Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong — 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

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong — Artist · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

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

Artist

Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong

12 episodes

Chosen over the decades

12

Total castaways

1980s

Peak decade

6

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Albie Sachs
Captain Jacques Cousteau
David Lodge
Gabby Logan
Greg Dyke
Howard Jacobson
John Timpson
Louis Armstrong
Michael Pollan
Richard Rogers
Sebastian Coe
Sir Kenneth Grange

Michael Pollan
Michael Pollan on his ego dissolving into blue post-it notes
Castaway · 22 January 2023Lauren Laverne
Gabby Logan
Gabby Logan on leading her siblings out of the Bradford fire
Castaway · 15 January 2023Lauren 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

Sir Kenneth Grange

Kenneth Grange on designing his own coffin that doubles as a bookcase

Castaway · 1 January 2017Kirsty Young

07°12′S 109°02′W

John Timpson

John Timpson on the foster children who called his garden 'the park'

Castaway · 27 March 2016Kirsty Young

Howard Jacobson

08°34′S 095°42′W

Howard Jacobson

How crippling shyness haunted Howard Jacobson until Cambridge

Castaway · 6 February 2011Kirsty Young

22°11′S 135°59′W

Greg Dyke

Greg Dyke on reading Lord Hutton's report and knowing the public would side with the BBC

Castaway · 20 May 2007Kirsty Young

08°59′S 142°57′W

Albie Sachs

Albie Sachs on how the bomb that maimed him gave him optimism

Castaway · 26 November 2000Sue Lawley

20°52′S 127°57′W

Richard Rogers

Richard Rogers on being beaten at boarding school for failing to remember lines

Castaway · 18 March 1990Sue Lawley

10°13′S 075°57′W

David Lodge

David Lodge on writing his first novel while in the army

Castaway · 21 April 1984Roy Plomley

Captain Jacques Cousteau

05°15′S 057°06′W

Captain Jacques Cousteau

Jacques Cousteau on breaking thirty windows while testing a movie myth

Castaway · 10 July 1982Roy Plomley

06°24′S 072°34′W

Sebastian Coe

How a freeze in the 800 metres forced Sebastian Coe to refocus for the 1500 final

Castaway · 15 August 1981Roy Plomley

Louis Armstrong

18°16′S 053°52′W

Louis Armstrong

Louis Armstrong on being sent to an orphanage for shooting his father’s gun on New Year’s Eve

Castaway · 5 August 1968Roy Plomley