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Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Since 2018, the programme has been presented by Lauren Laverne.
More than 3,400 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest. An example of a guest who falls into both categories is Bob Monkhouse, who appeared with his co-writer Denis Goodwin on 12 December 1955 and in his own right on 20 December 1998.
When Desert Island Discs marked its 75th year in 2017, The Guardian called the show a radio classic. In February 2019, a panel of broadcasting industry experts named it the greatest radio programme of all time.
Guests are invited to imagine themselves cast away on a desert island, and choose eight audio recordings (originally gramophone records) they would like to take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Excerpts from their choices are played or, in the case of short pieces, the whole work. At the end of the programme, they are asked to choose the one piece they regard most highly. Guests are also automatically given the Complete Works of Shakespeare and either the Bible or another appropriate religious or philosophical work, and then prompted to select a third book to accompany them. Popular choices include Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Actress Judi Dench, who has macular degeneration, was permitted to take an audiobook in place of a printed manuscript.
Guests also choose one luxury, which must be inanimate and of no practical use on or in escaping from the island or allowing communication from outside. Roy Plomley usually enforced these rules strictly, but he did grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. However, subsequent presenters have allowed more variation on the rules; John Cleese was allowed to take Michael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries.
After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by Michael Parkinson from 1986 to 1988, then from 1988 to 2006 by Sue Lawley, and from 2006 to 2018 by Kirsty Young. Young was replaced by 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne, who interviewed Olympic diver Tom Daley for her first show, broadcast on 30 September 2018. Laverne was initially drafted in as an interim presenter while Young was suffering from fibromyalgia; she was appointed permanently in July 2019 when Young announced her decision not to return.
The programme was extended from 45 minutes to an hour from Spring 2024.
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Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942.
Each week a guest, called a "castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on a desert island, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Since 2018, the programme has been presented by Lauren Laverne.
More than 3,400 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest. An example of a guest who falls into both categories is Bob Monkhouse, who appeared with his co-writer Denis Goodwin on 12 December 1955 and in his own right on 20 December 1998.
When Desert Island Discs marked its 75th year in 2017, The Guardian called the show a radio classic. In February 2019, a panel of broadcasting industry experts named it the greatest radio programme of all time.
Guests are invited to imagine themselves cast away on a desert island, and choose eight audio recordings (originally gramophone records) they would like to take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Excerpts from their choices are played or, in the case of short pieces, the whole work. At the end of the programme, they are asked to choose the one piece they regard most highly. Guests are also automatically given the Complete Works of Shakespeare and either the Bible or another appropriate religious or philosophical work, and then prompted to select a third book to accompany them. Popular choices include Charles Dickens and Jane Austen. Actress Judi Dench, who has macular degeneration, was permitted to take an audiobook in place of a printed manuscript.
Guests also choose one luxury, which must be inanimate and of no practical use on or in escaping from the island or allowing communication from outside. Roy Plomley usually enforced these rules strictly, but he did grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. However, subsequent presenters have allowed more variation on the rules; John Cleese was allowed to take Michael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries.
After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by Michael Parkinson from 1986 to 1988, then from 1988 to 2006 by Sue Lawley, and from 2006 to 2018 by Kirsty Young. Young was replaced by 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne, who interviewed Olympic diver Tom Daley for her first show, broadcast on 30 September 2018. Laverne was initially drafted in as an interim presenter while Young was suffering from fibromyalgia; she was appointed permanently in July 2019 when Young announced her decision not to return.
The programme was extended from 45 minutes to an hour from Spring 2024.