Robert Burns

desert is.landest. 1942

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Tuning in…

desert is.land

“And if you could take only one…” — a semantic wireless tuned to the Desert Island Discs archive.

The listing

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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

Robert Burns — Composer · desert is.land

desert is.landest. 1942

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

Composer

9 episodes

Chosen over the decades

Total castaways

2000s

Peak decade

Decades seen

Castaways who chose this

Alexander McCall Smith
David McVicar
Fay Maschler
Jackie Kay
Jimmy Knapp
John Laurie
Liz Lochhead
Lord Woolf
Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon

Liz Lochhead
Liz Lochhead on the Queen's giggling story about Edith Sitwell
Castaway · 14 May 2017Kirsty Young
Jackie Kay
Jackie Kay on her birth father singing and dancing around her
Castaway · 23 October 2016Kirsty Young

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

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon

Nicola Sturgeon on being in floods of tears after the independence referendum

Castaway · 15 November 2015Kirsty Young

David McVicar

12°43′S 092°12′W

David McVicar

David McVicar on being hospitalised mid-opera run

Castaway · 5 October 2008Kirsty Young

Lord Woolf

12°19′S 068°42′W

Lord Woolf

Harry Woolf on his mother's view that being a barrister was just a hobby

Castaway · 1 June 2008Kirsty Young

Alexander McCall Smith

09°45′S 040°24′W

Alexander McCall Smith

Alexander McCall Smith on the woman who wrung a chicken's neck

Castaway · 19 June 2005Sue Lawley

Fay Maschler

19°27′S 166°55′W

Fay Maschler

Fay Maschler on being caught in disguise as Shirley Bassey by Marco Pierre White

Castaway · 14 March 1999Sue Lawley

Jimmy Knapp

02°40′S 107°13′W

Jimmy Knapp

Jimmy Knapp on having to put his coat on to use the toilet at night as a boy

Castaway · 19 February 1995Sue Lawley

John Laurie

05°39′S 047°26′W

John Laurie

How John Laurie was carried from Passchendale on a stretcher, unwounded

Castaway · 15 May 1976Roy Plomley