Tariq Ali

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the radical thinker, writer and broadcaster Tariq Ali. Forty years since the streets of London were filled with demonstrators, Tariq Ali describes how he came to be involved in anti-establishment politics and how, from an early age, he felt drawn towards those people who were the underdogs of society. He was born to privileged, atheist parents in Pakistan, he led his first street protest at 12 and his first strike at 15 He became increasingly political until, after a military coup, his parents were advised to send him out of the country for his own safety and so he came to study at Oxford.

He travelled to Vietnam at the height of the war to observe and document the suffering there and also travelled to Bolivia and Palestine. His role as an anti-establishment agitator was cemented when he led two revolutionary marches in London in 1968. Forty years on - and after a successful career as a film-maker and writer - he says it remains important to voice dissenting views and he insists that despite his privilege and status he remains firmly outside the establishment.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Choices

1.

Gabriel Fauré

Introitus (from Requiem)

Choir: The Choir of Kings College, Cambridge Orchestra: The English Chamber Orchestra Conductor: Stephen Cleobury

Others who chose this artist

2.

Dmitri Shostakovich

String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor - 3rd movement

Orchestra: Borodin String Quartet

Others who chose this artist

3.

Franz Schubert

Prometheus, D674

Soloist: Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Gerald Moore

Others who chose this artist

4.

Charlie Parker

Blues for Alice

Others who chose this artist

5.

Giuseppe Verdi

Si, pel ciel (Oath duet) (from Otello)

Soloist: Luciano Pavarotti & Daniela Dessi Choir: The Chorus and Orchestra: of La Scala Conductor: Riccardo Muti

Others who chose this artist

6.

Cornelius Cardew

The Croppy Boy

Others who chose this artist

7.

Castaway's favourite

Pathane Khan

Meda Ishq Vi Toon

Others who chose this artist

8.

Tom Lehrer

Send the Marines

Others who chose this artist

Book

The collected works by Marcel Proust

Others who chose this author

Luxury item

A mini DVD player

Others who chose a similar luxury