Desert Island Discs: Archive 1991-1996

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the only surviving British star of the silent screen. Chili Bouchier will be talking to Sue Lawley about some of the perils of making silent movies and her transition into the talkies with hugely successful films like Carnival and Gypsy. She'll also be describing the ups and downs of a personal life which has been as vivid as her many films - encompassing two disastrous marriages with men who betrayed her, marriage proposals from Howard Hughes and breaking her Hollywood contract with Warner Brothers which meant she was blackballed and unable to make another film. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The World Is Waiting For The Sunrise by Acker Bilk Book: In Tune With The Infinite: Fullness of Peace Power by Ralph Waldo Trine Luxury: Make-up kit

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the playwright Jimmy McGovern. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the TV series Cracker - one of the top television series of the 1990s - about how much of the central character, Fitz, is modelled on himself, how he feels about the violent world it portrays and about why we are fascinated by criminal psychology. For seven years a writer on Brookside, he'll be describing how the phenomenal success of Cracker led to the reviving of his previously-rejected scripts for films like Priest and Hearts and Minds. He'll also be relating how the man who has since made a living out of words had such a bad stammer as a child that he was largely unintelligible. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: When I Fall In Love by Nat King Cole Book: Ulysses by James Joyce Luxury: Haemorrhoid ointment

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Christopher Hampton. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his multiplicity of talents - after obtaining a first at Oxford he went straight to the Royal Court Theatre in London where he wrote several highly-regarded plays, among them The Philanthropist. He then went on to win an Oscar for his screenplay of the film Dangerous Liaisons, to translate the work of Ibsen and Chekhov, to write the book for Sunset Boulevard, and, most recently, to direct the film Carrington, which he also wrote. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem: The Lachrymosa by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A title by Marcel Proust Luxury: Pen and paper

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Margaret Tebbit. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the night 11 years ago when the IRA detonated a huge bomb at the Grand Hotel in Brighton, where she was staying with her husband for the Tory Party Conference. Since that dreadful night, she has been severely paralysed, and she'll be describing the effect on her life: the dreams she has in which she no longer has to use a wheelchair, the new friends she's made and the old ones who turned out not to be such good friends in adversity and how her previous experience of mental illness - in the form of severe depression - compares with her current physical incapacity. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Nocturne by Evert Taube Book: Hillier's Dictionary of Plants by Hillier Luxury: An endless team of Man Fridays

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is an entertainer who has managed to captivate a generation. Petula Clark will be talking to Sue Lawley about how the British still perceive her as 'our pet' since her early singing days when she was chosen to sing in Trafalgar Square on VE night. Now, arguably the biggest female recording star Britain has ever produced, she is about to take on the lead role in Sunset Boulevard in the West End. In between, hits like The Little Shoemaker, Down Town and Don't Sleep in the Subway ensured she became an international star as well - captivating audiences in America and France. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto 21 in C K 467 - Andante by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: A title by Peter Ustinov Luxury: Her piano

The castaway this week in Desert Island Discs is the singer and actress Barbara Dickson. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how she progressed from being the daughter of a Rothsyth docker to the lead role in Willy Russell's play John, Paul, Ringo and Bert, and later to win an award for her performance in his play Blood Brothers. Along the way, her extraordinary singing voice brought her a string of hit singles, including I Know Him So Well, while recently her acting abilities landed her one of the leading roles in ITV's Band of Gold. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight by James Taylor Book: English & Scottish Ballads by Francis Child Luxury: A very large set of solar-powered hair rollers

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Alison Steadman. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her role as the monstrous Beverly in the BBC's production of Abigail's Party 18 years ago, as well as her talent for improvisation which she has perfected with her director husband, Mike Leigh. She'll also be discussing how daunting she found it recently to take on the role of Mrs Bennett in the BBC's Pride and Prejudice. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Tosca E Lucevan Le Stella by Giacomo Puccini Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Luxury: Hot lemon flannels (as provided in Chinese restaurants)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a musician who became famous for producing other people's music. George Martin will be talking to Sue Lawley about how he earned money to pay for piano lessons, was helped by a fairy godfather to study at the Guildhall School of Music and went on in 1962 to sign up and produce the group which changed the face of popular music. He'll be discussing his relationship with The Beatles and his extremely productive life since they disbanded 25 years ago. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Bess You Is My Woman Now by George Gershwin Book: A book on how to build a boat Luxury: An electric keyboard

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the writer Umberto Eco. His best-selling novel The Name of the Rose propelled him from the relative obscurity of his post as Professor of Semiotics at Bologna University to worldwide fame at the age of 50. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how he deals with the demands of his celebrity status, his childhood in Mussolini's Italy and his other works - Foucault's Pendulum and The Island of the Day Before. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Goldberg Varations No 22 by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The New York Phone Book Luxury: Laptop computer

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, Gillian Shephard. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the importance of her roots in rural Norfolk. Although she briefly left to go to Oxford, she was born and brought up in Norfolk and worked in local parliament there until her late 40s, when she entered Parliament to represent a Norfolk seat. She'll be discussing her own school days, and how they influence her perception of the quality of schools nowadays. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Mass in B Minor: Cum Sancto Spirito by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: The Waning of the Middle Ages by Johan H Huizinga Luxury: Madame Rochas scent

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard. In 1950, her first novel The Beautiful Visit was published. Now, some 45 years later and after many other books, she has just completed the concluding book of The Cazalet Chronicles. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the problems of combining writing and marriage; she abandoned her three marriages - her first husband, being the naturalist Peter Scott, and her last, the writer Kingsley Amis; and she'll be ruminating on the nature of love and who might experience it. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem Dies Irae by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: All the sonatas by Scarlatti Luxury: Piano

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the country's most successful lyricists, Don Black. Songs like Born Free and Diamonds are Forever, and musicals like Sunset Boulevard, Billy and Aspects of Love have made him a rich man. But he'll be talking to Sue Lawley of his early memories of his poor but happy Jewish family in the East End of London and how an apprenticeship on the New Musical Express led him into the world of popular music. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Four Seasons Adagio In G Minor For Organ & Strings by Antonio Vivaldi Book: 14,000 Things To Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer Luxury: Snooker table

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the academic and author Richard Hoggart. Nearly 40 years ago, he wrote the hugely influential Uses of Literacy. In it, he argued that the working classes were being short changed - both by rampant consumerism and by the dross he felt was being churned out by the mass media. Cast well away from materialism and the media on the desert island, he'll be talking about how he now feels about his original thesis and about his own working-class background in Leeds, where he was orphaned at an early age. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Fidelio: The Prisoner's Chorus From Act One by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: Fountain pen and paper

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the Controller of BBC1, Alan Yentob. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his upbringing in Manchester and London, the Cathedral boarding school where he and his twin brother were the only two Jewish boys and his 27 years at the BBC. During that time he rose steadily through the ranks to become Head of Music and Arts, ending up as the only person to have run both BBC1 and BBC2. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Four Last Songs from Beim Schlafengehen by Richard Strauss Book: Essays by Michel de Montaigne Luxury: Video recorder

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the racehorse trainer Jenny Pitman. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the empathy she feels for the horses she trains and her relationship with their owners. She won the Grand National in 1983 with Corbiere, and she has twice trained the winner of the Cheltenham Gold Cup. In 1995 her charge, Royal Athlete, won the Grand National, crowning her spectacular success as a trainer. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: A Four Legged Friend by Roy Rogers Book: Veterinary Notes For Horse Owners by M Horace Hayes Luxury: Television set

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the advertising man, Maurice Saatchi. He and his brother Charles created what became the biggest advertising agency in the world. Saatchi & Saatchi masterminded the Conservative victory in 1979 with their slogan 'Labour isn't working'. He'll be telling Sue Lawley about the heady days of the 1980s - a red Ferrari would be delivered unannounced to the best names in the business, with the offer of a job with Saatchi & Saatchi. Then, last year, he fell from grace when a boardroom shake-up meant he had to leave the company he had so lovingly created. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Die Dreigroschenoper Surabaya Johnny by Kurt Weill Book: Hamlet (1897 edition) by William Shakespeare Luxury: Virtual-reality headset

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is a man who spans our century. Aged 91, Max Nicholson has enjoyed careers in conservation, politics, journalism and the Civil Service. But his great passion remains ornithology. As a tiny boy, his parents took him one rainy afternoon to see the stuffed birds in the Natural History Museum, and there his great obsession was born. He was a conservationist before anyone understood the idea of ecology. He's played major parts in the founding of the Nature Conservancy Council, the World Wildlife Fund and Sites of Special Scientific Interest. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No 6 In F Major Op 68 by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin Luxury: Binoculars

Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the celebrated American writer John Updike. His novels include Rabbit Run (and three Rabbit follow-ups), Couples and The Witches of Eastwick. He is both poet and historian, famous for charting the changes in post-war American society such as increasing marital breakdown and changing attitudes to death. He started his writing career by selling stories to the New Yorker magazine - something his mother had tried for years but had never succeeded. And he'll be telling Sue Lawley about how he overcame a bad stutter, how he has learnt to control his psoriasis and how now, aged 63, he finally feels normal; part of the gang he never was as a teenager. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sing, Sing, Sing by The Benny Goodman Orchestra Book: Complete Works by Marcel Proust Luxury: Silken tent (for luxury, not survival)

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is the actress Wendy Richard, one of the best-known faces on British television. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about a career which started with the Arthur Haines show in the 60s, and took her through a whole series of long-running television programmes - The Newcomers, Are You Being Served? and its sequel Grace and Favour. However, it was 10 years ago that she took the part which was to bring her her greatest popularity - Pauline Fowler in EastEnders. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Land Of Hope And Glory by Edward Elgar/Benson Book: Wilt by Tom Sharpe Luxury: Tapestry to make

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the sixth Duke of Westminster. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the responsibilities and pleasures of being one of the country's richest men. Having enjoyed an idyllic childhood on the banks of Loch Ern in County Fermanagh, it was a rude shock to be transplanted to an English prep school at the age of seven. The comparatively early death of his father then meant that by the time he was just 19 he was managing one of Britain's greatest estates, and by 27 he owned it. He'll be discussing the pleasures and the perils of his position, why he is no longer a member of the Conservative Party and his hopes and dreams for his four-year-old son and heir, Hugh. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Albatross by Fleetwood Mac Book: Through Russian Snows by G A Henty Luxury: Telescope