Desert Island Discs: Archive 1996-2000

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber. His musicals dominate London's West End, including Cats, Phantom of the Opera and Starlight Express. He traces a career which began more than 30 years ago when he teamed up with Tim Rice to write Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Some Enchanted Evening by Rossano Brazzi Book: England's Thousand Best Churches by Simon Jenkins Luxury: Herb garden

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Michael Nyman. Said to be the best-selling classical composer in Britain, as a child visiting the opera or concert hall his imagination would be caught by a particularly pleasing sequence of notes. Later, he was to use these as inspiration for his own compositions. A Purcell manuscript inspired his music for the The Draughtsman's Contract. Scottish folk songs the soundtrack to The Piano.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Farewell (Das Lied von der Erde (the song of the Earth)) by Gustav Mahler Book: Tristram Shandy by Laurence Sterne Luxury: A toilet

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Sir Richard Sykes. The chairman of Glaxo Welcome, as a boy he was not a natural scholar, until he went to work at the pathology laboratory of his local hospital. Understanding the application of science led him to become a research scientist at Glaxo Welcome. He describes how later the Board Room lured him away from the lab, and how he came to mastermind one of the most audacious take-overs in the city.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Second Movement from Cello Concerto in B Minor by Antonin Dvořák Book: The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin Luxury: Telescope

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Clarissa Dickson Wright.Born into a home where caviar was more common than fish paste, she has always been surrounded by fine food. Yet she came to cooking as a profession late in life, having first practised as a barrister. Finding success on television, she has recently had to come to terms with the death of her co host Jennifer Paterson and being just One Fat Lady.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Rasputin by Boney M Book: Complete Works by Saki Luxury: Wind-up radio

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Willard White.Teased as a child for his deep bass voice, it has made him one of the most popular opera stars today. Happy to sing Wagner or Gershwin, he's renowned for his ability to get under the skin of his roles, and audiences still remember how, as Porgy, he wept real tears at the loss of Bess.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Piano Concerto No 21 in C Major- Andante by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale Luxury: Seeds

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the poet Rita Dove. The first African-American to become the US Poet Laureate, Rita Dove was brought up to believe that education was the key to the Great American Dream. As a child she would lose herself in the local library, but she learned the art of story-telling from her aunts as they swapped tales about the Great Depression, civil rights, and, of course, motherhood.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Koln Concert by Keith Jarrett Book: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez Luxury: Ballroom and robotic dance instructor

Sue Lawley's castaway is the actress Patricia Routledge.Once voted the nation's favourite actress for her television roles as Hyacinth Bucket and Hetty Wainthrop, she has also been successful in the theatre, in musicals, and of course in Alan Bennett's monologues Talking Heads. In conversation with Sue Lawley, she talks about her life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: String Quintet in C Major - Adagio by Franz Schubert Book: The collected works by John Donne Luxury: Tea service with tea

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Rod Steiger. He talks about The Method, Marlon Brando and the depression which dogged him for nearly a decade. And he confesses why he couldn't go to the desert island without Frank Sinatra.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Send in the Clowns by Sarah Vaughn Book: Complete book of poetry by e e cummings Luxury: Self-contained external electric fan

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Paddy Moloney. As the founder of the Chieftains he has taken Irish folk music around the world. No purist, some of his most popular pieces are influenced by other countries folk songs, most notably China, Spain and South America. He's collaborated with popular musicians too, sharing a stage with Mick Jagger, Elvis Costello and The Corrs.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Coast of Malabar by The Chieftains with Ry Cooder Book: The Book of Lempster (old Irish textbook currently in the Hague) Luxury: Tin whistle

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the Shadow Home Secretary Ann Widdecombe. Since the last election she has used her free time to write a novel, but has no plans to become a full time author since politics remains her passion. Some two years after she spiked Michael Howard's bid to become leader of the Conservative Party, she is herself being talked about as a possible Tory Leader.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: How Great Thou Are by Aled Jones Book: Collected Poems by Thomas Gray Luxury: (Hot) shower

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the film composer John Barry. The Pope is said to adore his soundtrack to Dances with Wolves. Although he's probably best known for the theme tunes he wrote for the Bond movies; including Goldfinger and Diamonds are Forever. In all, he's won five Oscars - not bad for a Yorkshire lad who happened to hit London just as it began to swing.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Symphony No.9 - Adagio by Gustav Mahler Book: Eternal Echoes by John O'Donohue Luxury: Grand piano

Sue Lawley's guest this week is the journalist Anthony Howard. He's worked on The New Statesman, The Observer and The Sunday Times, where as Obituaries Editor, he turned a previously dead-end job into a highly competitive art form. A regular television commentator, he probably inherited his gift for oratory from his father, a parson who gave stirring sermons.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: The Toasting Song (from La Traviata - Act One) by Giuseppe Verdi Book: Dictionary of National Biography Luxury: Camp bed

This week the castaway on Desert Island Discs is Michael Green. As Chairman of Carlton Communications he is one of the most powerful men in British television and the driving force behind digital TV. In conversation with Sue Lawley, he talks about his life and work and chooses eight records to take to the mythical island.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Jersualem by Vangelis Book: The Complete Works by Sigmund Freud Luxury: Digital TV