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Composer
50 episodes
Chosen over the decades
49
Total castaways
1980s
Peak decade
6
Decades seen
Castaways who chose this
Robert Webb on making a mixtape of his mother's favourite songs
How carrying a survival guide as a child prepared Neil Gaiman for Desert Island Discs
How Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran's childhood home became a TV set
Blanche Marvin on being killed off as Superman’s girlfriend to meet a man in Paris
Gyles Brandreth on applying to become an MP the day his youngest daughter became a teenager
Ruthie Henshall on the sexual abuse that began when she was four and a half
Nicholas Parsons on his mother's fear that show business would deprave him
How a lie from his mother led Stephen Sondheim to live with his father at 15
How hypnotism stopped Sheila Hancock vomiting before a National Theatre performance
David Croft on how Jimmy Perry got the idea for Dad's Army from the Home Guard at Buckingham Palace
Adele Leigh on bursting into tears after her first night applause in Follies
Christopher Reeve on his first stage role as a boy soprano in Gilbert and Sullivan
Marvin Hamlisch on the concert where his pajamas showed beneath his trousers
Julia McKenzie on her first job as an understudy after only seeing the show three times
Frankie Howerd on making up Bible stories as a Sunday school teacher aged 13