Desert Island Discs - Seventy Years of Castaways: The 1990's and 2000's

 

The 1990s

Those personalities chosen for the 1990s seemed far less interesting than those for previous decades. Nicole Kidman, for example, is only mentioned in the introduction, so you have to go to BBC Sounds to hear her choices. We hear how Sue Lawley (now the regular presenter) does not meet the castaway until the recording. She has assistant Rosemary Edgerley to prepare the background. And despite most people at the BBC wanting to avoid politicians, the fiftieth anniversary in 1992 featured John Major, the only time a sitting prime minister did so. 

The introduction also describes many other politicians on the programme, but not as interesting as the visit to the USA to record three personalities. Except the third with Buzz Aldrin was postponed many times; on the last occasion when it was all set up, he ducked out.

John Major     26th January 1992

See above. His father was sixty-six when he was born. He had performed in music halls, but when a business venture went wrong, their lives became quite hard. So John left school at sixteen, had various jobs and became a self-made man. His luxury was a full-size Oval cricket ground together with a bowling machine. 

Other personalities included Bob Geldof (6 September 1992), Julie Andrews (18 October 1992), Stephen Hawking (25 December 1992). Tony Blair arrives after Gordon Brown. 

The 2000s and on

Sue Lawley vacated the chair in 2006, having hosted since 1988. Nearly eight hundred editions. There is a long list of the betting odds of who might take over. Well down the list was Kirsty Young, who became the new presenter. Some thought she was "too lowbrow", but look who is the seat now.

Advances in technology now mean the programmes are all available on iPlayer. This also gave the opportunity to count the most popular recordings. All are classical pieces. When the public were invited to choose theirs in Your Desert Island Discs, at the top was Lark Ascending, with Pink Floyd's Comfortably Numb in fifth place. (48 Million views of their Live at Pompeii on YouTube). 

The seventieth anniversary programme (and the last in the book) on 29th January 2012 featured David Attenborough. His fourth appearance. I'm not at all sure why anyone should be invited more than once. 

JK Rowling     5th November 2000

'Why, JK?' she is asked. The publisher may have wanted to deflect it was a woman writing about Harry Potter. Rowling says she was so thrilled to be published "they could call my anything". This is a superb interview, especially the detail of how she started writing the first book.

None of the others in this section were worth noting. Especially that fourth appearance of David Attenborough. At the end of this very heavy volume are a list of THE COMPLETE CASTAWAYS and an index. There is an update of this book called The Definitive Desert Island Discs by Ian Gittins. It takes us through eighty years of castaways.