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PROGRAMME INFO |
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Desert Island Discs is one of Radio 4's most popular and enduring programmes. Created by Roy Plomley in 1942, the format is simple: each week a guest is invited by Sue Lawley to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island.
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LISTEN AGAIN |
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PRESENTER |
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Sue's biography
- Sue's interview
- Quiz about Sue |
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"Lawley's consensual, almost sensual probing, producing an ambiguous bond like that between hostage and hostage-taker, is ... a masterpiece of technique."
The Sunday Times 17 March 1996
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PROGRAMME DETAILS |
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Linton Kwesi Johnson
Linton Kwesi Johnson was born in 1950s rural Jamaica. He lived in a farming community and looked after the animals, helping with the sugar harvest and fetching firewood. He lived with his grandmother after his parents separated, loving being the man of the house. She would entertain the young Linton, who she called "me husband", with folk songs, stories and ghost stories.
In 1963, when he was 11 years old, Linton came to live in England. It was a huge contrast: "I had this childhood idea that literally the streets of London would be paved with gold and everybody living affluent lifestyles. So it was a bit of an eye-opener for me when I came and saw all these grey buildings with chimneys and smoke coming out of them and to see a white person sweeping the street!"
He experienced racism at school, from peers and teachers alike, and became interested in the Black movement. He joined the British Black Panthers in his teens, discovered Black literature and began to write poetry of his own.
He gained a sociology degree in the mid-1970s and had poems, inspired by politics and the Black movement, published in the journal Race Today. He soon became known for his poetry written in dialect and would often use reggae music to accompany it. He still tours with his band and can command stadium-size stages.
Linton Kwesi Johnson became one of only two living poets to be published in a Penguin Modern Classic in 2002. He says "I've made a small contribution to bring poetry back to the people."
1. Contact
Performer: Roy Richards
Composer: Richards
Publisher: Dameron
CD Title: Trojan Instrumentals Box Set
Track Disc: 2 trk 6
Label: Trojan
Rec No: TRB CD 007
2. Eastern Standard Time
Performer: Don Drummond
Composer: J Haynes, T McCook, L Sterling, R Alphonso, L Knibbs
Publisher: Island
CD Title: 40th Anniversary Vol 1 1959-1964. Ska's The Limit
Track: 19
Label: ISLAND
Rec No: 524 393-2
3. Imagine
Performer: John Lennon
Composer: John Lennon
Publisher: Lenono Music
CD Title: Hey That's What I call Music 45
Track: Disc 2 trk 23
Label: NOW
Rec No: CDNOW 45/A & B
4. Embraceable You
Performer: Charlie Parker
Composer: Gershwin
Publisher Dial
CD Title: Charlie Parker on the East Coast Sessions
Track: Disc 1 trk 13
Label: SPOTLITE
Rec No: ID 01-19 & 21
5. The Four Seasons
Performer: The Philadelphia Orchestra conducted by Eugene Ormandy
Composer: Vivaldi
Publisher: CBS Records
CD Title: The Four Seasons
Track: Disc 1 trk 1
Label: CBS
Rec No: CD 44813
6. Redemption Song
Performer: Bob Marley
Composer: Bob Marley
Publisher: Island Records
CD Title: Legend
Track: 11
Label: TUFF GONG
Rec No: BMWCD 1
7. My Lover's Prayer
Performer: Otis Redding
Composer: Otis Redding
Publisher: Wea International
CD Title: The Definitive Collection - Otis Redding
Track: 11
Label: Atlantic
Rec No: 9548-31609-2
8. Feel Like Jumpin
Performer: Marcia Griffiths
Composer: Keith Anderson
Publisher: Soul Jazz Records
CD Title: Studio One Rockers
Track: 2
Label: Soul Jazz
Rec No: SJRCD 48
Poems quoted:
Sonny's Lettah from Inglan is a Bitch, published by Race Today Publications.
Five Nights of Bleeding (for Leroy Harris) from Things an Times, published by Bloodaxe.
New Craas Massahkah (to the memory of the fourteen dead), published by Bloodaxe.
If Linton could only take one of the eight records it would be No 4, Embraceable You.
His book, in addition to the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare, would be 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
His luxury would be a bass guitar.
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