Billie Holiday — Artist · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

Find a castaway Most requested Browse the archive About Report a fault

Tuning in…

desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

Find a castaway
Most requested
Browse the archive
About

Transmission

Broadcasting since 1942
Long wave 198 kHz
An unofficial archive companion
Report a fault

Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Billie Holiday — Artist · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

Find a castaway Most requested Browse the archive About Report a fault

Artist

Billie Holiday

61 episodes

Chosen over the decades

59

Total castaways

1980s

Peak decade

8

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Alan Yentob
Alice Thomas Ellis
Ann Leslie
Berry Gordy
Bertice Reading
Carl Davis
Clive James
Dame Judi Dench
Dame Monica Mason
David Bailey
Frank McCourt
Frank Warren
Fran Landesman
Glen Tetley
Helen Mirren
Hugh Masekela
Isabella Tree
James Mason
Jasper Conran
Jeffrey Tate
Jesse Armstrong
Jilly Cooper
John Fowles
John Osborne
more

Glen Tetley
Glen Tetley on how a few movements earned him a contract from Jerome Robbins
Castaway · 7 July 1979Roy Plomley
Michael Crawford
Michael Crawford on forgetting to put his ragged pants on during an opera
Castaway · 11 November 1978Roy Plomley

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desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

Find a castaway
Most requested
Browse the archive
About

Transmission

Broadcasting since 1942
Long wave 198 kHz
An unofficial archive companion
Report a fault

Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Shirley Conran on walking down Tottenham Court Road with her morale shattered

Castaway · 16 July 1977Roy Plomley

01°39′S 058°29′W

Philip Larkin

Philip Larkin on spending months in the Bodleian Library stacks

Castaway · 17 July 1976Roy Plomley

02°57′S 172°44′W

Tim Rice

Tim Rice on his first success Joseph starting as a ten-minute prep school concert

Castaway · 21 February 1976Roy Plomley

15°37′S 163°36′W

Ronnie Scott

How Ronnie Scott chose a saxophone over an inflatable Faye Dunaway doll

Castaway · 31 January 1976Roy Plomley

05°17′S 158°22′W

Jilly Cooper

How Jilly Cooper lost 50,000 words of a novel on a bus

Castaway · 8 March 1975Roy Plomley

Michael Crawford

18°49′S 115°57′W

Michael Crawford

Michael Crawford on the first frontal nudity in Lambeth Town Hall

Castaway · 3 July 1971Roy Plomley

22°53′S 018°20′W

Marty Feldman

Marty Feldman on firing arrows into a fake Red Indian's stomach

Castaway · 23 September 1968Roy Plomley

Tallulah Bankhead

20°54′S 055°04′W

Tallulah Bankhead

How Tallulah Falls gave Tallulah Bankhead her name

Castaway · 14 December 1964Roy Plomley

11°31′S 151°52′W

John Osborne

John Osborne on how Laurence Olivier jokingly asked for a part in The Entertainer

Castaway · 19 January 1959Roy Plomley