BBC HomeExplore the BBC


Accessibility help
Text only
BBC Homepage
BBC Radio
BBC Radio 4 - 92 to 94 FM and 198 Long WaveListen to Digital Radio, Digital TV and OnlineListen on Digital Radio, Digital TV and Online

PROGRAMME FINDER:
Programmes
Podcasts
Schedule
Presenters
PROGRAMME GENRES:
News
Drama
Comedy
Science
Religion|Ethics
History
Factual
Messageboards
Radio 4 Tickets
Radio 4 Help

Contact Us

Like this page?
Send it to a friend!

 

Factual
MISSED A PROGRAMME?
Go to the Listen Again page
Desert Island Discs
Programme Details

This Week's Guest:
Beryl Bainbridge

3 February 2008
Repeated
8 February 2008
Beryl Bainbridge
Beryl's Choice

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Dame Beryl Bainbridge.

She grew up in Liverpool - in a home filled with acrimony and argument - and started writing when she was still a child. Her only ambition, she says, was to get married and have a 'proper' family, but when her first two children were still young, her marriage broke down and she turned to writing once again. She believes she finds inspiration from the trouble and friction of everyday life and that if her marriage hadn't failed, she would have been too happy to write another word.
Now she is one of our most respected authors. She has written seventeen novels and countless articles, screenplays and television plays. She's won armfuls of awards too - but, despite being shortlisted five times, she's never won the Booker prize. She doesn't mind not winning, she says, but she would like to be the writer who has had the most nominations.                              

1. Silver Threads Among the Gold
Performer Connie Boswell
Composer Hart Pease Danks/Eben E Rexford 
CD Title Memory Lane/Silver Threads Among…
Track 2
Label BRUNSWICK
Rec No 02828

2. Eleanor Rigby
Performer The Beatles
Composer Lennon/McCartney
CD Title Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby
Track 2
Label PARLOPHONE
Rec No CD3R5493

3. Can I Forget You?
Performer Richard Tauber
Composer Hammerstein Il/ Kern
CD Title The Golden Age of Richard Tauber
Track Side 1 trk 9
Label GOLDEN AGE
Rec No GX 2504

4. Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major
Performer Vera Lynn
Composer Noel/Pelosi
CD Title We’ll Meet Again:Vera Lynn
Track 4
Label TELSTAR
Rec No TCD2369

5. MacArthur Park
Performer Richard Harris
Composer Jimmy Webb 
CD Title Radio Two: More Songs of the Century
Track 19
Label TELSTAR
Rec No TTVCD 3162

6. Two Little Boys
Performer Rolf Harris
Composer Morse-Madden
CD Title The Best of Rolf Harris
Track 13
Label EMI
Rec No CDG02062

7. Bat Out of Hell
Performer Meat Loaf
Composer Steinman
CD Title 18 Rock Classics Volume 3
Track 13
Label PICKWICK
Rec No PMP102

8. Space Oddity
Performer David Bowie
Composer David Bowie
CD Title Best of Bowie
Track 1
Label EMI
Rec No 5398212

Record: Can I forget You?
Book: The Case Books of John Hunter
Luxury: Pens and Paper
Listen Live
Audio Help
PROGRAMME INFO
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 Kirsty Young to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island.
LISTEN AGAIN
For rights reasons Desert Island Discs is not available as a listen again item.
PREVIOUS PROGRAMMES
Current Week
Current Programmes
Archived Programmes

News & Current Affairs | Arts & Drama | Comedy & Quizzes | Science | Religion & Ethics | History | Factual

Back to top

About the BBC | Help | Terms of Use | Privacy & Cookies Policy