Desert Island Discs Recommended: Recent Episodes
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Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the rugby union referee Nigel Owens.
His steely authority and quick wit on the field have won him worldwide praise - he's widely regarded as one of the best referees in the business for the impact he makes on the flow and coherence of a game. In 2015 he became the second Welsh official since 1991 to referee a World Cup Final - in a memorable match between New Zealand and Australia.
Born and raised in a small village in Carmarthenshire, he first picked up the whistle aged 16, when it became clear to both his teacher and himself that he wouldn't make much impact as a player.
A former school technician and farm worker, he broke through onto the international refereeing circuit in 2005 and took charge of his first Test when Japan hosted Ireland in Osaka that summer.
In 2007 he became one of the first high-profile sports professionals to come out as gay - a courageous move in a sport which often defines the word macho. He has spoken about this decision as being the biggest challenge he has ever faced - even more so than officiating an international match under intense scrutiny in front of 95,000 spectators and a global TV audience. The severe depression he experienced coming to terms with his sexuality culminated in an attempt to take his own life in his twenties.
He now says the unwavering support he has received from the rugby authorities, the players and the fans has enabled him to be true to himself and carry on working in the game he loves.
Producer: Paula McGinley.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b08cr6w9
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Judi Dench.
Born into a family with dramatic leanings, she followed one of her older brothers, Jeffery, to drama school. Having abandoned ideas of becoming a set designer, she made her professional debut as Ophelia at the Old Vic in 1957. An illustrious stage career followed in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet in 1960, in Cabaret in 1968 and as Lady Macbeth for Trevor Nunn in 1976. On TV she found huge success in sitcoms - appearing with her husband, the late Michael Williams, in A Fine Romance and with Geoffrey Palmer in As Time Goes By.
She received an Oscar nomination for her first big-screen part as Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown; Shakespeare in Love won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Mrs Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal, Iris, and Philomena followed. She played the part of 'M' in the James Bond films seven times and is about to appear as Paulina in Sir Kenneth Branagh's production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
Married to Michael Williams for 30 years, their daughter, Finty, is also an actress.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
Roy Plomley's castaway is cellist Jacqueline Du Pré.
Favourite track: Piano Quintet In A Major by Franz Schubert Book: Thesaurus by Roget Luxury: Pencils and paper
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mztt
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
While Desert Island Discs is off air over the summer, we’re sharing some of the gems from the Desert Island Discs archive. This week is cellist Jacqueline Du Pre, interviewed by Roy Plomley in 1977.
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Judi Dench.
Born into a family with dramatic leanings, she followed one of her older brothers, Jeffery, to drama school. Having abandoned ideas of becoming a set designer, she made her professional debut as Ophelia at the Old Vic in 1957. An illustrious stage career followed in Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet in 1960, in Cabaret in 1968 and as Lady Macbeth for Trevor Nunn in 1976. On TV she found huge success in sitcoms - appearing with her husband, the late Michael Williams, in A Fine Romance and with Geoffrey Palmer in As Time Goes By.
She received an Oscar nomination for her first big-screen part as Queen Victoria in Mrs Brown; Shakespeare in Love won her an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress; Mrs Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal, Iris, and Philomena followed. She played the part of 'M' in the James Bond films seven times and is about to appear as Paulina in Sir Kenneth Branagh's production of Shakespeare's The Winter's Tale.
Married to Michael Williams for 30 years, their daughter, Finty, is also an actress.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06bd681
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is actress Judi Dench.
Favourite track: Cello Concerto in E Minor by Edward Elgar Book: The Book of Kells Luxury: Basil Brush films and projector
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009nbp6
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
While Desert Island Discs is off air over the summer, we’re sharing some of the gems from the Desert Island Discs archive. This week is comic actor Kenneth Williams, interviewed by Michael Parkinson in 1987.
75 Years of Desert Island Discs - Kirsty Young introduces some gems from the archive, including recently discovered recordings.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the director, producer and writer, John Lloyd.
His work has been making us laugh for over thirty years: Spitting Image, Not The Nine o'Clock News, Blackadder and QI are just a handful of the programmes he's helped to create. If the comedy work ever dries up he could open a shop selling second hand Baftas - he's won a stack of them and a Grammy and an Emmy.
Which isn't to say it's been an easy ride - fall outs, multiple sackings and missed opportunities have peppered his stellar career in comedy. He says,
"I like starting things ... there are starters and finishers in life, that's the great divide ... I like the fight and the passion and the difficulty - well I don't like it, but it's what I do".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01nx32n
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the Holocaust survivor Ben Helfgott. His inspirational journey has taken him from the horrors of Nazi-occupied Poland to the highs of Olympic glory. He was nine years old when Germany invaded and at that point, he says, his childhood ended. He spent the next three years in a ghetto while his mother and younger sister were among those rounded up and shot by the Nazis. He was then deported to a series of concentration camps and, when he was eventually liberated from Theresienstadt, he was 15 years old and little more than a skeleton. He joined a group of 700 orphans who were brought to England to form a new life.
He went on to become a successful businessman and a champion weightlifter - but his physical strength is matched by an extraordinary emotional fortitude. Not only has he made the most of every opportunity that came his way but he has spent his life campaigning to ensure those who died are properly commemorated.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Nessun Dorma by The Three Tenors Book: The History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand Russell Luxury: A bar with two discs for weight training.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007763z
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the legendary tennis player, Martina Navratilova.
In an extraordinary career she's won 59 Grand Slam titles - her last just a few weeks short of her fiftieth birthday. Her life off the court has been equally eventful - she grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and, as a teenager, threw rocks as Soviet tanks rolled in; tennis offered a way to see the world and she defected to the US when she was 18 years old. After thirty years at the top of her profession she retired - and says she finally found time for the rest of her life: "Tennis really was a total commitment, you didn't have much time for anything else. So, when I quit, I was going through something emotionally that most people go through when they're 18, 20 years old. Really having the time for personal relationships, developing friendships and taking the time with everybody. I think I've caught up by now."
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01kjjp1
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Yoko Ono. She was already an avant-garde artist in her own right when, in 1968, she started dating one of the most famous men in the world, John Lennon. Then, depending on who you listen to, she either stole him from the nation or helped him to focus on what was important to them both.
Now, more than 25 years after John's murder, she discusses how it felt to be so reviled in the press, looks back on their life together and recalls the night of his death. In a remarkably frank interview, she reveals how she still speaks to him - and he still communicates with her.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Beautiful Boy by John Lennon Book: Sai-Yu-Ki Luxury: My life for the next thirty years.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007nc7n
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway for Christmas week is The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Most Reverend Justin Welby.
Ordained as a priest in 1993, 19 years later he was appointed to lead the Anglican communion of over 77 million people spread across 167 countries. Hardly a front runner when the job vacancy came up he said that it would be "a joke" and "perfectly absurd" if he were appointed.
His faith has brought him high office but when he 'found God' at university, it gave him something a good deal more significant: a sense of much needed comfort after an often turbulent and uncertain childhood. Although his mother's side of the family provided stability, his father was an alcoholic and his childhood was punctuated by his parents' early divorce and significant money worries - one particular Christmas was spent hungrily staring out of the window as his father lay in bed all day.
He says, "When the church is working it is the most mind-bogglingly, amazingly, extraordinarily beautiful community on earth. It heals, it transforms, it loves, and it changes society."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04vd69f
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is George Michael. As a singer and songwriter he has enjoyed massive global success for a quarter of a century. He's sold more than 100 million records, won two Grammy awards and notched up countless number one hits.
His ability to write, produce, and perform perfect pop songs is unquestioned. But along with the career highs, there have been lows too: he lost a long wrangle with his record company, was crippled by bereavement and for years questions about his sexuality were a matter of newspaper headlines until he was spectacularly outed a decade ago. In a rare interview, George Michael talks candidly to Kirsty Young about how he regained his emotional and professional confidence - and is now a happier and more peaceful man.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Love is a Losing Game by Amy Winehouse Book: Any book of short stories by Doris Lessing Luxury: DB9 car.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008006s
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, David Nott.
He works across three London hospitals performing general, vascular, trauma & reconstructive surgery. In addition, for the past two decades, he's spent several weeks every year working in conflict zones around the world for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Born in Carmarthen, Wales, he was brought up by his grandparents until he was four while his parents finished their training - his Welsh mother became a nurse, his Indo-Burmese father an orthopaedic surgeon. He studied medicine at St Andrews University and completed his medical and surgical training in Manchester and Liverpool before becoming a consultant general and vascular surgeon working in London.
He first volunteered to go into a war zone in 1993 when he travelled to Sarajevo. Since then he has worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast, Chad, Haiti, Yemen, Nepa, Gaza and Syria. In 2016 he and his wife, Elly, set up the David Nott Foundation, a charity which funds the training of local doctors to work in conflict zones and hostile environments. Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07djzyq
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor Martin Sheen.
In recent years he has won great acclaim and a Golden Globe for playing the leader of the free world in the hugely successful political drama The West Wing. He's made more than a 100 movies, including Apocalypse Now, Badlands and The Departed. For him, work is often a family affair, in Wall Street he acted alongside his son Charlie Sheen and in his latest movie, The Way he was directed by another of his children - Emilio Estevez.
But away from the film set, he's an activist and campaigner - he's been arrested around 70 times and is motivated, he says by faith and conscience above politics.
Record: Knockin' on Heaven's Door Book: The Brothers Karamazov by Dostoyevsky. Luxury: A full set of golf clubs and a bag of golf balls.
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zzn2c
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is Tom Hanks.
From 'Big' to 'Sleepless in Seattle', 'Captain Phillips' to 'Apollo 13', his long and distinguished film-making career has brought him multiple awards and many plaudits. He's the recipient of eight Emmys, one Bafta and four Golden Globes and was the youngest ever actor to be given a lifetime achievement award by the American Film institute. The voice of Woody in the 'Toy Story' films, he won the first of his two Oscars in 1993 for Philadelphia and again the following year for Forrest Gump.
His parents split up when he was 5 and he went to live with his father. By the age of 10 he'd lived in ten different houses in five different cities. He loved school and developed a passion for history which is reflected in the film he made with Steven Spielberg, 'Saving Private Ryan' and the TV mini-series 'Band of Brothers' and 'The Pacific' which he also produced.
His latest film is 'Hologram for The King'.
He is married to the actor & producer, Rita Wilson.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale
The podcast version of this programme is an extended version of the broadcast interview.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b079m78n
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Davina McCall is an English television presenter. She began her career on MTV before moving to Channel 4 with the cult hit Streetmate.
She was the presenter of Big Brother during its run on Channel 4 between 2000 and 2010 and enjoyed it so much that she planned her family around the transmission schedule. All three of her children were born in September.
Davina hosts a variety of prime time and popular programmes including ITV's Long Lost Family which seeks to reunite family members.
Her own childhood was complicated. Her French mother was an alcoholic and drug user, and Davina was largely brought up by her father and grandparents. After a difficult childhood, she moved to London with her father and step-mother, and during some wild teenage years, she became a drug user. She has been clean since she was 25.
Alongside her television presenting career, she has a large following with her fitness DVDs and healthy food cookbooks.
In 2014, she undertook a 500 mile triathlon for Sport Relief raising more than two million pounds.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b084tjzt
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the comedian, Sarah Millican.
Her every woman yet no-holds-barred style of comedy has brought her sell-out tours and several of her own highly successful TV series. Revelling in normality and drawing on the difficult, intimate and often excruciating moments of being human, she dares to say what most of us are thinking, only she's much funnier.
A Geordie, born in South Shields, her dad was an engineer down the mines and her mum was a hairdresser. They encouraged their daughter in her storytelling and performing even though her childhood shyness meant she'd recite her poetry from behind the living room curtains. Later it was pain that first propelled her onto the stage when a broken early marriage provided the catalyst she needed to find the courage to confront the glaring judgement of the audience's gaze. Her rise was then rapid. Within four years she was awarded the Best Newcomer prize at the Edinburgh Fringe.
She says, "People come along and think, 'oh she's being too rude'. They don't realise I'm just like this at home. People think I'm prim and proper at home but I'm not - I'm just me transplanted onto the stage".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04v2lv7
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young interviews the comedian Lee Mack.
He writes and stars in the BBC One hit show "Not Going Out". His stand-up tours do great business and his lightening sharp comedy reflexes are also put to good use on a number of prime-time panel shows.
His first ever performance was doing impressions for his school mates, but it took him more than ten years to pluck up the courage to step on stage. Leaving school with two O'levels and a cheeky grin, he had a stint as Red Rum's stable boy and a bash at being a professional darts player.
He says of his comedy career "I'm the kind of person that, if I don't think it's hard work, I worry that it's not worthwhile. I have to feel as if I've struggled a bit."
Producer: Isabel Sargent.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03bpxxq
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer and journalist Jilly Cooper.
Favourite track: Mir Ist So Wunderbar by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell Luxury: Notebooks and pens
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009n6vs
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the writer Jilly Cooper.
Her long writing career spans newspaper columns for the Sunday Times and the Mail on Sunday, non-fiction books on class, marriage and animals in war and novels that sell in their millions. Her romances set in the late seventies - including 'Bella', 'Harriett', 'Imogen' and 'Prudence' - were followed by 'Riders' in 1985, the first of her Rutshire Chronicles. Set mainly in the Cotswolds, they are racy and raunchy page-turners exposing the scandalous - and often hilarious - goings on among the British upper classes.
Born in 1937 in Essex, she was brought up in Yorkshire and enjoyed a happy childhood surrounded by dogs and ponies. At boarding school she earned the nickname, 'the unholy terror' and having failed to get into Oxford and being sacked from a number of jobs for her inability to type, she turned to journalism before publishing her first book, 'How to Stay Married' in 1969.
She married Leo Cooper in 1961 and, unable to have children of their own, the couple adopted Felix and Emily in the late 1960s. The couple were married for 52 years before his death in 2013.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b07m4gls
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and ex-UN Commissioner for Human Rights.
Her professional life has been defined by public service at the very highest level and she appears the epitome of the cool-headed pragmatist. And yet she is also something of an enigma: a committed Catholic who fought hard to legalise contraception and divorce; an elected head of state with both a noble bearing and a common touch.
As a lawyer she lead from the front championing controversial causes at home in Ireland and fiercely defending human rights at the UN. She also has a habit of making history - she was Ireland's first female president and the first Irish Head of state to meet Her Majesty the Queen at Buckingham Palace.
She says of her life and work "over the years I have given many talks and taken part in many discussions on leadership: women's leadership, political leadership, business leadership, grass roots leadership. But the element of leadership that really fascinates me is moral leadership."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b037gm1f
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is David Walliams. He has seen extraordinary success - as one half of the comedy duo behind Little Britain, as a cross-channel swimmer and more recently on the West End stage and as a novelist. In this frank interview, he describes his life away from the spotlight; how he used to practise comedy routines in his bathroom, the excitement of an early trip out wearing a John Paul Gaultier skirt, the inner drive that propels him and the unhappiness he feels when he has no company except his own.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want by The Smiths Book: Collected Poems by Philip Larkin Alternative to Bible: None - Bible not taken Luxury: A gun.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00hmpbz
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is Emma Thompson.
Sense and Sensibility, The Remains of the Day, Much Ado About Nothing and Howards End are just a handful of her notable screen credits in a dazzling career that has seen her pick up Oscars for both acting and writing.
She appears to have pulled off that rare trick of being both a star and one of us - she famously keeps her brace of Oscars in the downstairs loo, still lives across the road from her mum and holidays in a cottage in Scotland where, she says, she and her husband spend a third of the year 'digging in like a pair of old potatoes.'
Record: Corarsik Book: Homer's Odyssey Luxury: A saucepan - heavy bottomed with a removable handle.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rl498
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the business woman, Jo Malone.
If her name automatically conjures the citrusy scents of lime, basil and mandarin or spicy notes of amber and lavender then you're doubtless one of the customers who flock into the eponymous stores to buy the products that have made her a household name.
Aged nine, she would grind sandlewood and strain juniper at the kitchen table. 17 years later fashionable London flocked to her little salon in Chelsea to be massaged with oils and unguents. In the 1990s the brand went international and the fragrance made her fortune when she sold the business.
If this all sounds like a fragrant little fairy tale, crisply wrapped in a signature black grosgrain bow, it isn't. Severely dyslexic she left school at 14. Her dad was a talented painter but a chronic gambler too, and home life was sometimes hand-to-mouth. Later, and at a time in her life when she should have been enjoying her success and her toddler son, she was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. Finally fully recovered she decided to start again from scratch.
She says, 'I love sharing my story, and I'm not frightened of people seeing the cracks as well as the strengths. I think the things that are sad and difficult are just as important.'
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b04xmqd6
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the entertainer Johnny Vegas.
As a stand-up comic he made his name as one of the most brilliant and unpredictable acts on the circuit. His stage persona was a belligerent drunk who would heckle his own audience. But the more successful he became, the more the similarities between his own life and his stage character seemed to blur. "I found popularity through self-destruction" he says, "and that can be quite addictive". In recent years, he has cut down on his drinking, lost weight and now got engaged - all part of a plan to ensure he reached his 40th birthday and could be a proper father to his young son. "Life's actually turned around and been very good to me," he says.
Producer: Leanne Buckle
Record: Hurt - Johnny Cash Book: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists. Luxury: A Kiln.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00v137f
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is businesswoman Carolyn McCall.
Currently Chief Executive of easyJet, she's one of only three women in Britain in charge of a FTSE 100 company. Prior to that she ran the Guardian Media Group.
An only child, she was brought up in Bangalore and Singapore. She spent a short time as a teacher in a comprehensive school and has also brought her wisdom to the boardroom table at Lloyds Bank, Tesco and New Look.
In amongst the corporate strategizing she also managed to have three children in three years.
She says, "I think it's mad not to have self-doubt ... but I think it's really dangerous when that self-doubt becomes total insecurity or lack of confidence or lack of momentum, or lack of belief in yourself."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03c2c2p
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the actor and director Kathy Burke.
She became a household name for her comedy performances, working with Harry Enfield to create the characters Kevin and Perry. She won critical acclaim for serious roles and picked up the Best Actress award at Cannes for her portrayal of an abused wife in the film "Nil By Mouth".
Her early life had been tumultuous - her mother died before she was two and her father was often drunk, leaving her older brother ran the family home. She was a teenager when she discovered acting and, she says, it was the saving of her.
Producer: Leanne Buckle
Record: Bad Romance by Lady Gaga. Book: The Complete works of Graham Linehan. Luxury: A life size laminated photo of James Caan from Dragon's Den.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00tcz90
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Keith Richards, member of the Rolling Stones, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.
Keith was born in Dartford and grew up as an only child. He and Mick Jagger went to the same primary school, but then lost touch until meeting again at Dartford train station in 1961 and discovering they shared a taste in blues music. Keith picked up his love of the guitar from his grandfather and honed his skills whilst at art college.
If one single, living person could be said to personify rock n' roll then it is surely him. He's been making music and causing havoc for over half a century and counting. His song writing, singing and guitar playing have helped to make The Rolling Stones a stratospherically successful group and his early and single minded dedication to the triumvirate pursuits of sex and drugs and rock and roll made him a counter-culture icon.
No surprise then that as a boy he would go to sleep at night with his arm around his first guitar.
Producer: Sarah Taylor.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b06kb0fw
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the singer-songwriter Lily Allen.
Less than a decade ago she dipped her toe in musical waters by releasing her demos on social media, this summer she's one of the headline acts at Glastonbury. It's 29 years since she first appeared at the festival; back then she was a new-born being carried through the crowd in swaddling. Indeed, she was as good as baptised at the font of celebrity culture - her dad, Keith, is an actor and writer, her mum, Alison, is an award-winning film producer - for a time her step-dad was Harry Enfield. So, it seems almost inevitable that she's ended up at the centre of a media-saturated life.
Except that in all likelihood she would have been propelled there entirely by her own endeavours: her lyrics are witty and wise-ass and capture concisely what it is to be a savvy, young woman today.
She says, "the only thing I can do really is write lyrics and the only way I know how to do that is by being honest and doing it with integrity because otherwise there's no point".
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b047w8tm
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the comedian, Jack Dee.
Comedian, actor and writer, his persona is that of the laconic miserabilist - his hit sit-com was called "Lead Balloon" and his autobiography entitled "Thanks For Nothing". That is only part of the picture: even though show business was in the family - his great grandparents were in music hall - his early working life ranged all over the place. From grafting in the kitchens of The Ritz to working in an artificial leg factory - at one point he even seriously considered the priesthood.
He says his caustic, ironic, sarcastic comedy comes from "a sort of realism. You can't escape the dark stuff in life ... and my way of dealing with that is to absorb it into my life so that it's no longer worrying for me."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b042z660
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dustin Hoffman.
In spite of his Aunt Pearl telling him he wasn't good looking enough to be an actor for the past forty-five years he's been crafting landmark movie performances. He is that rare and apparently contradictory thing - a character actor and a superstar.
The Graduate, Midnight Cowboy, Lenny, All The President's Men, Marathon Man, Kramer v Kramer, Tootsie, Rain Man, Wag The Dog, and Last Chance Harvey are just a handful of the movies that contribute to an unparalleled body of work: he is the only actor in history to have top billing in three films that won Best Picture Oscars.
Now in his mid-70s he is making his directorial debut.
He says "I'm always fighting to break through... I'm trying to show you the part of me that wants to love, wants to kill, that wants to find my way out, that feels there is no way out."
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p314n
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the doyenne of bohemian living, Molly Parkin.
She left the Welsh valleys to train as a fine artist in London and was a successful painter then teacher before becoming a fashion writer and novelist. She is as well known, though, for her lifestyle as her work. She adopted a hedonistic approach to life - smoking and drinking through the night and picking up numerous lovers along the way.
Now aged 79 she prefers to live alone and says she has found a calmer way of living. "I have been blessed, and made it my business, to surround myself with larger than life characters," she says, "love, on a very profound level comes unexpectedly and brilliantly."
Record: Good Golly Miss Molly Book: The History of the Colony by Sophie Parkin Luxury: Her entire outfit including her Andrew Logan brooch
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b010xy3d
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran Coronation Street actress Betty Driver.
For more than forty years she's been pulling pints and dishing up her hot-pot in the Rovers Return. But her career in showbusiness started decades before she took up residence on Britain's most famous street.
She was a child when her mother put her on the stage and she toured the country with an act that showcased her stunning singing voice - it brought success but not happiness. "I did it for over twenty years," she says, "and hated every day of it." Although she has been working now for an incredible 80 years, she says: "I just love work and I will never retire. They'll have to shoot me to get rid of me!"
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00xp1fc
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is the footballer Tony Adams.
He's one of the few people who know at first hand the pressures and joys of captaining the England team. And, after signing as a schoolboy for Arsenal, he is the only man ever to have led a championship winning team across three decades.
The drama and successes of his life have been as remarkable off the pitch as on it. He found sporting glory despite being an alcoholic and even served time in prison for drink-driving. But his journey of recovery has been a remarkable one. He went back to studying, developed a love of literature and the arts and put his own money into a charity to support other sports men and women recovering from addiction. It's a transformation that his former team-mates have described as 'heroic'. Now, he is heading to Azerbaijan to become a manager, he is planning, he says, to build the Tony Adams team.
Record: Monty Python's Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Book: The book of Alcoholics Anonymous Luxury: Football.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00st439
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this Christmas is Sir Michael Caine.
In a film career that has spanned more than four decades he has won two Oscars; his credits include Alfie, The Italian Job, Hannah and Her Sisters and Educating Rita.
As well as discussing his remarkable life in films, he describes how the Queen used to cut through his back garden on her way to the horse races, discusses the secrets of a happy marriage and reveals the tricks for cooking perfect roast potatoes this Christmas.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Record: My Way, by Frank Sinatra Book: The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand Luxury: A large bed with 50 per cent goose down and 50 per cent feather pillows.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00pbltz
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway is Morrissey.
As the lead singer of The Smiths he captivated a generation of angst-ridden teenagers and, a quarter of a century later, he remains the outsider's outsider.
As a child, he was enthralled by the emotion and beauty in pop music. He discovered the joy of public performance when, as a six-year-old boy, he stood on a table and started singing. But from an early age he felt he had to avoid everything conventional life had to offer. 'I just didn't want the norm in any way, he says, 'and I didn't get it. And I'm very glad.'
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Record: (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown, New York Dolls Book: The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde Luxury: A comfy bed with lots of pillows.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00p068y
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is playwright Dennis Potter.
Favourite track: Sons Of The Brave by Gus Band Book: Collected essays by William Hazlitt Luxury: Edward Hopper's painting, Gas
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mz51
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Victoria Wood. For decades she has been one of our best-loved writers and performers. The television series she's made - including Acorn Antiques, Dinnerladies and Housewife 49 - have won her a devoted following as well as stacks of awards.
But, in a moving and open interview, she describes how, as a teenager, she felt she was a misfit - she had few friends, she struggled with her weight and at school she used to steal other people's homework. She joined a youth theatre and it was, she says, the saving of her. She found like-minded people and a sense that she had something to offer.
She is very careful about how much of her own life she puts into her work. She doesn't mind saying she cuts her pubic hair with nail-scissors, but rarely discusses her children on the stage. Now she is embarking on her next project. She says she is too anxious to talk about it, except to say it will look at the life of a middle-aged woman whose marriage has foundered.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: What a Fool Believes by The Doobie Brothers Book: A big book by Charles Dickens Luxury: A bumper book of Sudoku with blank pages & pens.
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b008kkcg
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is writer William Trevor.
Favourite track: Clarinet Quintet In B Minor by Johannes Brahms Book: Lives of the Saints by Alban Butler Luxury: Grapevines
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mw07
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is comedian Spike Milligan.
Favourite track: Yesterday by The Beatles Book: Future Shock by Alvin Toffler Luxury: Barclaycard
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mz1j
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is playwright Tennessee Williams.
Favourite track: Danny Boy by Harry Belafonte Book: Poetry by Hart Crane Luxury: Typewriter and paper
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mygb
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is comedian Les Dawson.
Favourite track: Pavane Pour Une Infante Defunte by Maurice Ravel Book: Trustee From The Toolroom by Nevil Shute Luxury: Piece of Georgian furniture
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009myvm
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is actor Peter Ustinov.
Favourite track: In Diesen Heil'Gen Hallen by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Blank paper and pencils Luxury: Bath with solar-heated water
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009mszq
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr
Roy Plomley's castaway is jazz trumpeter and singer Louis Armstrong.
Favourite track: Blueberry Hill by Louis Armstrong and his All Stars Book: His own autobiography Luxury: Trumpet
EPISODE http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y1rb
SERIES http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr