The Desert Island Discs Story

Available for over a year

The story of Desert Island Discs begins in 1941 when radio presenter Roy Plomley pitched the original idea for an eight-part series to the BBC. In this archive programme, broadcast on Radio 4 in 1992 to coincide with the programme's 50th anniversary, James Naughtie, charts the evolution of the programme through interviews with its presenters and former castaways. Archive material includes extracts from the interviews with Margaret Thatcher, Norman Mailer, Jimmy Edwards, Otto Preminger, Vic Feather and Lord Weidenfeld.