Tuning in…
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Artist
136 episodes
Chosen over the decades
134
Total castaways
1980s
Peak decade
7
Decades seen
Castaways who chose this
Barry Norman on being hurled into a racial maelstrom as a 19-year-old journalist
Patricia Highsmith on the 300-page novel she abandoned at 23
Alec Clifton-Taylor on escaping his family to rush into a church as a child
Rita Streich on being held tight by her mother as wolves approached the sledge in Siberia
Anna Raeburn on expecting Laurence Olivier to discover her on her 17th birthday
Alan Gemmell on how his mother declared him a botanist after a neighbour's suggestion
Arthur C Clarke on building his own crystal set to listen to music as a youth
Shirley Conran on walking down Tottenham Court Road with her morale shattered
Egon Ronay on how a friend drinking a Russian commander under the table helped him leave Budapest
Christopher Milne on the weekly moment his singing voice dominated in chapel
Anthony Powell on cleaning ink pots in a publisher's office where convicts were better treated
How the musical Breakfast at Tiffany's flopped disastrously for Richard Chamberlain
Gladys Cooper on pretending to be Mary Hennessy to get her first stage role
Denis Brogan on writing a letter while answering a Round Britain Quiz question
John Ridgway and Chay Blyth on the moment they almost gave up rowing the Atlantic
Arthur Bryant on writing a single paragraph from hundreds of slips of paper