Desert Island Discs Revisited [Illustrators 2]

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Chris Riddell

20240128

20240129 (BBC7)

Chris Riddell is an illustrator, author of children's books and a political cartoonist. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Children's Laureate, and he has won three Greenaway Medals for his work – more than any other illustrator.

He was born in 1962 in Cape Town, South Africa, where his parents were both anti-apartheid activists. They moved to the UK when Chris was a year old. He grew up first in rural England, and later in south London where his father, a vicar, became chaplain of Brixton Prison.

He started drawing as a young boy when he was given paper and pencils by his mother to keep him quiet during his father's sermons. After school, he studied illustration under Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic and received his first commission while still at art school. As a writer his work ranges from picture books to chapter book series including Ottoline and Goth Girl, and as an illustrator he has frequently collaborated with authors such as Paul Stewart and Neil Gaiman.

He started as a political cartoonist in the late 1980s and has drawn the Observer's weekly cartoon since 1995, celebrating 25 years at the paper this year. As Children's Laureate, he encouraged children to draw, and championed the importance of school libraries and librarians.

Chris is married to Jo, a fellow illustrator and printmaker, with whom he has three grown-up children, among them Katy, another illustrator.

DISC ONE: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, performed by Sinfonia of London

DISC TWO: The Funeral: September 25, 1977 (Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika) by Thuli Dumakude

DISC THREE: Smoke Signals by Phoebe Bridgers

DISC FOUR: Final Day by Young Marble Giants

DISC FIVE: Suzanne by Leonard Cohen

DISC SIX: Horace in Brighton by Bird in the Belly

DISC SEVEN: Klarinettenkonzert A-Dur K. 622 - 2. Adagio - I. Allegro. Composed by Mozart, directed by János Rolla, performed by Kálmán Berkes (clarinet) and Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, Budapest

DISC EIGHT: Tabula rasa: II. Silentium composed by Arvo Pärt, conducted by Paavo Järvi, performed by Viktoria Mullova (violin) and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra

BOOK CHOICE: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, with the Tenniel illustrations.

LUXURY ITEM: Sketchbooks and pens

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, performed by Sinfonia of London

Presenter: Lauren Laverne

Producer: Cathy Drysdale

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2020.

Illustrator and author Chris Riddell is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

From Leonard Cohen to Thomas Tallis. Illustrator Chris Riddell shares his castaway choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020.

Helen Oxenbury

20240107

20240108 (BBC7)

Children's books illustrator, Helen Oxenbury is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

Helen's work has featured in many very popular titles for younger readers including the award-winning We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen.

Helen has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Book Trust in 2018. She attended the Ipswich School of Art and later the Central School of Art in London where she met fellow illustrator and her future husband, John Burningham.

After the birth of her children she began illustrating children's books, working at the kitchen table long after they'd gone to bed. Her work for Ivor Cutler's Meal One, published in 1971, was praised by Spare Rib magazine for its portrayal of a single mother and her relationship with her young son.

Helen came up with the idea of her baby board books in the late 1970s after the birth of her third child who suffered with eczema. Discovering that her daughter could be distracted from scratching by looking at baby catalogues, Helen created a series of board books placing babies and toddlers at their heart. Such a concept was unheard of at the time.

From the late 1980s, Helen ensured that the babies and children featured in her books came from different ethnic backgrounds and her work in So Much by Trish Cooke has become a children's classic. In We're Going on a Bear Hunt, published in 1989, Helen's pictures celebrated the joy of adventure and the bond between siblings.

DISC ONE: America by Marilyn Cooper, Chita Rivera and Shark Girls

DISC TWO: Mir Ist So Wunderbar by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Mark Elder, performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tenor: Andrew Kennedy, Soprano: Lisa Milne, Soprano: Anja Kampe, Bass: Brindley Sherratt

DISC THREE: Tubby The Tuba by Danny Kaye

DISC FOUR: Lullaby of Birdland by Erroll Garner

DISC FIVE: Episode 1of Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol. II by Ivor Cutler ‎

DISC SIX: Schubert 's Impromptu No. 3 in G flat D899 by Alfred Brendel, (piano)

conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras

DISC SEVEN: Singin' in the Rain by Gene Kelly

DISC EIGHT: Les Pecheurs de Perles, Act 1: Romance: Mi par d'udir ancora (Je crois entendre encore) by Beniamino Gigli, conducted by Eugene Goossens

BOOK CHOICE: The Empire Trilogy by JG Farrell

LUXURY ITEM: A bed with an unlimited supply of white linen sheets

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Les Pecheurs de Perles, Act 1: Romance: Mi par d'udir ancora (Je crois entendre encore) by Beniamino Gigli, conducted by Eugene Goossens

Producer: Paula McGinley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2020.

From Beethoven to Danny Kaye. Illustrator and author Helen Oxenbury shares her castaway choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020.

Helen Oxenbury is an illustrator of children's books whose work has featured in many very popular titles for younger readers including the award-winning We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen.

Presenter: Lauren Laverne

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2020.

Mairi Hedderwick

20240114

20240115 (BBC7)

Author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick is castaway by Kirsty Young.

Her most famous creation is a little red-haired character called Katie Morag who - in wellies and a kilt - has skipped her way through fourteen books and a 26-part TV series. Katie lives on the imaginary Isle of Struay with her parents, siblings, cousins, granny and prize-winning sheep Alecina.

Like her creator she relishes the rhythms and freedoms particular to life on a wee Scottish island. But that's where the similarities end – the author was born and brought up an only child on the mainland of the lowlands. She lost her father when she was just twelve and says she was never part of a close-knit family.

As a grown-up, all she wanted was to quit the rat race and be an island crofter, but after a decade she left her dream behind in favour of a more stable income and a secondary school for her children.

She says, “I have a notion that children's writers explore unresolved questions in their own childhoods. I certainly do. ?

DISC ONE: Granma Mainland Theme - Donald Shaw; Anna Massie; Aidan O'Rourke; Nathon Jones; Dobro & Signy Jakobsdottir

DISC TWO: Over the Hills and Far Away: Tom Tom the Piper's Son - Martin Carthy & Isla St Clair

DISC THREE: My Blue Heaven - Frank Sinatra

DISC FOUR: Johann Sebastian Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor (3rd movement) - Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jaime Laredo, John Tunnell

DISC FIVE: Telegraph Road - Dire Straits

DISC SIX: Mambo de la Luna - Kirsty MacColl

DISC SEVEN: Sergey Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (3rd movement) - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Lorin Maazel

DISC EIGHT: Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) - Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Robin Ticciati

BOOK CHOICE: A book containing all the Ordnance Survey maps of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland

LUXURY CHOICE: A wonderful bath that comes down from the skies

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) - Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Robin Ticciati

Producer: Christine Pawlowsky

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014.

From Bach to Kirsty MacColl. Author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick shares her music choices with Kirsty Young. From 2014.

Raymond Briggs

20240121

20240122 (BBC7)

Sue Lawley's castaway is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs.

For millions of children, Christmas would be incomplete without Briggs's story The Snowman, which has been shown on television every year since its first release, in 1982, and his enduringly popular Father Christmas.

Raymond was born in 1934 in Wimbledon. His mother, Ethel, was a lady's maid and his father, Ernest, a milkman. He wanted to draw cartoon strips from an early age but, at art school, found his tutors looked down on his aspirations. After leaving, he quickly secured work as a commercial artist, doing illustrations for advertisements, journals and books. He said he was so appalled at the standard of the children's books he was asked to illustrate he thought he could do better himself. And he did - his first attempt was immediately accepted for publication and he went on to twice win the Kate Greenaway Medal - the principal award for illustration.

Raymond Briggs made his first music choice for Desert Island Discs in 1983.

DISC ONE: The Intro and The Outro - The Bonzo Dog Band

DISC TWO: Saga - Jan Garbarek

DISC THREE: La Rotta - The Dufay Collective

DISC FOUR: Unsquare Dance - The Dave Brubeck Quartet

DISC FIVE: Big in Japan - Tom Waits

DISC SIX: Spiegel im Spiegel - Tasmin Little

DISC SEVEN: River Pulse Rain Mix - Nitin Sawhney

DISC EIGHT: Cristóbal de Morales's Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) - Jan Garbarek (soloist) with The Hilliard Ensemble

BOOK CHOICE: Complete Works of Beachcomber - J B Morton

LUXURY CHOICE: A full-size billiard table with Radio 4 built into each of the legs

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cristóbal de Morales's Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) - Jan Garbarek (soloist) with The Hilliard Ensemble

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2005.

Illustrator Raymond Briggs is castaway for a second time by Sue Lawley.

From Tom Waits to Dave Brubeck. Illustrator Raymond Briggs returns to share more castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2005.

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
Chris Riddell	20240128	20240129 (BBC7)	Chris Riddell is an illustrator, author of children's books and a political cartoonist. From 2015 to 2017, he was the Children's Laureate, and he has won three Greenaway Medals for his work – more than any other illustrator. He was born in 1962 in Cape Town, South Africa, where his parents were both anti-apartheid activists. They moved to the UK when Chris was a year old. He grew up first in rural England, and later in south London where his father, a vicar, became chaplain of Brixton Prison. He started drawing as a young boy when he was given paper and pencils by his mother to keep him quiet during his father's sermons. After school, he studied illustration under Raymond Briggs at Brighton Polytechnic and received his first commission while still at art school. As a writer his work ranges from picture books to chapter book series including Ottoline and Goth Girl, and as an illustrator he has frequently collaborated with authors such as Paul Stewart and Neil Gaiman. He started as a political cartoonist in the late 1980s and has drawn the Observer's weekly cartoon since 1995, celebrating 25 years at the paper this year. As Children's Laureate, he encouraged children to draw, and championed the importance of school libraries and librarians. Chris is married to Jo, a fellow illustrator and printmaker, with whom he has three grown-up children, among them Katy, another illustrator. DISC ONE: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, performed by Sinfonia of London DISC TWO: The Funeral: September 25, 1977 (Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika) by Thuli Dumakude DISC THREE: Smoke Signals by Phoebe Bridgers DISC FOUR: Final Day by Young Marble Giants DISC FIVE: Suzanne by Leonard Cohen DISC SIX: Horace in Brighton by Bird in the Belly DISC SEVEN: Klarinettenkonzert A-Dur K. 622 - 2. Adagio - I. Allegro. Composed by Mozart, directed by János Rolla, performed by Kálmán Berkes (clarinet) and Liszt Ferenc Chamber Orchestra, Budapest DISC EIGHT: Tabula rasa: II. Silentium composed by Arvo Pärt, conducted by Paavo Järvi, performed by Viktoria Mullova (violin) and Estonian National Symphony Orchestra BOOK CHOICE: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Alice Through the Looking Glass, with the Tenniel illustrations. LUXURY ITEM: Sketchbooks and pens CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Fantasia on a Theme of Thomas Tallis, composed by Ralph Vaughan Williams, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli, performed by Sinfonia of London Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Cathy Drysdale First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2020. Illustrator and author Chris Riddell is castaway by Lauren Laverne. From Leonard Cohen to Thomas Tallis. Illustrator Chris Riddell shares his castaway choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020.
Helen Oxenbury	20240107	20240108 (BBC7)	Children's books illustrator, Helen Oxenbury is castaway by Lauren Laverne. Helen's work has featured in many very popular titles for younger readers including the award-winning We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen. Helen has won the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and was awarded a lifetime achievement award by the Book Trust in 2018. She attended the Ipswich School of Art and later the Central School of Art in London where she met fellow illustrator and her future husband, John Burningham. After the birth of her children she began illustrating children's books, working at the kitchen table long after they'd gone to bed. Her work for Ivor Cutler's Meal One, published in 1971, was praised by Spare Rib magazine for its portrayal of a single mother and her relationship with her young son. Helen came up with the idea of her baby board books in the late 1970s after the birth of her third child who suffered with eczema. Discovering that her daughter could be distracted from scratching by looking at baby catalogues, Helen created a series of board books placing babies and toddlers at their heart. Such a concept was unheard of at the time. From the late 1980s, Helen ensured that the babies and children featured in her books came from different ethnic backgrounds and her work in So Much by Trish Cooke has become a children's classic. In We're Going on a Bear Hunt, published in 1989, Helen's pictures celebrated the joy of adventure and the bond between siblings. DISC ONE: America by Marilyn Cooper, Chita Rivera and Shark Girls DISC TWO: Mir Ist So Wunderbar by Ludwig van Beethoven, conducted by Mark Elder, performed by London Philharmonic Orchestra. Tenor: Andrew Kennedy, Soprano: Lisa Milne, Soprano: Anja Kampe, Bass: Brindley Sherratt DISC THREE: Tubby The Tuba by Danny Kaye DISC FOUR: Lullaby of Birdland by Erroll Garner DISC FIVE: Episode 1of Life In A Scotch Sitting Room Vol. II by Ivor Cutler ‎ DISC SIX: Schubert 's Impromptu No. 3 in G flat D899 by Alfred Brendel, (piano) conducted by Sir Charles Mackerras DISC SEVEN: Singin' in the Rain by Gene Kelly DISC EIGHT: Les Pecheurs de Perles, Act 1: Romance: Mi par d'udir ancora (Je crois entendre encore) by Beniamino Gigli, conducted by Eugene Goossens BOOK CHOICE: The Empire Trilogy by JG Farrell LUXURY ITEM: A bed with an unlimited supply of white linen sheets CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Les Pecheurs de Perles, Act 1: Romance: Mi par d'udir ancora (Je crois entendre encore) by Beniamino Gigli, conducted by Eugene Goossens Producer: Paula McGinley First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in November 2020. From Beethoven to Danny Kaye. Illustrator and author Helen Oxenbury shares her castaway choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020. Helen Oxenbury is an illustrator of children's books whose work has featured in many very popular titles for younger readers including the award-winning We're Going on a Bear Hunt, by Michael Rosen. Presenter: Lauren Laverne First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2020.
Mairi Hedderwick	20240114	20240115 (BBC7)	Author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick is castaway by Kirsty Young. Her most famous creation is a little red-haired character called Katie Morag who - in wellies and a kilt - has skipped her way through fourteen books and a 26-part TV series. Katie lives on the imaginary Isle of Struay with her parents, siblings, cousins, granny and prize-winning sheep Alecina. Like her creator she relishes the rhythms and freedoms particular to life on a wee Scottish island. But that's where the similarities end – the author was born and brought up an only child on the mainland of the lowlands. She lost her father when she was just twelve and says she was never part of a close-knit family. As a grown-up, all she wanted was to quit the rat race and be an island crofter, but after a decade she left her dream behind in favour of a more stable income and a secondary school for her children. She says, “I have a notion that children's writers explore unresolved questions in their own childhoods. I certainly do. ? DISC ONE: Granma Mainland Theme - Donald Shaw; Anna Massie; Aidan O'Rourke; Nathon Jones; Dobro & Signy Jakobsdottir DISC TWO: Over the Hills and Far Away: Tom Tom the Piper's Son - Martin Carthy & Isla St Clair DISC THREE: My Blue Heaven - Frank Sinatra DISC FOUR: Johann Sebastian Bach's Double Violin Concerto in D minor (3rd movement) - Scottish Chamber Orchestra, Jaime Laredo, John Tunnell DISC FIVE: Telegraph Road - Dire Straits DISC SIX: Mambo de la Luna - Kirsty MacColl DISC SEVEN: Sergey Rachmaninov's Symphony No. 2 in E Minor (3rd movement) - Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra with Lorin Maazel DISC EIGHT: Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) - Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Robin Ticciati BOOK CHOICE: A book containing all the Ordnance Survey maps of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland LUXURY CHOICE: A wonderful bath that comes down from the skies CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Einojuhani Rautavaara's Cantus Arcticus (Concerto for Birds and Orchestra) - Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra with Robin Ticciati Producer: Christine Pawlowsky First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2014. From Bach to Kirsty MacColl. Author and illustrator Mairi Hedderwick shares her music choices with Kirsty Young. From 2014.
Raymond Briggs	20240121	20240122 (BBC7)	Sue Lawley's castaway is the writer and illustrator Raymond Briggs. For millions of children, Christmas would be incomplete without Briggs's story The Snowman, which has been shown on television every year since its first release, in 1982, and his enduringly popular Father Christmas. Raymond was born in 1934 in Wimbledon. His mother, Ethel, was a lady's maid and his father, Ernest, a milkman. He wanted to draw cartoon strips from an early age but, at art school, found his tutors looked down on his aspirations. After leaving, he quickly secured work as a commercial artist, doing illustrations for advertisements, journals and books. He said he was so appalled at the standard of the children's books he was asked to illustrate he thought he could do better himself. And he did - his first attempt was immediately accepted for publication and he went on to twice win the Kate Greenaway Medal - the principal award for illustration. Raymond Briggs made his first music choice for Desert Island Discs in 1983. DISC ONE: The Intro and The Outro - The Bonzo Dog Band DISC TWO: Saga - Jan Garbarek DISC THREE: La Rotta - The Dufay Collective DISC FOUR: Unsquare Dance - The Dave Brubeck Quartet DISC FIVE: Big in Japan - Tom Waits DISC SIX: Spiegel im Spiegel - Tasmin Little DISC SEVEN: River Pulse Rain Mix - Nitin Sawhney DISC EIGHT: Cristóbal de Morales's Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) - Jan Garbarek (soloist) with The Hilliard Ensemble BOOK CHOICE: Complete Works of Beachcomber - J B Morton LUXURY CHOICE: A full-size billiard table with Radio 4 built into each of the legs CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cristóbal de Morales's Parce Mihi Domine (from Officium Defunctorum) - Jan Garbarek (soloist) with The Hilliard Ensemble Producer: Leanne Buckle First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in March 2005. Illustrator Raymond Briggs is castaway for a second time by Sue Lawley. From Tom Waits to Dave Brubeck. Illustrator Raymond Briggs returns to share more castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2005.