Desert Island Discs

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.{{cite news|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/11218144/Desert-Island-Discs-racks-up-a-milestone-of-delights.html |first1=David |last1=Thomas |date=9 November 2014 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/11218144/Desert-Island-Discs-racks-up-a-milestone-of-delights.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live |title=Desert Island Discs racks up a milestone of delights |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |access-date=2016-04-15}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bd681 |title= Desert Island Discs, Dame Judi Dench |website=BBC Radio 4 |date=2015-09-25 |access-date=2016-04-15}}

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{{cite news|url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1787472.stm

|title = Desert Island delights|publisher=BBC|date = 29 January 2002|access-date =15 November 2007}} usually enforced these rules strictly, but he did grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mhsw |title= Desert Island Discs, HRH Princess Michael of Kent |website=BBC Radio 4 |date=1984-02-03 |access-date=2016-04-15}}{{cite news |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/desert-island-discs-enjoys-luxury-of-a-60th-birthday-752173.html |work=The Independent |title='Desert Island Discs' enjoys luxury of a 60th birthday |first=David |last=Lister |date=30 January 2002 |access-date=24 July 2009 | location=London}} {{dead link|date=August 2021|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}} 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.{{cite web|url = https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p00944v0|title = John Cleese|date = 10 January 1997|publisher = BBC|accessdate = 21 January 2023}} Examples of luxuries have included champagne{{cite episode|title = John Stevens |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20061117.shtml|series = Desert Island Discs |network = BBC Radio 4 |airdate = 17 November 2006}} and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries.{{cite episode |title = Shirley Williams |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs_20060129.shtml |series = Desert Island Discs |network = BBC Radio 4 |airdate = 29 January 2006}}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-45353719|title = Kirsty Young to take time out from Desert Island Discs|date = 30 August 2018|website = BBC News}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-48882335|title = Kirsty Young to stand down from Desert Island Discs|date = 5 July 2019|website = BBC News}}

The programme was extended from 45 minutes to an hour from Spring 2024.{{Cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 announces refreshed schedule this Spring and raft of new commissions |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2023/bbc-radio-4-refreshed-schedule-new-commissions/ |access-date=2025-06-01 |website=www.bbc.co.uk |language=en}}

{{See also|List of Desert Island Discs episodes}}

The first castaway was Vic Oliver, and several castaways, including Celia Johnson, Arthur Askey, Trevor Nunn, John Schlesinger, Kenneth Williams, Terry Wogan, Brian Rix, David Attenborough, John Mortimer, Adele Leigh, Delia Smith and Stephen Fry have been cast away more than once. The most requested piece of music over the first 60 years was "Ode to Joy", the last movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony.[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/tv_and_radio/1879322.stm "Beethoven tops island hit list"], BBC News, 18 March 2002 One of the most remarked broadcasts was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's 1958 selection of seven of her own recordings.{{cite news| url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8355952/Desert-Island-Discs-most-popular-requests.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220112/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/8355952/Desert-Island-Discs-most-popular-requests.html |archive-date=12 January 2022 |url-access=subscription |url-status=live | location=London | work=The Daily Telegraph | first=Laura | last=Roberts | title=Desert Island Discs' most popular requests | date=2 March 2011}}{{cbignore}}{{cite episode |title = Elisabeth Schwarzkopf |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/51ed3e16#p009y865 |series = Desert Island Discs |network = BBC Radio 4 |airdate = 28 July 1958}} This record was subsequently beaten by British pianist Dame Moura Lympany on her second appearance on the programme on 28 July 1979 when all eight of her selections were of her own recordings.{{cite episode |title = Dame Moura Lympany |url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/35a36972#p009mx7g |series = Desert Island Discs |network = BBC Radio 4 |airdate = 28 July 1979}}

In the early 1970s, Alistair MacLean was chosen as a guest, but the head of the European wing of the Ontario Tourist Bureau, who had the same name, was accidentally invited instead. Plomley realised the error while conversing with MacLean shortly before they were set to record the programme. Without any time to find another guest, the interview was completed, but it was never broadcast.{{cite book|last=Pile|first=Stephen|title=The Book of Heroic Failures|date=9 February 1980 |url=https://archive.org/details/bookofheroicfail00pile|url-access=registration|edition=1980|pages=[https://archive.org/details/bookofheroicfail00pile/page/29 29–30]|publisher=Futura|isbn=0-7088-1908-7}}

In January 1981, Princess Margaret appeared as a castaway on the show.{{Cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mvhf|title=HRH Princess Margaret, Desert Island Discs - BBC Radio 4|publisher=BBC|access-date=2017-12-08}}

Plomley originally wanted the sounds of "surf breaking on a shore and the cries of sea birds" to open and close each programme. However, Leslie Prowne, the head of popular record programmes at the BBC, was concerned that it lacked definition and insisted that music should also be used. Plomley and the series' producer Frederic Piffard selected "By the Sleepy Lagoon", composed by Eric Coates (who appeared on the show in 1951). The tune has been used since the first transmission in 1942. The sound of herring gulls has accompanied the music except for a period of time in 1964 when tropical bird sounds were used.{{cite book |last=Magee |first=Sean |title= Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways |publisher=Bantam Press |date=13 September 2012 |page=8 |chapter=Chapter 2:1940s |isbn=978-0-593-07006-2}}

Until late September 2009, Desert Island Discs could not be heard on the BBC's iPlayer service, which allowed most programmes to be heard up to a week after transmission. The programme's website{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/desertislanddiscs.shtml |title=Desert Island Discs – Home |publisher=BBC |access-date=2014-07-28}} stated that this was due to rights issues, as explained in The Sunday Times in 2006.{{cite news|url=http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/article681767.ece|title=How a man in his pyjamas invented a radio classic|work=The Sunday Times |date=2 July 2006 | access-date=25 February 2011|location=London|first=Charles|last=Bremner}}{{dead link|date=September 2024|bot=medic}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}

It was announced on 27 September 2009 that an agreement had been reached as a result of which the programme would be available to stream via the iPlayer.{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/radio4/2009/09/desert_island_discs_iplayer.html |author=Mark Damazer|title=BBC – Radio 4 Blog: Desert Island Discs comes to iPlayer |publisher=BBC |date=27 September 2009|access-date=27 September 2009 }} The first episode available through the iPlayer was with Barry Manilow. Subsequently, the programme was also made available as a podcast,{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2009/sep/28/desert-island-discs-bbc-iplayer |title=BBC launches Radio 4's Desert Island Discs on iPlayer |work=The Guardian |access-date=28 September 2009 | location=London | first=John | last=Plunkett | date=28 September 2009}} beginning with the edition broadcast on 29 November 2009, which featured Morrissey. However, due to music clearance issues, the music selections on the podcast versions are reduced to only playing for around 30 seconds or so (and in rare instances are unavailable, as mentioned in an announcement made by the presenter at the appropriate point of the programme).

On 30 March 2011, the BBC placed more than 500 episodes from the show's archive online to listen to via iPlayer. Other episodes have since been added, both new and old.

In the early years of the BBC, programmes were broadcast live and were not usually recorded. This, in addition to the BBC's policy of only retaining a limited number of broadcasts, means very few episodes from the first 20 years of the show are known to exist; the earliest episode still in existence was broadcast on 25 April 1951 and features actress Margaret Lockwood.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p009ycqy|title=Desert Island Discs – Margaret Lockwood – BBC Sounds|publisher=BBC|access-date=2020-04-06}} Several extracts were preserved for posterity at the request of the guests, such as an extract featuring Alfred Hitchcock where he speaks about his films The Pleasure Garden (1925) and Rebecca (1940), gives his view on the changing landscape of the film industry and briefly discusses his then forthcoming film Psycho (1960).

In 2022 over 90 recordings, previously thought to be lost, were rediscovered by the audio collector Richard Harrison. These recordings date from the period 1952 to 1988 and feature many notable celebrities of the era including Bing Crosby, Margot Fonteyn and James Stewart.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-63215698|title=Lost Desert Island Discs: Collector finds more than 90 missing recordings|work=BBC News |date=13 October 2022 }} These recordings have been made available for streaming via BBC Sounds, the successor to iPlayer for audio content.{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/MdQtwz2d88J9TV2mMqWx84/a-full-list-of-the-rescued-episodes-of-desert-island-discs|title=A full list of the rescued episodes of Desert Island Discs|publisher=BBC |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231015222754/https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/MdQtwz2d88J9TV2mMqWx84/a-full-list-of-the-rescued-episodes-of-desert-island-discs |archive-date= Oct 15, 2023 }} In 2023 an additional episode, featuring Veronica Wedgwood, from 10 March 1973, was recovered.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

• Desert Island Discs (1977, by Roy Plomley)
• Plomley's Pick (1982, by Roy Plomley)
• Desert Island Lists (1984, compiled by Roy Plomley and Derek Drescher)
• Sue Lawley's Desert Island Discussions (1990, by Sue Lawley)
• Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways (2012, by Sean Magee, foreword by Kirsty Young){{cite news |title=Desert Island Discs: 70 years of castaways |work=Amazon |date=13 September 2012|id={{ASIN|0593070062|country=uk}} }}
• Desert Island Discs: Flotsam & Jetsam (2012, by Mitchell Symons){{cite news |title=Desert Island Discs: Flotsam & Jetsam |work=Amazon |date=25 October 2012|id={{ASIN|0593070070|country=uk}} }}
• The Definitive Desert Island Discs (2023, by Ian Gittings, foreword by Lauren Laverne)

{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category|Desert Island Discs}}

• [https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr Desert Island Discs], BBC
• Sue Arnold, "[http://observer.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,6903,668806,00.html The Lagoon Show]", The Observer, London, 17 March 2002

{{Desert Island Discs}}

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