BBC's Desert Island Discs

[mjzee]

The BBC aired the 3,000th episode of “Desert Island Discs,” its longest-running radio series, last week. The anniversary attracted no attention on this side of the Atlantic, however, because the perennially popular “Desert Island Discs,” whose guests are invited to select and discuss the eight records they’d take with them were they to be shipwrecked on a distant isle, has never been heard in the U.S. save by fanatical Anglophiles with shortwave radios.

More here:

WSJ

(or Google the article's title "Soundtracks for the Stranded")

[BillF]

I recall that Ronnie Scott chose Joe Henderson who wasn't too well known in England at the time.

British politicians John Prescott and Kenneth Clarke made largely jazz choices: I recall that Prescott's selection was almost entirely from tenor saxophonists and that Clarke included Don Pullen and George Adams as he'd enjoyed them at Ronnie Scott's club.

[A Lark Ascending]

My favourite was Sue Lawley interviewing John Lee Hooker and talking about 'Boogie Chillun' in her best finishing school voice.

Most infamous was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who chose 7 of her own recordings.

[mjazzg]

My favourite was Sue Lawley interviewing John Lee Hooker and talking about 'Boogie Chillun' in her best finishing school voice.

Most infamous was Elisabeth Schwarzkopf who chose 7 of her own recordings.

which rather begs the question, what was her eighth choice? Don't tell me it was 'Boogie Chillun'

[A Lark Ascending]

Apparently the overture to 'Der Rosenkavalier'....from another recording she sang on.

It may not be as diva-ish as I'm making out. According to Wiki:

When invited in 1958 to select her eight favourite records on the BBC's Desert Island Discs, Schwarzkopf chose seven of her own recordings,^[3] and an eighth of Karajan conducting the Rosenkavalier prelude, as they evoked fond memories of the people she had worked

[sidewinder]

I recall that Ronnie Scott chose Joe Henderson who wasn't too well known in England at the time.

British politicians John Prescott and Kenneth Clarke made largely jazz choices: I recall that Prescott's selection was almost entirely from tenor saxophonists and that Clarke included Don Pullen and George Adams as he'd enjoyed them at Ronnie Scott's club.

I saw Pullen/Adams at the club and seem to recall possibly seeing a younger Ken Clarke with cigar smoke generator in the club around that time so it could well have been at that engagement. Around 1983.

Ronnie Scott used to do an announcement to confirm that Joe Henderson was appearing at the club the following week, although it was then confirmed to be Joe 'Piano' Henderson. One of his classics !

[ejp626]

Really only heard a few of these programs, but one favorite (favourite) was Andy Kershaw's. He did his own program the same week with another 15-20 songs that he couldn't squeeze in. Really too bad he went off the rails.

[JSngry]

Am I gettin' wi-fi on this island?

[crisp]

Every extant episode is available here, at least to UK inhabitants. Even you are blocked from listening in your country, searching the castaways' lists is a nice way to pass the time.

[mjzee]

I tried one, and could hear it.

[danasgoodstuff]

The BBC aired the 3,000th episode of “Desert Island Discs,” its longest-running radio series, last week. The anniversary attracted no attention on this side of the Atlantic, however, because the perennially popular “Desert Island Discs,” whose guests are invited to select and discuss the eight records they’d take with them were they to be shipwrecked on a distant isle, has never been heard in the U.S. save by fanatical Anglophiles with shortwave radios.

More here:

WSJ

(or Google the article's title "Soundtracks for the Stranded")

Eight?! Why not at least 10?

[crisp]

I tried one, and could hear it.

Quick: download them all before the BBC changes its mind!

Eight?! Why not at least 10?

The show is only 45 minutes long so that's all there is time for. Plus it's main purpose is the interview element. The discs are usually only played partially; in the downloaded versions the music extracts are even shorter for copyright reasons.

[A Lark Ascending]

In addition the castaway gets a book and a luxury item.

Whether they want them or not they get the complete works of Shakespeare and The Bible. Says a great deal about BBC values.

[crisp]

Or BBC values c1942...

In fact you can reject either and some have done so. Plus an alternative religious text is available to people of non-Christian faiths.

[A Lark Ascending]

I think I'd find Jamie Oliver's 'Desert Island Cookbook' more useful than The Bible. Wouldn't mind the Shakespeare - with no distractions (apart from basic survival) I'd finally get round to reading all the plays I've missed. There might be some useful hints in 'The Tempest'.

[ornette]

Or BBC values c1942...

In fact you can reject either and some have done so. Plus an alternative religious text is available to people of non-Christian faiths.

I think Courtney Pine rejected one or both but the web page doesn't say

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/b895ca65

[jeffcrom]

Just wanted to say that I've long been fascinated by this program without ever having heard it - and I don't know why, in this age of magical internet tubes, I had never heard it until this thread prompted me to do so. I downloaded a bunch of episodes in podcast version from iTunes (for free). So far I've listened to two: Woody Herman from the 1980s, and a recent one with conductor Marin Alsop. I'm hooked.

Edited November 24, 2014 by jeffcrom

[crisp]

Or BBC values c1942...

In fact you can reject either and some have done so. Plus an alternative religious text is available to people of non-Christian faiths.

I think Courtney Pine rejected one or both but the web page doesn't say

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs/castaway/b895ca65

I remembered that Anna Ford refused a religious text and from that found that the site has "religious text: none taken" on her page.

So googling that brings me Ford plus Phil Redmond, Ken Russell and Dustin Hoffman. Not infallible, of course, so a listen to Pine's episode might be the only way to confirm.

[ejp626]

In addition the castaway gets a book and a luxury item.

Whether they want them or not they get the complete works of Shakespeare and The Bible. Says a great deal about BBC values.

I suspect that a high percentage of respondents were copping out by saying the Bible or Shakespeare, so they decided to take those off the table to make it more interesting.

I guess it really depends how long you think you'd survive on a desert island, even one with abundant coconuts. Not too long in my case, surely. But if that weren't an issue, I could see how boredom would set in and you'd be desperate to read anything. I wouldn't turn my nose up to the Bible, if it were the King James Version.

I find it all but impossible to decide on a single book that would keep me occupied for the rest of my stay.

I have five books in the running

Tolstoy - War and Peace

Dostoevsky - The Brothers Karamazov

Joyce - Ulysses

Tom Stoppard - Plays 5 (Arcadia, The Real Thing, Night and Day, Hopwood and Indian Ink)

The Histories of Herodotus

Every time I think about it, I would choose a different one (or try to sneak in another one like Perec's Life: A User's Manual).

Anyway, today, it would be Herodotus.

[A Lark Ascending]

Louis Armstrong’s Desert Island Discs appearance found by BBC

Louis Armstrong’s long-lost appearance on Desert Island Discs has been found by the BBC, one of four castaways including William Hartnell, the original star of Doctor Who, that listeners will be able to hear for the first time in half a century, from Saturday on Radio 4.

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/jan/31/louis-armstrong-desert-island-discs-bbc

iPlayer here (if you can access it):

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p009y1rb

Hardly the Dead Sea Scrolls, but...

Edited January 31, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[rdavenport]

I like reading the BBC website's list of castaways and their musical choices much more than I like actually listening to the programme.

When I do listen (only occasionally), it sounds edited to within an inch of its life, and 9 times out of 10 the castaway is of no interest to me. The music is played in such short bursts that there's nothing much to be had there either.

[A Lark Ascending]

I don't think it's really about the music.

I tend to hear it by chance. It often seems to be some (to me) obscure civil servant, 'arts' administrator or scientist.

Edited January 31, 2015 by A Lark Ascending

[rdavenport]

I don't think it's really about the music.

I tend to hear it by chance. It often seems to be some (to me) obscure civil servant, 'arts' administrator or scientist.

Yes - just had a look at the archive on the BBC website. Of the first page of twenty castaways, the five that I knew were Ray Winstone, Sarah Millican, Justin Welby, Teresa May and Damien Lewis. I am vaguely aware of Roy String, so that's six at a push.

Edit to say Roy Strong of course. Roy String sounds like a Martin Amis character

Edited January 31, 2015 by rdavenport

[A Lark Ascending]

Choices generally reflect establishment ideas of 'culture' - with one 'slumming it' choice to show the castaway is really a fun guy/gal.

[ArtSalt]

In addition the castaway gets a book and a luxury item.

Whether they want them or not they get the complete works of Shakespeare and The Bible. Says a great deal about BBC values.

I liked John Le Mesurier's choice of a luxury item: a small distillery.

He was another jazz fan, allegedly he cried during the blitz when he arrived back at his digs to find all his 78 records destroyed. There's a great clip of him in the BBC studio's in the audience of a MJQ concert.