Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Composer
56 episodes
Chosen over the decades
55
Total castaways
1990s
Peak decade
7
Decades seen
Castaways who chose this
How Alexei Sayle got fired on his 40th birthday
Ronald Searle on writing a note saying 'I've gone' and abandoning his old life
David Sainsbury on being asked to choose a Henry Moore drawing as a birthday present as a small boy
Christopher Frayling on choosing Singing in the Rain over Wagner's Ring
How a friend's request for a short story led Umberto Eco to write The Name of the Rose
Maurice Saatchi on being carried off the field after a cricket ball ended his sporting career
Marianne Faithfull on the Redlands drug bust she believes was an MI5 set-up
Ralf Dahrendorf on being called a social democrat in the Hitler Youth
Michael Bogdanov on how a friend's letter to Trinity College Dublin earned him a place
Julian Critchley on being summoned by the chief whip for modelling a suit
Peter Fluck and Roger Law on splitting their desert island by the high tide
Julian Symons on being unable to find Middle C after seven years of piano lessons
Lindsay Anderson on writing 'I rebel about nothing in particular' on a looking glass aged nine
Cecil Beaton on first hearing the Merry Widow from a hurdy gurdy man aged five
How Osbert Lancaster timed his daily cartoons to the evening paper editions
Charles Aznavour on selling chocolate and stockings on the black market during the occupation