Desert Island Discs: Archive 1991-1996

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is playwright Alan Bleasdale. Often controversial, and always funny, Bleasdale's work focuses on life in Liverpool, a city he loves and whose characters people his most famous plays - Boys from the Blackstuff and GBH. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his intense love of family, his work and, as a self-confessed hypochondriac, he will be revealing some of his fears. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Shelter From The Storm by Bob Dylan Book: Catch 22 by Joseph Heller Luxury: Nail clippers

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the lawyer and politician Lord Shawcross. As Attorney General in the Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for leading the British prosecution case at the war crimes tribunal in Nuremberg. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the atmosphere in that courtroom, his reasons for leaving the Labour Party and his unconventional upbringing. Now 89 years old, he'll also be recalling the days when he was known as 'handsome Hartley Shawcross', the best-looking man in public life. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Some Enchanted Evening by Ezio Pinza Book: They Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope Luxury: CD player / solar battery-powered radio

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Ron Todd - leader of Britain's largest trade union, the Transport and General Workers' Union. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his childhood as the son of a Walthamstow street-market trader, his rejection of Catholicism and conversion to socialism and about how he feels about the modern Labour Party and the role of trade unions in the 1990s. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Black And White Rag by Emmy Todd Book: The collected works by Robert Burns Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is responsible for many of the images which grace our television screens and billboards. He is advertising man John Hegarty, and he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about some of the slogans and scenarios he has created - from Vorsprung durch Technik to the Levi's advertisement which features the hero removing his trousers in a laundrette. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Stand By Me by John Lennon Book: The Crock of Gold by James Stephens Luxury: Clarinet

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist and critic A S Byatt. Winner of the 1990 Booker prize for her novel 'Possession' - the story of a clandestine romance between two Victorian poets - she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the isolation of her school days as a highly academic child, the release of university life at Cambridge and her subsequent life at the forefront of the British literary world. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jetzt Fand Ich's by Richard Wagner Book: A La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Alternative to Bible: King James Bible Luxury: Large filing cabinet full of A4 paper & pens

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is poet and playwright Derek Walcott. Recent winner of the WH Smith award, and described by his admirers as one of the greatest contemporary exponents of the English language, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his early life in St Lucia - a place he frequently returns to, when not at his post of Professor of Poetry at Boston University. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: You Can Call Me Al by Paul Simon Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Carton of cigarettes

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week has been described as the 'enfant terrible' of the restaurant world. Marco Pierre White opened his first restaurant at the age of 27, where he established a reputation both for extraordinary culinary expertise and for outrageous behaviour. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the route which took him from the Leeds council estate where he was born nearly 30 years ago, to the moment when he became the youngest chef to be awarded two Michelin stars at his restaurant, Harvey's. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: A Good Year For The Roses by Elvis Costello Book: Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point Luxury: Picture of his daughter

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a politician who is seen in many quarters as the Labour Party's strongest weapon in their battles with the government - John Smith, Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer. A man of great resilience, he'll be telling Sue Lawley why he still loves politics in spite of the frustration of his years in opposition, his having a heart attack two and a half years ago and having to live for much of the time away from his beloved homeland of Scotland. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Marriage Of Figaro - Final Aria by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Anthology of Poems Luxury: Case of champagne

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is John Simpson. Recently honoured by the Royal Television Society as Journalist of the Year, he'll be talking about his life covering foreign affairs for the BBC. In that capacity, he has reported on most of the momentous upheavals of the last few years - from Tiananmen Square to the release of Nelson Mandela, from the fall of Ceausescu to the collapse of the Berlin Wall. More recently, he was one of the very few journalists to stay on in Baghdad when the Allies began their bombardment of Iraq. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his time there, as well as his other - more frightening rather than thrilling - experiences as the BBC's Foreign Affairs Editor. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Il N'y A Plus D'Apres by Juliette Greco Book: A title in French by Marcel Proust Luxury: Flute

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is an author and adventurer. Now 93 years old, Cecil Lewis will be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary career, embracing his time as a fighter pilot during the First World War, his brush with the Red Baron, and later how he helped Lord Reith set up the BBC, which he then left for Hollywood where he was to win an Oscar for his screenplay of George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Adagio No 5 by Gustav Mahler Book: Sagittarius Surviving by C S Lewis Luxury: Fax machine

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Dame Shirley Porter, who, as Lady Porter, was the flamboyant leader of the ruling Conservative Group at Westminster City Council - a post she held from 1983 until she stepped down in April 1991. She'll be telling Sue Lawley about what it was that made her go into politics at the age of 40, about her campaign for cleanliness on the streets of the capital and about her plans for the future. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Ode To Joy (Symphony No 9) by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: SAS Survival Manual Luxury: Large Swiss Army knife

Chief Rabbi Elect Dr Jonathan Sacks is the castaway on Desert Island Discs this week. This avowedly 'unconventional' future leader of Britain's Jews was brought up in an Orthodox Jewish household but went to Church of England schools and wanted to be an accountant before deciding that his life's work lay in his faith. Rabbi Sacks reveals how he gained, and many years later lost, his beard as well as what he hopes to achieve in his new role. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Tzomoh Lecho Nafshi by The Lubarvitches Chorus Book: The Talmud Luxury: Large supply of pencils

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week will be the industrialist Lord King of Wartnaby, Chairman of Babcock International and of British Airways. He recalls for Sue Lawley, among other things, his early beginnings in the engineering industry, an unfortunate incident with a small plane he once owned, and what it was which made him want to take over an ailing airline more than 10 years ago. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto in A Minor by Edvard Grieg Book: Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable Luxury: Supply of cigars and matches

Sue Lawley's castaway is writer Naomi Mitchison. Favourite track: Kishmull's Galley by Kenneth McKellar and Orchestra Book: Book of Modern Poetry Luxury: Endless supply of writing materials

This week's castaway in Desert Island Discs is the entertainer Marti Caine. Although her public life is one as comedienne, television presenter, star of a sit-com series, singer and glamorous pantomime performer, Marti Caine's private life is one that is very different. Her father died when she was seven, she was taken into care before she was 10, her first marriage broke up, and then, about four years ago, she was diagnosed as suffering from cancer of the lymph glands. She talks about the way in which she's coped with all these things and the way her sense of humour helped her through. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Thanksong by Dave Grusin Book: A DIY manual Luxury: Do-it-yourself solar-powered kit

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the industrialist and ex-president of the CBI Sir Trevor Holdsworth. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his time at the helm of the giant engineering firm Guest, Keen and Nettleford and his recent involvement with British Satellite Broadcasting - BSB - as well as some of his earlier brushes with history. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Vocalise by Sergei Rachmaninov Book: Collected Plays by J B Priestley Luxury: Upright piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Spectator columnist Jeffrey Bernard. His Low Life column has gained him something of a cult following over the 15 years or so it's been appearing; slightly irregularly. It concentrates on the kind of life in Soho which seems often to revolve solely around drinking, women and gambling - the kind of life Jeffrey Bernard enjoys, by his own admission. And of course, last year Keith Waterhouse turned some of these columns into the highly-successful West End hit Jeffrey Bernard is Unwell - a production starring Peter O'Toole which is about to return to the Shaftesbury Theatre next month. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Introitus Requiem Mass by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Complete Sherlock Holmes Short Stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Luxury: Hgih-powered hunting rifle and ammunition

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the former Chairman of Granada Television Sir Denis Forman. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the delights and disasters of a highly eccentric upbringing in Scotland and about his experiences in Italy during the war, where he lost a leg. Also, as the first producer of What the Papers Say, and the originator of the highly popular Jewel in the Crown, he'll be discussing the difficulties of making television programmes which are simultaneously popular and good. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Concerto No 21 in C Major by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Raj Quartet by Paul Scott Luxury: Satellite dish and TV set

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is theatre and television director Ronald Eyre. A man of great versatility, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his many outstanding operatic and theatrical productions, as well as his school-teaching days, and his childhood in the Yorkshire mining village of Mapplewell. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Magic Flute - The Trio Soll Ich, Teurer by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A talking book by Judi Dench Luxury: Supply of flower bulbs

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Britain's most distinguished ballet mistress Dame Ninette de Valois. She first appeared on the professional stage more than 75 years ago, and her contribution to the development of ballet in this country has been phenomenal. Now in her nineties, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she became the first director of the Vic Wells Ballet School in 1931 - a school which grew and changed over the years to become the Royal Ballet in 1956. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Nutcracker Suite by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Book: A collection of poems Luxury: An everlasting bottle of sleeping pills