Desert Island Discs: Archive 1986-1991

Last August the world rejoiced at the liberation of a man who, to all intents and purposes, had vanished from its face more than four years previously. A pale and gaunt Brian Keenan emerged from a captivity of appalling deprivation and isolation after being kidnapped in Beirut by Islamic extremists.This week on Desert Island Discs, he will be talking to Sue Lawley about those lost years, when, often blindfolded, chained and alone, he relived his life, conjuring up forgotten sights and sounds through imagined magical music, or by singing half-remembered lines from songs with John McCarthy when they were allowed to share their captivity.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Dweller On The Threshold by Van Morrison Book: The Life Times and Music of An Irish Harper by Donal O'Sullivan Luxury: Pencil

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs rejoices in the title of the Baroness Trumpington of Sandwich in the County of Kent. A tireless campaigner on myriad issues, she brings to her work a commodity which is often in short supply in political life - a healthy sense of humour. Among other things, she'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her career, during which she has risen from being Mayor of Cambridge to Under-Secretary of State at the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food - all without taking a single exam.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I'll Follow My Secret Heart by Noel Coward Book: George V by Kenneth Rose Luxury: Crown jewels (so someone will look for her)

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the Baroness Castle of Blackburn - better known to most people as Barbara Castle. For 34 years she served as the Labour member for the constituency of Blackburn, and she rose to high office in the Wilson governments of the 1960s and 1970s. As the first woman Transport Minister, she introduced, amidst great controversy, the breathalyser and the motorway speed limit. She was also at the centre of legislation over equal pay for women. Then, 10 years ago, she opted out of domestic politics and into the European cauldron.Now retired from that too, and recently having celebrated her 80th birthday, she'll be looking back over her long and passionate political career, and forward to making her mark on the House of Lords.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: I Have A Dream Speech by Martin Luther King Book: The collected works by William Morris Luxury: Typewriter

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the South Bank, Nicholas Snowman. Very much a man of the arts, and a determined apostle of all things new, he founded the University Opera Society when he was at Cambridge and the London Sinfonietta when he left. He then moved to Paris, where he was appointed Artistic Director of the Pompidou Centre.His latest post at the South Bank has attracted considerable controversy, with one critic describing his concert programme as "seriously unattractive". He'll be discussing his vision of the South Bank's musical future with Sue Lawley and talking about his achievement of establishing, for the first time, a resident orchestra in Britain's largest arts centre.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet No 4 In G Minor by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Smiley's People by John Le Carre Luxury: Coffee machine

The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is one of the most colourful and controversial members of Britain's trade union movement. He is the former General-Secretary of The Association of Scientific, Technical and Managerial Staffs - Clive Jenkins. Now retired, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about a career which has encompassed disappointment but also considerable triumph, as well as looking back on his Methodist working-class upbringing in South Wales, and the path he trod from there to a position where he wielded extensive power and influence in the tough world of industrial relations. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Book: Look Homeward Angel by Thomas Wolfe Luxury: Video player and tape of Citizen Kane

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the captain of the England football team Gary Lineker. Apprenticed to Leicester City at the age of 16, he turned professional at 18, then went on to play for England. In 1985 he was bought by Everton for £800,000. One year and 40 goals later, he was bought by Barcelona for more than two million pounds.He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his extraordinary skill as a footballer, his reputation for immaculate behaviour both on and off the football field and the agony of England's defeat in this year's World Cup.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Soul Limbo (Sig. Tune For Test Match Special) by Booker T And The MGs Book: Wisden Almanack for cricketers Luxury: Bowling machine

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is sex therapist Dr Ruth Westheimer.Born in Germany in the late 1920s, her Jewish family sent her out of the country as the Nazis rose to power. Sent to the safe but lonely confines of a Swiss orphanage, she was never to see her family again. Then, after living in Israel and studying in Paris, she eventually took American citizenship. Then, 10 years ago, she emerged from obscurity to become a national celebrity. As an unemployed college lecturer in her early 50s, her appearances on radio and television, where she handed out explicit but common-sense advice on sex and its problems, brought her fame and fortune. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her early life, her adventures in Paris and Israel and the satisfactions of her present job.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: There Was A Time by Joel Westheimer Book: Gone With The Wind by Margaret Mitchell Luxury: Large box of marrons glacés

The Desert Island Discs guest this week is someone who should be particularly suited to castaway life - Robin Knox-Johnston was the first man to sail single-handedly non-stop around the world. Since then, he has spent much of his time at sea visiting many islands, deserted or otherwise, and recently he undertook a voyage using only those navigational instruments available to sailors 500 years ago. Very much the adventurous master mariner, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about the perils and pleasures of life at sea.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs].Favourite track: Land Of Hope And Glory by Edward Elgar/Benson Book: Books identifying birds and fish Luxury: Video recorder and tapes of Queen Mother's parade

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is the General Director of the English National Opera Peter Jonas. He'll be talking to Sue Lawley about his teenage ambition to run a great opera house, his subsequent rejection from the London Coliseum when he applied to sweep the stage there, and his return as its director some 11 years later. He'll also be talking about his fight against Hodgkin's Disease, his eleven years as personal and administrative assistant to Sir Georg Solti in Chicago and his plans for the future of the English National Opera.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Die Meistersinger Act 1 Prelude by Richard Wagner Book: City of God by Saint Augustine Luxury: Cyanide, in a joint, in champagne truffle, in a fridge

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is one of the country's most expensive and sought-after barristers - George Carman QC. A virtuoso of the courtroom, he has made his name successfully defending the famous - from former Liberal leader Jeremy Thorpe to well-known show business names like Peter Adamson, Maria Aitken and Ken Dodd. He will be talking to Sue Lawley about his perception of the key to successful advocacy and making a definitive judgement on the eight records he would take to his desert island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Violin Concerto in D Major by Ludwig van Beethoven Book: The Golden Treasury by Francis Palgrave Luxury: Painting Of Grand Canal In Venice"

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is novelist Maeve Binchy. During her Catholic childhood in a small Irish village, she nurtured an ambition, not just to lead a life of religious devotion, but to become a saint. Later on, she aspired to the legal profession, where her horizons stretched far beyond barristers and briefs to, at the very least, Chief Justice of Ireland. But it was ultimately as a writer that Maeve Binchy achieved enormous success, with novels like Light a Penny Candle and many others making her name as one of the most successful popular authors of her time. She'll be talking to Sue Lawley about her childhood in Ireland, the loss of her religious faith and her ultimate success as an author of popular fiction.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Brendan Theme by Liam O'Flynn Book: Teach Yourself Bridge Luxury: Photograph album

The castaway in this week's Desert Island Discs is a politician. Elected to Sheffield City Council at the age of 22, he went on to become its leader for seven years, after which he made the smooth and successful transition to Parliament, where he now sits on the opposition front bench as local government spokesman. Beside him sits his guide dog Offa, because David Blunkett has been blind since birth.He will be talking to Sue Lawley about his struggles to get his 'O' and 'A' Levels and eventually his degree, his time in local and now national politics and the many problems he has overcome to reach his present position.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Book: Anthology of Verse by Robert Graves Luxury: Radio/cassette machine