Kirsty Young's castaway is Chris Hadfield.He was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and took part in three space missions spending a total of 166 days orbiting the Earth. He has spent over 14 hours doing two space w

Kylie Minogue

Dec 13th, 2015 35m 27s

Kirsty Young's castaway is Kylie Minogue.With seven number ones and ten million singles sold in the UK, she is the third-biggest selling female artist in Britain and has sold around 70 million records worldwide. Born in Melbourne in 1968, Kylie

Atul Gawande

Dec 6th, 2015 34m 56s

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, author and former Reith lecturer, Atul Gawande.A general and endocrine surgeon in Boston, he is professor in both the Department of Health Policy & Management at the Harvard School of Public Health and th

Sandi Toksvig

Nov 29th, 2015 35m 22s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sandi Toksvig.Host of BBC Radio 4's News Quiz until June 2015, she is also a writer and comedian and recently entered the world of politics, helping to found the Women's Equality Party.Her parents were both

Gurinder Chadha

Nov 22nd, 2015 32m 42s

Kirsty Young's castaway is filmmaker Gurinder Chadha.Writer, director and producer behind the films Bend it like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach and Bride and Prejudice, she began her career as a BBC news reporter.She was born in Kenya to Sikh pare

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon

Nov 15th, 2015 34m 47s

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Right Honourable Nicola Sturgeon, MSP.Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the fifth First Minister of Scotland in the devolved era, she is the first woman to hold either post. The eldest of two daughte

Lord Indarjit Singh

Nov 13th, 2015 35m 11s

Kirsty Young's castaway is the broadcaster and religious leader, Lord Indarjit Singh. Creator of The Sikh Messenger newspaper and co-founder of the Inter Faith Network he also has the distinction of being the first member of the House of Lords

Marjorie Wallace

Nov 1st, 2015 36m 5s

Kirsty Young's castaway is the mental health campaigner and Chief Executive of SANE, Marjorie Wallace.After leaving University College London with a psychology and philosophy degree, her first job in the media was working on The Frost Programme

Keith Richards

Oct 25th, 2015 34m 40s

Keith Richards, member of the Rolling Stones, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.Keith was born in Dartford and grew up as an only child. He and Mick Jagger went to the same primary school, but then lost touch until meeting

Professor Sue Black

Oct 18th, 2015 36m 50s

Kirsty Young's castaway is Professor Sue Black.She is Professor of Anatomy and Forensic Anthropology at the University of Dundee, founder and past President of the British Association for Human Identification and heads the Centre for Anatomy an

Lemn Sissay

Oct 14th, 2015 34m 52s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Lemn Sissay.As a poet, writer and playwright, much of his work tells the story of his search for his birth parents. Born to a young Ethiopian woman who wanted him temporarily fostered while she completed her

Alison Balsom

Oct 4th, 2015 36m 1s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician, Alison Balsom.Widely considered the finest classical trumpet player of her generation, she's performed in all the great concert halls of the world, winning a huge amount of fans and a string of

Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran

Sep 27th, 2015 35m 24s

Kirsty Young's castaways this week are the comedy writers Laurence Marks and Maurice Gran.They've been at the rock-face, mining for laughs, for over 40 years and they've given us plenty of gems ... amongst them monologues in the '70s for Frank

Dame Judi Dench

Sep 20th, 2015 38m 48s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dame Judi Dench.Born into a family with dramatic leanings, she followed one of her older brothers, Jeffery, to drama school. Having abandoned ideas of becoming a set designer, she made her professional debut

Dr Bill Frankland

Aug 9th, 2015 38m 28s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Dr Bill Frankland.Frequently referred to as the "grandfather of allergy", his achievements include the introduction of the pollen count to the British public and the prediction of increased levels of allergy

Ruth Rogers

Aug 2nd, 2015 36m 18s

Kirsty Young's castaway is the chef and restaurateur, Ruth Rogers.Born in America, she has become one of the UK's most celebrated cooks. Despite not being a trained chef, she set up The River Café with her business partner, the late Rose Gray,

Professor Monica Grady

Jul 26th, 2015 38m 32s

Kirsty Young's castaway is Monica Grady, Professor of Planetary and Space Sciences at the Open University.Well-known in scientific circles, at NASA and the European Space Agency, she came to the attention of the general public with her enthusia

Noel Gallagher

Jul 19th, 2015 36m 20s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the musician, Noel Gallagher.He was the principal songwriter of the band Oasis - his younger brother, Liam was the lead singer. Born to Irish parents, as a child he spent his summers visiting his mother's fa

Imtiaz Dharker

Jul 12th, 2015 36m 17s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the poet and artist, Imtiaz Dharker.Winner of the Queen's Gold Medal for her work, her life seems a perfect reflection of the inter-relatedness of The Commonwealth. Born in Pakistan she was no more than a fe

Freddie Flintoff

Jul 5th, 2015 35m 11s

Kirsty's castaway this week is the former England cricketer Andrew 'Freddie' Flintoff.One of the best players of his generation, he was part of the England team that won the Ashes in 2005, a year that marked his sporting coming of age. On the s

Harry Rabinowitz

Jun 28th, 2015 36m 43s

Kirsty's castaway this week is the conductor and composer Harry Rabinowitz.His list of credits and collaborations read like a Who's Who of 20th century music - Gracie Fields, Charles Aznavour, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Matt Monro & Barbra Streisand

Stephen Fry

Jun 24th, 2015 39m 2s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Stephen Fry.Comedian, actor, writer, director, presenter & award-ceremony host - his list of accomplishments is long, varied and impressive. His younger years were troubled and with a propensity for stealing

Rebecca Adlington

Jun 14th, 2015 35m 19s

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Rebecca Adlington - Britain's most successful female swimmer.A multiple medal winner and record breaker she's packed a lot in at a young age, first grabbing the nation's attention by winning two golds at the

Lisa Jardine

Jun 10th, 2015 37m 45s

Professor Lisa Jardine, academic, biographer and public thinker, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.Historian, biographer, public thinker, mathematician - her proclivities are wide ranging and well regarded with prize winnin

Pamela Rose

May 31st, 2015 38m 40s

Kirsty Young's castaway is Pamela Rose.Now aged 97, she was a Bletchley Girl who spent her war years working in total secrecy, painstakingly indexing snippets of information that would prove vital to the the war effort. Alan Turing and his fell