The format is simple; an invited guest chooses the eight records he or she would like to take with them if they were incarcerated on a desert island and then one recording is nominated as the favourite. The person’s life is explored through the medium of their musical taste giving the usual interview format an extra element that speaks musical volumes! At the end of the programme the guest is asked to nominate one book and one luxury item to take with them.
Desert Island Discs Guests
Guests range from the good, the great and the legendary to the fleetingly famous but their appearance on the programme is an archive of some of the most important people and their musical tastes over the last seventy years.
The Desert Island Discs Archive
The BBC has now established an archive of every guest since its inception with programmes to download from July 1998 and the result is fascinating. Some guests have been interviewed more than once. For instance, David Attenborough has been interviewed three times, 1957, 1979, 1998 and it is interesting to see how his tastes have changed as well as his choice of luxury item from piano to binoculars to guitar!
