Desert Island Discs Revisited [Poet Castaways]

Title

First
Broadcast

Repeated

Comments

Imtiaz Dharker

20241013

20241014 (BBC7)

Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and artist, Imtiaz Dharker.

Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for her work, her life seems a perfect reflection of the inter-relatedness of The Commonwealth. Born in Pakistan she was no more than a few months old when the family packed up their belongings and flew four thousand miles to start a new life - exchanging the blistering, dusty lanes of Lahore for the blustery, rain-slicked roads of Glasgow.

Her father worked hard and, from scratch, built a big, successful business and a comfortable life for his children. But the immigrant fairytale came undone when his restless, well-educated, westernised daughter married in secret, running away to Bombay. Her parents disowned her and she would never see her mother again.

Her work centres on themes of freedom, cultural intolerance, everyday life and gender politics.

DISC ONE: Sachal Studios Orchestra -Take Five

DISC TWO: Donald O'Connor & Gene Kelly - Moses Supposes from Singin' in the Rain

DISC THREE: Shankar Mahadevan - Breathless

DISC FOUR: Ayesha Dharker - Charara charara maro chakro chale

DISC FIVE: Klemens Schnorr - Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ

DISC SIX: Antony - If It be Your Will

DISC SEVEN: John Grierson and Stuart Legg - Benjamin Britten's Night Mail

DISC EIGHT: Ronald Binge - Sailing By into the Shipping Forecast read by Luke Tuddenham

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ronald Binge - Sailing By into the Shipping Forecast read by Luke Tuddenham

BOOK CHOICE: An atlas of the whole world

LUXURY CHOICE: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London

Producer: Sarah Taylor

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015.

Poet Imtiaz Dharker is castaway by Kirsty Young.

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

From Shankar Mahadevan to Ronald Binge. Poet and artist Imtiaz Dharker shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From 2015.

[LISTEN NOW]

Linton Kwesi Johnson

20241027

20241028 (BBC7)

Dub poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Linton 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.

DISC ONE: Roy Richards & Baba Brooks Band - Contact

DISC TWO: Don Drummond - Eastern Standard Time

DISC THREE: John Lennon - Imagine

DISC FOUR: Charlie Parker - Embraceable You

DISC FIVE: Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring

DISC SIX: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song

DISC SEVEN: Otis Redding - My Lover's Prayer

DISC EIGHT: Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumpin

FAVOURITE TRACK: Charlie Parker - Embraceable You

BOOK CHOICE : One Hundred Years Of Solitude

LUXURY: A bass guitar

Produced by Lisa Jenkinson

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002.

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

From Vivaldi to Otis Redding. Linton Kwesi Johnson shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2003.

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 eleven 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.

[LISTEN NOW]

Michael Rosen

20141221

20241020 (BBC7)
20241021 (BBC7)

Author and children's poet Michael Rosen is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Since his first book, Mind Your Own Business, was published more than than 30 years ago, Michael has been credited with revolutionising the way children's poems are written and performed.

Words and language have always formed an important part of his life. The son of two teachers, he was born into a London, Jewish family, and brought up in a home full of literature, conversation and debate. His poems often rely on snatches of dialogue and memories from his own childhood and relate his experiences with his own children.

His greatest commercial success has been his hugely popular re-telling of the American folk tale We're All Going on a Bear Hunt.

He's also published a series of memories aimed at adults rather than children. In particular, these attend to the central tragedy of his life, the sudden death of his second son Eddie, when he was 18 years old. His death became a public matter because Eddie had featured so often in Michael's early work and was a well-known character to millions of children.

DISC ONE: Original Cast - Oh, What a Lovely War

DISC TWO: Ewan MacColl - Fourpence a Day

DISC THREE: Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White

DISC FOUR: Aretha Franklin - Spanish Harlem

DISC FIVE: John Doherty - Miss Ramsay

DISC SIX: Léo Ferré - Paname

DISC SEVEN: Smiley Culture - Cockney Translation

DISC EIGHT: Toumani Diabete - Taj Mahal's Tunkaranke

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White

BOOK CHOICE: The Complete Poems - Carl Sandburg

LUXURY CHOICE: A didgeridoo belonging to his late son Eddie

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2006.

Children's author Michael Rosen is castaway by Sue Lawley.

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

From Ewan MacColl to Smiley Culture. Children's author Michael Rosen shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2006.

[LISTEN NOW]

Simon Armitage

20241006

20241007 (BBC7)

From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage makes his castaway music choices.

Simon Armitage was appointed Poet Laureate in 2019. His poems celebrate the everyday and the ordinary with wit and affection. But beyond the wood chip and washing lines he addresses the complexities and the profound feelings that underpin daily life.

Born in Huddersfield, Simon Armitage grew up in the village of Marsden in West Yorkshire. Marsden has informed and inspired much of his work and as a boy he would look out of his bedroom window at night to watch the comings and goings of village life.

He vividly remembers as a teenager discovering the work of fellow laureate Ted Hughes, recalling an almost electrical surge of excitement when he realised the power of words on a page. Hughes grew up in the next valley and Simon admits to thinking 'If Ted Hughes can do it why can't I?

He worked as a probation officer in Manchester for several years, writing poetry in the evenings and at weekends. His first collection Zoom! was published in 1989 and a few years later he left the probation service to write full time. Prolific and popular, he was named the Millennium poet and in 2015 was appointed Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. Three years later he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

Today he lives not far from Marsden where, when he's not writing poems, plays and novels, he still looks out of his window and daydreams.

DISC ONE: Moonage Daydream by David Bowie

DISC TWO: The Lamb by William Blake, composed by John Tavener, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha and performed by The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge

DISC THREE: You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two by Jonathan Pryce and the 1994 London Palladium Cast Of Oliver!

DISC FOUR: Icecrust and Snowflake by Ted Hughes

DISC FIVE: Atmosphere by Joy Division

DISC SIX: Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go? by Soft Cell

DISC SEVEN: Holmfirth Anthem by Jon Rennard

DISC EIGHT: My Heart's in the Highlands by Else Torpe and Christopher Bowers-Broadbent

BOOK CHOICE: The Oxford English Dictionary

LUXURY ITEM: A tennis ball

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Moonage Daydream by David Bowie

Presenter: Lauren Laverne

Producer: Paula McGinley

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.

Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate, shares the soundtrack of his life. With Lauren Laverne.

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage makes his castaway music choices. With Lauren Laverne. From 2020.

Appointed Poet Laureate in 2019 - Simon Armitage is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is castaway by Lauren Laverne.

From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage shares his castaway music choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020.

[LISTEN NOW]

Episodes

Title	First Broadcast	Repeated	Comments
Imtiaz Dharker	20241013	20241014 (BBC7)	Kirsty Young's castaway is the poet and artist, Imtiaz Dharker. Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for her work, her life seems a perfect reflection of the inter-relatedness of The Commonwealth. Born in Pakistan she was no more than a few months old when the family packed up their belongings and flew four thousand miles to start a new life - exchanging the blistering, dusty lanes of Lahore for the blustery, rain-slicked roads of Glasgow. Her father worked hard and, from scratch, built a big, successful business and a comfortable life for his children. But the immigrant fairytale came undone when his restless, well-educated, westernised daughter married in secret, running away to Bombay. Her parents disowned her and she would never see her mother again. Her work centres on themes of freedom, cultural intolerance, everyday life and gender politics. DISC ONE: Sachal Studios Orchestra -Take Five DISC TWO: Donald O'Connor & Gene Kelly - Moses Supposes from Singin' in the Rain DISC THREE: Shankar Mahadevan - Breathless DISC FOUR: Ayesha Dharker - Charara charara maro chakro chale DISC FIVE: Klemens Schnorr - Johann Sebastian Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor for Organ DISC SIX: Antony - If It be Your Will DISC SEVEN: John Grierson and Stuart Legg - Benjamin Britten's Night Mail DISC EIGHT: Ronald Binge - Sailing By into the Shipping Forecast read by Luke Tuddenham CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ronald Binge - Sailing By into the Shipping Forecast read by Luke Tuddenham BOOK CHOICE: An atlas of the whole world LUXURY CHOICE: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London Producer: Sarah Taylor First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2015. Poet Imtiaz Dharker is castaway by Kirsty Young. Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive. From Shankar Mahadevan to Ronald Binge. Poet and artist Imtiaz Dharker shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From 2015. [LISTEN NOW]
Linton Kwesi Johnson	20241027	20241028 (BBC7)	Dub poet and reggae artist Linton Kwesi Johnson is castaway by Sue Lawley. Linton 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. DISC ONE: Roy Richards & Baba Brooks Band - Contact DISC TWO: Don Drummond - Eastern Standard Time DISC THREE: John Lennon - Imagine DISC FOUR: Charlie Parker - Embraceable You DISC FIVE: Antonio Vivaldi - The Four Seasons - Spring DISC SIX: Bob Marley & The Wailers - Redemption Song DISC SEVEN: Otis Redding - My Lover's Prayer DISC EIGHT: Marcia Griffiths - Feel Like Jumpin FAVOURITE TRACK: Charlie Parker - Embraceable You BOOK CHOICE : One Hundred Years Of Solitude LUXURY: A bass guitar Produced by Lisa Jenkinson First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in 2002. Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive. From Vivaldi to Otis Redding. Linton Kwesi Johnson shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2003. 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 eleven 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. [LISTEN NOW]
Michael Rosen	20141221	20241020 (BBC7) 20241021 (BBC7)	Author and children's poet Michael Rosen is castaway by Sue Lawley. Since his first book, Mind Your Own Business, was published more than than 30 years ago, Michael has been credited with revolutionising the way children's poems are written and performed. Words and language have always formed an important part of his life. The son of two teachers, he was born into a London, Jewish family, and brought up in a home full of literature, conversation and debate. His poems often rely on snatches of dialogue and memories from his own childhood and relate his experiences with his own children. His greatest commercial success has been his hugely popular re-telling of the American folk tale We're All Going on a Bear Hunt. He's also published a series of memories aimed at adults rather than children. In particular, these attend to the central tragedy of his life, the sudden death of his second son Eddie, when he was 18 years old. His death became a public matter because Eddie had featured so often in Michael's early work and was a well-known character to millions of children. DISC ONE: Original Cast - Oh, What a Lovely War DISC TWO: Ewan MacColl - Fourpence a Day DISC THREE: Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White DISC FOUR: Aretha Franklin - Spanish Harlem DISC FIVE: John Doherty - Miss Ramsay DISC SIX: Léo Ferré - Paname DISC SEVEN: Smiley Culture - Cockney Translation DISC EIGHT: Toumani Diabete - Taj Mahal's Tunkaranke CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Big Bill Broonzy - Black, Brown and White BOOK CHOICE: The Complete Poems - Carl Sandburg LUXURY CHOICE: A didgeridoo belonging to his late son Eddie Producer: Leanne Buckle First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in August 2006. Children's author Michael Rosen is castaway by Sue Lawley. Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive. From Ewan MacColl to Smiley Culture. Children's author Michael Rosen shares his castaway choices with Sue Lawley. From 2006. [LISTEN NOW]
Simon Armitage	20241006	20241007 (BBC7)	From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage makes his castaway music choices. Simon Armitage was appointed Poet Laureate in 2019. His poems celebrate the everyday and the ordinary with wit and affection. But beyond the wood chip and washing lines he addresses the complexities and the profound feelings that underpin daily life. Born in Huddersfield, Simon Armitage grew up in the village of Marsden in West Yorkshire. Marsden has informed and inspired much of his work and as a boy he would look out of his bedroom window at night to watch the comings and goings of village life. He vividly remembers as a teenager discovering the work of fellow laureate Ted Hughes, recalling an almost electrical surge of excitement when he realised the power of words on a page. Hughes grew up in the next valley and Simon admits to thinking 'If Ted Hughes can do it why can't I? He worked as a probation officer in Manchester for several years, writing poetry in the evenings and at weekends. His first collection Zoom! was published in 1989 and a few years later he left the probation service to write full time. Prolific and popular, he was named the Millennium poet and in 2015 was appointed Professor of Poetry at the University of Oxford. Three years later he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. Today he lives not far from Marsden where, when he's not writing poems, plays and novels, he still looks out of his window and daydreams. DISC ONE: Moonage Daydream by David Bowie DISC TWO: The Lamb by William Blake, composed by John Tavener, conducted by Andrew Nethsingha and performed by The Choir of St John's College, Cambridge DISC THREE: You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two by Jonathan Pryce and the 1994 London Palladium Cast Of Oliver! DISC FOUR: Icecrust and Snowflake by Ted Hughes DISC FIVE: Atmosphere by Joy Division DISC SIX: Tainted Love / Where Did Our Love Go? by Soft Cell DISC SEVEN: Holmfirth Anthem by Jon Rennard DISC EIGHT: My Heart's in the Highlands by Else Torpe and Christopher Bowers-Broadbent BOOK CHOICE: The Oxford English Dictionary LUXURY ITEM: A tennis ball CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Moonage Daydream by David Bowie Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020. Simon Armitage, Poet Laureate, shares the soundtrack of his life. With Lauren Laverne. Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive. From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage makes his castaway music choices. With Lauren Laverne. From 2020. Appointed Poet Laureate in 2019 - Simon Armitage is castaway by Lauren Laverne. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage is castaway by Lauren Laverne. From David Bowie to Joy Division. Poet Simon Armitage shares his castaway music choices with Lauren Laverne. From 2020. [LISTEN NOW]