The BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs invites castaways to choose eight pieces of music, a book (in addition to the Bible – or a religious text appropriate to that person's beliefs – and the Complete Works of Shakespeare) and a luxury item that they would take to an imaginary desert island, where they will be marooned indefinitely.
The rules state that the chosen luxury item must not be anything animate or indeed anything that enables the castaway to escape from the island, for instance a radio set, sailing yacht or aeroplane. The choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests from 2011 to 2020.
Desert Island Discs takes two short breaks, in (the northern) spring and summer. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts new programmes for approximately 42 weeks each year on Sunday mornings, usually with a repeat transmission 5 days later. On Remembrance Sunday (in November) the programme is not broadcast but that week's programme gets a single airing in the Friday repeat slot.
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
2 January 2011 | Tony Iveson | A volume of W. Somerset Maugham's short stories | Two established vines and a tin bath to make wine [1] |
9 January 2011 | Gyles Brandreth | The complete plays of Anton Chekhov | Michelangelo's Pietà [2] |
16 January 2011 | Rt Hon Alex Salmond | The complete works of Robert Burns | A sand wedge and endless golf balls for playing golf [3] |
23 January 2011 | Betty Driver | Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier | Eau de Soir perfume by Sisley [4] |
30 January 2011 | Jon Snow | Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin | A set of watercolours and an endless supply of paper [5] |
6 February 2011 | Howard Jacobson | Oxford Book of English Verse | A never ending supply of pressed shirts and trousers [6] |
13 February 2011 | Celia Imrie | Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | A cut glass crystal chandelier with candles [7] |
20 February 2011 | Lawrence Dallaglio | Ripley's World by Andy Ripley | A great big jar of Marmite [8] |
27 February 2011 | Dame Anne Owers | An anthology of British poetry | A solar powered word processor [9] |
3 April 2011 | Martin Sheen | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Golf clubs [10] |
10 April 2011 | Terry Gilliam | Dictionary | A mirror [11] |
17 April 2011 | Felicity Green | Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim | A bronze sculpture by Giles Penny [12] |
24 April 2011 | Cath Kidston | The Larousse French/English Dictionary | Hot water bottle [13] |
1 May 2011 | Professor David Phillips | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Piano with music [14] |
8 May 2011 | Molly Parkin | The History of the Colony by Sophie Parkin | Her entire outfit including her Andrew Logan brooch [15] |
15 May 2011 | Kwame Kwei-Armah | The complete works of August Wilson | A basic word processor [16] |
22 May 2011 | Debbie Harry | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Paints and paper [17] |
29 May 2011 | Roger Waters | All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy | Grand piano [18] |
5 June 2011 | Alfie Boe | A tropical recipe book | His own drum kit [19] |
12 June 2011 | Andrea Levy | Roget's Thesaurus | Mosquito repellent [20] |
19 June 2011 | Len Goodman | An anthology of British poetry | Set of golf clubs and balls [21] |
26 June 2011 | Dame Harriet Walter | The complete works of Isabella Bird | Flute [22] |
3 July 2011 | Tony Robinson | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Luxury mattress and pillow [23] |
10 July 2011 | Reverend John Graham | The complete works of Saki | A telescope [24] |
17 July 2011 | Michael McIntyre | The Complete Prose of Woody Allen | Pen [25] |
24 July 2011 | Heather Rabbatts | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | A solar powered digital photo album [26] |
31 July 2011 | Danny Baker | The Most of S J Perelman | His blue suede shoe [27] |
18 September 2011 | Martin Clunes | Puckoon by Spike Milligan | An electric guitar [28] |
25 September 2011 | Arthur Edwards | A photographic album with pictures of his family | An inexhaustible supply of tea and a kettle [29] |
2 October 2011 | Anne Wood | Cotillion by Georgette Heyer | Paper, pen and watercolours to record the plant life on the island [30] |
9 October 2011 | Vidal Sassoon | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | A dozen bottles of Vidal Sassoon hair shampoo [31] |
16 October 2011 | Michael Johnson | The biggest possible encyclopaedia | McLaren SLR sports car with petrol [32] |
23 October 2011 | Mark Gatiss | The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | A Victorian bath and hot water [33] |
30 October 2011 | Lord Victor Adebowale | The Complete Works of Wole Soyinka | His saxophone [34] |
6 November 2011 | Francesca Simon | The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope | A cappucino maker [35] |
18 November 2011 | Anna Scher | Poem of the Day | A bespoke statue of Archbishop Desmond Tutu [36] |
20 November 2011 | Robert Hardy | The Great Warbow by Robert Hardy and Matthew Strickland | Young Girl in Profile, 1495 – De Predis [37] |
27 November 2011 | Bear Grylls | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | A laminated photo of his family [38] |
4 December 2011 | Sir Martin Sorrell | The Talmud | Cricket bat, ball and stumps [39] |
11 December 2011 | Eve Pollard | Maritime Intelligence and Publications | Tweezers [40] |
18 December 2011 | Baron Fellowes of West Stafford | The complete works of Anthony Trollope | Two enormous casks of Château Margaux [41] |
30 December 2011 | Professor Brian Cox | Classic Electrodynamics by John David Jackson | A coffee machine [42] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
1 January 2012 | Sir Terry Wogan | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Bottles, pens and paper [43] |
8 January 2012 | Dame Monica Mason | A special compilation of all of David Attenborough's books | A torch [44] |
15 January 2012 | Paul Johnson | A big atlas | Watercolour paints and paper [45] |
22 January 2012 | Vikram Seth | An anthology of poems to include ones by Chinese poet Du Fu | Calligraphy materials [46] |
29 January 2012 | Sir David Attenborough | Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life by W B Lord | A piano [47] |
5 February 2012 | Denise Lewis | Oprah: An Autobiography by Oprah Winfrey | Sex and the City DVD boxset [48] |
12 February 2012 | James Corden | A guide to learning the piano | A piano [49] |
19 February 2012 | John Prescott | Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking by Pauline Prescott | A Bontempi keyboard [50] |
26 February 2012 | Brian Moore | Germinal by Émile Zola | A football [51] |
4 March 2012 | Patsy Rodenburg | A large anthology of poetry | An endless supply of tea [52] |
11 March 2012 | Jackie Mason | The Complete Works of Sholem Aleichem | An easy chairman [53] |
18 March 2012 | Anna Ford | Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times | Endless supply of leaf tea, teapot, mug and semi-skimmed milk [54] |
25 March 2012 | Jamie Cullum | On the Road by Jack Kerouac | A huge stack of white paper and pencils [55] |
6 May 2012 | Tim Minchin | Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut | Robotic sex doll [56] |
13 May 2012 | Baroness Hollins | 100 Masterpieces of Art | Her clarinet [57] |
20 May 2012 | Peter Ackroyd | The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis | Pen and paper [58] |
27 May 2012 | Denise Robertson | A book on practical survival | An endless supply of pens and paper [59] |
3 June 2012 | Margaret Rhodes | Reader's Digest – The Most Amazing Gardens in Britain and Ireland | Her favourite blue jersey [60] |
10 June 2012 | Doreen Lawrence | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou | An artist's workshop [61] |
17 June 2012 | Ahdaf Soueif | Keepers of the Flame by Ian Hamilton [1] | Paper and coloured pens [62] |
24 June 2012 | John Bishop | Family photo album | Lifetime's supply of toothbrushes and toothpaste [63] |
1 July 2012 | Charles Jencks | The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler | 3D printer [64] |
8 July 2012 | Martina Navratilova | The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand | A pillow her mother made for her [65] |
15 July 2012 | Simon McBurney | And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger | A pillow with the smell of his family [66] |
22 July 2012 | Akram Khan | The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy [2] | A skipping rope [67] |
29 July 2012 | Mary Berry | RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants | Cashmere rug [68] |
5 August 2012 | Baroness Campbell of Surbiton | A very large atlas | A customised wheelchair [69] |
12 August 2012 | Craig Brown | The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica | Conjouring set [70] |
23 September 2012 | Goldie Hawn | The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm | Lip gloss [71] |
30 September 2012 | Ade Adepitan | Chronicles of the Lensmen by E. E. Smith | Basketball court with hoop and ball [72] |
7 October 2012 | Celia Birtwell | Tropical Flowering Plants by Kirsten Albrecht Llamas | A luxurious bed [73] |
14 October 2012 | Noah Stewart | The Joy of Cooking | A spa with whirlpool [74] |
21 October 2012 | Mona Siddiqui | A top ten short story collection featuring Mansfield, Maugham, Chekhov and Hemingway | Tea, milk and sugar [75] |
28 October 2012 | Hilary Devey | Never Look Back | An endless supply of Cointreau with ice in a crystal glass [76] |
4 November 2012 | Tidjane Thiam | The Brothers Karamazov by Fydor Dostoyevsky | Solar-powered ice cream maker [77] |
16 November 2012 | Blanche Marvin | The Golden Bough by James Frazer | Paper, pens and pencils [78] |
18 November 2012 | John Lloyd | The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts | A whirligig festooned with flower seeds [79] |
25 November 2012 | Edmund de Waal | The collected poems of Wallace Stevens | An espresso machine [80] |
2 December 2012 | Dustin Hoffman | The complete works of Charles Dickens [3] | An endless bar [81] |
9 December 2012 | Eric Pickles | If This Is a Man by Primo Levi | Kettle, tea service and container of Earl Grey tea [82] |
16 December 2012 | Sister Wendy Beckett | An enormous book of logical puzzles | Refrigerated tabernacle [83] |
23 December 2012 | Dawn French | Puckoon by Spike Milligan | Her daughter's teddy bear [84] |
30 December 2012 | Anya Hindmarch | Grimm's fairy tales | Yellow rotating pencil and a book of unlined paper [85] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
6 January 2013 | Sir Howard Stringer | The short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald | An easy chairman [86] |
13 January 2013 | Martin Carthy | The collected works of Charles Dickens | His guitar [87] |
20 January 2013 | Beryl Vertue | A book of family photographs | Acoustic guitar and a book of instructions [88] |
27 January 2013 | Aung San Suu Kyi | Abhidharma | A never-ending supply of different coloured roses [89] |
3 February 2013 | Sir Terry Leahy | The complete works of Charles Dickens | Tea [90] |
10 February 2013 | Julie Burchill | This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco by Garry Mulholland [4] | Alcohol still [91] |
17 February 2013 | Jonathan Agnew | City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre | Lawnmower with an endless supply of fuel [92] |
24 February 2013 | Uta Frith | Book of hours from Sir John Soane's museum | Her doll's house [93] |
3 March 2013 | Rankin | Tuulitastic by Rankin | Pluto and Persephone by Berini [94] |
10 March 2013 | David Almond | Arabian Nights | Japanese notebooks and pens [95] |
17 March 2013 | Julie Goodyear | Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach | Her mother's bus pass [96] |
24 March 2013 | Jasvinder Sanghera | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou | Her father's milk churn [97] |
31 March 2013 | Sir Sydney Kentridge | The Jeeves Omnibus by P G Wodehouse | An endless supply of coffee and a machine to make it with [98] |
12 May 2013 | Damien Hirst | The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors Even, Again | A work of art by Roger Hiorns called "Untitled 2009" [99] |
19 May 2013 | Alice Walker | Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More by David Icke | Solar powered vitamix [100] |
26 May 2013 | Deborah Bull | The Encyclopedia of the Human Brain | Will Tuckett's Pleasure's Progress [101] |
2 June 2013 | Sir Mervyn King | Complete illustrated catalogue of the National Gallery | Telescope [102] |
9 June 2013 | Conrad Anker | The complete works of Jack London | Rope and rack [103] |
16 June 2013 | Alexandra Shulman | Penguin Book of Love Poetry by Jon Stallworthy | An endless supply of Miss Dior Eau du Toilette [104] |
23 June 2013 | Hugh Laurie | An encyclopaedia | A double set of throwing knives [105] |
30 June 2013 | Steven Pinker | Oxford English Dictionary | Carbon fibre bicycle [106] |
7 July 2013 | Jane Somerville | The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy | Hot bath every day with Rose Geranium bath essence by Floris [107] |
14 July 2013 | Val McDermid | The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson | Solar-powered laptop used solely for playing games [108] |
21 July 2013 | Russell Brand | The Bhagavad Gita | Stuffed effigy of Noel Gallagher [109] |
28 July 2013 | Mary Robinson | The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing | Solar cooker and fridge [110] |
4 August 2013 | Eve Stewart | The Complete Works of Charles Dickens | A lifetime supply of self-firing clay [111] |
11 August 2013 | Daniel Kahneman | Thesaurus | Reclining chair [112] |
22 September 2013 | Zadie Smith | A la recherché du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Goggles [113] |
29 September 2013 | Lee Mack | A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking | Coffee machine, coffee, fridge, milk and teaspoon [114] |
6 October 2013 | Carolyn McCall | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | Solar-powered iPad with all her photos [115] |
13 October 2013 | Chris Packham | The complete works of F. Scott Fitzgerald | Binoculars [116] |
20 October 2013 | Jeremy Hutchinson | The complete works of Thomas Hardy | The Tempest by Giorgione [117] |
27 October 2013 | Professor Tanya Byron | Emma by Jane Austen | A large piano [118] |
3 November 2013 | Sir Ken Robinson | India's Summer by Therese | A large quad bike with a solar panel [119] |
15 November 2013 | Alfred Brendel | Aphorisms by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg | Romanesque chapel adjacent to Montmajour Abbey in Provence [120] |
17 November 2013 | Malorie Blackman | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë | Bicycle [121] |
24 November 2013 | Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams | Weekly delivery of a Chicken Tikka takeaway [122] |
1 December 2013 | Clare Balding | Encyclopedia of nature | Thermos mug with tea, milk and sugar [123] |
8 December 2013 | Barbara Hulanicki | Roget's Thesaurus | Sketch book [124] |
15 December 2013 | Gillian Clarke | Anthology of poetry | Brynmawr writing desk [125] |
22 December 2013 | Miranda Hart | The Complete Works of Margaret Luce | Wimbledon Centre court, racquet, balls and a ball machine [126] |
29 December 2013 | Ant and Dec | The Collected Works of William Boyd (for Ant) and High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (for Dec) | A blow up chair (for Ant) and tweezers (for Dec) [127] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
5 January 2014 | Ray Mears | A blank book to record his Desert Island findings | A huge pair of speakers [128] |
12 January 2014 | Nicola Benedetti | Long Walk to Freedom – her personal copy by Nelson Mandela | Violin in its case with some pieces of sheet music [129] |
19 January 2014 | Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin | The Complete Works of Maya Angelou | Large collection of earrings [130] |
26 January 2014 | Sir Ben Ainslie | Great Expectations by Charles Dickens | A flight simulator [131] |
2 February 2014 | Bob Harris | A fictional book about cricket statistics | A greenhouse [132] |
9 February 2014 | Dame Elish Angiolini | Oxford Anthology of Poetry | A photograph of all the people she loves [133] |
16 February 2014 | Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean | Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (for Torvill) and Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Theodor Seuss (for Dean) | Jo Malone moisturizer (for Torvill) and endless supply of coffee and digestive biscuits (for Dean) [134] |
23 February 2014 | Professor Hugh Montgomery | SAS Survival Handbook of Survival by John Wiseman | A spear fishing kit [135] |
2 March 2014 | Mairi Hedderwick | A book containing all the Ordnance Survey maps of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland | A wonderful bath that comes down from the skies [136] |
9 March 2014 | Lord Richards of Herstmonceux | The complete works of Patrick O'Brian | Sailcloth [137] |
16 March 2014 | Murray Walker | How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment by Chris McNab | A hammock and pillow [138] |
23 March 2014 | Dame Claire Bertschinger | A book of monologues | A Swiss Army knife [139] |
30 March 2014 | Sir Andre Geim | None | Amarone [140] |
11 May 2014 | Jack Dee | A big comprehensive encyclopedia | Acoustic guitar [141] |
18 May 2014 | Alison Moyet | His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman | A bath [142] |
25 May 2014 | René Redzepi | Complete set of Mad magazine | One full day of snow [143] |
1 June 2014 | Biddy Baxter | The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor | Toast and dripping [144] |
8 June 2014 | Tamara Rojo | Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez | Bed [145] |
15 June 2014 | Raja Shehadeh | Arabian Nights | A packet of seeds [146] |
22 June 2014 | Judy Murray | The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown | Moisturiser cream [147] |
29 June 2014 | Lily Allen | Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis | Husband's shirt with daughter's bunny sewn on to it [148] |
6 July 2014 | Sir Michael Marmot | Oxford English Dictionary (all 13 volumes and supplements) | Viola [149] |
13 July 2014 | Anne Reid | The Complete Works of George and Ira Gershwin | A piano [150] |
20 July 2014 | Doug Allan | 1 Volume of Encyclopædia Britannica | Guitar [151] |
27 July 2014 | Dame Wendy Hall | Complete printed out pages of Wikipedia | Spa and favourite spa products [152] |
3 August 2014 | Guy Garvey | The collected works of J D Salinger | Bushmill Irish whiskey and ice [153] |
10 August 2014 | Malcolm Gladwell | Selected works of Geoffrey Trease | Golf clubs and balls [154] |
21 September 2014 | Steve McQueen | The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin | Compass [155] |
28 September 2014 | Marin Alsop | Collected Works of Carl Jung | Pottery studio [156] |
5 October 2014 | Sally Wainwright | Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority by Jill Liddington | A small art shop full of goodies [157] |
12 October 2014 | Sir Roy Strong | The Oxford Companion to the Garden by Patrick Taylor | His custom-built tricycle [158] |
19 October 2014 | Debbie Wiseman | The Penguin of English Verse | Grand piano, music manuscript paper and pencil [159] |
26 October 2014 | Roger Graef | Lost and Found in Russia by Susan Richards | A piano with six books of Bartok's Mikrokosmos [160] |
2 November 2014 | Wendy Dagworthy | Raj Quartet by Paul Scott | A case of red lipstick and a fridge to keep it cool [161] |
14 November 2014 | Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown | The Moonlandings by Reginald Turnill | His 12 flight log books [162] |
16 November 2014 | John Agard | The book of hours | A roll up of organic tobacco [163] |
23 November 2014 | Rt Hon Theresa May MP | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | A lifetime subscription to Vogue [164] |
30 November 2014 | Damian Lewis | History of the World by J M Roberts | Whittling kit [165] |
7 December 2014 | Julie Bentley | If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor | Her photo albums [166] |
14 December 2014 | Sarah Millican | A survival book | Notebooks and pens [167] |
21 December 2014 | The Most Reverend Justin Welby | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon | The complete series of The West Wing on DVD [168] |
28 December 2014 | Ray Winstone | The Searchers by Alan Le May | A fishing rod [169] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
4 January 2015 | Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell | A Teach Yourself Swedish book | Sketchbooks and pencils [170] |
11 January 2015 | Jo Malone | The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C Morais | Chanel lip gloss [171] |
18 January 2015 | Dame Julia Cleverdon | The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford | A 2,000 piece jigsaw of Venice [172] |
25 January 2015 | Professor Peter Piot | The Complete works of Hugo Claus | An old English rose [173] |
1 February 2015 | Professor Angie Hobbs | The collected works of W B Yeats | A harp with teach yourself books and plenty of strings [174] |
8 February 2015 | Dan Pearson | An encyclopedia of the local plants | The contents of his potting shed [175] |
15 February 2015 | Mark Rylance | The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship by Rumi | A stand up bass [176] |
22 February 2015 | Jonas Kaufmann | Das Königsprojekt by Carl Amery | A coffee machine [177] |
1 March 2015 | Julia Samuel | Other Men's Flowers: An Anthology of Poetry edited by A P Wavell | A notebook and a pen her mother gave her [178] |
8 March 2015 | Bryan Stevenson | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | A piano [179] |
15 March 2015 | Robin Millar | West with the Night by Beryl Markham | The pyramid stage at Glastonbury, complete with the sound system, lights and a guitar [180] |
22 March 2015 | Pat Albeck | Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy | A desk with two drawers full of art materials [181] |
29 March 2015 | Paul Hollywood | First Light by Geoffrey Wellum | Two pillows [182] |
10 May 2015 | Sir Bradley Wiggins | Slaying the Dragon: How to Turn Your Small Steps to Great Feats by Michael Johnson | Family photo album [183] |
17 May 2015 | Helen Browning | Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela | A David Lomax sculpture of Gaia carrying an ostrich egg behind her back [184] |
24 May 2015 | Jimmy Wales | The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand | A cellar full of Cabernet wine and a glass [185] |
31 May 2015 | Pamela Rose | Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot | A very comfortable four-poster bed with a mackintosh roof [186] |
7 June 2015 | Lisa Jardine | The full 12 volumes of P.S Allen's Latin Letters of Erasmus of Rotterdam | Cooking utensils [187] |
14 June 2015 | Rebecca Adlington | The Famous Five Collection by Enid Blyton | A pillow [188] |
21 June 2015 | Stephen Fry | Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot | Canvasses, easels, brushes and an instruction manual [189] |
28 June 2015 | Harry Rabinowitz | The Red and the Black by Stendhal | A pitch pipe [190] |
5 July 2015 | Freddie Flintoff | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee | A family photo album [191] |
12 July 2015 | Imtiaz Dharker | An atlas of the whole world | The Victoria and Albert Museum in London [192] |
19 July 2015 | Noel Gallagher | On the Road by Jack Kerouac | Guitar and plectrum [193] |
26 July 2015 | Professor Monica Grady | Ulysses by James Joyce | Flute [194] |
2 August 2015 | Ruth Rogers | The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers | A bottle of extra virgin olive oil pressed at either Felsina or Fontodi vineyards [195] |
9 August 2015 | Dr Bill Frankland | The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe | Binoculars [196] |
20 September 2015 | Dame Judi Dench | Other Men's Flowers by A P Wavell ( audio book read by her daughter Finty Williams) | Cut-outs of all her friends and family [197] |
27 September 2015 | Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran | The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh (for Gran) and his own diaries (for Marks) | A really big drum kit (for Gran) and a collection of Château d'Yquem of his choice from 1900 to 2001, a fridge and Sauternes glasses (for Marks) [198] |
4 October 2015 | Alison Balsom | The Complete Scores of Bach | Trumpet [199] |
11 October 2015 | Lemn Sissay | The Koran | Pen and paper [200] |
18 October 2015 | Professor Sue Black | Gray's Anatomy, 36th Edition | A big hat [201] |
25 October 2015 | Keith Richards | Dr Dogbody's Leg by James Norman Hall | Machete [202] |
1 November 2015 | Marjorie Wallace | Lives of the Poets: 1,000 Years of English & American Poetry by Louise Untermeyer | Cocktail cabinet [203] |
13 November 2015 | Lord Indarjit Singh | The Bible | Paper and pens for drawing [204] |
15 November 2015 | Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon | The Complete Works of Jane Austen | A coffee machine [205] |
22 November 2015 | Gurinder Chadha | Heer Ranjha translation by Professor Christopher Shackle | Home movies of her children [206] |
29 November 2015 | Sandi Toksvig | The Ashley Book of Knots | An endless supply of the Daily Mail [207] |
6 December 2015 | Atul Gawande | The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy | Pen and journal [208] |
13 December 2015 | Kylie Minogue | The Outdoor Survival Handbook by Ray Mears | Family photo album [209] |
20 December 2015 | Commander Chris Hadfield | Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers | Acoustic guitar [210] |
27 December 2015 | Patricia Greene | Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett | A sack of bird food [211] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
1 January 2017 | Sir Kenneth Grange | Bauhaus by Hans Wingler | Pen and paper [254] |
8 January 2017 | Pinky Lilani | The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Åžafak | Darjeeling Tea with a teapot and a bone china mug [255] |
15 January 2017 | Wayne McGregor | Diderot's Encyclopedia | Tatsuo Miyajima’s digital art work, ‘Life’ [256] |
22 January 2017 | Caitlin Moran | The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend | A solar-powered laptop, not connected to the Internet [257] |
29 January 2017 | David Beckham | On Fire by Francis Mallmann | His England caps [258] |
5 February 2017 | Nigel Owens | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Welsh tea [259] |
12 February 2017 | June Brown | The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe | Tobacco seeds [260] |
19 February 2017 | Sir Antony Beevor | Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev | A fishing rod and tackle [261] |
26 February 2017 | Dame Katherine Grainger | Book of quotations | Archive of past Sunday papers [262] |
5 March 2017 | Jimmy Carr | The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations | A coffee machine [263] |
12 March 2017 | Marian Keyes | A book of cryptic crosswords | A photograph of her husband [264] |
19 March 2017 | Amanda Levete | Museum without Walls by André Malraux | Lifetime supply of freshly laundered linen napkins [265] |
26 March 2017 | Arundhati Roy | Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam | A Ratol Mango Tree [266] |
7 May 2017 | Ed Sheeran | His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman | A lifetime supply of ketchup [267] |
14 May 2017 | Liz Lochhead | Lying Under the Apple Tree by Alice Munro | Child's art set with paints, crayons and glitter and glue [268] |
21 May 2017 | Demis Hassabis | The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien | A solar-powered chess computer [269] |
28 May 2017 | Elif Shafak | Orlando by Virginia Woolf | A stationery cupboard [270] |
4 June 2017 | Sonia Friedman | Oxford Book of English Verse | Cello [271] |
11 June 2017 | Rick Wakeman | Principles of Orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Piano [272] |
18 June 2017 | Jed Mercurio | The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose | A telescope [273] |
25 June 2017 | Stella McCartney | Japanese Jailbird by Paul McCartney | A charm bracelet [274] |
2 July 2017 | Professor Carlo Rovelli | The Odyssey by Homer | A telescope [275] |
9 July 2017 | Sue Perkins | "How to Clone Your Dog" | Her deceased dog's hair [276] |
16 July 2017 | John McEnroe | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey | A vintage Martin acoustic guitar [277] |
23 July 2017 | Jayne-Anne Gadhia | Les Miserables by Victor Hugo | A sari [278] |
30 July 2017 | Sheryl Sandberg | A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle | A journal [279] |
6 August 2017 | Dr Kevin Fong | A star atlas | A pair of binoculars [280] |
17 September 2017 | Paul Greengrass | 100 Years of Crystal Palace FC by Nigel Sands | A guitar and songbooks [281] |
24 September 2017 | Professor Dame Jane Francis | A big encyclopaedia of plants of the world | Horseradish sauce [282] |
1 October 2017 | Siddhartha Mukherjee | The Complete Works of George Orwell | A microscope [283] |
8 October 2017 | Sir James MacMillan | The Selected Poems of Michael Symmons Roberts | His piano [284] |
15 October 2017 | Jane Gardam | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Paper and pens [285] |
22 October 2017 | Edna Adan Ismail | Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof | Vegetable seeds [286] |
29 October 2017 | Kay Mellor | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë | Coloured pens and paper [287] |
5 November 2017 | Professor Phil Scraton | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell | A guitar [288] |
17 November 2017 | Anna Pavord | Dictionary of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists by Ray Desmond | Pen and paper [289] |
19 November 2017 | Micky Flanagan | A dictionary of philosophy | A handheld vacuum cleaner [290] |
26 November 2017 | Naomi Klein | The Backyard Astronomer's Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer | A snorkel and mask [291] |
3 December 2017 | Tim Martin | A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell | A surfboard [292] |
10 December 2017 | Kelsey Grammer | A Passage to India by E.M. Forster | A magnifying glass [293] |
17 December 2017 | Christine McVie | Henry VIII: King and Court by Alison Weir | Her piano [294] |
24 December 2017 | Bruno Tonioli | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez | A cellar of champagne [295] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
7 January 2018 | Charlie Brooker | Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut | Nintendo Switch games console [296] |
14 January 2018 | Angela Hartnett | Emma by Jane Austen | Face cream [297] |
21 January 2018 | Christina Lamb | For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway | Paper and pencils [298] |
28 January 2018 | Garry Kasparov | Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov | A telescope [299] |
4 February 2018 | Jack Whitehall | The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams | A tuxedo [300] |
11 February 2018 | Chi-chi Nwanoku | Black Shamrocks by Gus Nwanokwu | An orthopaedic pillow [301] |
18 February 2018 | Christopher Nolan | The Selected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges | Projector and collection of old films [302] |
25 February 2018 | Dame Minouche Shafik | A survival guide | Albums of her children [303] |
4 March 2018 | Matt Smith | Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes | Endless supply of English breakfast tea [304] |
11 March 2018 | John Gray | The Palm at the End of the Mind by Wallace Stevens | Endless supply of Marmite [305] |
18 March 2018 | David Byrne | The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks | Set of Vietnamese cookery books [306] |
25 March 2018 | Anne-Marie Duff | The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot | Gorgeous underwear [307] |
6 May 2018 | Abi Morgan | The Complete Works of Proust | Her children's exercise books from school [308] |
13 May 2018 | Sir Peter Lampl | The Complete Works of Robert Frost | Two cases of champagne [309] |
20 May 2018 | Dr Sue Black | An A-Level maths book (and pencil) | Red hair dye [310] |
27 May 2018 | David Baddiel | Rabbit Angstrom by John Updike | Giant slipper foot massager [311] |
3 June 2018 | Gillian Reynolds | Hogarth, A Life and a World by Jenny Uglow | Endless supply of blended Scotch [312] |
10 June 2018 | Professor Carlos Frenk | Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges | A planetarium [313] |
17 June 2018 | John Motson | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger | Running shoes [314] |
24 June 2018 | Martina Cole | Hatter's Castle by A. J. Cronin | Luxurious underwear [315] |
1 July 2018 | Guy Singh-Watson | Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy | Surfboard [316] |
8 July 2018 | Philip Treacy | An encyclopedia of shells | A tailor's thimble [317] |
15 July 2018 | Billie Jean King | Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss | Scrapbook of photos of her family [318] |
22 July 2018 | Baroness Newlove | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Lipstick [319] |
29 July 2018 | Marianne Elliott | Anthology of twentieth and twenty first century poetry written by women | Bath with 3 taps – hot water, cold water and wine [320] |
5 August 2018 | Pam Ayres | The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose: From William Caxton to P.G. Wodehouse by Frank Muir | A medicine cabinet including mosquito repellent [321] |
16 September 2018 | Danielle de Niese | The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | A slide projector with all the photos she's ever taken of her loved ones [322] |
23 September 2018 | Henry Marsh | Teach yourself Ukrainian book | His garden shed with tools in it [323] |
30 September 2018 | Tom Daley | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling | An oven [324] |
7 October 2018 | Thea Musgrave | An Anthology of World Poetry edited by Mark Van Doren | Two packs of playing cards [325] |
14 October 2018 | Nile Rodgers | Moby-Dick by Herman Melville | His Hitmaker guitar and an amp [326] |
21 October 2018 | Venki Ramakrishnan | The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman, Matthew Sands and Robert Leighton | His wife's grand piano [327] |
28 October 2018 | Jacqueline Gold | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne | Her own feather pillow [328] |
4 November 2018 | Vanley Burke | Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants by Ahmed Fayaz | A Machete and a Crocus bag [329] |
16 November 2018 | Hella Pick | Scorn by Matthew Parris | Recliner armchair [330] |
18 November 2018 | Tracey Thorn | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Lipstick [331] |
25 November 2018 | Kate Atkinson | The Collected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson | A 500-year-old, mature oak tree [332] |
2 December 2018 | Tom Kerridge | White Heat by Marco Pierre White | A shaving kit [333] |
9 December 2018 | Gary Barlow | Recording the Beatles by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew | Piano [334] |
16 December 2018 | Mariana Mazzucato | Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar | One of her mother's handmade quilts [335] |
23 December 2018 | Alan Carr | Argos catalogue | Foam roller [336] |
The BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs invites castaways to choose eight pieces of music, a book (in addition to the Bible – or a religious text appropriate to that person's beliefs – and the Complete Works of Shakespeare) and a luxury item that they would take to an imaginary desert island, where they will be marooned indefinitely.
The rules state that the chosen luxury item must not be anything animate or indeed anything that enables the castaway to escape from the island, for instance a radio set, sailing yacht or aeroplane. The choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests from 2011 to 2020.
Desert Island Discs takes two short breaks, in (the northern) spring and summer. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts new programmes for approximately 42 weeks each year on Sunday mornings, usually with a repeat transmission 5 days later. On Remembrance Sunday (in November) the programme is not broadcast but that week's programme gets a single airing in the Friday repeat slot.
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
2 January 2011 | Tony Iveson | A volume of W. Somerset Maugham's short stories | Two established vines and a tin bath to make wine [1] |
9 January 2011 | Gyles Brandreth | The complete plays of Anton Chekhov | Michelangelo's Pietà [2] |
16 January 2011 | Rt Hon Alex Salmond | The complete works of Robert Burns | A sand wedge and endless golf balls for playing golf [3] |
23 January 2011 | Betty Driver | Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier | Eau de Soir perfume by Sisley [4] |
30 January 2011 | Jon Snow | Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin | A set of watercolours and an endless supply of paper [5] |
6 February 2011 | Howard Jacobson | Oxford Book of English Verse | A never ending supply of pressed shirts and trousers [6] |
13 February 2011 | Celia Imrie | Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | A cut glass crystal chandelier with candles [7] |
20 February 2011 | Lawrence Dallaglio | Ripley's World by Andy Ripley | A great big jar of Marmite [8] |
27 February 2011 | Dame Anne Owers | An anthology of British poetry | A solar powered word processor [9] |
3 April 2011 | Martin Sheen | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | Golf clubs [10] |
10 April 2011 | Terry Gilliam | Dictionary | A mirror [11] |
17 April 2011 | Felicity Green | Finishing the Hat by Stephen Sondheim | A bronze sculpture by Giles Penny [12] |
24 April 2011 | Cath Kidston | The Larousse French/English Dictionary | Hot water bottle [13] |
1 May 2011 | Professor David Phillips | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Piano with music [14] |
8 May 2011 | Molly Parkin | The History of the Colony by Sophie Parkin | Her entire outfit including her Andrew Logan brooch [15] |
15 May 2011 | Kwame Kwei-Armah | The complete works of August Wilson | A basic word processor [16] |
22 May 2011 | Debbie Harry | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Paints and paper [17] |
29 May 2011 | Roger Waters | All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy | Grand piano [18] |
5 June 2011 | Alfie Boe | A tropical recipe book | His own drum kit [19] |
12 June 2011 | Andrea Levy | Roget's Thesaurus | Mosquito repellent [20] |
19 June 2011 | Len Goodman | An anthology of British poetry | Set of golf clubs and balls [21] |
26 June 2011 | Dame Harriet Walter | The complete works of Isabella Bird | Flute [22] |
3 July 2011 | Tony Robinson | Middlemarch by George Eliot | Luxury mattress and pillow [23] |
10 July 2011 | Reverend John Graham | The complete works of Saki | A telescope [24] |
17 July 2011 | Michael McIntyre | The Complete Prose of Woody Allen | Pen [25] |
24 July 2011 | Heather Rabbatts | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | A solar powered digital photo album [26] |
31 July 2011 | Danny Baker | The Most of S J Perelman | His blue suede shoe [27] |
18 September 2011 | Martin Clunes | Puckoon by Spike Milligan | An electric guitar [28] |
25 September 2011 | Arthur Edwards | A photographic album with pictures of his family | An inexhaustible supply of tea and a kettle [29] |
2 October 2011 | Anne Wood | Cotillion by Georgette Heyer | Paper, pen and watercolours to record the plant life on the island [30] |
9 October 2011 | Vidal Sassoon | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | A dozen bottles of Vidal Sassoon hair shampoo [31] |
16 October 2011 | Michael Johnson | The biggest possible encyclopaedia | McLaren SLR sports car with petrol [32] |
23 October 2011 | Mark Gatiss | The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle | A Victorian bath and hot water [33] |
30 October 2011 | Lord Victor Adebowale | The Complete Works of Wole Soyinka | His saxophone [34] |
6 November 2011 | Francesca Simon | The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope | A cappucino maker [35] |
18 November 2011 | Anna Scher | Poem of the Day | A bespoke statue of Archbishop Desmond Tutu [36] |
20 November 2011 | Robert Hardy | The Great Warbow by Robert Hardy and Matthew Strickland | Young Girl in Profile, 1495 – De Predis [37] |
27 November 2011 | Bear Grylls | Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe | A laminated photo of his family [38] |
4 December 2011 | Sir Martin Sorrell | The Talmud | Cricket bat, ball and stumps [39] |
11 December 2011 | Eve Pollard | Maritime Intelligence and Publications | Tweezers [40] |
18 December 2011 | Baron Fellowes of West Stafford | The complete works of Anthony Trollope | Two enormous casks of Château Margaux [41] |
30 December 2011 | Professor Brian Cox | Classic Electrodynamics by John David Jackson | A coffee machine [42] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
1 January 2012 | Sir Terry Wogan | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Bottles, pens and paper [43] |
8 January 2012 | Dame Monica Mason | A special compilation of all of David Attenborough's books | A torch [44] |
15 January 2012 | Paul Johnson | A big atlas | Watercolour paints and paper [45] |
22 January 2012 | Vikram Seth | An anthology of poems to include ones by Chinese poet Du Fu | Calligraphy materials [46] |
29 January 2012 | Sir David Attenborough | Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life by W B Lord | A piano [47] |
5 February 2012 | Denise Lewis | Oprah: An Autobiography by Oprah Winfrey | Sex and the City DVD boxset [48] |
12 February 2012 | James Corden | A guide to learning the piano | A piano [49] |
19 February 2012 | John Prescott | Smile Though Your Heart Is Breaking by Pauline Prescott | A Bontempi keyboard [50] |
26 February 2012 | Brian Moore | Germinal by Émile Zola | A football [51] |
4 March 2012 | Patsy Rodenburg | A large anthology of poetry | An endless supply of tea [52] |
11 March 2012 | Jackie Mason | The Complete Works of Sholem Aleichem | An easy chairman [53] |
18 March 2012 | Anna Ford | Staying Alive: Real Poems for Unreal Times | Endless supply of leaf tea, teapot, mug and semi-skimmed milk [54] |
25 March 2012 | Jamie Cullum | On the Road by Jack Kerouac | A huge stack of white paper and pencils [55] |
6 May 2012 | Tim Minchin | Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut | Robotic sex doll [56] |
13 May 2012 | Baroness Hollins | 100 Masterpieces of Art | Her clarinet [57] |
20 May 2012 | Peter Ackroyd | The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis | Pen and paper [58] |
27 May 2012 | Denise Robertson | A book on practical survival | An endless supply of pens and paper [59] |
3 June 2012 | Margaret Rhodes | Reader's Digest – The Most Amazing Gardens in Britain and Ireland | Her favourite blue jersey [60] |
10 June 2012 | Doreen Lawrence | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou | An artist's workshop [61] |
17 June 2012 | Ahdaf Soueif | Keepers of the Flame by Ian Hamilton [1] | Paper and coloured pens [62] |
24 June 2012 | John Bishop | Family photo album | Lifetime's supply of toothbrushes and toothpaste [63] |
1 July 2012 | Charles Jencks | The Act of Creation by Arthur Koestler | 3D printer [64] |
8 July 2012 | Martina Navratilova | The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand | A pillow her mother made for her [65] |
15 July 2012 | Simon McBurney | And Our Faces, My Heart, Brief as Photos by John Berger | A pillow with the smell of his family [66] |
22 July 2012 | Akram Khan | The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy [2] | A skipping rope [67] |
29 July 2012 | Mary Berry | RHS A-Z Encyclopaedia of Garden Plants | Cashmere rug [68] |
5 August 2012 | Baroness Campbell of Surbiton | A very large atlas | A customised wheelchair [69] |
12 August 2012 | Craig Brown | The 11th edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica | Conjouring set [70] |
23 September 2012 | Goldie Hawn | The Art of Loving by Erich Fromm | Lip gloss [71] |
30 September 2012 | Ade Adepitan | Chronicles of the Lensmen by E. E. Smith | Basketball court with hoop and ball [72] |
7 October 2012 | Celia Birtwell | Tropical Flowering Plants by Kirsten Albrecht Llamas | A luxurious bed [73] |
14 October 2012 | Noah Stewart | The Joy of Cooking | A spa with whirlpool [74] |
21 October 2012 | Mona Siddiqui | A top ten short story collection featuring Mansfield, Maugham, Chekhov and Hemingway | Tea, milk and sugar [75] |
28 October 2012 | Hilary Devey | Never Look Back | An endless supply of Cointreau with ice in a crystal glass [76] |
4 November 2012 | Tidjane Thiam | The Brothers Karamazov by Fydor Dostoyevsky | Solar-powered ice cream maker [77] |
16 November 2012 | Blanche Marvin | The Golden Bough by James Frazer | Paper, pens and pencils [78] |
18 November 2012 | John Lloyd | The Book on the Taboo Against Knowing Who You Are by Alan Watts | A whirligig festooned with flower seeds [79] |
25 November 2012 | Edmund de Waal | The collected poems of Wallace Stevens | An espresso machine [80] |
2 December 2012 | Dustin Hoffman | The complete works of Charles Dickens [3] | An endless bar [81] |
9 December 2012 | Eric Pickles | If This Is a Man by Primo Levi | Kettle, tea service and container of Earl Grey tea [82] |
16 December 2012 | Sister Wendy Beckett | An enormous book of logical puzzles | Refrigerated tabernacle [83] |
23 December 2012 | Dawn French | Puckoon by Spike Milligan | Her daughter's teddy bear [84] |
30 December 2012 | Anya Hindmarch | Grimm's fairy tales | Yellow rotating pencil and a book of unlined paper [85] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
6 January 2013 | Sir Howard Stringer | The short stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald | An easy chairman [86] |
13 January 2013 | Martin Carthy | The collected works of Charles Dickens | His guitar [87] |
20 January 2013 | Beryl Vertue | A book of family photographs | Acoustic guitar and a book of instructions [88] |
27 January 2013 | Aung San Suu Kyi | Abhidharma | A never-ending supply of different coloured roses [89] |
3 February 2013 | Sir Terry Leahy | The complete works of Charles Dickens | Tea [90] |
10 February 2013 | Julie Burchill | This Is Uncool: The 500 Greatest Singles Since Punk and Disco by Garry Mulholland [4] | Alcohol still [91] |
17 February 2013 | Jonathan Agnew | City of Joy by Dominique Lapierre | Lawnmower with an endless supply of fuel [92] |
24 February 2013 | Uta Frith | Book of hours from Sir John Soane's museum | Her doll's house [93] |
3 March 2013 | Rankin | Tuulitastic by Rankin | Pluto and Persephone by Berini [94] |
10 March 2013 | David Almond | Arabian Nights | Japanese notebooks and pens [95] |
17 March 2013 | Julie Goodyear | Jonathan Livingston Seagull by Richard Bach | Her mother's bus pass [96] |
24 March 2013 | Jasvinder Sanghera | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou | Her father's milk churn [97] |
31 March 2013 | Sir Sydney Kentridge | The Jeeves Omnibus by P G Wodehouse | An endless supply of coffee and a machine to make it with [98] |
12 May 2013 | Damien Hirst | The Bride Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors Even, Again | A work of art by Roger Hiorns called "Untitled 2009" [99] |
19 May 2013 | Alice Walker | Human Race Get Off Your Knees: The Lion Sleeps No More by David Icke | Solar powered vitamix [100] |
26 May 2013 | Deborah Bull | The Encyclopedia of the Human Brain | Will Tuckett's Pleasure's Progress [101] |
2 June 2013 | Sir Mervyn King | Complete illustrated catalogue of the National Gallery | Telescope [102] |
9 June 2013 | Conrad Anker | The complete works of Jack London | Rope and rack [103] |
16 June 2013 | Alexandra Shulman | Penguin Book of Love Poetry by Jon Stallworthy | An endless supply of Miss Dior Eau du Toilette [104] |
23 June 2013 | Hugh Laurie | An encyclopaedia | A double set of throwing knives [105] |
30 June 2013 | Steven Pinker | Oxford English Dictionary | Carbon fibre bicycle [106] |
7 July 2013 | Jane Somerville | The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy | Hot bath every day with Rose Geranium bath essence by Floris [107] |
14 July 2013 | Val McDermid | The Complete Works of Robert Louis Stevenson | Solar-powered laptop used solely for playing games [108] |
21 July 2013 | Russell Brand | The Bhagavad Gita | Stuffed effigy of Noel Gallagher [109] |
28 July 2013 | Mary Robinson | The Field Day Anthology of Irish Writing | Solar cooker and fridge [110] |
4 August 2013 | Eve Stewart | The Complete Works of Charles Dickens | A lifetime supply of self-firing clay [111] |
11 August 2013 | Daniel Kahneman | Thesaurus | Reclining chair [112] |
22 September 2013 | Zadie Smith | A la recherché du temps perdu by Marcel Proust | Goggles [113] |
29 September 2013 | Lee Mack | A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking | Coffee machine, coffee, fridge, milk and teaspoon [114] |
6 October 2013 | Carolyn McCall | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | Solar-powered iPad with all her photos [115] |
13 October 2013 | Chris Packham | The complete works of F. Scott Fitzgerald | Binoculars [116] |
20 October 2013 | Jeremy Hutchinson | The complete works of Thomas Hardy | The Tempest by Giorgione [117] |
27 October 2013 | Professor Tanya Byron | Emma by Jane Austen | A large piano [118] |
3 November 2013 | Sir Ken Robinson | India's Summer by Therese | A large quad bike with a solar panel [119] |
15 November 2013 | Alfred Brendel | Aphorisms by Georg Christoph Lichtenberg | Romanesque chapel adjacent to Montmajour Abbey in Provence [120] |
17 November 2013 | Malorie Blackman | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë | Bicycle [121] |
24 November 2013 | Rt Hon Ed Miliband MP | The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams | Weekly delivery of a Chicken Tikka takeaway [122] |
1 December 2013 | Clare Balding | Encyclopedia of nature | Thermos mug with tea, milk and sugar [123] |
8 December 2013 | Barbara Hulanicki | Roget's Thesaurus | Sketch book [124] |
15 December 2013 | Gillian Clarke | Anthology of poetry | Brynmawr writing desk [125] |
22 December 2013 | Miranda Hart | The Complete Works of Margaret Luce | Wimbledon Centre court, racquet, balls and a ball machine [126] |
29 December 2013 | Ant and Dec | The Collected Works of William Boyd (for Ant) and High Fidelity by Nick Hornby (for Dec) | A blow up chair (for Ant) and tweezers (for Dec) [127] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
5 January 2014 | Ray Mears | A blank book to record his Desert Island findings | A huge pair of speakers [128] |
12 January 2014 | Nicola Benedetti | Long Walk to Freedom – her personal copy by Nelson Mandela | Violin in its case with some pieces of sheet music [129] |
19 January 2014 | Reverend Rose Hudson-Wilkin | The Complete Works of Maya Angelou | Large collection of earrings [130] |
26 January 2014 | Sir Ben Ainslie | Great Expectations by Charles Dickens | A flight simulator [131] |
2 February 2014 | Bob Harris | A fictional book about cricket statistics | A greenhouse [132] |
9 February 2014 | Dame Elish Angiolini | Oxford Anthology of Poetry | A photograph of all the people she loves [133] |
16 February 2014 | Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean | Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt (for Torvill) and Oh, the Places You'll Go by Dr. Theodor Seuss (for Dean) | Jo Malone moisturizer (for Torvill) and endless supply of coffee and digestive biscuits (for Dean) [134] |
23 February 2014 | Professor Hugh Montgomery | SAS Survival Handbook of Survival by John Wiseman | A spear fishing kit [135] |
2 March 2014 | Mairi Hedderwick | A book containing all the Ordnance Survey maps of the Highlands and Islands of Scotland | A wonderful bath that comes down from the skies [136] |
9 March 2014 | Lord Richards of Herstmonceux | The complete works of Patrick O'Brian | Sailcloth [137] |
16 March 2014 | Murray Walker | How to Survive Anything, Anywhere: A Handbook of Survival Skills for Every Scenario and Environment by Chris McNab | A hammock and pillow [138] |
23 March 2014 | Dame Claire Bertschinger | A book of monologues | A Swiss Army knife [139] |
30 March 2014 | Sir Andre Geim | None | Amarone [140] |
11 May 2014 | Jack Dee | A big comprehensive encyclopedia | Acoustic guitar [141] |
18 May 2014 | Alison Moyet | His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman | A bath [142] |
25 May 2014 | René Redzepi | Complete set of Mad magazine | One full day of snow [143] |
1 June 2014 | Biddy Baxter | The Traveller's Tree by Patrick Leigh Fermor | Toast and dripping [144] |
8 June 2014 | Tamara Rojo | Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez | Bed [145] |
15 June 2014 | Raja Shehadeh | Arabian Nights | A packet of seeds [146] |
22 June 2014 | Judy Murray | The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown | Moisturiser cream [147] |
29 June 2014 | Lily Allen | Auntie Mame by Patrick Dennis | Husband's shirt with daughter's bunny sewn on to it [148] |
6 July 2014 | Sir Michael Marmot | Oxford English Dictionary (all 13 volumes and supplements) | Viola [149] |
13 July 2014 | Anne Reid | The Complete Works of George and Ira Gershwin | A piano [150] |
20 July 2014 | Doug Allan | 1 Volume of Encyclopædia Britannica | Guitar [151] |
27 July 2014 | Dame Wendy Hall | Complete printed out pages of Wikipedia | Spa and favourite spa products [152] |
3 August 2014 | Guy Garvey | The collected works of J D Salinger | Bushmill Irish whiskey and ice [153] |
10 August 2014 | Malcolm Gladwell | Selected works of Geoffrey Trease | Golf clubs and balls [154] |
21 September 2014 | Steve McQueen | The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin | Compass [155] |
28 September 2014 | Marin Alsop | Collected Works of Carl Jung | Pottery studio [156] |
5 October 2014 | Sally Wainwright | Female Fortune: Land, Gender and Authority by Jill Liddington | A small art shop full of goodies [157] |
12 October 2014 | Sir Roy Strong | The Oxford Companion to the Garden by Patrick Taylor | His custom-built tricycle [158] |
19 October 2014 | Debbie Wiseman | The Penguin of English Verse | Grand piano, music manuscript paper and pencil [159] |
26 October 2014 | Roger Graef | Lost and Found in Russia by Susan Richards | A piano with six books of Bartok's Mikrokosmos [160] |
2 November 2014 | Wendy Dagworthy | Raj Quartet by Paul Scott | A case of red lipstick and a fridge to keep it cool [161] |
14 November 2014 | Captain Eric 'Winkle' Brown | The Moonlandings by Reginald Turnill | His 12 flight log books [162] |
16 November 2014 | John Agard | The book of hours | A roll up of organic tobacco [163] |
23 November 2014 | Rt Hon Theresa May MP | Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen | A lifetime subscription to Vogue [164] |
30 November 2014 | Damian Lewis | History of the World by J M Roberts | Whittling kit [165] |
7 December 2014 | Julie Bentley | If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things by Jon McGregor | Her photo albums [166] |
14 December 2014 | Sarah Millican | A survival book | Notebooks and pens [167] |
21 December 2014 | The Most Reverend Justin Welby | The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon | The complete series of The West Wing on DVD [168] |
28 December 2014 | Ray Winstone | The Searchers by Alan Le May | A fishing rod [169] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
4 January 2015 | Professor Dame Nancy Rothwell | A Teach Yourself Swedish book | Sketchbooks and pencils [170] |
11 January 2015 | Jo Malone | The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C Morais | Chanel lip gloss [171] |
18 January 2015 | Dame Julia Cleverdon | The Penguin Complete Novels of Nancy Mitford | A 2,000 piece jigsaw of Venice [172] |
25 January 2015 | Professor Peter Piot | The Complete works of Hugo Claus | An old English rose [173] |
1 February 2015 | Professor Angie Hobbs | The collected works of W B Yeats | A harp with teach yourself books and plenty of strings [174] |
8 February 2015 | Dan Pearson | An encyclopedia of the local plants | The contents of his potting shed [175] |
15 February 2015 | Mark Rylance | The Big Red Book: The Great Masterpiece Celebrating Mystical Love and Friendship by Rumi | A stand up bass [176] |
22 February 2015 | Jonas Kaufmann | Das Königsprojekt by Carl Amery | A coffee machine [177] |
1 March 2015 | Julia Samuel | Other Men's Flowers: An Anthology of Poetry edited by A P Wavell | A notebook and a pen her mother gave her [178] |
8 March 2015 | Bryan Stevenson | The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky | A piano [179] |
15 March 2015 | Robin Millar | West with the Night by Beryl Markham | The pyramid stage at Glastonbury, complete with the sound system, lights and a guitar [180] |
22 March 2015 | Pat Albeck | Tess of the d'Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy | A desk with two drawers full of art materials [181] |
29 March 2015 | Paul Hollywood | First Light by Geoffrey Wellum | Two pillows [182] |
10 May 2015 | Sir Bradley Wiggins | Slaying the Dragon: How to Turn Your Small Steps to Great Feats by Michael Johnson | Family photo album [183] |
17 May 2015 | Helen Browning | Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela | A David Lomax sculpture of Gaia carrying an ostrich egg behind her back [184] |
24 May 2015 | Jimmy Wales | The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand | A cellar full of Cabernet wine and a glass [185] |
31 May 2015 | Pamela Rose | Collected Poems of T.S. Eliot | A very comfortable four-poster bed with a mackintosh roof [186] |
7 June 2015 | Lisa Jardine | The full 12 volumes of P.S Allen's Latin Letters of Erasmus of Rotterdam | Cooking utensils [187] |
14 June 2015 | Rebecca Adlington | The Famous Five Collection by Enid Blyton | A pillow [188] |
21 June 2015 | Stephen Fry | Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot | Canvasses, easels, brushes and an instruction manual [189] |
28 June 2015 | Harry Rabinowitz | The Red and the Black by Stendhal | A pitch pipe [190] |
5 July 2015 | Freddie Flintoff | To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee | A family photo album [191] |
12 July 2015 | Imtiaz Dharker | An atlas of the whole world | The Victoria and Albert Museum in London [192] |
19 July 2015 | Noel Gallagher | On the Road by Jack Kerouac | Guitar and plectrum [193] |
26 July 2015 | Professor Monica Grady | Ulysses by James Joyce | Flute [194] |
2 August 2015 | Ruth Rogers | The River Cafe Classic Italian Cookbook by Rose Gray and Ruth Rogers | A bottle of extra virgin olive oil pressed at either Felsina or Fontodi vineyards [195] |
9 August 2015 | Dr Bill Frankland | The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe | Binoculars [196] |
20 September 2015 | Dame Judi Dench | Other Men's Flowers by A P Wavell ( audio book read by her daughter Finty Williams) | Cut-outs of all her friends and family [197] |
27 September 2015 | Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran | The Complete Works of Evelyn Waugh (for Gran) and his own diaries (for Marks) | A really big drum kit (for Gran) and a collection of Château d'Yquem of his choice from 1900 to 2001, a fridge and Sauternes glasses (for Marks) [198] |
4 October 2015 | Alison Balsom | The Complete Scores of Bach | Trumpet [199] |
11 October 2015 | Lemn Sissay | The Koran | Pen and paper [200] |
18 October 2015 | Professor Sue Black | Gray's Anatomy, 36th Edition | A big hat [201] |
25 October 2015 | Keith Richards | Dr Dogbody's Leg by James Norman Hall | Machete [202] |
1 November 2015 | Marjorie Wallace | Lives of the Poets: 1,000 Years of English & American Poetry by Louise Untermeyer | Cocktail cabinet [203] |
13 November 2015 | Lord Indarjit Singh | The Bible | Paper and pens for drawing [204] |
15 November 2015 | Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon | The Complete Works of Jane Austen | A coffee machine [205] |
22 November 2015 | Gurinder Chadha | Heer Ranjha translation by Professor Christopher Shackle | Home movies of her children [206] |
29 November 2015 | Sandi Toksvig | The Ashley Book of Knots | An endless supply of the Daily Mail [207] |
6 December 2015 | Atul Gawande | The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy | Pen and journal [208] |
13 December 2015 | Kylie Minogue | The Outdoor Survival Handbook by Ray Mears | Family photo album [209] |
20 December 2015 | Commander Chris Hadfield | Marks' Standard Handbook for Mechanical Engineers | Acoustic guitar [210] |
27 December 2015 | Patricia Greene | Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett | A sack of bird food [211] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
1 January 2017 | Sir Kenneth Grange | Bauhaus by Hans Wingler | Pen and paper [254] |
8 January 2017 | Pinky Lilani | The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Åžafak | Darjeeling Tea with a teapot and a bone china mug [255] |
15 January 2017 | Wayne McGregor | Diderot's Encyclopedia | Tatsuo Miyajima’s digital art work, ‘Life’ [256] |
22 January 2017 | Caitlin Moran | The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Aged 13¾ by Sue Townsend | A solar-powered laptop, not connected to the Internet [257] |
29 January 2017 | David Beckham | On Fire by Francis Mallmann | His England caps [258] |
5 February 2017 | Nigel Owens | The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame | Welsh tea [259] |
12 February 2017 | June Brown | The Story of San Michele by Axel Munthe | Tobacco seeds [260] |
19 February 2017 | Sir Antony Beevor | Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev | A fishing rod and tackle [261] |
26 February 2017 | Dame Katherine Grainger | Book of quotations | Archive of past Sunday papers [262] |
5 March 2017 | Jimmy Carr | The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations | A coffee machine [263] |
12 March 2017 | Marian Keyes | A book of cryptic crosswords | A photograph of her husband [264] |
19 March 2017 | Amanda Levete | Museum without Walls by André Malraux | Lifetime supply of freshly laundered linen napkins [265] |
26 March 2017 | Arundhati Roy | Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam | A Ratol Mango Tree [266] |
7 May 2017 | Ed Sheeran | His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman | A lifetime supply of ketchup [267] |
14 May 2017 | Liz Lochhead | Lying Under the Apple Tree by Alice Munro | Child's art set with paints, crayons and glitter and glue [268] |
21 May 2017 | Demis Hassabis | The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien | A solar-powered chess computer [269] |
28 May 2017 | Elif Shafak | Orlando by Virginia Woolf | A stationery cupboard [270] |
4 June 2017 | Sonia Friedman | Oxford Book of English Verse | Cello [271] |
11 June 2017 | Rick Wakeman | Principles of Orchestration by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov | Piano [272] |
18 June 2017 | Jed Mercurio | The Road to Reality by Roger Penrose | A telescope [273] |
25 June 2017 | Stella McCartney | Japanese Jailbird by Paul McCartney | A charm bracelet [274] |
2 July 2017 | Professor Carlo Rovelli | The Odyssey by Homer | A telescope [275] |
9 July 2017 | Sue Perkins | "How to Clone Your Dog" | Her deceased dog's hair [276] |
16 July 2017 | John McEnroe | One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey | A vintage Martin acoustic guitar [277] |
23 July 2017 | Jayne-Anne Gadhia | Les Miserables by Victor Hugo | A sari [278] |
30 July 2017 | Sheryl Sandberg | A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle | A journal [279] |
6 August 2017 | Dr Kevin Fong | A star atlas | A pair of binoculars [280] |
17 September 2017 | Paul Greengrass | 100 Years of Crystal Palace FC by Nigel Sands | A guitar and songbooks [281] |
24 September 2017 | Professor Dame Jane Francis | A big encyclopaedia of plants of the world | Horseradish sauce [282] |
1 October 2017 | Siddhartha Mukherjee | The Complete Works of George Orwell | A microscope [283] |
8 October 2017 | Sir James MacMillan | The Selected Poems of Michael Symmons Roberts | His piano [284] |
15 October 2017 | Jane Gardam | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Paper and pens [285] |
22 October 2017 | Edna Adan Ismail | Half the Sky by Nicholas Kristof | Vegetable seeds [286] |
29 October 2017 | Kay Mellor | Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë | Coloured pens and paper [287] |
5 November 2017 | Professor Phil Scraton | The Ragged Trousered Philanthropist by Robert Tressell | A guitar [288] |
17 November 2017 | Anna Pavord | Dictionary of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists by Ray Desmond | Pen and paper [289] |
19 November 2017 | Micky Flanagan | A dictionary of philosophy | A handheld vacuum cleaner [290] |
26 November 2017 | Naomi Klein | The Backyard Astronomer's Guide by Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer | A snorkel and mask [291] |
3 December 2017 | Tim Martin | A Dance to the Music of Time by Anthony Powell | A surfboard [292] |
10 December 2017 | Kelsey Grammer | A Passage to India by E.M. Forster | A magnifying glass [293] |
17 December 2017 | Christine McVie | Henry VIII: King and Court by Alison Weir | Her piano [294] |
24 December 2017 | Bruno Tonioli | One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel GarcÃa Márquez | A cellar of champagne [295] |
Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
---|---|---|---|
7 January 2018 | Charlie Brooker | Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut | Nintendo Switch games console [296] |
14 January 2018 | Angela Hartnett | Emma by Jane Austen | Face cream [297] |
21 January 2018 | Christina Lamb | For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway | Paper and pencils [298] |
28 January 2018 | Garry Kasparov | Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov | A telescope [299] |
4 February 2018 | Jack Whitehall | The Wimbledon Poisoner by Nigel Williams | A tuxedo [300] |
11 February 2018 | Chi-chi Nwanoku | Black Shamrocks by Gus Nwanokwu | An orthopaedic pillow [301] |
18 February 2018 | Christopher Nolan | The Selected Fictions of Jorge Luis Borges | Projector and collection of old films [302] |
25 February 2018 | Dame Minouche Shafik | A survival guide | Albums of her children [303] |
4 March 2018 | Matt Smith | Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes | Endless supply of English breakfast tea [304] |
11 March 2018 | John Gray | The Palm at the End of the Mind by Wallace Stevens | Endless supply of Marmite [305] |
18 March 2018 | David Byrne | The River of Consciousness by Oliver Sacks | Set of Vietnamese cookery books [306] |
25 March 2018 | Anne-Marie Duff | The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot | Gorgeous underwear [307] |
6 May 2018 | Abi Morgan | The Complete Works of Proust | Her children's exercise books from school [308] |
13 May 2018 | Sir Peter Lampl | The Complete Works of Robert Frost | Two cases of champagne [309] |
20 May 2018 | Dr Sue Black | An A-Level maths book (and pencil) | Red hair dye [310] |
27 May 2018 | David Baddiel | Rabbit Angstrom by John Updike | Giant slipper foot massager [311] |
3 June 2018 | Gillian Reynolds | Hogarth, A Life and a World by Jenny Uglow | Endless supply of blended Scotch [312] |
10 June 2018 | Professor Carlos Frenk | Collected Fictions by Jorge Luis Borges | A planetarium [313] |
17 June 2018 | John Motson | The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger | Running shoes [314] |
24 June 2018 | Martina Cole | Hatter's Castle by A. J. Cronin | Luxurious underwear [315] |
1 July 2018 | Guy Singh-Watson | Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy | Surfboard [316] |
8 July 2018 | Philip Treacy | An encyclopedia of shells | A tailor's thimble [317] |
15 July 2018 | Billie Jean King | Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss | Scrapbook of photos of her family [318] |
22 July 2018 | Baroness Newlove | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Lipstick [319] |
29 July 2018 | Marianne Elliott | Anthology of twentieth and twenty first century poetry written by women | Bath with 3 taps – hot water, cold water and wine [320] |
5 August 2018 | Pam Ayres | The Oxford Book of Humorous Prose: From William Caxton to P.G. Wodehouse by Frank Muir | A medicine cabinet including mosquito repellent [321] |
16 September 2018 | Danielle de Niese | The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald | A slide projector with all the photos she's ever taken of her loved ones [322] |
23 September 2018 | Henry Marsh | Teach yourself Ukrainian book | His garden shed with tools in it [323] |
30 September 2018 | Tom Daley | Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J. K. Rowling | An oven [324] |
7 October 2018 | Thea Musgrave | An Anthology of World Poetry edited by Mark Van Doren | Two packs of playing cards [325] |
14 October 2018 | Nile Rodgers | Moby-Dick by Herman Melville | His Hitmaker guitar and an amp [326] |
21 October 2018 | Venki Ramakrishnan | The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman, Matthew Sands and Robert Leighton | His wife's grand piano [327] |
28 October 2018 | Jacqueline Gold | The Secret by Rhonda Byrne | Her own feather pillow [328] |
4 November 2018 | Vanley Burke | Encyclopedia of Tropical Plants by Ahmed Fayaz | A Machete and a Crocus bag [329] |
16 November 2018 | Hella Pick | Scorn by Matthew Parris | Recliner armchair [330] |
18 November 2018 | Tracey Thorn | War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Lipstick [331] |
25 November 2018 | Kate Atkinson | The Collected Poems and Letters of Emily Dickinson | A 500-year-old, mature oak tree [332] |
2 December 2018 | Tom Kerridge | White Heat by Marco Pierre White | A shaving kit [333] |
9 December 2018 | Gary Barlow | Recording the Beatles by Kevin Ryan and Brian Kehew | Piano [334] |
16 December 2018 | Mariana Mazzucato | Memoirs of Hadrian by Marguerite Yourcenar | One of her mother's handmade quilts [335] |
23 December 2018 | Alan Carr | Argos catalogue | Foam roller [336] |