List of Desert Island Discs episodes (1991–2000)
The BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs invites castaways to choose eight pieces of music, a book (in addition to the Bible – or a religious text appropriate to that person's beliefs – and the Complete Works of Shakespeare) and a luxury item that they would take to an imaginary desert island, where they will be marooned indefinitely. The rules state that the chosen luxury item must not be anything animate or indeed anything that enables the castaway to escape from the island, for instance a radio set, sailing yacht or aeroplane. The choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests between 1991 and 2000 are listed here.
1991[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
6 January 1991 | Lord Goodman | Who's Who | An enormous box of chocolate gingers | more |
13 January 1991 | Adelaide Hall | A book about American history | Box of seeds | more |
20 January 1991 | Fred Zinnemann | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Very large self-renewing bottle of scotch | more |
27 January 1991 | Brian Eno | Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity by Richard Rorty | Radio telescope | more |
3 February 1991 | Professor Ralf Dahrendorf | A book of Greek poetry | Dice to test the luck of a ship rescuing him | more |
10 February 1991 | Paddy Ashdown MP | The collected works of John Donne | Laptop computer | more |
17 February 1991 | Dame Ninette de Valois | A collection of poems | An everlasting bottle of sleeping pills | more |
24 February 1991 | Ronald Eyre | A talking book by Judi Dench | Supply of flower bulbs | more |
3 March 1991 | Sir Denis Forman | Raj Quartet by Paul Scott | Satellite dish and TV | more |
10 March 1991 | Jeffrey Bernard | The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | High powered hunting rifle and ammunition | more |
17 March 1991 | Sir Trevor Holdsworth | Collected Plays of J. B. Priestley | Upright piano | more |
24 March 1991 | Marti Caine | Do-it-yourself manual | Do-it-yourself kit | more |
7 April 1991 | Naomi Mitchison | Book of modern poetry | Endless supply of writing materials | more |
14 April 1991 | Lord King | Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | Supply of cigars and matches | more |
21 April 1991 | Dr Jonathan Sacks | The Talmud | Large supply of pencils | more |
28 April 1991 | Dame Shirley Porter | SAS Survival Manual | Large Swiss Army Knife | more |
12 May 1991 | Cecil Lewis | Sagittarius Surviving by C. S. Lewis | Fax machine | more |
19 May 1991 | John Simpson | Anything in French by Marcel Proust | Flute | more |
26 May 1991 | Rt. Hon. John Smith | Anthology of poems | Case of champagne | more |
2 June 1991 | Marco Pierre White | Ma Gastronomie by Fernand Point | Picture of his daughter | more |
9 June 1991 | Derek Walcott | Ulysses by James Joyce | Carton of cigarettes | more |
16 June 1991 | A. S. Byatt | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Large filing cabinet full of A4 paper and pens | more |
23 June 1991 | John Hegarty | The Crock of Gold by James Stephens | Clarinet | more |
30 June 1991 | Ron Todd | The collected works of Robert Burns | Piano | more |
7 July 1991 | Lord Shawcross | The Way We Live Now by Anthony Trollope | CD player/solar-powered radio | more |
25 August 1991 | Alan Bleasdale | Catch-22 by Joseph Heller | Nail clippers | more |
1 September 1991 | Maxwell Hutchinson | Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot | Guitar | more |
8 September 1991 | Bernice Rubens | Poems For Joy and Sermons For Solace by John Donne | A painting by her daughter | more |
15 September 1991 | John Banham | The collected works of A. E. Housman | Cigars and matches | more |
22 September 1991 | Klaus Tennstedt | Dr Faustus by Thomas Mann | Mountain bike | more |
29 September 1991 | David Bailey | Voices of Silence by Malraux | Nelson's Column | more |
6 October 1991 | Imran Khan | Bang-E-Dara by Iqbal | Shotgun and clay pigeon trap | more |
13 October 1991 | John Schlesinger | Dictionary of Quotations | Magimix (battery powered) | more |
20 October 1991 | Elizabeth Esteve-Coll | Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot | Expensive perfumed hand cream | more |
27 October 1991 | Alan Alda | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Italian pasta | more |
3 November 1991 | E. P. Thompson | Songs of Innocence and Experience by William Blake | Typewriter and paper | more |
10 November 1991 | Lord Delfont | 1515–1985 British Music Theatre Book | Cigars and matches | more |
17 November 1991 | James Lovelock | The Golden Treasury by Francis Palgrave | Pen and paper | more |
24 November 1991 | Dilys Powell | Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens | Mouth organ with instructions | more |
1 December 1991 | Fred Dibnah | Bound volumes of the Engineer magazine | Steamroller | more |
8 December 1991 | Sue Townsend | Lucky Jim by Kingsley Amis | Swimming pool of champagne | more |
22 December 1991 | Gorden Kaye | This Is Your Life by Gorden Kaye | A clock given to him for turning on the Oxford lights | more |
1992[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
12 January 1992 | Steven Berkoff | A gardening book | Piano | more |
19 January 1992 | Reverend David Jenkins | The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | Binoculars | more |
26 January 1992 | John Major | The Small House at Allington by Anthony Trollope | The Oval cricket ground replica and bowling machine | more |
2 February 1992 | J. G. Ballard | Moby Dick by Herman Melville | Unicycle | more |
9 February 1992 | Robbie Coltrane | The Lady in the Lake by Raymond Chandler | Pencils and paper | more |
16 February 1992 | Sir Roger Bannister | Anthology of Russian, American and English stories | Solar-powered receiver to receive BBC Radio 4 | more |
23 February 1992 | Elvis Costello | Selected Works of James Thurber | Upright piano | more |
1 March 1992 | Dr Steve Jones | Valley of Bones by Anthony Powell | Stuffed body of the Minister of Education | more |
8 March 1992 | Jocelyn Stevens | Other Men's Flowers by Lord Wavell | One mile stretch of the River Test in Hampshire | more |
15 March 1992 | Sir Isaiah Berlin | Works, prose and verse by Aleksandr Pushkin | Large armchair stacked with cushions | more |
22 March 1992 | Lady Soames | Memories from Beyond the Grave by Chateaubriand | Supply of fine Havana cigars | more |
5 April 1992 | Sir Ernst Gombrich | Goethe's Poems by Johann Wolfgang Goethe | Bathtub with an endless supply of hot water | more |
26 April 1992 | Anthony Rolfe Johnson | Welsh/English Dictionary | Parquet floor and tap shoes | more |
3 May 1992 | Henrietta, Marchioness of Tavistock | History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill | Triangular pillow | more |
10 May 1992 | Will Carling | The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien | Flotation tank | more |
17 May 1992 | Michael Grade | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Sports results | more |
24 May 1992 | Baron Taylor of Gosforth | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Piano | more |
31 May 1992 | Prunella Scales | The Complete Works of Shakespeare in German and the Bible in Russian, and a Russian dictionary | Huge tapestry kit | more |
7 June 1992 | Duncan Goodhew | Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien | Wig | more |
14 June 1992 | Robert Lindsay | Sons and Lovers by D. H. Lawrence | Computer chess set | more |
21 June 1992 | Terry Waite | Complete Cambridge Histories | Chess computer | more |
28 June 1992 | Vivienne Westwood | À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Multi-lingual dictionary | more |
5 July 1992 | Clare Short MP | Geometry tutor | Piano | more |
12 July 1992 | Mohamed Amin | Life of John F. Kennedy | Satellite dish and television set | more |
19 July 1992 | Sir Peregrine Worsthorne | Vile Bodies by Evelyn Waugh | Hallucinogenic drugs | more |
26 July 1992 | David Mellor | The Mayor of Casterbridge by Thomas Hardy | Telephone (disconnected) | more |
6 September 1992 | Bob Geldof | The Diary of Samuel Pepys | Metropolitan Museum in New York | more |
13 September 1992 | Penelope Leach | The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud | Coffee | more |
20 September 1992 | Raymond Blanc | The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry | A good luck stone (from his wife) | more |
27 September 1992 | Chad Varah | The New Oxford Book of English Verse | Own bathroom run by solar power with hot and cold water and a video player attached | more |
4 October 1992 | Juliet Stevenson | The Complete Works of W. B. Yeats | Masaccio Frescos in the Brancacci Chapel | more |
11 October 1992 | Lord Sainsbury | The New Oxford Book of English Verse | Bed | more |
18 October 1992 | Julie Andrews | The Once and Future King by T. H. White | Piano | more |
25 October 1992 | Gavin Laird | The Diary of Samuel Pepys | Year's recording of the Today programme | more |
1 November 1992 | General H Norman Schwarzkopf | The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran | His dog, Bear | more |
8 November 1992 | Christabel Bielenberg | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | A comfortable chair | more |
22 November 1992 | John Eliot Gardiner | Memoirs by Hector Berlioz | Sancerre | more |
29 November 1992 | Lord Tebbit | History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Winston Churchill | Drinking fountain with taps for sancerre and claret | more |
6 December 1992 | Carmen Callil | Maurice Guest by Henry Handel Richardson | A film - The Commitments | more |
13 December 1992 | Professor Ghillean Prance | The Natural History of Selborne by Gilbert White | Accordion | more |
20 December 1992 | Paul Smith | The Beano Annual 1974 | Notebook and pencil | more |
25 December 1992 | Stephen Hawking | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Creme brulee | more |
1993[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
3 January 1993 | Elizabeth Jennings | The New Oxford Book of American Verse | Pad, felt pens and biros | more |
10 January 1993 | Barbara Mills QC | History of the Crusades by Steven Runciman | Tennis court, balls, racket and wall | more |
17 January 1993 | Dervla Murphy | The Diary of Samuel Pepys | A still to distill berries, etc., into drink | more |
24 January 1993 | Evelyn Glennie | Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman | Chocolate | more |
31 January 1993 | Anthony Storr | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Piano | more |
21 February 1993 | Sir Robin Butler | Rise and Fall of the Great Powers by Paul Kennedy | A bag of golf clubs and balls | more |
28 February 1993 | Elijah Moshinsky | Michael Frayn translation of the Complete Plays of Anton Chekhov | A duvet | more |
7 March 1993 | Ken Livingstone MP | The Myths of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley | The World Service | more |
14 March 1993 | David Croft | Collected Poems of Sir John Betjeman | Piano | more |
4 April 1993 | Richard Gregory | An astronomy book by Patrick Moore | Astronomical telescope | more |
11 April 1993 | Lord Oaksey | Mr Mulliner's Memoirs by P. G. Wodehouse | Cargo of champagne | more |
18 April 1993 | Anton Edelmann | Tibetan Book of Living and Dying by Rainer Maria Rilke | Wok | more |
25 April 1993 | Baroness Blackstone | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Tennis balls and racket | more |
2 May 1993 | John Boorman | Memories, Dreams and Reflections by Carl Jung | Telescope | more |
9 May 1993 | John Cole | À la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Typewriter | more |
16 May 1993 | Eva Burrows | Faber Book of Religious Verse | Game of Scrabble with paper and pencil | more |
23 May 1993 | Lord Weinstock | If This Is a Man by Primo Levi | Photograph album of family, friends and colleagues | more |
30 May 1993 | Kaye Webb | Poetry of Naomi Lewis | Very big photograph album on a wheeling table | more |
6 June 1993 | Frank Bruno | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Picture of his family | more |
13 June 1993 | Rt Hon Betty Boothroyd MP | A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth | Mace of the House of Commons | more |
20 June 1993 | Joan Baez | The Diary of Anne Frank | Personal pouch with a silver lion on it | more |
27 June 1993 | Sir Leon Brittan | The collected works of Chaucer | Collection of large-scale Ordnance Survey maps of England | more |
4 July 1993 | Peter Mayle | The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa | The menu from his favourite Parisien restaurant | more |
11 July 1993 | Nicholas Hytner | The collected works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge | Large supply of total block suncream | more |
12 September 1993 | Isabel Allende | All correspondence between her and her mother | Paper and pencils | more |
19 September 1993 | Paul Merton | Biography of Buster Keaton by Rudi Blesh | Bed | more |
26 September 1993 | Lord Palumbo | On the Road by Jack Kerouac | Telescope | more |
3 October 1993 | Rt Hon Virginia Bottomley MP | Norton's Star Atlas | BBC Radio 4's Today programme | more |
10 October 1993 | Lesley Garrett | Photograph album | Tightrope | more |
17 October 1993 | Raymond Seitz | Oxford Anthology of Modern Poetry | Big box full of family albums | more |
24 October 1993 | Kenny Everett | Eagle annual | Bathroom suite | more |
31 October 1993 | Judge Stephen Tumim | Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne | Marbel bust of Laurence Sterne | more |
7 November 1993 | Sybil Marshall | Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain | Inexhaustible supply of Swiss lawn handkerchiefs | more |
14 November 1993 | Shirley Anne Field | Reader's Digest | Large Chippendale mirror | more |
21 November 1993 | Doris Lessing | A Thousand and One Nights | Magic carpet | more |
28 November 1993 | Taki | Essential Hemingway by Ernest Hemingway | Boxing punchbag | more |
19 December 1993 | Phil Collins | Prehsitory of the Far Side by Gary Larson | Piano | more |
26 December 1993 | Lord Ashley of Stoke | A book about warfare | Smoked salmon and wine | more |
1994[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
2 January 1994 | Oliver Sacks | Dictionary of Musical Themes | Scuba diving kit | more |
9 January 1994 | Ian Hislop | Civilisation by Kenneth Clark | Frosties | more |
16 January 1994 | Sir Harrison Birtwistle | A Latin Primer | Chainsaw | more |
23 January 1994 | Willy Russell | A Latin Primer | English meadow with an oak tree | more |
30 January 1994 | Dame Cicely Saunders | Oxford Dictionary of Quotations | Pen and paper | more |
6 February 1994 | Douglas Adams | Omnibus of Golfing Stories by P. G. Wodehouse | Martin D28 left-handed guitar | more |
13 February 1994 | Rosemary Verey | A Celebration of Gardens by Sir Roy Strong | Waterproof pens, paper and folders | more |
20 February 1994 | Rt Hon Kenneth Clarke MP | The Life of Lord Melbourne by Lord David Cecil | Tenor sax | more |
27 February 1994 | Frances Partridge | Memoirs by Duc de Saint-Simon | Flower press | more |
6 March 1994 | Christina Dodwell | The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran | Pen and paper | more |
27 March 1994 | Conrad Black | Oxford Book of English Verse | Model of HMS Hood | more |
3 April 1994 | Sir Ranulph Fiennes | Gormenghast by Mervyn Peake | Antisan for insect bites | more |
10 April 1994 | Roger McGough | The Times atlas of the night sky | Black cab | more |
17 April 1994 | Alan Hacker | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Hovercraft wheelchair with cappuccino machine | more |
24 April 1994 | Trevor McDonald | Anthology of poetry | Box of paints, brushes and paper | more |
1 May 1994 | Garrison Keillor | Roget's Thesaurus | Set of china (four place settings) | more |
8 May 1994 | Sir John Wilson | A chess strategy book (in Braille) | A sonic probe | more |
15 May 1994 | Kate Adie | The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer | Large Victorian bath with claw feet | more |
22 May 1994 | Britt Ekland | Recent editions of magazines, e.g. Vanity Fair, Vogue | Case of Evian water and champagne | more |
29 May 1994 | Peter Scudamore | Book of verse by Rudyard Kipling | Snorkeling equipment | more |
5 June 1994 | Milton Shulman | The Cookery Book by Constance Spry | Tennis racket and ball machine | more |
12 June 1994 | Zoë Wanamaker | Greek Myths by Robert Graves | Samson tobacco and liquorice Rizla papers | more |
19 June 1994 | Brian Sewell | Songs from the 1880s with piano accompaniment by Schubert | Sculpture by Michelangelo | more |
26 June 1994 | John Drummond | Encyclopaedia of all the well-known operas | Small theatre | more |
3 July 1994 | Derek Jameson | The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck | Word processor | more |
10 July 1994 | Rabbi Hugo Gryn | Biography of Churchill by Martin Gilbert | A parking space | more |
11 September 1994 | Joanna Trollope | Oxford Book of English Verse | Bed and white Egyptian sheets | more |
18 September 1994 | John Tavener | Apophthegmata Patrum (early writing of Egyptian fathers) | Upright piano | more |
25 September 1994 | Mary Stott | The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler | Watercolours for painting | more |
2 October 1994 | Professor James Fenton | The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri | Snorkel, mask and harpoon | more |
9 October 1994 | Jeanette Winterson | Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot | A case of Krug champagne | more |
16 October 1994 | Sir George Christie | Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | BBC Radio 4's The Archers - all the recordings from the beginning | more |
23 October 1994 | Lynda La Plante | Fairy Stories by Honoré de Balzac | Mouth organ | more |
30 October 1994 | Kathleen Hale | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | A gilabra (cloak of gold) | more |
6 November 1994 | Archbishop Desmond Tutu | Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch | Ice-cream maker (especially for rum and raisin flavour) | more |
13 November 1994 | Berthold Goldschmidt | Joseph and His Brothers by Thomas Mann | Vanity case including metal mirror and shaving kit | more |
20 November 1994 | Glenys Kinnock | Atlas of the Third World | Toilet bag full of skin-barrier creams | more |
27 November 1994 | Sir Howard Hodgkin | Journal De Eugène Delacroix by Eugène Delacroix | Mayonnaise – permanent supply | more |
4 December 1994 | Margaret Forster | A House For Mr Biswas by V. S. Naipaul | Unlimited supply of A4 white paper and cartridges for fountain pen | more |
18 December 1994 | Penelope Hobhouse | The Golden Bowl by Henry James | Laptop computer | more |
25 December 1994 | David Jason OBE | The complete boatbuilder's book | A complete carpenter's toolbox | more |
1995[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 January 1995 | Alan Clark | A History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell | Piano | more |
8 January 1995 | Patricia Hodge | A compendium of the plays of Harold Pinter | Supply of embroidery | more |
15 January 1995 | Phil Redmond | The collected works of Charles Dickens | Magnifying glass | more |
22 January 1995 | Dr. Richard Dawkins | The Jeeves Omnibus by P. G. Wodehouse | Computer (solar-powered) | more |
29 January 1995 | Sir Adrian Cadbury | Dr. Johnson's Lexicographic Works by Samuel Johnson | Fibreglass sculling boat | more |
19 February 1995 | Jimmy Knapp | The Socialist Sixth of the World by Hewlett Johnson | Case of Talisker whisky | more |
26 February 1995 | Christopher Lee | The Sword in the Stone by T. H. White | Set of golf clubs | |
5 March 1995 | Professor Eric Hobsbawm | Canto General by Pablo Neruda | Binoculars | more |
12 March 1995 | Nigel Nicolson | A Guide to the Universe | Telescope | more |
19 March 1995 | Felix Aprahamian | Du Cote De Chez Swann by Marcel Proust | Swiss army knife | more |
2 April 1995 | Nina Bawden | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon | Plain paper, plastic folders and ballpoint pens | more |
9 April 1995 | James Bowman | Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier | Fabergé egg | more |
16 April 1995 | Hugh Grant | King Ottokar's Sceptre by Herge | Supply of handkerchiefs | more |
23 April 1995 | George Lloyd | Piers Plowman (in Middle English) by William Langland | Romney's portrait of Lady Hamilton | more |
30 April 1995 | Pete Waterman | A history of Great Western Railway engines | Havana cigars and matches | more |
7 May 1995 | Dr. George Carey | Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot | Computer and an empty bottle | more |
14 May 1995 | Neil Simon | How To Swim | Large harmonica | more |
21 May 1995 | Sir Bernard Ingham | The Times Atlas of the World | Colin Cowdrey's bowling machine | more |
28 May 1995 | Marianne Faithfull | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | Pen from Asprey's with attached magnifying glass | more |
4 June 1995 | Brian Blessed | In Search of the Miraculous by Peter Ouspensky | Scarf given to him by the Dalai Lama | more |
11 June 1995 | John Lee Hooker | A book with pictures of pretty women | His guitar | more |
18 June 1995 | Sir Magdi Yacoub | Pluto's Republic by Sir Peter Medawar | Hammock | more |
25 June 1995 | Jasper Conran | Tales by Hoffman | Vintage Krug champagne | more |
2 July 1995 | Duke of Westminster | Through Russian Snows by G. A. Henty | Telescope | more |
9 July 1995 | Wendy Richard | Wilt by Tom Sharpe | Tapestry to make | more |
10 September 1995 | John Updike | The collected works of Marcel Proust | Silken tent (for luxury, not survival) | more |
17 September 1995 | Max Nicholson | The Phenomenon of Man by Pierre Teilhard De Chardin | Binoculars | more |
24 September 1995 | Maurice Saatchi | Hamlet (1875 edition) by William Shakespeare | Virtual-reality headset | more |
1 October 1995 | Jenny Pitman | Veterinary Notes For Horse Owners | Television set | more |
8 October 1995 | Alan Yentob | Essays by Michel de Montaigne | Video recorder | more |
15 October 1995 | Richard Hoggart | Essays by Michel de Montaigne | Fountain pen and paper | more |
22 October 1995 | Don Black | 14,000 Things to be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer | Snooker table | more |
29 October 1995 | Elizabeth Jane Howard | All the sonatas by Scarlatti | Piano | more |
5 November 1995 | Rt Hon Gillian Shephard MP | The Warning of the Middle Ages by Johan H. Huizinga | Madame Rochas scent | more |
12 November 1995 | Umberto Eco | The New York Phone Book | Laptop computer | more |
19 November 1995 | George Martin | A book on how to build a boat | Electric keyboard | more |
3 December 1995 | Alison Steadman | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez | Hot lemon flannels (as provided in Chinese restaurants) | more |
17 December 1995 | Barbara Dickson | English & Scottish Ballads by Francis Child | Very large set of solar-powered hair rollers | more |
24 December 1995 | Petula Clark | Anything by Peter Ustinov | Her piano | more |
31 December 1995 | Lady Margaret Tebbit | Hillier's Dictionary of Plants | An endless team of Man Fridays | more |
1996[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
7 January 1996 | Christopher Hampton | Anything by Marcel Proust | Pen and paper | more |
14 January 1996 | Jimmy McGovern | Ulysses by James Joyce | Haemorrhoid ointment | more |
21 January 1996 | Chili Bouchier | In Tune With The Infinite: Fullness of Peace Power by Ralph Waldo Trine | Make-up kit | more |
28 January 1996 | Julian Barnes | Letters of Gustave Flaubert | Writing equipment | more |
4 February 1996 | Eve Arnold | Arabian Nights | Dark room, film and camera | more |
11 February 1996 | Susan Hill | The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford | The Barnes Collection (paintings) | more |
18 February 1996 | Professor George Steiner | 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book | Computer | more |
25 February 1996 | Sir Roy Calne | Global Biodiversity by Brian Goombridge | Paints and canvas | more |
3 March 1996 | Gordon Brown | The Story of Art by Sir Ernst Gombrich | Tennis ball machine and racket | more |
17 March 1996 | Lord Alexander | Other Men's Flowers by Lord Wavell | Paints and canvas | more |
24 March 1996 | Kyra Vayne | A culinary book | Peanuts and treats to tame animals and birds | more |
31 March 1996 | Simon Weston | Sharpe's Eagle by Bernard Cornwell | Daily newspapers | more |
7 April 1996 | Dickie Bird | Wisden Cricketers' Almanack | TV and satellite to watch Test matches | more |
14 April 1996 | Viscount Rothermere | The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri | A pair of scissors | more |
21 April 1996 | Hanif Kureishi | The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud | Marijuana seeds | more |
28 April 1996 | Mitsuko Uchida | Anything by Leo Tolstoy (in Russian and English) | Piano | more |
5 May 1996 | Pauline Quirke | Crying With Laughter by Bob Monkhouse | Shampoo | more |
12 May 1996 | Hugh Laurie | A self-learn Italian book (slowly) | Family photo album | more |
19 May 1996 | Janet Holmes à Court | Tourmaline by Randolph Stow | Jar of vegemite | more |
26 May 1996 | Michael White | Anything by Marcel Proust | Bicycle | more |
2 June 1996 | Gerry Robinson | The History of the World by John Roberts | Painting kit (easel, oils, brushes) | more |
9 June 1996 | Peggy Mount | The Diary of Noël Coward | Tea in abundance | more |
16 June 1996 | Quentin Crewe | Essays by Michel de Montaigne | The cellar from Trinity College, Cambridge | more |
18 August 1996 | André Previn | The collected works of Anton Chekhov | Piano | more |
25 August 1996 | Anita Lasker-Wallfisch | The History of the World by John Roberts | Cello | more |
1 September 1996 | Sir Terence Conran | History of the World by H. G. Wells | Endless supply of A4 paper and 4B pencils | more |
8 September 1996 | Professor Colin Blakemore | The Discoverers by Daniel Boorstin | Solar-powered Internet (to receive, not send) | more |
15 September 1996 | Kevin Whately | The Moor's Last Sigh by Salman Rushdie | Northumbrian pipes | more |
22 September 1996 | Fran Landesman | Rebel Without Applause and Jaywalking by Jay Landesman | Cannabis seeds | more |
29 September 1996 | Ben Elton | His wedding photo album | The British Museum | more |
6 October 1996 | Lewis Wolpert | Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding and The Principles of Morals by David Hume | Bicycle | more |
13 October 1996 | Rumer Godden | The Atlantic Book of British and American Poetry by Edith Sitwell | A widow's cruise filled with whisky | more |
20 October 1996 | Jack Charlton | Encyclopaedia of How to Survive | Fishing rod | more |
27 October 1996 | Jancis Robinson | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Cellar of wines and a corkscrew | more |
3 November 1996 | Chris Patten | A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking | Bath | more |
10 November 1996 | Sir Laurens Van Der Post | The Golden Bough by James Frazer | Piano | more |
17 November 1996 | Tessa Sanderson | The History of the World by John Roberts | Toothbrush and toothpaste | more |
24 November 1996 | Tony Blair | Ivanhoe by Walter Scott | Guitar | more |
1 December 1996 | Bruce Forsyth | The collected works of Omar Khayyam | Sand iron (golf club) | more |
8 December 1996 | Robert Winston | The Koran (in Arabic and English) | Glass and tools to make a telescope | more |
15 December 1996 | Ian Dury | Macmillan Dictionary of Art | Mixing desk (solar-powered) | more |
22 December 1996 | Jennifer Saunders | Traveller's Prelude by Freya Stark | Tribute Heads by Elisabeth Frink | more |
29 December 1996 | Martin Amis | The Complete Works of John Milton | Cable television | more |
1997[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
5 January 1997 | John Cleese | Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette | Michael Palin – stuffed | more |
26 January 1997 | Irene Thomas | Complete score of Fidelio by Beethoven | Teddy bear stuffed with tea and lily of the valley | more |
2 February 1997 | Gene Wilder | The Notebooks of Captain Georges by Jean Renoir | Earl Grey tea | more |
9 February 1997 | Terry Pratchett | Edible Plants of the South Seas by Emile Massal | The Chrysler Building | more |
16 February 1997 | Mary Benson | Unpublished Notes by Athol Fugard | Telescope | more |
23 February 1997 | Nico Ladenis | Beau Geste by P. C. Wren | Cantona's Manchester United shirt | more |
2 March 1997 | Dr. Susan Greenfield | The Leopard by Giuseppe di Lampedusa | Endless supply of curry | more |
9 March 1997 | Redmond O'Hanlon | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Pair of green, insulated Leica binoculars 8 X 20 | more |
16 March 1997 | Nina Campbell | Photograph album | Bed | more |
23 March 1997 | Peter Blake | Lemprieres' Dictionary by Lawrence Norfolk | Gym | more |
30 March 1997 | Virginia Ironside | The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale | Big bag of plaster to make heads of friends | more |
20 April 1997 | Saeed Jaffrey | The Complete Works of Mirza Ghalib | Case of Black Label and Dom Pérignon | more |
27 April 1997 | Andy Hamilton | The Physics of Immortality by Frank J. Tipler | Football | more |
4 May 1997 | Sir Martin Rees | Collective cartoons of Gary Larson | Jefferson reclining chair | more |
11 May 1997 | David Wynne | The Iliad and The Odyssey by Homer | Harmonica | more |
18 May 1997 | Harry Enfield | Bleak House by Charles Dickens | Beer and a cigarette machine | more |
25 May 1997 | Sian Phillips | The Medical Care of Merchant Seamen by William Louis Wheeler | Pencils and paper | more |
1 June 1997 | Joanna MacGregor | The Sleep Walkers by Arthur Koestler | Sampler to record the noises of the island | more |
8 June 1997 | Benjamin Zephaniah | Poetical Works of Shelley | Law of the island (so he could break it) | more |
15 June 1997 | Christina Noble | The Book of Kells | Photo of an Irish cottage | more |
22 June 1997 | Eric Sykes | Ripley's Believe It or Not | Sand wedge and crate of golf balls | more |
24 August 1997 | Iain Banks | The Complete Monty Python | Front seat of a Porsche | more |
31 August 1997 | Cleo Laine | The Jazz Revolution by John Dankworth | Perfume | more |
7 September 1997 | Sir Frank Kermode | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon | Samuel Palmer's painting Moonlit Landscape | more |
14 September 1997 | Ursula Owen | The collected works of Anton Chekhov | Family photo album | more |
21 September 1997 | Mike Leigh OBE | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez | Lavatory and lavatory paper | more |
28 September 1997 | Peter O'Sullevan | Ends and Means by Aldous Huxley | Bottle of Calvados | more |
5 October 1997 | Jools Holland | The Four Books of Architecture by Andrea Palladio | Piano | more |
12 October 1997 | Rose Tremain | A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking | Word processor | more |
19 October 1997 | Richard Rodney Bennett | The Atlantic Book of British and American Poetry by Edith Sitwell | 6mm 36 inch circular knitting needle with a point at each end | more |
26 October 1997 | Richard Mabey | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Guitar | more |
2 November 1997 | John Julius Norwich | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon | Laptop computer | more |
9 November 1997 | Anthony Minghella | Collected piano works by Bach | Piano | more |
23 November 1997 | Thelma Holt | Utopia by Thomas Moore | Rosary beads | more |
30 November 1997 | Lloyd Grossman | Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson | Fishing rod | more |
7 December 1997 | Paula Rego | Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald | Pencil and paper | more |
14 December 1997 | Chris Haskins | The collected works of Seán O'Casey | Pen and paper | more |
21 December 1997 | Sir Harry Secombe | The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens | Guitar | more |
28 December 1997 | Glenda Jackson MP | The History and Creation of a Japanese Sand Garden | Bath | more |
1998[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
4 January 1998 | Professor Heinz Wolff | Collection of Landscape pictures (with book) | Collection of landscape pictures | more |
11 January 1998 | Paul Hogarth | The Times Atlas of World History | Solar-powered Apple Mac | more |
18 January 1998 | John Tomlinson | Flora and Fauna of tropical desert island | A box of lenses | more |
25 January 1998 | Helena Kennedy QC | Aeneid by Virgil | Goose down duvet | more |
1 February 1998 | Colin Dexter | The collected works of A. E. Housman | Manicure set | more |
15 February 1998 | Richard Noble | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Guitar | more |
22 February 1998 | David Pountney | Anthology: The English Year by Geoffrey Grigson | Croquet lawn | more |
1 March 1998 | Archie Norman MP | The Compleat Angler by Isaac Walton | Jar of Marmite | more |
8 March 1998 | Sir Anthony Dowell | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Sketch pad and paints | more |
15 March 1998 | Ian Stewart | Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter | Margaret Thatcher pickled in a Damien Hurst sculpture | more |
22 March 1998 | Andrew Motion | Prelude by William Wordsworth | Pencils and paper | more |
29 March 1998 | Alice Thomas Ellis | Come Hither – An Anthology by Walter de la Mare | Very comfortable sofa | more |
5 April 1998 | Gavin Bryars | Science and Civilisation in China by Joseph Needham | Gravity chair | more |
12 April 1998 | Dame Judi Dench | Ordnance Survey map of the world | The Man with a Glove, painting by Titian | more |
19 April 1998 | Sir Terry Frost | Blank sheets to write his thoughts on imagination and memory | Mirror | more |
26 April 1998 | Sir Ernest Hall | The collected works of William Blake | Piano | more |
3 May 1998 | Susan Blackmore | Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | Handful of cannabis seeds | more |
10 May 1998 | Antony Gormley | Principle of Hope by Ernst Bloch | Snorkel and mask | more |
17 May 1998 | Sir David Willcocks | Book on astronomy | King's College Chapel | more |
24 May 1998 | John Harle | The Aesthetics of Music by Roger Scruton | Lute and strings | more |
7 June 1998 | Geoffrey Smith | History of viticulture, with instructions on how to make wine | Bundle of prunings from a good vineyard so he can plant his own vines | more |
14 June 1998 | Bill Kenwright | Everton – The Complete Record by Steve Johnson | Guitar | more |
21 June 1998 | John Bird | The Encyclopaedia of London | Mont Blanc pen, notebook and ink | more |
28 June 1998 | Jack Rosenthal | Finnegans Wake by James Joyce | Clay for making sculpture | more |
5 July 1998 | Sybille Bedford | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | A French restaurant in full working order | more |
12 July 1998 | Rt Hon Jack Straw MP | The Franco Prussian War – The German Invasion of France 1870–1871 by Michael Howard | Saxophone | more |
19 July 1998 | Howard Brenton | The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer | Champagne | more |
26 July 1998 | Chris De Burgh | Moonfleet by J. Meade Falkner | Snorkel | more |
2 August 1998 | Ralph Steadman | The New La Rousse Encyclopaedia of Mythology | Chisels | more |
9 August 1998 | David Hempleman Adams | Jonathan Livingstone Seagull by Richard Bach | Saxophone | more |
16 August 1998 | Les Murray | A blank, lined book | Marble four-poster bed | more |
23 August 1998 | Ralph Koltai | French dictionary | Cigars | more |
30 August 1998 | Lucy Gannon | The Faber Book of Reportage by John Carey | Jaguar XK8 | more |
1 November 1998 | Paul Daniel | Beautifully bound blank book | Cello and music for Bach's cello suites | more |
8 November 1998 | Joseph Rotblat | Encyclopædia Britannica on CD-ROM | Solar-powered laptop | more |
15 November 1998 | Nicole Kidman | Collected Poems of Emily Dickinson | Sun block | more |
22 November 1998 | Bill Morris | Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela | Cricket bat signed by "the three Ws" – Sir Frank Worrell, Everton Weekes and Clyde Walcott | more |
29 November 1998 | Eileen Atkins | Moments of Being by Virginia Woolf | An Atkinson Grimshaw painting | more |
6 December 1998 | John Keegan | The Thirty-Nine Steps by John Buchan | French-speaking man robot | more |
13 December 1998 | Dick Francis | Men and Horses I Have Known by George Lampton | Waterbed | more |
20 December 1998 | Bob Monkhouse | The Adventures of Alice by Lewis Carroll | Clarinet | more |
25 December 1998 | Sir David Attenborough | Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life by W. B. Lord | Guitar | more |
1999[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
3 January 1999 | Dave Brubeck | The Spear in the Sand by Raoul C. Faure | Grand piano | more |
10 January 1999 | Clare Hollingworth | History of England by G. M. Trevelyan | Paper and pens (with thick nibs) | more |
17 January 1999 | David Shepherd | Collected works of Beatrix Potter | Wind-up video player | more |
24 January 1999 | Ruth Prawer Jhabvala | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | A chaise longue by a window | more |
31 January 1999 | Bill Bryson | The Lost Continent by Bill Bryson | Basketball and hoop with a little hard standing | more |
7 February 1999 | Andras Schiff | The Divine Comedy by Dante Alighieri | Piano | more |
14 February 1999 | Nina Cassian | Winnie the Pooh by A. A. Milne | Cigarettes and whisky | more |
21 February 1999 | Maria Ewing | Collected Poems of John Donne | Piano | more |
28 February 1999 | Richard Curtis | Guinness Book of Pop | Pizza Express in Notting Hill | more |
7 March 1999 | Sir Charles Mackerras | Translation of Shakespeare in either German, Italian or Czech | If a hot island – a huge bottle of suntan lotion and if a cold island – a pillow | more |
14 March 1999 | Fay Maschler | Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons | Huge supply of ouzo | more |
21 March 1999 | Rt Hon Mo Mowlam MP | The collected works of Seamus Heaney | Globe | more |
28 March 1999 | Luise Rainer | The Proper Study of Mankind by Isaiah Berlin | To be missed by the people she loves | more |
4 April 1999 | Richard Dunwoody | The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien | Endless supply of ice-cream | |
11 April 1999 | Paco Peña | Anthology of poetry by Jose Bergua | Virtual reality module | more |
18 April 1999 | Ken Loach | Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics by Francis Palgrave | Radio (for football results) | more |
25 April 1999 | Stan Tracey | Crazy Like A Fox by S. J. Perelman | The film – Oh, Mr Porter! | more |
2 May 1999 | Helen Bamber | Poet For Poet by Richard McCain | Radio to listen to the World Service | more |
9 May 1999 | Richard Dreyfuss | A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens | Books delivered to the island on a regular basis | more |
16 May 1999 | Michael Green | The Complete Works of Sigmund Freud | Digital TV | more |
23 May 1999 | Christopher Bruce | Teach yourself French | Suncream | more |
30 May 1999 | Anthony Howard | Dictionary of National Biography | Magnifying glass | more |
6 June 1999 | Chris Bonington | History of the English-Speaking Peoples by Sir Winston Churchill | Power Book G3 (laptop computer) | more |
13 June 1999 | John Barry | Eternal Echoes by John O'Donohue | Grand piano | more |
20 June 1999 | James Dyson | Olive: The Life and Love of a Noble Fruit by Mort Rosenslum | Olive oil | more |
27 June 1999 | Rt Hon Ann Widdecombe MP | Collected Poems of Thomas Gray | Hot shower | more |
4 July 1999 | Igor Aleksander | Companions to the Mind by Richard Gregory | A virtual reality London Symphony Orchestra so he can conduct it | more |
11 July 1999 | Paddy Moloney | The Book of Lempster (old Irish textbook currently in The Hague) | Tin whistle | more |
18 July 1999 | Martin Pipe | Horse Management by | Winning post from Cheltenham race course | more |
25 July 1999 | Rod Steiger | Complete book of poetry by e e cummings | Self-contained external electric fan | more |
1 August 1999 | Rick Stein | Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy | Thai fish sauce | more |
8 August 1999 | Patricia Routledge | The collected works of John Donne | Tea service with tea | more |
15 August 1999 | Sir Roger Norrington | The Complete Works of Thomas Hardy | Chocolate | more |
22 August 1999 | Rita Dove | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez | Ballroom and robotic dance instructor | more |
29 August 1999 | Rolf Harris | The Magic Pudding by Norman Lindsay | Chisel for sculpting | more |
31 October 1999 | Ralph Fiennes | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Pen and limited supplies of ink and paper | more |
7 November 1999 | Willard White | The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale | Seeds | more |
19 November 1999 | William Gibson | The Complete Works of Jorge Luis Borges | Junk yard | more |
21 November 1999 | Clarissa Dickson Wright | The Complete Works of Saki | Wind-up radio | more |
28 November 1999 | Warren Mitchell | Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian | Organ (from the Royal Albert Hall) | more |
5 December 1999 | Sir Richard Sykes | Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | Telescope | more |
12 December 1999 | Oz Clarke | French Provincial Cookery by Elizabeth David | His memory | more |
19 December 1999 | Michael Nyman | Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne | Toilet | more |
24 December 1999 | Michael Crawford | The complete book of self-sufficiency by John Seymour | Pen and paper | more |
31 December 1999 | Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber | England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins | Herb garden | more |
2000[]
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info |
---|---|---|---|---|
9 January 2000 | Dr. Jane Goodall | The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien | Pencil and paper | more |
16 January 2000 | Ian McEwan | Ulysses by James Joyce | Italian leather hand-stitched hiking boots | more |
23 January 2000 | Neil Jordan | A la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Typewriter | more |
30 January 2000 | Peter Melchett | Field guide to the island | Snorkel and mask | more |
6 February 2000 | Simon Callow | Dictionary | Nose hair trimmer | more |
13 February 2000 | Professor Stuart Hall | Portrait of a Lady by Henry James | Piano | more |
20 February 2000 | Michael Holroyd | The High Hill of the Muses (anthology by Hugh Kingsmill) | Waterbed | more |
27 February 2000 | Sheila Hancock | Anything by Marcel Proust | Grand piano (and music scores) | more |
5 March 2000 | Robert McCrum | Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome | St. John's Wort | more |
12 March 2000 | Colin Montgomerie | Anything by Michael Crichton | No luxury chosen | more |
19 March 2000 | Al Alvarez | Interpretation of Dreams by Sigmund Freud | Laptop computer with poker game software | more |
26 March 2000 | Adrian Noble | The Art of Memory by Frances A Yates | Wine | more |
2 April 2000 | Harold Evans | History of the American Civil War by Shelby Foote | Silk pyjamas | more |
9 April 2000 | Claire Tomalin | The Diary of Samuel Pepys | Garden | more |
16 April 2000 | Sir Anthony Caro | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Glue | more |
23 April 2000 | Leonard Slatkin | Notes of a Native Son by James Baldwin | Wine | more |
30 April 2000 | Sir Peter Bonfield | A book on celestial navigation | Windsurfer | more |
7 May 2000 | Sir John Mills | The Warden by Anthony Trollope | His piano | more |
14 May 2000 | Kathleen Turner | Emma by Jane Austen | Roses | more |
21 May 2000 | Dame Norma Major | Nine Tailors by Dorothy L. Sayers | Solar laptop | more |
28 May 2000 | John Bird | The collected works of Wallace Stevens | 2,000 soft loo rolls | more |
4 June 2000 | Professor Géza Vermes | The Complete Works of Flavius Josephus | Comfortable armchair/desk | more |
11 June 2000 | Clive James | My Method of Singing by Enrico Caruso | Karaoke piano | more |
18 June 2000 | Donald Sutherland | Distant Mirror by Barbara Tuckman | Case of really good vintage wine | more |
25 June 2000 | Max Perutz | Origin of Species by Charles Darwin | Skis | more |
2 July 2000 | Peter Nichols | His diary (which he has kept since he was 18, to relive his life since 1945) | Cyanide tablet (if he can't a tower and telescope, or a full-size snooker table) | more |
9 July 2000 | Alan Parker | A giant photo album of his children and grandchildren which goes back over 20 years | Watercolour paint box plus brush and pads | more |
16 July 2000 | Michael Portillo | Proust: Time Regained by Alain de Botton | Solar-powered laptop | more |
23 July 2000 | Sir Roger Penrose | The biggest book by Michael Frayn | 19-note piano | more |
30 July 2000 | General Sir Charles Guthrie | Volume 1 of biography of the Duke of Wellington – Year of the Sword by Lady Longford | Surfboard | more |
6 August 2000 | Sir Norman Wisdom | Reach for the Skies by Sir Douglas Bader | Pot of stew with two dumplings | more |
13 August 2000 | Robert Swan | Huge copy of The Times atlas – largest available so he can see where he has been (168 countries so far) | An accountancy course | more |
20 August 2000 | Christopher Lloyd | Letters of Gustave Flaubert | Syndicate whisky | more |
27 August 2000 | Ronald Harwood | Decline and Fall by Evelyn Waugh | His bathroom | more |
5 November 2000 | J K Rowling | SAS Survival Guide | Pen and unlimited paper | more |
19 November 2000 | Des Lynam | Encyclopaedia of Natural Medicine | Drum kit | more |
26 November 2000 | Albie Sachs | Charterhouse of Parma by Stendhal | Little bottle of aftershave | more |
3 December 2000 | Tina Brown | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Rollercoaster | more |
10 December 2000 | Tim Smit | Book with plain pages | Piano | more |
17 December 2000 | Richard Briers | Great Expectations by Charles Dickens | Huge supply of Chardonnay | more |
24 December 2000 | Professor Jocelyn Bell Burnell | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Book on how to sketch and some paper and pens | more |
26 December 2000 | Norman Painting | The Perennial Philosophy – Aldous Huxley | An orrary(sic) – an electronic toy for looking at the sky | more |
31 December 2000 | Stephen Sondheim | The collected works of E. B. White | Piano | more |
Categories:
- Desert Island Discs
- Lists of British radio series episodes
- 1990s in the United Kingdom
- 1990s in British music