Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4
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Jan 27, 1991 • 37min

Brian Eno

A variety of labels can be stuck on this week's Desert Island Discs castaway - from rock musician to experimental artist, from visual sculptor to composer and intellectual guru of the rock world. He is Brian Eno, and he started his career by making music playing with tape recorders, then went on to play with bands who rehearsed far more often than they performed, graduating through to the Portsmouth Sinfonia, and ending up with the hugely successful group Roxy Music.Since his Roxy Music days, he has gone on to musical collaboration with David Bowie and production of the group U2. Brian Eno will be talking to Sue Lawley about his musical and artistic activities in the mainstream, as well as on the fringes of, international cultural life.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Lord Don't Forget About Me by Dorothy Love Coates Book: Contingency, Irony & Solidarity by Richard Rorty Luxury: Radio telescope
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Jan 20, 1991 • 38min

Fred Zinnemann

The castaway in Desert Island Discs is a man who has directed some of the most popular and memorable films in the history of cinema - High Noon, From Here to Eternity, Oklahoma! and A Man for All Seasons. He is Fred Zinnemann, and he will be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood at the beginning of the century in imperial Vienna, his thwarted ambitions to be a musician, and the years he spent working in Hollywood where he directed, and on several occasions discovered, some of the best-known names in the film world, including Marlon Brando, Montgomery Clift and Frank Sinatra.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Magnificat by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy Luxury: Very large self renewing bottle of scotch
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Jan 13, 1991 • 34min

Adelaide Hall

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is jazz singer Adelaide Hall. Now in her 80s and still performing, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her days at the Cotton Club in New York, the Moulin Rouge in Paris and the secrets of her enduring popularity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sophisticated Lady by Duke Ellington Book: A book of American history Luxury: Box of seeds
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Jan 6, 1991 • 38min

Lord Goodman

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who has, on occasion, been described as the Mr Fixit of British public life. Arnold Goodman started off his professional life as a bright young North London solicitor, and, through a capacity for skilful negotiation and judicious advice, became the confidante of some of the most eminent political figures of post-war Britain. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his experience of Prime Ministers and politics, as well as his passion for opera, which, as a director of the Royal Opera House, he has been able to indulge to the full.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: O Namenlose Freude by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Who's Who Luxury: An enormous box of chocolate ginger
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Dec 30, 1990 • 32min

Keith Floyd

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is television cook Keith Floyd. Renowned for his garrulous charm as much as for his culinary expertise, he'll be describing the chronicle of failure that dogged him through spells in the Army, as a cub reporter, as an antiques dealer and as a restaurateur. He'll also be talking to Sue Lawley about his passion for good food, music and the elusive nature of romantic happiness.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Hey Jude by The Beatles Book: Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake Luxury: Pair of handmade blue suede shoes
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Dec 23, 1990 • 37min

Brian Keenan

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists.This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan Luxury: Pencil
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Dec 2, 1990 • 38min

Sir Eduardo Paolozzi

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the great European artists of today - Eduardo Paolozzi. One of his positions is Her Majesty's Sculptor In-ordinary for Scotland - a post rather like the Poet Laureate for Sculpture, but with no duties attached to it. But such eminence in the artistic world is in stark contrast to Sir Eduardo's humble beginnings as the son of Italian immigrants who had an ice-cream shop in Edinburgh. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood, when he was sent to Fascist youth camps in Italy for three months at a time, and the subsequent imprisonment and vilification which fell upon him and his family at the outbreak of war in 1940. He'll also be contemplating his years at the Slade and his flight to the artistic freedom of the Paris of Giacometti, Leger and Picasso. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: L'Enfant Et Les Sortileges by Maurice Ravel Book: A tropical plant book in Italian with English gloss Luxury: Hurdy gurdy
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Nov 25, 1990 • 36min

Baroness Trumpington

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs rejoices in the title of the Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich in the County of Kent. A tireless campaigner on myriad issues, she brings to her work a commodity which is often in short supply in political life - a healthy sense of humour. Among other things, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her career, during which she has risen from being Mayor of Cambridge to Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - all without taking a single exam.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I'll Follow My Secret Heart by Noel Coward Book: George V by Kenneth Rose Luxury: Crown jewels (so someone will look for her)
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Nov 18, 1990 • 35min

Elisabeth Welch

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the black American singer Elisabeth Welch, who, in a career spanning 60 years, made famous such songs as Love For Sale, Soloman and Stormy Weather. Her first big break came in 1931 in the Broadway show The New Yorkers. The show made her a star and also gave her the lasting friendship of Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Having been the toast of London, Paris and New York in pre-war years, her music still appeals across the generations.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Just One Of Those Things by Frank Sinatra Book: Who's Who In The Theatre Luxury: Photo of mother
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Nov 11, 1990 • 36min

Rt Hon Barbara Castle

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Baroness Castle of Blackburn - better known to most people as Barbara Castle. For 34 years she served as the Labour member for the constituency of Blackburn, and she rose to high office in the Wilson governments of the 1960s and 1970s. As the first woman Transport Minister, she introduced, amidst great controversy, the breathalyser and the motorway speed limit. She was also at the centre of legislation over equal pay for women. Then, 10 years ago, she opted out of domestic politics and into the European cauldron.Now retired from that too, and recently having celebrated her 80th birthday, she'll be looking back over her long and passionate political career, and forward to making her mark on the House of Lords.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Have A Dream Speech by Martin Luther King Book: The collected works by William Morris Luxury: Typewriter

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