1.
Castaway's favourite
Johann Sebastian Bach
St Matthew Passion - Kommt, ihr Töchter
Choir: Monteverdi Choir & London Oratory Junior School
P D James
Broadcast
First broadcast: Sun 27 Oct 2002
Crime writer
P D James was born in Oxford, later moving to Ludlow on the Welsh Borders where she experienced a childhood which she says had more in common with a Victorian childhood than anything today. She was a well-behaved, quiet child who entertained herself and her siblings by telling and writing stories. Phyllis attended an old-fashioned grammar school where she enjoyed English lessons. She says "I knew I was going to write books".
Because of financial pressures at home, she had to leave school at sixteen, first following her father into the tax office, then in a theatre where she met her husband, who was training to be a doctor. World War Two intervened and, because her husband returned from work in the Medical Corps with a severe mental illness, Phyllis had to be the main breadwinner, working as principal hospital administrator at the North West Regional Hospital Board, London in charge of five psychiatric hospitals. It wasn't until she was thirty-nine years old, whilst working in the hospital, that Phyllis began her first novel, Cover Her Face. "I knew it was something I was going to do, and it was just that life was so busy I didn't get round to it". She chose the name P D James because it looked good on a book jacket, and crime genre because she didn't want to draw on autobiographical details.
The book was immediately accepted by a publisher, and in 1979 she gave up her other jobs to become a full-time writer, focusing on Detective Adam Dalgleish of Scotland Yard as her main character. P D James was awarded the OBE in 1982, she has chaired the Booker Prize panel of judges, has been on the BBC Board of Governors, was made an Associate fellow, Downing College, Cambridge in 1986 and made a Life Peer in 1992. Her books have made her a household name and she is now working on her 17th novel.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Choices
3.
Gerry Grey
A String of Pearls
Orchestra: Universal International Orchestra
5.
Antonio Vivaldi
Concerto for Two Trumpets in C major
Soloist: Philip Jones & John Wilbraham Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields Conductor: Neville Marriner
6.
Oscar Wilde
Extract from Importance of Being Earnest
Artist: Edith Evans as Lady Bracknell & Sir John Gielgud
8.
Gilbert & Sullivan
Is life a boon? (from The Yeoman of the Guard)
Soloist: Kurt Streit Orchestra: Academy & Chorus of St Martin in the Fields
Broadcast
First broadcast: Sat 20 Nov 1982
Crime writer
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer P D James.
Choices
1.
Gabriel Fauré
Agnus Dei (from Requiem)
Choir: King's College Chapel Choir Orchestra: New Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor: David Willcocks
3.
Oscar Wilde
Lady Bracknell Interviews John Worthing (from The Importance Of Being Earnest)
Artist: Edith Evans, John Gielgud
4.
Sir Edward Elgar
The Dream Of Gerontius
Choir: Philharmonia Chorus Orchestra: Hallé Orchestra Conductor: John Barbirolli
6.
Castaway's favourite
Johann Sebastian Bach
St Matthew Passion - Wir setzen uns mit Tränen nieder
Orchestra: Philharmonia Choir and Orchestra Conductor: Otto Klemperer
8.
Georg Philipp Telemann
Trumpet Concerto in D major
Soloist: John Wilbraham Orchestra: Academy of St Martin in the Fields Conductor: Neville Marriner
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Occupations
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