Paula Rego

From Amalia Rodrigues to Giuseppe Verdi.

Painter Paula Rego shares her castaway choices with Sue Lawley.

Born in Portugal, she was an only child, and spent her days sitting with the maids as they told tales around the kitchen table.

Now she makes up stories about the people she knows and weaves them into her pictures. Like those early fairytales, her portraits always have a touch of danger about them. If you look the devil in the face, she says, face your fears and paint them - then they lose the power to scare you.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in December 1997.