''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

. It was first broadcast on the

BBC Forces Programme The BBC Forces Programme was a national radio station which operated from 7 January 1940 until 26 February 1944, when it was replaced by the BBC General Forces Programme. History Development Upon the outbreak of World War II on 1 September 1 ...

on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight audio recordings (usually, but not always, music), a book and a luxury item that they would like to take if they were to be cast away on a

desert island An uninhabited island, desert island, or deserted island, is an island, islet or atoll which lacks permanent human population. Uninhabited islands are often depicted in films or stories about shipwrecked people, and are also used as stereotypes ...

, whilst discussing their life and the reasons for their choices. It was devised and originally presented by Roy Plomley. Since 2018, the programme has been presented by Lauren Laverne. More than 3,400 episodes have been recorded, with some guests having appeared more than once and some episodes featuring more than one guest. An example of a guest who falls into both categories is Bob Monkhouse, who appeared with his co-writer Denis Goodwin on 12 December 1955 and in his own right on 20 December 1998. When ''Desert Island Discs'' marked its 75th year in 2017, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' called the show a radio classic. In February 2019, a panel of broadcasting industry experts named it the greatest radio programme of all time.

Format

Guests are invited to imagine themselves cast away on a

, and choose eight audio recordings (originally gramophone records) they would like to take with them; discussion of their choices permits a review of their life. Excerpts from their choices are played or, in the case of short pieces, the whole work. At the end of the programme, they are asked to choose the one piece they regard most highly. Guests are also automatically given the ''

Complete Works of Shakespeare The ''Complete Works of William Shakespeare'' is the standard name given to any volume containing all the plays and poems of William Shakespeare. Some editions include several works that were not completely of Shakespeare's authorship (collabora ...

'' and either the

Bible The Bible is a collection of religious texts that are central to Christianity and Judaism, and esteemed in other Abrahamic religions such as Islam. The Bible is an anthology (a compilation of texts of a variety of forms) originally writt ...

or another appropriate religious or philosophical work, and then prompted to select a third book to accompany them. Popular choices include

Charles Dickens Charles John Huffam Dickens (; 7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist, journalist, short story writer and Social criticism, social critic. He created some of literature's best-known fictional characters, and is regarded by ...

and

Jane Austen Jane Austen ( ; 16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist known primarily for #List of works, her six novels, which implicitly interpret, critique, and comment on the English landed gentry at the end of the 18th century ...

. Actress

Judi Dench Dame Judith Olivia Dench (born 9 December 1934) is an English actress. Widely considered one of Britain's greatest actors, she is noted for her versatility, having appeared in films and television, as well as for her numerous roles on the stage ...

, who has

macular degeneration Macular degeneration, also known as age-related macular degeneration (AMD or ARMD), is a medical condition which may result in blurred vision, blurred or vision loss, no vision in the center of the visual field. Early on there are often no sym ...

, was permitted to take an

audiobook An audiobook (or a talking book) is a recording of a book or other work being read out loud. A reading of the complete text is described as "unabridged", while readings of shorter versions are abridgements. Spoken audio has been available in sch ...

in place of a printed manuscript. Guests also choose one luxury, which must be inanimate and of no practical use on or in escaping from the island or allowing communication from outside. Roy Plomley usually enforced these rules strictly, but he did grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. However, subsequent presenters have allowed more variation on the rules;

John Cleese John Marwood Cleese ( ; born 27 October 1939) is an English actor, comedian, screenwriter, producer, and Television presenter, presenter. Emerging from the Footlights, Cambridge Footlights in the 1960s, he first achieved success at the Edinbur ...

was allowed to take

Michael Palin Sir Michael Edward Palin (; born 5 May 1943) is an English actor, comedian, writer, and television presenter. He was a member of the Monty Python comedy group. He received the BAFTA Academy Fellowship Award, BAFTA Fellowship in 2013 and was knig ...

with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries. After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by

Michael Parkinson Sir Michael Parkinson (28 March 1935 – 16 August 2023) was an English television presenter, broadcaster, journalist and author. He presented his television talk show '' Parkinson'' from 1971 to 1982 and from 1998 to 2007, as well as other ta ...

from 1986 to 1988, then from 1988 to 2006 by Sue Lawley, and from 2006 to 2018 by Kirsty Young. Young was replaced by 6 Music presenter Lauren Laverne, who interviewed Olympic diver Tom Daley for her first show, broadcast on 30 September 2018. Laverne was initially drafted in as an interim presenter while Young was suffering from

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

; she was appointed permanently in July 2019 when Young announced her decision not to return. The programme was extended from 45 minutes to an hour from Spring 2024.

Notable guests

The first castaway was Vic Oliver, and several castaways, including

Celia Johnson Dame Celia Elizabeth Johnson (18 December 1908 – 26 April 1982) was an English actress, whose career included stage, television and film. She is especially known for her roles in the films ''In Which We Serve'' (1942), ''This Happy Breed ...

Arthur Askey Arthur Bowden Askey (6 June 1900 – 16 November 1982) was an English comedian and actor. Askey was known for his short stature (5' 2", 1.58 m) and distinctive horn-rimmed glasses, and his playful humour incorporating improvisation an ...

, Trevor Nunn,

John Schlesinger John Richard Schlesinger ( ; 16 February 1926 – 25 July 2003) was an English film and stage director, and actor. He emerged in the early 1960s as a leading light of the British New Wave, before embarking on a successful career in Hollywood ...

, Kenneth Williams,

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

, Brian Rix,

David Attenborough Sir David Frederick Attenborough (; born 8 May 1926) is an English broadcaster, biologist, natural historian and writer. He is best known for writing and presenting, in conjunction with the BBC Studios Natural History Unit, the nine nature d ...

, John Mortimer, Adele Leigh, Delia Smith and

Stephen Fry Sir Stephen John Fry (born 24 August 1957) is an English actor, broadcaster, comedian, director, narrator and writer. He came to prominence as a member of the comic act Fry and Laurie alongside Hugh Laurie, with the two starring in ''A Bit of ...

have been cast away more than once. The most requested piece of music over the first 60 years was "Ode to Joy", the last movement of

Beethoven's Ninth Symphony The Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Opus number, Op. 125, is a choral symphony, the final complete symphony by Ludwig van Beethoven, composed between 1822 and 1824. It was first performed in Vienna on 7 May 1824. The symphony is regarded by many criti ...

. One of the most remarked broadcasts was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf's 1958 selection of seven of her own recordings. This record was subsequently beaten by British pianist Dame Moura Lympany on her second appearance on the programme on 28 July 1979 when all eight of her selections were of her own recordings. In the early 1970s, Alistair MacLean was chosen as a guest, but the head of the European wing of the Ontario Tourist Bureau, who had the same name, was accidentally invited instead. Plomley realised the error while conversing with MacLean shortly before they were set to record the programme. Without any time to find another guest, the interview was completed, but it was never broadcast. In January 1981,

Princess Margaret Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon (Margaret Rose; 21 August 1930 – 9 February 2002) was the younger daughter of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. She was the younger sister and only sibling of Queen Elizabeth II. ...

appeared as a castaway on the show.

Opening theme

Plomley originally wanted the sounds of "surf breaking on a shore and the cries of sea birds" to open and close each programme. However, Leslie Prowne, the head of popular record programmes at the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

, was concerned that it lacked definition and insisted that music should also be used. Plomley and the series' producer Frederic Piffard selected " By the Sleepy Lagoon", composed by Eric Coates (who appeared on the show in 1951). The tune has been used since the first transmission in 1942. The sound of

herring gulls Herring gull is a common name for several birds in the genus ''Larus ''Larus'' is a large genus of gulls with worldwide distribution (by far the greatest species diversity is in the Northern Hemisphere). Many of its species are abundant and w ...

has accompanied the music except for a period of time in 1964 when tropical bird sounds were used.

Copyright status

Until late September 2009, ''Desert Island Discs'' could not be heard on the BBC's iPlayer service, which allowed most programmes to be heard up to a week after transmission. The programme's website stated that this was due to rights issues, as explained in ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'' in 2006. It was announced on 27 September 2009 that an agreement had been reached as a result of which the programme would be available to stream via the iPlayer. The first episode available through the iPlayer was with

Barry Manilow Barry Manilow ( ; born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1943) is an American singer, songwriter and record producer with a career that spans over sixty years. His hit recordings include "Could It Be Magic", "Looks Like We Made It", "Brandy (Scott ...

. Subsequently, the programme was also made available as a podcast, beginning with the edition broadcast on 29 November 2009, which featured

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 198 ...

. However, due to music clearance issues, the music selections on the podcast versions are reduced to only playing for around 30 seconds or so (and in rare instances are unavailable, as mentioned in an announcement made by the presenter at the appropriate point of the programme). On 30 March 2011, the BBC placed more than 500 episodes from the show's archive online to listen to via iPlayer. Other episodes have since been added, both new and old. In the early years of the BBC, programmes were broadcast live and were not usually recorded. This, in addition to the BBC's policy of only retaining a limited number of broadcasts, means very few episodes from the first 20 years of the show are known to exist; the earliest episode still in existence was broadcast on 25 April 1951 and features actress Margaret Lockwood. Several extracts were preserved for posterity at the request of the guests, such as an extract featuring

Alfred Hitchcock Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in the history of cinema. In a career spanning six decades, he directed over 50 featu ...

where he speaks about his films '' The Pleasure Garden'' (1925) and ''

Rebecca Rebecca () appears in the Hebrew Bible as the wife of Isaac and the mother of Jacob and Esau. According to biblical tradition, Rebecca's father was Bethuel the Aramean from Paddan Aram, also called Aram-Naharaim. Rebecca's brother was Laban (Bi ...

'' (1940), gives his view on the changing landscape of the film industry and briefly discusses his then forthcoming film '' Psycho'' (1960). In 2022 over 90 recordings, previously thought to be lost, were rediscovered by the audio collector Richard Harrison. These recordings date from the period 1952 to 1988 and feature many notable celebrities of the era including

Bing Crosby Harry Lillis "Bing" Crosby Jr. (May 3, 1903 – October 14, 1977) was an American singer, comedian, entertainer and actor. The first multimedia star, he was one of the most popular and influential musical artists of the 20th century worldwi ...

Margot Fonteyn Dame Margaret Evelyn de Arias Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire, DBE ( Hookham; 18 May 191921 February 1991), known by the stage name Margot Fonteyn (), was an English ballerina. She spent her entire career as a dancer with th ...

and

James Stewart James Maitland Stewart (May 20, 1908 – July 2, 1997) was an American actor and military aviator. Known for his distinctive drawl and everyman screen persona, Stewart's film career spanned 80 films from 1935 to 1991. With the strong morali ...

. These recordings have been made available for streaming via

BBC Sounds BBC Sounds is an Over-the-top media service, over-the-top audio streaming media, streaming and download service from the BBC that includes live radio broadcasts, Streaming media, audio on demand, and podcasts. The service is available on a wide ...

, the successor to iPlayer for audio content. In 2023 an additional episode, featuring Veronica Wedgwood, from 10 March 1973, was recovered.

List of publications

* ''Desert Island Discs'' (1977, by Roy Plomley) * ''Plomley's Pick'' (1982, by Roy Plomley) * ''Desert Island Lists'' (1984, compiled by Roy Plomley and Derek Drescher) * ''Sue Lawley's Desert Island Discussions'' (1990, by Sue Lawley) * ''Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways'' (2012, by Sean Magee, foreword by Kirsty Young) * ''Desert Island Discs: Flotsam & Jetsam'' (2012, by Mitchell Symons) * ''The Definitive Desert Island Discs'' (2023, by Ian Gittings, foreword by Lauren Laverne)

References

External links