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Michael Parkinson's castaway is writer Maya Angelou.

Maya Angelou inherited her love of music from her grandmother, who used to sing to her as a child at the family home in the southern United States. The first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was a bestseller, describing her life as singer, actress, stripper, dancer and writer. In conversation with Michael Parkinson, she looks back on a remarkable career and chooses eight records she would take to the mythical island.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

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40 minutes

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Sun 20 Mar 198812:15
BBC Radio 4

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  • Bookclub

    Maya Angelou talks about volume one of her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Clip

Music Played

  • CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE

    • Mahalia Jackson

      How Great Thou Art

  • Max Roach

    A Quiet Place

  • Roberta Flack

    Killing Me Softly (With His Song)

  • Stevie Wonder

    I Just Called To Say I Love You

  • Sarah Vaughan

    East Of The Sun

  • Frank Sinatra

    One For The Road

  • George Gershwin

    Summertime (from Porgy & Bess)

  • Ray Charles

    Georgia On My Mind

  • BOOK CHOICE

    Negro Caravan - selected and edited by Sterling Brown, Arthur P Davis and Uylsses Lee

  • LUXURY ITEM

    The Kumasi Market painting by John T. Biggers

Credits

PresenterMichael Parkinson
Interviewed GuestMaya Angelou

Broadcasts

  • Sun 2 Aug 198712:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 7 Aug 198709:05
    BBC Radio 4
  • Sun 20 Mar 198812:15
    BBC Radio 4

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