54 episodes

• Cate Blanchett

  05°45′S 137°44′W

  Cate Blanchett

  How a Muppet movie screening told Cate Blanchett her father had died

  Castaway · 11 December 2022·Lauren Laverne

• Kate Atkinson

  16°52′S 025°19′W

  Kate Atkinson

  Kate Atkinson on burying her father the day before winning the Whitbread Book of the Year

  Castaway · 25 November 2018·Lauren Laverne

• Paul Greengrass

  04°19′S 124°37′W

  Paul Greengrass

  Paul Greengrass on Doreen Lawrence fixing him with a steely look

  Castaway · 17 September 2017·Kirsty Young

• Colm Toibin

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  Colm Toibin

  Colm Toibin on his mother asking if he is happy

  Castaway · 3 January 2016·Kirsty Young

• Sir Sydney Kentridge

  06°07′S 037°30′W

  Sir Sydney Kentridge

  Sydney Kentridge on representing three Nobel Peace Prize winners

  Castaway · 31 March 2013·Kirsty Young

• Craig Brown

  14°31′S 016°10′W

  Craig Brown

  Craig Brown on his delight when his daughter refused to join in a ballet recital

  Castaway · 12 August 2012·Kirsty Young

• Patsy Rodenburg

  22°20′S 151°00′W

  Patsy Rodenburg

  Patsy Rodenburg on the teacher who tore up her Reader's Digest

  Castaway · 4 March 2012·Kirsty Young

• John Graham

  12°39′S 043°24′W

  John Graham

  John Graham on bailing out of his burning plane

  Castaway · 10 July 2011·Kirsty Young

• Lord Healey

  12°04′S 060°10′W

  Lord Healey

  Denis Healey on why he now regrets not becoming Prime Minister

  Castaway · 14 June 2009·Kirsty Young

• Ruth Padel

  08°03′S 071°12′W

  Ruth Padel

  Ruth Padel on the moment she chose to retreat from a tigress in Russia

  Castaway · 11 January 2009·Kirsty Young

• Dame Joan Plowright

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  Dame Joan Plowright

  Joan Plowright on the night Laurence Olivier tried to be a nanny

  Castaway · 27 August 2006·Sue Lawley

• A A Gill

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  A A Gill

  A A Gill on his GP telling him he was a classic alcoholic

  Castaway · 20 August 2006·Sue Lawley

• Yvonne Brewster

  10°08′S 113°23′W

  Yvonne Brewster

  Yvonne Brewster on being put out in the garden after showing her native costumes

  Castaway · 27 March 2005·Sue Lawley

• Diana Athill

  20°58′S 059°01′W

  Diana Athill

  Diana Athill on discovering the facts of life at age 11 in a book by Mary Stopes

  Castaway · 20 June 2004·Sue Lawley

• Pat Barker

  12°17′S 128°35′W

  Pat Barker

  Pat Barker on planning to work in a factory to fund her writing

  Castaway · 7 December 2003·Sue Lawley

• Christopher Ondaatje

  04°13′S 158°28′W

  Christopher Ondaatje

  How chasing leopards in Tanzania made Christopher Ondaatje quit business

  Castaway · 17 November 2002·Sue Lawley

• Leonard Rosoman

  23°20′S 140°02′W

  Leonard Rosoman

  How a fire chief’s order saved Leonard Rosoman from a falling wall

  Castaway · 9 June 2002·Sue Lawley

• Ralph Fiennes

  22°05′S 082°53′W

  Ralph Fiennes

  Ralph Fiennes on the disturbing feeling of wearing an SS uniform

  Castaway · 31 October 1999·Sue Lawley

• James Dyson

  16°45′S 111°12′W

  James Dyson

  James Dyson on welding a giant cyclone and racing home to rip the bag off his vacuum cleaner

  Castaway · 20 June 1999·Sue Lawley

• Penelope Hobhouse

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  Penelope Hobhouse

  Penelope Hobhouse on writing her first book after buying a typewriter at Woolworths

  Castaway · 18 December 1994·Sue Lawley

• Lynda La Plante

  22°35′S 159°32′W

  Lynda La Plante

  Lynda La Plante on the moment she knew she'd never act again

  Castaway · 23 October 1994·Sue Lawley

• Jeanette Winterson

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  Jeanette Winterson

  Jeanette Winterson on deciding never to read reviews

  Castaway · 9 October 1994·Sue Lawley

• Professor James Fenton

  21°02′S 093°16′W

  Professor James Fenton

  James Fenton on the Les Misérables song that made him a millionaire

  Castaway · 2 October 1994·Sue Lawley

• Dame Cicely Saunders

  00°29′S 114°00′W

  Dame Cicely Saunders

  Cicely Saunders on the patient who thanked her for telling him he was dying

  Castaway · 30 January 1994·Sue Lawley

• Joan Baez

  06°58′S 097°00′W

  Joan Baez

  Joan Baez on first seeing Bob Dylan at Gertie's Folk City

  Castaway · 20 June 1993·Sue Lawley

• Sir Peregrine Worsthorne

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  Sir Peregrine Worsthorne

  How a four-letter word on TV cost Peregrine Worsthorne the Sunday Telegraph editorship

  Castaway · 19 July 1992·Sue Lawley

• Lord Dacre of Glanton (Hugh Trevor-Roper)

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  Lord Dacre of Glanton (Hugh Trevor-Roper)

  Hugh Trevor-Roper on being ordered to investigate Hitler's disappearance

  Castaway · 21 August 1988·Michael Parkinson

• Kenneth Williams

  08°08′S 045°48′W

  Kenneth Williams

  Kenneth Williams on the newsvendor whose voice he used for Gramp Fattock

  Castaway · 26 July 1987·Michael Parkinson

• Elly Ameling

  16°39′S 163°24′W

  Elly Ameling

  Elly Ameling on Pierre Bernac’s cocker spaniel face

  Castaway · 9 February 1985·Roy Plomley

• John Surman

  10°40′S 058°10′W

  John Surman

  John Surman on choosing the baritone sax because it cost the same as an alto

  Castaway · 6 October 1984·Roy Plomley

• Paul Tortelier

  19°14′S 102°21′W

  Paul Tortelier

  Paul Tortelier on preferring marbles to the cello as a child

  Castaway · 31 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Don McCullin

  04°16′S 128°45′W

  Don McCullin

  How a dying child's hand in Biafra destroyed Don McCullin

  Castaway · 10 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Professor Glyn Daniel

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  Professor Glyn Daniel

  Glyn Daniel on visiting every megalithic monument in southern Britain

  Castaway · 7 November 1981·Roy Plomley

• Montserrat Caballe

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  Montserrat Caballe

  Montserrat Caballe on why her father never played her records

  Castaway · 10 October 1981·Roy Plomley

• Sir John Gielgud

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  Sir John Gielgud

  John Gielgud on his only line as a spear-carrier in Henry V

  Castaway · 16 May 1981·Roy Plomley

• Sir Osbert Lancaster

  04°51′S 164°33′W

  Sir Osbert Lancaster

  How Osbert Lancaster timed his daily cartoons to the evening paper editions

  Castaway · 22 December 1979·Roy Plomley

• Nana Mouskouri

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  Nana Mouskouri

  Nana Mouskouri on the blow-up with her professor over jazz

  Castaway · 24 February 1979·Roy Plomley

• Rita Streich

  01°19′S 083°48′W

  Rita Streich

  Rita Streich on being held tight by her mother as wolves approached the sledge in Siberia

  Castaway · 15 July 1978·Roy Plomley

• Dr Catherine Gavin

  13°03′S 165°55′W

  Dr Catherine Gavin

  Catherine Gavin on the grenadier guards saluting de Gaulle in liberated Paris

  Castaway · 24 June 1978·Roy Plomley

• Sir John Glubb

  06°45′S 122°45′W

  Sir John Glubb

  John Glubb on finding his World War I diary after 50 years in a trunk

  Castaway · 15 April 1978·Roy Plomley

• David Wall

  23°02′S 078°05′W

  David Wall

  How David Wall helped a Japanese ballet company understand Swan Lake

  Castaway · 25 March 1978·Roy Plomley

• Peter Ustinov

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  Peter Ustinov

  Peter Ustinov on being told his face would be hard to lose in a crowd

  Castaway · 19 November 1977·Roy Plomley

• Miss Read

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  Miss Read

  Miss Read on her father’s horror at her Fleet Street plans

  Castaway · 2 July 1977·Roy Plomley

• Lord Home of The Hirsel

  12°55′S 108°53′W

  Lord Home of The Hirsel

  Alec Douglas-Home on finding Hitler the most boarish man

  Castaway · 7 May 1977·Roy Plomley

• Brigadier Peter Young

  22°40′S 021°58′W

  Brigadier Peter Young

  Peter Young on the telegram his men sent to Hitler

  Castaway · 2 April 1977·Roy Plomley

• Mary Martin

  09°01′S 030°06′W

  Mary Martin

  Mary Martin on the ghastly sound of her childhood violin

  Castaway · 26 March 1977·Roy Plomley

• Melvyn Bragg

  11°38′S 152°40′W

  Melvyn Bragg

  Melvyn Bragg on being addicted to reading anything from sauce bottles to the Old Testament

  Castaway · 7 August 1976·Roy Plomley

• Steve Race

  21°23′S 027°53′W

  Steve Race

  Steve Race on suffering a heart attack at the microphone

  Castaway · 27 November 1971·Roy Plomley

• Dudley Moore

  19°14′S 012°42′W

  Dudley Moore

  Dudley Moore on going spare after two days alone in Positano

  Castaway · 15 November 1969·Roy Plomley

• Alan Pegler

  12°25′S 005°31′W

  Alan Pegler

  Alan Pegler on his decision to buy the Flying Scotsman to save it from extinction

  Castaway · 13 January 1969·Roy Plomley