1661 episodes

• Arthur English

  06°44′S 171°05′W

  Arthur English

  How Arthur English went from Windmill audition to show in two hours

  Castaway · 7 May 1983·Roy Plomley

• A N Wilson

  06°54′S 112°53′W

  A N Wilson

  A N Wilson on his childhood ambition to be an Australian Aborigine

  Castaway · 30 April 1983·Roy Plomley

• Max Boyce

  17°15′S 120°01′W

  Max Boyce

  Max Boyce on blanking out while reciting a poem as a child

  Castaway · 23 April 1983·Roy Plomley

• Geoffrey Moorhouse

  12°51′S 059°05′W

  Geoffrey Moorhouse

  Geoffrey Moorhouse on the baby who survived a five-floor chimney fall

  Castaway · 16 April 1983·Roy Plomley

• Ruggiero Ricci

  23°11′S 068°13′W

  Ruggiero Ricci

  Ruggiero Ricci on being made to wear a velvet Lord Fauntleroy suit

  Castaway · 9 April 1983·Roy Plomley

• James Fox

  10°32′S 077°21′W

  James Fox

  James Fox on getting his first film role aged nine after his brother got shy

  Castaway · 2 April 1983·Roy Plomley

• Jan Morris

  21°53′S 085°29′W

  Jan Morris

  Jan Morris on devising a crude code for her Everest dispatches

  Castaway · 26 March 1983·Roy Plomley

• Michael Wood

  16°29′S 024°33′W

  Michael Wood

  How a V-1 bomb narrowly missed Michael Wood during the Blitz

  Castaway · 19 March 1983·Roy Plomley

• Douglas Reeman

  03°49′S 033°41′W

  Douglas Reeman

  Douglas Reeman on getting his best friend to swim for him in a full duck uniform

  Castaway · 12 March 1983·Roy Plomley

• Kenneth Macmillan

  14°10′S 041°49′W

  Kenneth Macmillan

  How a schoolboy letter helped Kenneth Macmillan get into ballet school

  Castaway · 5 March 1983·Roy Plomley

• Tom Keating

  01°30′S 050°57′W

  Tom Keating

  Tom Keating on being caught reading Das Kapital in the Navy

  Castaway · 26 February 1983·Roy Plomley

• James Ivory

  11°55′S 149°20′W

  James Ivory

  James Ivory on envying BBC's Henry James adaptations

  Castaway · 19 February 1983·Roy Plomley

• Zandra Rhodes

  00°35′S 140°12′W

  Zandra Rhodes

  Zandra Rhodes on inheriting £1,000 and taking her collection to America

  Castaway · 12 February 1983·Roy Plomley

• Beryl Reid

  13°14′S 132°04′W

  Beryl Reid

  How dyslexia forced Beryl Reid to work twenty times harder

  Castaway · 5 February 1983·Roy Plomley

• Tim Severin

  02°54′S 123°56′W

  Tim Severin

  Tim Severin on the bump in the night when his ship hit something

  Castaway · 29 January 1983·Roy Plomley

• Gwyneth Jones

  15°33′S 114°48′W

  Gwyneth Jones

  Gwyneth Jones on her father dying two hours before her scholarship acceptance letter arrived

  Castaway · 22 January 1983·Roy Plomley

• Baroness Maria Von Trapp

  04°12′S 105°40′W

  Baroness Maria Von Trapp

  Maria Von Trapp on being born on a train with the conductor as midwife

  Castaway · 15 January 1983·Roy Plomley

• Steve Davis

  17°52′S 097°32′W

  Steve Davis

  Steve Davis on thinking his father was a superb snooker player until age 16

  Castaway · 8 January 1983·Roy Plomley

• Rachel Billington

  06°31′S 088°24′W

  Rachel Billington

  How her husband's 'Well, then write' turned Rachel Billington into a novelist

  Castaway · 1 January 1983·Roy Plomley

• Mary Ellis

  19°11′S 079°16′W

  Mary Ellis

  Mary Ellis on being inspired by Madam Butterfly at age 12

  Castaway · 25 December 1982·Roy Plomley

• Gyorgy Ligeti

  08°50′S 070°08′W

  Gyorgy Ligeti

  Gyorgy Ligeti on how Stanley Kubrick used his music without permission

  Castaway · 18 December 1982·Roy Plomley

• Alan Price

  08°46′S 111°23′W

  Alan Price

  Alan Price on the Animals' name coming from a squatter called Animal Hogg

  Castaway · 4 December 1982·Roy Plomley

• Helen Mirren

  19°06′S 120°31′W

  Helen Mirren

  Helen Mirren on being called 'Stratford's sex queen'

  Castaway · 27 November 1982·Roy Plomley

• P D James

  18°34′S 054°15′W

  P D James

  P D James on starting her first novel by getting up early in her late thirties

  Castaway · 20 November 1982·Roy Plomley

• Rosamond Lehmann

  05°54′S 063°23′W

  Rosamond Lehmann

  Rosamond Lehmann on the psychic experiences after her daughter's death

  Castaway · 13 November 1982·Roy Plomley

• Thomas Allen

  20°53′S 037°59′W

  Thomas Allen

  Thomas Allen on being told he'd be a bloody fool not to pursue opera

  Castaway · 6 November 1982·Roy Plomley

• Lord Tonypandy

  06°45′S 085°46′W

  Lord Tonypandy

  Castaway · 30 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• Rt Hon. George Thomas

  07°13′S 045°07′W

  Rt Hon. George Thomas

  George Thomas on his mother's resolve that he would not go down the pit

  Castaway · 30 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• Mike Harding

  22°11′S 019°43′W

  Mike Harding

  Mike Harding on advising John Lennon to get better suits

  Castaway · 23 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• Geoffrey Grigson

  09°32′S 028°51′W

  Geoffrey Grigson

  Geoffrey Grigson on his headmaster telling him he would read classics

  Castaway · 16 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• N.Busch

  00°30′S 001°27′W

  N.Busch

  Nicholas Busch on his childhood ambition to become a farmer

  Castaway · 9 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• David Lloyd Jones

  11°51′S 010°35′W

  David Lloyd Jones

  David Lloyd Jones on hearing the Magic Flute overture aged eight

  Castaway · 2 October 1982·Roy Plomley

• Wilbur Smith

  21°16′S 109°58′W

  Wilbur Smith

  Wilbur Smith on writing his first novel on government stationery

  Castaway · 25 September 1982·Roy Plomley

• Carlo Curley

  10°55′S 100°50′W

  Carlo Curley

  Carlo Curley on his first public performance with billiard chalk on his hands

  Castaway · 18 September 1982·Roy Plomley

• James Loughran

  11°28′S 166°06′W

  James Loughran

  How a whistling principal put James Loughran off music college at 12

  Castaway · 11 September 1982·Roy Plomley

• Claire Bloom

  00°07′S 157°58′W

  Claire Bloom

  How an invitation to Florida went wrong for Claire Bloom

  Castaway · 4 September 1982·Roy Plomley

• Duke

  09°09′S 004°22′W

  Duke & Duchess of Devonshire

  Duchess of Devonshire on never wanting to see another firework

  Castaway · 28 August 1982·Roy Plomley

• Carl Davis

  22°48′S 175°14′W

  Carl Davis

  Carl Davis on replacing pianists too frightened to play for Robert Shaw

  Castaway · 21 August 1982·Roy Plomley

• Donald Sinden

  07°50′S 021°38′W

  Donald Sinden

  How John Ford told Donald Sinden: 'We'll soon knock the hell out of that'

  Castaway · 14 August 1982·Roy Plomley

• Dame Janet Baker

  20°29′S 013°30′W

  Dame Janet Baker

  Janet Baker on working in a bank after leaving school

  Castaway · 7 August 1982·Roy Plomley

• George Martin

  05°31′S 039°54′W

  George Martin

  George Martin on ignoring Tommy Steele to sign the Vipers

  Castaway · 31 July 1982·Roy Plomley

• Lyall Watson

  18°11′S 030°46′W

  Lyall Watson

  Lyall Watson on speaking forty different kinds of monkey fluently

  Castaway · 24 July 1982·Roy Plomley

• Pamela Stephenson

  18°54′S 048°58′W

  Pamela Stephenson

  Pamela Stephenson on asking BBC producers for a job as an English rose

  Castaway · 17 July 1982·Roy Plomley

• Captain Jacques Cousteau

  05°15′S 057°06′W

  Captain Jacques Cousteau

  Jacques Cousteau on breaking thirty windows while testing a movie myth

  Castaway · 10 July 1982·Roy Plomley

• John Mortimer QC

  16°35′S 065°14′W

  John Mortimer QC

  John Mortimer on playing all the parts in Shakespeare as an only child, including duelling with himself

  Castaway · 3 July 1982·Roy Plomley

• Eric Newby

  03°56′S 074°22′W

  Eric Newby

  Eric Newby on climbing the rigging in slippery shoes

  Castaway · 19 June 1982·Roy Plomley

• Sir Anton Dolin

  14°16′S 083°30′W

  Sir Anton Dolin

  Anton Dolin on choosing a Russian-sounding name to hoodwink the press

  Castaway · 12 June 1982·Roy Plomley

• Delia Smith

  01°37′S 092°38′W

  Delia Smith

  Delia Smith on washing up in a restaurant to learn to cook

  Castaway · 5 June 1982·Roy Plomley

• Desmond Hawkins

  12°58′S 101°46′W

  Desmond Hawkins

  Desmond Hawkins on his boyhood ambition to open the batting for Surrey

  Castaway · 29 May 1982·Roy Plomley

• Marti Webb

  23°18′S 109°54′W

  Marti Webb

  Marti Webb on how a friend’s suggestion led to her taking over as Evita

  Castaway · 22 May 1982·Roy Plomley