Desert Island Discs

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most successful fashion designers - Katharine Hamnett.She started in the business 10 years ago with a £500 loan, and now runs a company with a £10 million turnover. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the connection between politics and fashion, and also about her famous baggy white t-shirts, which bear political and ecological slogans, and the memorable occasion when she wore one of them on a visit to 10 Downing Street.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Big Head by Max Bygraves Book: The I Ching Luxury: Aircraft carrier (to decorate)

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is one of Britain's greatest and best-loved character actresses, Thora Hird. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her lifelong involvement with the theatre - she first appeared on the stage at eight weeks old - and discussing more recent roles, such as Doris in Alan Bennett's play A Cream Cracker Under the Settee; a part which this year won her the BAFTA award for best television actress.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Onward Christian Soldiers by The Harry Simeone Chorale Book: Scene & Hird by Thora Hird Luxury: Cleansing milk

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of Britain's most popular comedians, Lenny Henry. His talent emerged at the age of 16, when he was one of the star turns on New Faces, and he has since gone from strength to strength - appearing in television programmes like TISWAS and Three of a Kind, doing unforgettable imitations as well as creating his own characters. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] He'll be giving Sue Lawley glimpses of these characters as well as talking about his time with the Black and White Minstrels, and his most recent role, as one of the moving forces behind Comic Relief, when he and fellow comedians banded together to raise millions of pounds for the people of Ethiopia and Burkina Faso.Favourite track: I Just Called To Say I Love You by Stevie Wonder Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Graphic novels (Comics)

This week's Desert Island Discs castaway is someone who now sits at the head of one of this country's most famous theatrical dynasties - the remarkable Redgraves. But Lady Redgrave, as Rachel Kempson, is also a highly-regarded actress in her own right - still treading the boards at the age of 78 - and she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her long career on the stage, her marriage to Sir Michael Redgrave and the pitfalls and pleasures of a family which now encompasses three generations of acting talent.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: If The Heart Of A Man by Michael Redgrave Book: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte Luxury: Case of champagne

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is biologist and conservationist Miriam Rothschild. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her lifelong fascination with all forms of natural life, including her passion for fleas, worms and butterflies, and also how she welcomes the prospect of exile to the mythical island as an opportunity to discover and investigate unlimited flora and fauna. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cello Suite No 5 - Prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Encyclopaedia Britannica Luxury: Bag of wild flower seed

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Lord Jenkins of Hillhead - formerly Roy Jenkins.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his long and varied political career, which has encompassed periods as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Home Secretary and this country's first President of the European Commission. He'll also be looking back on his Welsh origins and the early days of the Social Democratic Party, of which he was a founding member, as well as challenging his popular image as a claret-drinking intellectual.Favourite track: Theme (from Enigma Variations) by Edward Elgar Book: Who Was Who Luxury: Case of Bordeaux wine

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is an actor who rose to fame on the nation's television screens as the landlord in the BBC television series Eastenders - the volatile and villainous Dirty Den. He's Leslie Grantham, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about life after Dirty Den now that he has left the series, and also his time in prison when he served an 11-year sentence for a crime he committed as a teenage soldier.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Test Pilot Sketch (from Hancock's Half Hour) by Galton & Simpson Book: Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe Luxury: Metal detector

In this week's Desert Island Discs, one of the most eminent English poets of this century, Sir Stephen Spender, talks to Sue Lawley about his radical and often flamboyant past, and his friendships with such notable literary figures as Christopher Isherwood, WH Auden and Virginia Woolfe.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quartet in A Minor by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: Painting or sculpture & photograph of daughter

Sue Lawley's castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the satirical cartoonist Gerald Scarfe. Renowned for his grotesquely exaggerated portrayals of political figures and issues, he will be talking about his isolated childhood, which was dominated by chronic asthma, and how, with no formal art training, he has now become one of the most eminent artists of our time, branching out from drawing his instantly-recognisable caricatures into the world of theatre, rock and opera.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don Giovanni by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A title by Capability Brown Luxury: River painting by Turner

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is Dame Josephine Barnes, who, ten years ago, was the first woman to become President of the British Medical Association. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her long and brilliant career in a traditionally male-dominated world, and her battles to improve the care of women in pregnancy and childbirth, both before and after the advent of the National Health Service.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Was Glad by Hubert Parry Book: The scores of all music chosen in a bound volume Luxury: Solar-powered word processer