1661 episodes

• David Lodge

  10°13′S 075°57′W

  David Lodge

  David Lodge on writing his first novel while in the army

  Castaway · 21 April 1984·Roy Plomley

• Lucy Irvine

  21°33′S 084°05′W

  Lucy Irvine

  Lucy Irvine on being forced to marry her fellow castaway

  Castaway · 14 April 1984·Roy Plomley

• Christopher Reeve

  08°54′S 093°13′W

  Christopher Reeve

  Christopher Reeve on his first stage role as a boy soprano in Gilbert and Sullivan

  Castaway · 7 April 1984·Roy Plomley

• Paul Tortelier

  19°14′S 102°21′W

  Paul Tortelier

  Paul Tortelier on preferring marbles to the cello as a child

  Castaway · 31 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Ed Mirvish (Honest)

  06°35′S 110°29′W

  'Honest' Ed Mirvish

  Ed Mirvish on buying a theatre 3,000 miles away sight unseen

  Castaway · 24 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Michael Quinn

  17°56′S 119°37′W

  Michael Quinn

  Michael Quinn on telling Ritz directors they’d have to pay to taste his cooking

  Castaway · 17 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Don McCullin

  04°16′S 128°45′W

  Don McCullin

  How a dying child's hand in Biafra destroyed Don McCullin

  Castaway · 10 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Gerald Prisetland

  11°22′S 110°18′W

  Gerald Prisetland

  Castaway · 3 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Gerald Priestland

  15°37′S 137°53′W

  Gerald Priestland

  Gerald Priestland on being sent away to boarding school at the age of seven

  Castaway · 3 March 1984·Roy Plomley

• Michael York

  02°57′S 146°01′W

  Michael York

  How Michael York made his Desert Island Discs list in a minute

  Castaway · 25 February 1984·Roy Plomley

• Woody Herman

  13°18′S 154°09′W

  Woody Herman

  Woody Herman on Igor Stravinsky writing Ebony Concerto for his band

  Castaway · 18 February 1984·Roy Plomley

• Lord Elwyn-Jones

  17°53′S 089°50′W

  Lord Elwyn-Jones

  Elwyn-Jones on the emotional ordeal of reading the death sentence in court

  Castaway · 11 February 1984·Roy Plomley

• Stubby Kaye

  06°32′S 080°42′W

  Stubby Kaye

  Stubby Kaye on wetting his pants during his first stage performance

  Castaway · 4 February 1984·Roy Plomley

• HRH Princess Michael of Kent

  23°49′S 036°02′W

  HRH Princess Michael of Kent

  Princess Michael of Kent on having a cat in her pocket when she was rescued

  Castaway · 28 January 1984·Roy Plomley

• Quentin Crewe

  12°28′S 028°54′W

  Quentin Crewe

  Quentin Crewe on crossing the Sahara without missing music

  Castaway · 21 January 1984·Roy Plomley

• David Gower

  21°30′S 054°18′W

  David Gower

  David Gower on scoring 154 against the West Indies in Jamaica

  Castaway · 14 January 1984·Roy Plomley

• Bertice Reading

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  Bertice Reading

  Bertice Reading on being born in a toilet

  Castaway · 7 January 1984·Roy Plomley

• M M Kaye

  03°27′S 001°30′W

  M M Kaye

  M M Kaye on how one rejection would have ended her writing career

  Castaway · 31 December 1983·Roy Plomley

• James Stewart

  16°06′S 172°22′W

  James Stewart

  James Stewart on being told to leave engineering because of his maths

  Castaway · 17 December 1983·Roy Plomley

• John Piper

  01°08′S 019°46′W

  John Piper

  How the King told John Piper he was 'very unlucky with the weather'

  Castaway · 10 December 1983·Roy Plomley

• Marvin Hamlisch

  14°47′S 010°38′W

  Marvin Hamlisch

  Marvin Hamlisch on the concert where his pajamas showed beneath his trousers

  Castaway · 3 December 1983·Roy Plomley

• Thomas Keneally

  12°52′S 052°23′W

  Thomas Keneally

  How a broken briefcase led Thomas Keneally to the story of Schindler

  Castaway · 26 November 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Hugh Greene

  23°12′S 060°31′W

  Sir Hugh Greene

  How Hugh Greene stood close to Hitler but was never introduced

  Castaway · 19 November 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Peter Hall

  22°26′S 144°03′W

  Sir Peter Hall

  How teaching economics in the RAF taught Peter Hall to direct

  Castaway · 12 November 1983·Roy Plomley

• Shirley MacLaine

  09°46′S 152°11′W

  Shirley MacLaine

  How researching Parisian tarts nearly made Shirley MacLaine quit acting

  Castaway · 5 November 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Ranulph Fiennes

  00°45′S 126°47′W

  Sir Ranulph Fiennes

  Ranulph Fiennes on the moment he saw the ship's masts after three years

  Castaway · 29 October 1983·Roy Plomley

• Linda Esther Gray

  11°05′S 135°55′W

  Linda Esther Gray

  Linda Esther Gray on being told she had no voice at Sunday school

  Castaway · 22 October 1983·Roy Plomley

• Topol

  18°48′S 179°35′W

  Topol

  How Topol won the lead in Fiddler on the Roof with a 50-word English vocabulary

  Castaway · 15 October 1983·Roy Plomley

• Mollie Harris

  05°09′S 008°43′W

  Mollie Harris

  Mollie Harris on her mother’s ribbon for a school concert

  Castaway · 8 October 1983·Roy Plomley

• Rosemary Sutcliff

  20°07′S 161°19′W

  Rosemary Sutcliff

  Rosemary Sutcliff on her first memory of a caged squirrel

  Castaway · 1 October 1983·Roy Plomley

• Ian Richardson

  07°27′S 170°27′W

  Ian Richardson

  Ian Richardson on dropping his rifle on a polished boot and being knocked unconscious

  Castaway · 24 September 1983·Roy Plomley

• Lionel Hampton

  20°19′S 072°42′W

  Lionel Hampton

  Lionel Hampton on finding the vibraphone in a studio corner with Louis Armstrong

  Castaway · 17 September 1983·Roy Plomley

• Charlotte Lamb

  07°39′S 081°50′W

  Charlotte Lamb

  Charlotte Lamb on writing an entire novel in three days

  Castaway · 10 September 1983·Roy Plomley

• Paul Jones

  14°22′S 125°30′W

  Paul Jones

  Paul Jones on hearing T Bone Walker and deciding his life's direction

  Castaway · 3 September 1983·Roy Plomley

• Cindy Buxton

  01°43′S 133°38′W

  Cindy Buxton & Annie Price

  Cindy Buxton and Annie Price on how Annie thought the Falkland Islands were in Scotland

  Castaway · 27 August 1983·Roy Plomley

• Malcolm Bradbury

  16°41′S 107°14′W

  Malcolm Bradbury

  Malcolm Bradbury on avoiding games by writing books

  Castaway · 20 August 1983·Roy Plomley

• Peter Bull

  03°02′S 116°22′W

  Peter Bull

  Peter Bull on his mother giving away his teddy bear to a jumble sale

  Castaway · 13 August 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Frederick Gibberd

  10°45′S 160°02′W

  Sir Frederick Gibberd

  How picking up a girl at a dance hall led Frederick Gibberd to his first design

  Castaway · 6 August 1983·Roy Plomley

• Keith Waterhouse

  21°05′S 169°10′W

  Keith Waterhouse

  Keith Waterhouse on being beckoned into Alfred Hitchcock's presence to polish dialogue

  Castaway · 30 July 1983·Roy Plomley

• John Gunter

  12°04′S 142°46′W

  John Gunter

  John Gunter on designing a show for his mother that never happened

  Castaway · 23 July 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir John Pritchard

  23°24′S 151°54′W

  Sir John Pritchard

  John Pritchard on being summoned from the sea to conduct Don Giovanni

  Castaway · 16 July 1983·Roy Plomley

• Julian Bream

  01°20′S 110°09′W

  Julian Bream

  Julian Bream on being caught playing his father's guitar

  Castaway · 9 July 1983·Roy Plomley

• Terry Jones

  14°59′S 101°01′W

  Terry Jones

  Terry Jones on hiding upstairs to write poems as a boy

  Castaway · 2 July 1983·Roy Plomley

• Peter Maxwell Davies

  15°46′S 017°29′W

  Peter Maxwell Davies

  Peter Maxwell Davies on being taken to see The Gondoliers at age four

  Castaway · 25 June 1983·Roy Plomley

• Fleur Cowles

  04°25′S 009°21′W

  Fleur Cowles

  Fleur Cowles on faking her way into a newspaper column

  Castaway · 18 June 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Peter Pears

  13°27′S 035°45′W

  Sir Peter Pears

  Peter Pears on scoring 81 not out at the Oval as a young cricketer

  Castaway · 11 June 1983·Roy Plomley

• Raymond Briggs

  02°06′S 026°37′W

  Raymond Briggs

  Raymond Briggs on an art school principal scoffing at his cartoonist dream

  Castaway · 4 June 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sinead Cusack

  19°23′S 162°57′W

  Sinead Cusack

  How a row about Paradise Lost led Sinead Cusack to leave university

  Castaway · 28 May 1983·Roy Plomley

• Terry Wogan

  08°03′S 153°49′W

  Terry Wogan

  Terry Wogan on his most awkward interview with Jerry Lee Lewis

  Castaway · 21 May 1983·Roy Plomley

• Sir Alan King-Hamilton

  17°05′S 000°13′W

  Sir Alan King-Hamilton

  Alan King-Hamilton on nearly swooning when he mistook a VC for a KC

  Castaway · 14 May 1983·Roy Plomley