Desert Island Discs: Archive 1996-2000

Sue Lawley's castaway is Home Secretary Jack Straw. Favourite track: Soave Sia il Vento by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Franco Prussian War - the German Invasion of France 1870-1871 by Michael Howard Luxury: Saxophone

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the writer Sybille Bedford. Born the daughter of a German baron in 1911, her childhood brought her into contact with the great literary figures of her age - Aldous Huxley, Virginia Woolf and T S Eliot. She has received critical acclaim as a novelist, journalist and law reporter, covering the Lady Chatterley trial, the Auschwitz trial and the trial of Jack Ruby. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Slow Movement of 'Double' Violin Concerto in D Minor by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: A La Recherche de Temps Perdu by Marcel Proust Luxury: A French restaurant in full working order

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the playwright Jack Rosenthal. Bar Mitzvah Boy, and The Evacuees are among his many successes. His work often reflects his own life. He poured the grief he felt when his children left home into Eskimo Day, and touched a raw nerve with many parents who felt they had been left behind. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor by Max Bruch Book: Finnegan's Wake by James Joyce Luxury: Clay for making sculpture

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Big Issue, John Bird. From a childhood in orphanages and approved schools, he has gone on to run the most successful street magazine in the world, with a circulation of over 250,000 a week in Britain and an overall turnover of some £24 million. With Big Issues in major cities all over Britain, Europe and the USA, he is returning his attention to his birthplace this time with his eye on becoming Mayor of London. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Caravan by Duke Ellington Book: Encyclopaedia of London by Ben Weinreb Luxury: Mont Blanc pen, notebook and ink

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the theatre producer Bill Kenwright. His West End successes include Shirley Valentine, Medea and Stepping Out. A gambler at heart, he continued to run Blood Brothers on Broadway despite a panning by the New York critics and it became a huge box office hit. An actor himself - most famously as Gordon Glegg in Coronation Street - he started producing in the provinces. There he lured audiences into the theatre by putting TV stars such as Pat Phoenix on stage - although sometimes he had to remind them that she wasn't Elsie Tanner. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Call To Arms (Everton FC and Z Cars Theme Tune) by Blueknowz Book: Everton - The Complete Record by Steve Johnson Luxury: Guitar"

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the gardener and broadcaster Geoffrey Smith. He learnt his craft at his father's knee growing fruit and vegetables for the stately home where he worked. Later he learnt the science of horticulture at college and achieved top marks. He's always maintained the promise he made to himself as a boy: to spend his life outdoors. Except, of course, when he enters a studio for Radio 4's Gardeners' Question Time. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Dawn Chorus Book: History of viticulture, with instructions on how to make wine Luxury: Bundle of prunings from a good vineyard so he can plant his own vines

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the most-recorded saxophonist in the world. Inspired by Duke Ellington and encouraged by Jack Brymer, John Harle is equally at home playing jazz or classical music. He once marched with the Coldstream Guards, but left to test himself against other musicians at the Royal College of Music, gaining 100% in his final exam. As a composer he has collaborated with among others, Paul McCartney and Harrison Birtwistle, and his first opera is premiered this week. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Hunting Song by Pentangle Book: The Aesthetics of Music by Roger Scruton Luxury: Lute and strings

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is 'England's choir master', Sir David Willcocks. For some 38 years he trained the Bach Choir - the most popular amateur choir in Britain. His retirement in 1998 he describes as ""like the end of an affair"". As the Director of Music at Kings College Cambridge, he tranformed small boys with dirty knees into an angelic choir. His gift is a mix of natural talent and experience. At the age of eight he joined the choir school at Westminster Abbey, where he was conducted by Elgar. Later, he worked closely with Vaughan Williams whose humility and humour he remembers, produced some masterful performances. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Oh Sacred Head by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Book on astronomy Luxury: King's College Chapel

"Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the sculptor Antony Gormley. His Angel of the North towers over the A1 just outside Gateshead. Elsewhere, his figures stand buried in sand at the mouth of an estuary, or hang from the ceiling of an American jailhouse. In 1994 he won the Turner Prize for his works called Field - thousands of small clay creatures, crafted by people from around the world. Another sculpture, Bed, he created from a mattress made from thousands of slices of bread - and then ATE his own body shape over several weeks. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Raga Jaijaiwanti by Hariprasad Chaurasia and Dilshad Khan Book: Principle of Hope by Ernst Bloch Luxury: Snorkel and mask

Sue Lawley's castaway this week says changing her mind was one of the most difficult things she's ever had to do. After an out-of-body experience, psychologist Susan Blackmore set out to study and prove the existence of the paranormal. Twenty years on, she's a convinced sceptic. She continues, however, to be fascinated by the question of consciousness. In particular, the new theory of memes which examines how habits and beliefs are passed on from one person to another. At their worst, she says, they're evident in fascism or religious fundamentalism. At their best, they're responsible for our co-operation and kindness. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Not Fade Away by Grateful Dead Book: Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Luxury: A handful of cannabis seeds

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the businessman Sir Ernest Hall. His life is like a fairytale. From a sickly boy, living in the one room he and his family shared, he became a successful businessman and millionaire - and all because of an inspirational piece of music. Today on the site of an old carpet factory in Halifax, he's brought together his two loves - business and the arts - to form an environment in which plastic-bag manufacturers and building societies draw inspiration from the painters and sculptors who work alongside. At the age of 68 he has also realised his ambition to be a professional pianist. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Trio in B Major by Franz Schubert Book: The collected works by William Blake Luxury: Piano

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the abstract artist Sir Terry Frost. He first became interested in art as a prisoner of war, when lack of food and freedom enhanced the beauty of a single leaf. On his return to Britain, nature continued to fascinate him and inform his work; bright circles of colour inspired by the Sun and Moon, or patterns of white-on-white remembered from a snowy landscape. Now 83, he's never been so busy. A good thing, he says, because it keeps the aches and pains away. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Tea For Two by Max Bygraves Book: Blank sheets to write his thoughts on imagination and memory Luxury: Mirror (for company)

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the actress Dame Judi Dench. She's been delighting audiences for some 40 years, on film, television and the stage. It's partly this versatility that makes her so special. Nominated for an Oscar for the film Mrs Brown, in which she played an ageing Queen Victoria, she says the difference between film and the theatre is that on stage she can make an audience believe that she's a tall, willowy blond, when in reality she is five foot nothing. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Lady in Red by Chris de Burgh Book: Ordnance Survey map of the world Luxury: The Man with a Glove painting by Titian

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the experimental composer Gavin Bryars. One of his best-known works, The Sinking of the Titanic, pays tribute to the band which continued to play as the ship went down. It poses the question what if they hadn't stop playing; how would their music have sounded under water? His most popular composition, Jesus' Blood Never Failed Me Yet, features a tramp singing the same verse again and again, building up layer upon layer of emotion. Composing is a craft he learnt as an assistant to John Cage, after hearing his work Four minutes, thirty-three seconds - of silence. Today he is both established and establishment - the ENO are soon to stage his latest opera and if you look closely at the orchestra, you'll spot him on the bass! [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: My Foolish Heart by Bill Evans Trio Book: Science and Civilisation in China by Joseph Needham Luxury: Gravity chair

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the novelist Alice Thomas Ellis. A devout and traditional Catholic, she didn't begin writing until she was 42. The Sin Eater, that first novel, was her reaction to the changes in the Catholic Church after Vatican Two and channelled her anger at what she saw as the excesses of the 1960s. She's a woman of apparent contradictions. She wanted to be a nun, but fell in love and became a mother of seven instead. She's deeply religious but believes in ghosts and the supernatural and although her books are often triggered by anger, they are frequently tender and full of humour. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Rorate Caeli Desuper by Monks & Choirboys or Downside Abbey Book: Come Hither - An Anthology by Walter de la Mare Luxury: A very comfortable sofa

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the poet Andrew Motion. He describes his writing as a "biological thing" - like developing a headache or the flu - but much, much more pleasurable. Also a biographer, his first, controversial work was about his friend and fellow poet Philip Larkin. While researching for it, he collected together his own personal writings and burnt them. Dominant in his work is the figure of his mother; injured in an accident which left her severely ill and from which she eventually died. His poems, he says, are his way of bringing her back to life. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Cello Suite No. 6 in D by Johann Sebastian Bach Book: Prelude - Penguin edition by William Wordsworth Luxury: Pencils and paper

Sue Lawley's castaway this week believes he has the answer to "life, the universe and everything". According to mathematician Ian Stewart, it's 137-and-a-half degrees. He calls it "the golden angle", and says it can be found everywhere in nature - whether in the pattern of seeds on a sunflower head or in the spiral of a snail's shell. Mathematics, he says, has nothing to do with arithmetic and everything to do with being able to pack the luggage into the boot of the car. But for a broken collarbone which meant he stayed at home working out puzzles with his mum, he would have remained bottom of the class and never discovered how much fun maths could be. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Scarborough Fair by Simon and Garfunkel Book: Godel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter Luxury: Mrs Thatcher pickled in a Damien Hurst sculpture

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Artistic Director of the Royal Ballet, Sir Anthony Dowell. His future was determined as a child when he stood before Dame Ninette de Valois with his trousers rolled to the knee. It took only a short glance at his legs for her to accept him into the Royal Ballet School. As he grew and developed as a dancer, his talent was spotted and soon the great choreographers Kenneth Macmillan and Frederick Ashton began creating roles for him. His outstanding technique and dramatic sense inspired generations of dancers. But now, as Director of the Royal Ballet, he fights to keep dance at the top of the arts agenda in the face of much criticism and controversy. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Eight English Dances by London Philharmonic Orchestra Book: Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame Luxury: Sketch pad and paints

Sue Lawley's castaway this week has turned around a failing supermarket chain by introducing his staff to 'black-bin Mondays' and 'dress-down Fridays'. As the Executive Director, Archie Norman made ASDA one of the top three grocers on the high street. In the process, he's answered every one of the 40,000 suggestions from his staff - personally. And he's learnt how to keep his colleagues on their toes - he's removed their chairs from the meeting rooms. Now as a new MP and Vice Chairman of the party, can he do the same for the Conservatives? [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Complete Angler by Isaac Walton Luxury: Jar of Marmite

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the opera producer David Pountney. Alongside Mark Elder and Peter Jonas at the ENO, he tried to make opera more attractive to a wider audience. The opera stage, he says, shouldn't be treated like a mantle shelf filled with fragile objects. It's a versatile and robust art form which needn't be stuck in the past. So he staged Carmen in an automobile graveyard, with a pink Cadillac and a giant billboard, while his Hansel and Gretel was set in a 1950s housing project. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quartet No 2 'Intimate Letters' by Leos Janáček Book: Anthology: The English Year by Geoffrey Grigson Luxury: Croquet lawn