royal Commonwealth Society for the Blind. Since then, he has travelled an average of 50,000 miles a year, helping to restore or save the sight of millions of people the world over. Last year he was awarded the Albert Schweizer International Award for Medicine. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Mass in B Minor: The Sanctus by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A chess strategy book (in braille) Luxury: A sonic probe

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the American writer and broadcaster Garrison Keillor. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood in the small town of Anoka in Minnesota, on which his stories in his bestseller, Lake Wobegon Days, were based. One of six children of Protestant fundamentalist parents, he'll be remembering his home life where story-telling was an intrinsic element, and in which alcohol, television, parties and socialising were all forbidden.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Abide With Me Fast Falls The Evertide by Huddersfield Choral Society Book: Thesaurus by Roget Luxury: Set of china (four place settings)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week has recently topped the polls as the country's most popular newscaster. He is ITN's Trevor McDonald, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about a West Indian childhood which was dominated by English influences, a career which started in Caribbean local radio and television and how he copes with his emotions when having to report on particularly gruelling news stories.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto in D Opus 61 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Anthology of Poetry Luxury: Box of paints, brushes, paper

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a musician who started his professional career as a clarinettist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra. However, when he was 26, Alan Hacker was permanently disabled by a thrombosis on his spinal column. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how, since then, although confined to a wheelchair, he has been determined to prove his disability is not a handicap but just a nuisance. He'll be describing how he has carved out a niche for himself as a conductor, teacher and pioneer in the study of early music and is now a leading guest conductor of the Stuttgart Opera. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: London Symphony by Franz Joseph Haydn Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot Luxury: Hovercraft wheelchair with capuccino machine

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the poet Roger McGough. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood in Liverpool where he showed little aptitude for literature - it wasn't until he went to Hull University that he discovered his true vocation. It was one that was to take him, via a best-selling number one record, Lily the Pink, with the group The Scaffold, to become one of the country's most enduringly successful poets.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Foghorns On The Mersey Book: Times Atlas of the Night Sky Luxury: Black cab

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. Over the last 23 years, he has navigated the White Nile in a hovercraft, travelled around the world through both poles, discovered a lost city and, most recently, he nearly perished in Antarctica. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his unhappy schooldays at Eton, his thwarted ambition to emulate his father's military career and the problems he has had with his companions on expeditions. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Love Changes Everything by Michael Ball Book: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake Luxury: Antisan for insect bites

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week owns the Daily Telegraph and The Spectator - amongst two or three hundred other newspapers and magazines the world over. He is Canadian-born tycoon Conrad Black, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the notorious misbehaviour of his school days, the tuition his father gave him in the ways of corporate finance and how he views his powerful position in the British establishment.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Emperor Concerto in E Flat Major Opus 73 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Oxford Book of Verse, especially 'Apologia' (Newman) Luxury: Model of HMS Hood