Tuning in…
Tuning in…
Composer
506 episodes
Chosen over the decades
503
Total castaways
1980s
Peak decade
8
Decades seen
Castaways who chose this
Lee Child on his father's unforgettable remark about the smell of a dead body
Gustavo Dudamel on trying to play his father's huge trombone as a child
Alf Dubs on the policewoman who asked if his speech would make any difference
Mark-Anthony Turnage on the light bulb moment when music clicked aged nine
Clive Myrie on his mother being turned away from a Catholic church because of her address
Helen Oxenbury on being bedridden with asthma and drawing to pass the time
Yusuf Cat Stevens on being treated in the same hospital where Boris Karloff died
Russell Foster on his headmaster describing him as entirely non-academic
How a phone call from Amber Rudd confirmed Cressida Dick as Met Commissioner
Kate Atkinson on burying her father the day before winning the Whitbread Book of the Year
Venki Ramakrishnan on thinking his Nobel Prize call was an elaborate prank
How a chance encounter in a bookshop sent Carlos Frenk's family to Mexico
Minouche Shafik on her mother crying at the mailbox after moving to America
Patricia Greene on being asked for dating advice by a stranger in Waitrose
Alison Balsom on the concert that made her want to play the trumpet aged 10
How Harry Rabinowitz signed the wrong contract and missed out on royalties
Stephen Fry on his psychiatrist's frustration that his parents weren't in the diplomatic corps
Bryan Stevenson on the death row prisoner who sang a hymn that changed his life
Julia Cleverdon on her father locking Dylan Thomas in a library to finish Under Milk Wood
Justin Welby on consecrating a grave for murdered clergy in South Sudan
Roger Graef on deciding to become a director after noticing audience attention at Harvard
Nicola Benedetti on choosing to practise over a birthday party aged eight
Jeremy Hutchinson on singing 'Roll out the barrel' with Lord Mountbatten
Blanche Marvin on being killed off as Superman’s girlfriend to meet a man in Paris
Sheila Hollins on pretending to be a housewife at parties to avoid others' attitudes