Desert Island Discs: 70 Years of Castaways

by Sean Magee, Kirsty Young (Foreword)

The legendary BBC radio program Desert Island Discs celebrated 70 glorious years in 2012. Since the program's deviser Roy Plomley interviewed comedian Vic Oliver in January 1942, nearly 3,000 distinguished people from all walks of life have been stranded on the mythical island, accompanied only
by eight records, one book, and a luxury. This beautifully illustrated landmark book tells the absorbing story of Britain's favorite radio program in all its rich and intriguing detail through an exclusive selection of just 100 castaways, the crème de la crème of the great and the good. Over the years each has been interviewed by one of just three further eminent successors to Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley, or today's presenter, Kirsty Young. Discover how Diana Mosley caused outrage by fondly remembering Hitler’s magnetic charm and disputing the scale of the Holocaust, how soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf famously chose seven of her own recordings, Roy Plomley interviewed the wrong Alistair McLean, Terry Pratchett took the Chrysler Building in New York as his luxury, while Julian Clary took a prosthetic arm and Cathy Burke her laminated surfboard of James Caan. Not simply the history of a radio program, this is a record of our lives and society over the last 70 years. It is the one book you will want to take with you (alongside the Bible and the Complete Works of Shakespeare ) when cast away on your own desert island.

Genres: Nonfiction, Music, Biography, Reference

528 pages, Hardcover

First published September 13, 2012

Reviews

[Sophie Crane]

This book is full of information regarding the artists who have given their choice of music. Definately a must, and worth the money. Ideal present for a music lover.

[David]

This is a huge and heavy volume despite being in paperback. Five hundred and twenty-six thick, glossy pages with lots of photos. The book details the interviews of eighty-seven of the castaways from Vic Oliver on 29 January 1942 to Sir David Attenborough on 29 January 2012, the latter for the seventieth anniversary. There are over 3,000 episodes of the programme, and many are now on BBC Sounds.

I had to split my reviews into three posts on my blog (easyretirement.blogspot.com) on 10th July, 29th July and 16th August. I cannot pretend that I read all eighty-seven interviews, but I have included comments on the twenty that interested me in particular. There is an update to this book called "The Definitive Desert Island Discs" by Ian Gittens. There are reviews on goodreads.

[John Grinstead]

Not the sort of book one reads in one sitting but something to dip in and out of whilst contemplating life sitting on the loo.

Kirsty Young has been my favourite DiD presenter and whilst her influence here is clearly limited, many of the entries conjure up her lovely soft Scottish lilt and some of my favourite modern castaways.

As well as looking back over the history of this great radio show, it’s also fun to find out about the most requested discs, most requested luxury and other DiD miscellany.

Should soon be due an update.

[James Tidd]

Great book for the 70th anniversary of Desert Island Discs in 2012. Following Kirsty Young's preface, Magee traces the history of the programme from it's early years and Castaways through the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s up to 85 under Roy Plomley, the two years under TV interview King Michael Parkinson, the next eighteen under Sue Lawley and the remaining years under Kirsty Young. Looking at the decades first, Magee looks at notable guests from each decade.

[Jo Birkett]

Fun listen & the readers try hard to do the voices which is quite funny, weirdly successful eg Julian Clary. Of course you always want to listen to the music, the name often means little, though if you were to it would take forever. I drifted away quite often & missed chunks but didn't really matter.

[Derrick Trimble]

Audio

[Jennifer]

I like listening to Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio 4 and I am a sucker for shiny new books no one else has taken out yet at the library. But sadly I found this retrospective (written by Sean Magee rather than someone who had been directly involved in making the programmes) a little uninspiring. The most lavish images are the double page spreads to introduce each decade but they are not at all specific to the radio programme.

It was interesting to read about the origins and early days of the programme and my overall impression is that it hits the mark pretty well in its selection of which interviews to highlight and the points it makes about the style of interview, with direct quotation is used to good effect. After each programme discussion there is a paragraph or two bringing us up to date on the castaway's life since being returned to 'civilisation' - whether that is Robert Maxwell found floating in the ocean with his ex-employees pensions gone in his fraudulent activities, Cliff Richard's many decades in the music business after being 'marooned' at just 20, or Gordon Brown eventually becoming Prime Minister and marrying and having 3 children.

[Nigel Street]

Loved reading this over time and getting an interesting insight into people across so many different areas of life from politicians to scientists, poets to musicians, historians to actors. Choosing memorable Ines from each decade added to the enjoyment. Tragic to think that many have been lost for ever given the policy of over writing the early recordings, seems sacrilege in these days of ubiquitous cheap storage. Great book for the small room.....

[Helen K]

Elana