Len Goodman

"7". TV ballroom dance judge Len Goodman shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

Len became a star of BBC TV's 'Strictly Come Dancing' and the US show 'Dancing with the Stars', after a 40-year career as a ballroom dancer and judge.

Born in London's East End, as a kid he was a barrow-boy, selling fruit and veg on his grandfather's stall. He went on to work on the docks as a welder. But come Saturday night he would don his best threads and head for the Embassy ballroom in Welling.

It was later in life, when Len found international fame and it was, he says, perfect timing.

"If it had happened when I was 30, I'd have been one of these people that would be seen rolling out of nightclubs drunk, with a couple of dolly-birds on my arm. The pilot was on my 60th birthday and I think it was the perfect age because I was sensible by then, my feet were planted firmly on the ground."

DISC ONE: Good Morning - Gene Kelly, Donald O’Connor & Debbie Reynolds
DISC TWO: Pencil Full of Lead - Paolo Nutini
DISC THREE: Tiger Rag - The Mills Brothers
DISC FOUR: The Moulin Rouge theme - Edmundo Ros and His Orchestra
DISC FIVE: Fat Sam’s Grand Slam - Bugsy Malone
DISC SIX: Take Five - Dave Brubeck
DISC SEVEN: In My Life - The Beatles
DISC EIGHT: Island in the Sun - Harry Belafonte

BOOK CHOICE: An Anthology of British poetry
LUXURY CHOICE: Set of golf clubs and balls
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Pencil Full of Lead - Paolo Nutini

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in June 2011.