Desert Island Discs

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the American conductor and virtuoso Michael Tilson Thomas. As well as being an internationally recognised musician, his passion for music and his desire to bring his own enthusiasm to as wide an audience as possible have made him something of a television star in America. In this country, he has been principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for nearly two years, and has been called the most exciting American conductor since Leonard Bernstein.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vespers by Claudio Monteverdi Book: Collected Poems by Raine Maria Rilke Luxury: Yamaha computerised concert grand piano

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the actress Sarah Miles. Discovered at the tender age of 18 by Sir Laurence Olivier, and picked by him to play opposite him in Term of Trial, she went on to entertain and entrance in films like The Servant, Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines and, perhaps most famously, Ryan's Daughter. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her professional and private life - both of which have been characterised by a fair degree of turmoil and turbulence.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Negro Spiritual by Miles Book: I Ching Luxury: Word processor

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a publisher; a man who came to this country 52 years ago with a 16/6d postal order in his pocket and very poor English. Over half a century later, he is a cultured and successful businessman, renowned for his glittering parties and wide circle of eminent friends, many of whom write books for him. He is Lord Weidenfeld, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his rise from being an impoverished immigrant, to becoming one of Britain's leading intellectual and social figures.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don Giovanni - The Quintet by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens Luxury: Armchair with coffee machine & rescue signal

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Sir Robin Day. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about going with his father to hear Churchill speak at a political rally when he was a boy, recalling his days at post-war Oxford, the early days at ITN and his long association with politicians in front of the microphone.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Drinking Song by Giuseppe Verdi Book: The Oxford Book of English Verse Luxury: Magnums of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Radio 1 disc jockey John Peel. For over 20 years the guru of pop fans, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his life at public school, his work as a DJ in the States in the early 1960s, his family, his passion for Liverpool Football Club and, of course, his lifelong passion for pop music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Teenage Kicks by The Undertones Book: Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell Luxury: Football

This week's castaway is Dennis Skinner MP. Recently described as the backbenchers' backbencher, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about Parliament and politics and choosing eight records to accompany him on his solitary island adventure.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Daddy, What Did You Do in the Strike? by Peggy Seeger Book: Let's Face the Music by Benny Green Luxury: Bike

In this week's edition of Desert Island Discs the castaway is film actor and writer Dirk Bogarde. Among many other things, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about why life as a national heart-throb has never really suited him, about his many years living in Provence and about the film of which he himself is most proud - Visconti's Death in Venice.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: 5th Symphony 4th Movement by Gustav Mahler Book: Akenfield by Ronald Blythe Luxury: Distillery

The castaway in this week's edition of Desert Island Discs is Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. After a lifelong devotion to music, she will be whittling down her choice of eight records with great difficulty. Now Patron of the Leeds Piano Competition and the Yehudi Menuhin School, as well as President of the Royal Northern College of Music, the Duchess of Kent studied music herself until she was twenty-five. Her Royal Highness will be talking to Sue Lawley about her love of music, her Yorkshire childhood and her prolific work for charity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Ave Verum Corpus by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A do-it-yourself manual Luxury: Lamp with solar batteries

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is actress Pauline Collins. As someone who has been entertaining television audiences for over twenty years in popular series like Emergency Ward 10 and Upstairs, Downstairs, she has simultaneously pursued a theatrical career which recently burgeoned into huge success with her portrayal of Shirley Valentine - the trapped Liverpool housewife who finds escape on a Greek island. It's a part which has won her great acclaim both on the stage and in the recent film version. Pauline Collins will be talking to Sue Lawley about the international star status Shirley Valentine has brought her and recalling milestones and memories of her career.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clair de Lune by Claude Debussy Book: Teach yourself physics Luxury: Papers, pencils, paints

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his boyhood and his memories of university life, as well as his subsequent journalistic and political experiences, including the more recent upheavals in his political career.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet In A Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The collected works by John Donne Luxury: Radio receiver