Burt Bacharach — Composer · 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
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Transmission

Broadcasting since 1942
Long wave 198 kHz
An unofficial archive companion
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Not affiliated with the BBC · Built for the love of the long wave · Made by Daniel Hails

Burt Bacharach — Composer · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

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

Composer

Burt Bacharach

12 episodes

Chosen over the decades

12

Total castaways

1980s

Peak decade

6

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Alison Moyet
Annie Lennox
Bruce Fogle
Dennis Taylor
George Chisholm
Jackie Collins
Marcus Wareing
Marlene Dietrich
Monica Dolan
Quentin Crewe
Ronnie Scott
U A Fanthorpe

Monica Dolan
Monica Dolan on secretly withdrawing her university application
Castaway · 27 July 2025Lauren Laverne
Marcus Wareing
Marcus Wareing on his acrimonious legal battle with Gordon Ramsay
Castaway · 14 July 2019Lauren 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

Alison Moyet on taking a hammer to her gold discs

Castaway · 18 May 2014Kirsty Young

21°21′S 095°06′W

Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox on losing her first child

Castaway · 11 May 2008Kirsty Young

11°56′S 033°37′W

U A Fanthorpe

U A Fanthorpe on re-baptising herself from Ursula

Castaway · 9 May 2004Sue Lawley

07°57′S 116°26′W

Bruce Fogle

Bruce Fogle on a punk client crying over her rat's mammary tumor

Castaway · 19 August 2001Sue Lawley

21°41′S 100°54′W

Jackie Collins

Jackie Collins on waving to the resident Flasher in Regent's Park

Castaway · 7 December 1986Michael Parkinson

23°35′S 110°45′W

Dennis Taylor

Dennis Taylor on standing on a lemonade crate to play snooker for the first time

Castaway · 2 February 1986Michael Parkinson

12°28′S 028°54′W

Quentin Crewe

Quentin Crewe on crossing the Sahara without missing music

Castaway · 21 January 1984Roy Plomley

George Chisholm

02°00′S 165°37′W

George Chisholm

George Chisholm on playing piano for silent films in Glasgow aged 14

Castaway · 13 March 1982Roy 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

Marlene Dietrich

17°49′S 156°52′W

Marlene Dietrich

Marlene Dietrich on giving up the violin because she hated doing things in halves

Castaway · 4 January 1965Roy Plomley