Cat Stevens — 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

Cat Stevens — Artist · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

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

Artist

Cat Stevens

12 episodes

Chosen over the decades

12

Total castaways

2020s

Peak decade

5

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Anne Fine
Christiane Amanpour
Doris Stokes
James Lovelock
Jasvinder Sanghera
Kate Mosse
Lady Margaret Tebbit
Ricky Gervais
Samantha Power
Sir Terry Leahy
Steve Backshall
Yusuf Cat Stevens

Kate Mosse
Kate Mosse on her father holding her first after a premature birth
Castaway · 25 June 2023Lauren Laverne
Samantha Power
Samantha Power on the last time she saw her father, on Christmas Eve
Castaway · 17 January 2021Lauren Laverne

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

Yusuf Cat Stevens

Yusuf Cat Stevens on being treated in the same hospital where Boris Karloff died

Castaway · 27 September 2020Lauren Laverne

Steve Backshall

07°27′S 174°26′W

Steve Backshall

Steve Backshall on being trapped in a rapid for four and a half minutes

Castaway · 2 August 2020Lauren Laverne

Christiane Amanpour

12°08′S 008°45′W

Christiane Amanpour

Christiane Amanpour on asking Slobodan Milosevic how he could sleep at night

Castaway · 2 October 2016Kirsty Young

Jasvinder Sanghera

07°54′S 134°58′W

Jasvinder Sanghera

Jasvinder Sanghera on being told she was dead in her mother's eyes for refusing a forced marriage

Castaway · 24 March 2013Kirsty Young

Sir Terry Leahy

22°52′S 108°34′W

Sir Terry Leahy

Terry Leahy on being the class clown at school

Castaway · 3 February 2013Kirsty Young

05°54′S 179°39′W

Ricky Gervais

Ricky Gervais on not knowing he was poor until university

Castaway · 24 June 2007Kirsty Young

22°55′S 089°02′W

Anne Fine

How the tabloid response to child murders inspired Anne Fine's The Tulip Touch

Castaway · 16 December 2001Sue Lawley

Lady Margaret Tebbit

05°26′S 166°58′W

Lady Margaret Tebbit

Margaret Tebbit on kicking her husband

Castaway · 31 December 1995Sue Lawley

07°39′S 152°27′W

James Lovelock

James Lovelock on accidentally inventing the microwave oven

Castaway · 17 November 1991Sue Lawley

08°01′S 030°58′W

Doris Stokes

Doris Stokes on seeing spirit children as a young girl after rheumatic fever

Castaway · 6 April 1985Roy Plomley