Giuseppe Verdi — 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
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

desert is.landest. 1942

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

Composer

Giuseppe Verdi

226 episodes

Chosen over the decades

226

Total castaways

1980s

Peak decade

8

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Alfredo Campoli
Anna Del Conte
Anna Moffo
Anne Scott James
Antal Dorati
Anthony Howard
Anthony Powell
Antony Sher
Arthur Fiedler
Arthur Scargill
A S Byatt
Auberon Waugh
Bamber Gascoigne
Barbara Mills QC
Baroness Blackstone
Baroness Hale of Richmond
Baroness Ryder of Warsaw (Sue)
Baroness Trumpington
Benjamin Luxon
Bernard Levin
Bill Sowerbutts
Bishop Trevor Huddleston
Boris Christoff
Bruce Oldfield
more

Leontyne Price
Leontyne Price on being inspired by Marian Anderson at age nine
Castaway · 22 September 1973Roy Plomley
Bill Sowerbutts
Bill Sowerbutts on a plum stone that supposedly produced an apple
Castaway · 15 September 1973Roy Plomley
Rita Hunter

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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

Rita Hunter on singing the Dutchman at Covent Garden with her hair in curlers

Castaway · 10 February 1973Roy Plomley

10°53′S 164°51′W

Joan Bakewell

Joan Bakewell on asking women about birth control at Shepherd's Bush market

Castaway · 13 May 1972Roy Plomley

Leonide Massine

20°27′S 117°08′W

Leonide Massine

Leonide Massine on promising Diaghilev a hundred ballets

Castaway · 22 April 1972Roy Plomley

Elizabeth Harwood

13°44′S 074°28′W

Elizabeth Harwood

Elizabeth Harwood on telling Sir Malcolm Sargent she would sing with him one day

Castaway · 18 March 1972Roy Plomley

Raymond Leppard

02°24′S 065°20′W

Raymond Leppard

Raymond Leppard on the fire that destroyed his Monteverdi score

Castaway · 4 March 1972Roy Plomley

07°05′S 082°20′W

David Shepherd

David Shepherd on raising £46,000 in one evening for a poacher-catching helicopter

Castaway · 11 September 1971Roy Plomley

08°01′S 172°05′W

Lorin Maazel

How lollipops and short trousers greeted Lorin Maazel's first rehearsal at age eight

Castaway · 31 July 1971Roy Plomley

13°48′S 078°30′W

Nicolai Gedda

Nicolai Gedda on being engaged on the spot after an audition

Castaway · 12 May 1969Roy Plomley

Sir Paul Gore-Booth

13°52′S 172°56′W

Sir Paul Gore-Booth

How a quiet Sherlock Holmes trip to Switzerland became a world story for Paul Gore-Booth

Castaway · 13 November 1968Roy Plomley

Carlo Maria Giulini

20°35′S 035°36′W

Carlo Maria Giulini

Carlo Maria Giulini on his first concert after the liberation of Rome

Castaway · 19 August 1968Roy Plomley

09°41′S 036°27′W

Georg Solti

Georg Solti on being unable to make tea on a desert island

Castaway · 26 December 1966Roy Plomley

Gwendoline Kirby

22°20′S 027°19′W

Gwendoline Kirby

Gwendoline Kirby on the nurses' Christmas Eve trip to Covent Garden

Castaway · 24 December 1966Roy Plomley

Sir Frank Francis

16°01′S 056°38′W

Sir Frank Francis

Frank Francis on the sketch plans for moving the British Museum Library

Castaway · 14 March 1966Roy Plomley

03°21′S 065°46′W

Marie Collier

Marie Collier on replacing Maria Callas in Tosca at short notice

Castaway · 21 February 1966Roy Plomley

Earl of Harewood

00°42′S 167°04′W

Earl of Harewood

Earl of Harewood on reading Grove's musical dictionary up to the letter S as a POW

Castaway · 25 December 1965Roy Plomley

02°14′S 027°45′W

Arthur Fiedler

Arthur Fiedler on ringing doorbells to fund free concerts

Castaway · 1 March 1965Roy Plomley

Giovanni Martinelli

19°42′S 096°18′W

Giovanni Martinelli

Giovanni Martinelli on his bandmaster discovering his voice in the army

Castaway · 18 June 1962Roy Plomley

01°06′S 026°44′W

Antal Dorati

Antal Dorati on shooting watermelons with a bow and arrow

Castaway · 25 July 1960Roy Plomley

Sir Alec Guinness

03°25′S 009°28′W

Sir Alec Guinness

Alec Guinness on ordering a four-foot advertising block by mistake

Castaway · 27 June 1960Roy Plomley

Charles Mackerras

20°32′S 178°16′W

Charles Mackerras

Charles Mackerras on why he'd be an utterly ghastly castaway

Castaway · 24 August 1959Roy Plomley

00°10′S 143°44′W

Elena Gerhardt

How Elena Gerhardt burst out 'I can sing' on her first day of school

Castaway · 10 November 1958Roy Plomley

Alfredo Campoli

19°47′S 029°38′W

Alfredo Campoli

Alfredo Campoli on performing 100 concerts for wounded soldiers at age nine

Castaway · 21 August 1953Roy Plomley

Kirsten Flagstad

02°30′S 073°18′W

Kirsten Flagstad

Kirsten Flagstad on using her reading spectacles as a burning glass

Castaway · 29 April 1952Roy Plomley

Margaret Lockwood

04°48′S 055°02′W

Margaret Lockwood

Margaret Lockwood on forgetting her harness flying as Peter Pan

Castaway · 25 April 1951Roy Plomley