Desert Island Discs

Wilhelmina – Mina – Smallman is an activist who campaigns for the safety of women and girls and police reform. She is a former teacher and priest who was the first woman of colour to be an archdeacon in the Church of England. In 2020 her daughters Bibaa and Nicole were murdered as they celebrated Bibaa’s 46th birthday in Fryent Country Park. It later came to light that two policemen, who were guarding the crime scene, had posed for and posted selfies with Bibaa and Nicole’s bodies in the background. They were later jailed for misconduct. When friends first reported her daughters missing the police didn’t launch an official search for them and it was their loved ones who eventually found Bibaa and Nicole. Mina’s anger at the failings of the Metropolitan Police, led her to start her fight for justice. In 2021 an Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) report, highlighted the Met’s failings and advised the force to apologise to Mina and her family. Mina was brought up in London. She was a drama teacher for over 20 years before training for the priesthood. She was ordained in 2006 and took up her first job as vicar at Christ Church on the Thames View estate in Barking. In 2013 she was appointed the first woman archdeacon of Southend in the Diocese of Chelmsford. She retired as an archdeacon in 2016. DISC ONE: Silly Games – Janet Kay DISC TWO: Handel: Messiah, HWV 56 / Pt. 3 - 43. Air: I know that my Redeemer liveth Performed by Dame Joan Sutherland (Soprano), London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult DISC THREE: Easy Terms - Barbara Dickson DISC FOUR: Amazing Grace - The Pipes And Drums Of The Military Band Of The Royal Scots Dragoon DISC FIVE: We Are The World - USA for Africa DISC SIX: Miss Independent - Ne-Yo DISC SEVEN: Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick - Ian Dury and the Blockheads DISC EIGHT: I Look To You - Whitney Houston BOOK CHOICE: Woman in White by Wilkie Collins LUXURY ITEM: Hair moisturiser CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Look To You - Whitney Houston Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Stephen Mangan is an award winning actor who is also a presenter and writer. His prolific career includes comedic roles in TV hits Green Wing; Episodes and Adrian Mole. He also plays the much loved Nathan in BBC drama The Split and has appeared in many award winning theatre productions in the UK and on Broadway. Born in London to Irish immigrant parents, Stephen studied Law at Cambridge University. His passion though was for acting and after taking time out to care for his mother, he spent three years at RADA before pursuing a successful career on stage, screen and film. Stephen lives in London with his wife and three sons. DISC ONE: King of the Road - Roger Miller DISC TWO: I Recall A Gypsy Woman - Don Williams DISC THREE: Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy) - John Lennon DISC FOUR: Who Knows Where the Time Goes - Fairport Convention DISC FIVE: Stayin Alive - Bee Gees DISC SIX: Ravel: Piano Concerto in G Major, M. 83: II. Adagio assai. Composed by Maurice Ravel and performed by Martha Argerich (piano) and Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Claudio Abbado DISC SEVEN: Rhapsody in Blue. Composed by George Gershwin and performed by New York Philharmonic, conducted by Zubin Mehta DISC EIGHT: (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher And Higher - Jackie Wilson BOOK CHOICE: Collected Works of Seamus Heaney LUXURY ITEM: A piano CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Stayin Alive - Bee Gees Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Nemone Lethbridge is a barrister who was called to the bar in 1956. One of very few female barristers working at the time, she encountered misogyny and was one of the trailblazers for women working in the legal profession who followed behind her. At her first Chambers, she wasn’t allowed to share a toilet with her male colleagues and had to use the facilities in a nearby café. It was hard for her to find work and for some time she represented the Kray twins. After her marriage to a writer, and former convicted criminal was revealed, she was forced to leave the legal profession and they moved to Greece for a number of years where both of them had careers as writers having their work filmed for the BBC. Nemone returned to the Bar in 1981 and continues to do pro bono work at 92 years old. She lives in London. DISC ONE: Go Down, Moses - Paul Robeson DISC TWO: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel - The Choir of King’s College Cambridge DISC THREE: Scarborough Fair – Simon & Garfunkel DISC FOUR: I Wanna Go Back to Dixie - Tom Lehrer DISC FIVE: Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 / Act 3: "Sull’aria ... Che soave zeffiretto" Performed by Edith Mathis (soprano), Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin and conducted by Karl Böhm DISC SIX: Strose to Stroma sou – Mikis Theodorakis DISC SEVEN: September Song - Gracie Fields DISC EIGHT: Herz und Mund und Tat und Leben, BWV 147: Chorale. Jesus bleibet meine Freude (Arr. for Piano) (Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring) Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and performed by Lang Lang BOOK CHOICE: The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam LUXURY ITEM: A doll CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Mozart: Le nozze di Figaro, K. 492 / Act 3: "Sull’aria ... Che soave zeffiretto". Performed by Edith Mathis (soprano), Gundula Janowitz (soprano), Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin and conducted by Karl Böhm Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Nick Cave is a singer and writer who, with his band Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, has released emotionally intense and provocative music since the mid-Eighties. He is also a novelist, composer and has written film scripts and soundtracks along with his writing partner and Bad Seed Warren Ellis. Nick grew up in Wangaratta, Australia the third of four children. He formed his first band, the Boys Next Door, in 1973 while he was at school. He studied fine art at the Caulfield Institute of Technology in Melbourne but left to pursue music. In 1980 the band relocated to London, renaming themselves the Birthday Party on the flight over. In 1984 Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds’ released their debut album, From Her to Eternity, and they have gone on to put out a further 17 albums. In 2015 Nick lost his son Arthur who died after accidentally falling off a cliff and seven years later his eldest son Jethro died. In 2018 Nick started the Red Hand Files, an online blog in which he answers questions posed by his fans, to try and articulate his feelings about grief. He has described it as a “strange exercise in communal vulnerability and transparency.” In 2017 he was named an Officer of the Order of Australia. DISC ONE: Metal Guru - T. Rex DISC TWO: My Father - Nina Simone DISC THREE: (I’m) Stranded - The Saints DISC FOUR: It Serves You Right to Suffer - John Lee Hooker DISC FIVE: Something on Your Mind - Karen Dalton DISC SIX: Girl from the North Country - Bob Dylan and Johnny Cash West DISC SEVEN: I Am a God – Kanye West DISC EIGHT: Morning Dew - Tim Rose BOOK CHOICE: The Adventures of Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi LUXURY ITEM: A suit CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Am a God – Kanye West Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Harriet Wistrich is one of the country’s most prominent human rights lawyers. In 2016 she founded the Centre for Women’s Justice and over the course of her career, she has won landmark victories in very difficult legal cases. She has helped women imprisoned after killing their abusers regain their freedom. She’s also represented women seeking justice from the Metropolitan Police over their deployment of undercover police officers who have had relationships and children with female activists. After studying PPE at Oxford, Harriet moved to Liverpool and began her career working in film and documentaries. She retrained as a lawyer in her early thirties and in 1990 co-founded the pressure group Justice for Women. Harriet lives in London with her partner, the journalist Julie Bindel. DISC ONE: I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor DISC TWO: No Woman, No Cry (Live At The Rainbow Theatre, London / June 1, 1977) - Bob Marley and the Wailers DISC THREE: Puff the Magic Dragon - Gregory Isaacs DISC FOUR: Rumanian Freilach - Daniel Ahaviel DISC FIVE: Back to Black - Amy Winehouse DISC SIX: Ain’t Nobody - Chaka Khan DISC SEVEN: Police And Thieves - Junior Murvin DISC EIGHT: Shame Shame Shame - Shirley & Company BOOK CHOICE: Middlemarch by George Eliot LUXURY ITEM: A fridge with an endless supply of white wine CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Will Survive - Gloria Gaynor Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Laurie Anderson is an artist and performer who came to fame in the UK with her 1981 hit O Superman. Her work spans music, film and multimedia projects which interrogate our relationship with technology and tell stories about the world we live in. She was born in Chicago in 1947, the second-oldest of eight children, and started learning the violin when she was five. She studied Art History at Barnard College in New York and took a Masters in Sculpture at Columbia University. In the 1970s she was part of the downtown New York art scene and her friends and contemporaries included Philip Glass, Gordon Matta-Clark and the choreographer and dancer Trisha Brown. One of Laurie’s first performance art pieces featured a symphony played by car horns. In 1992 she met Lou Reed, the singer and songwriter who fronted the Velvet Underground. They were together for 21 years until his death in 2013. Laurie is the head of Lou’s archive which is at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts and open to anyone who wants to learn more about his musical adventures. In 2024 Laurie was awarded a Lifetime Achievement award at the Grammys and a Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication. DISC ONE: Pony Time - Chubby Checker DISC TWO: Gracias a la vida - Violetta Parra DISC THREE: Tusen Tankar - Triakel DISC FOUR: Part 1 - Philip Glass Ensemble, conducted by Michael Riesman DISC FIVE: Flibberty Jib - Ken Nordine with the Fred Katz Group DISC SIX: Doin' the Things That We Want To - Lou Reed DISC SEVEN: Washington, D.C - The Magnetic Fields DISC EIGHT: Is Chicago, Is Not Chicago – Soul Coughing BOOK CHOICE: Speak, Memory by Vladimir Nabokov LUXURY ITEM: A dog collar CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Gracias a la vida - Violetta Parra Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Mark-Anthony Turnage is a composer of contemporary classical music. Once called “Britain’s hippest composer”, he has been in a rock band, got drunk with Francis Bacon, and tackled anything from drug abuse to football in his works. Mark was born in June 1960 in the Thames estuary town of Corringham in Essex. His musical talent was nurtured by his parents and he studied composition at the junior department at the Royal College of Music from aged fourteen. There he met the composer Oliver Knussen who became his tutor, mentor, and life-long friend. His first performed work, Night Dances, written while still at the Royal College, won a prize and heralded Mark’s evolution into what one critic calls “one of the best known British composers of his generation, widely admired for his highly personal mixture of energy and elegy, tough and tender”. Greek, his debut opera, a reimagining of the Oedipus myth whose protagonist is a racist, violent and foul-mouthed football hooligan, shocked the establishment, which flinched, but accepted “Turnage, the trouble-maker” as a forceful voice. Over the past four decades he has sustained a distinguished and productive career that has seen him working closely with conductors of the stature of Bernard Haitink, Esa-Pekka Salonen and, particularly, Simon Rattle. He has been attached to prestigious institutions, such as English National Opera and both the BBC and Chicago symphony orchestras, and has written a vast range of music for many different instruments and ensembles. His influences include soul, gospel, all sorts of jazz and the great symphonic works of the repertoire. He has written operas, ballets, concertos, chamber pieces and choral works together with orchestrating a football match. His key works include Three Screaming Popes and Blood on the Floor (both inspired by Francis Bacon paintings, and the latter containing an elegy for his younger brother, Andrew, who died of a drug overdose in 1995), as well as more operas including one about the former Playboy model Anna Nicole Smith. Mark lives in North London with his partner, the opera director, Rachael Hewer. DISC ONE: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 II. Molto vivace - Presto - Molto vivace – Presto. Composed by Ludwig Van Beethoven and performed by The Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle DISC TWO: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 Pt. 1 No. 1, Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and performed by Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki DISC THREE: Two Organa, Op. 27 – 1 “Notre Dame des Jouets”. Composed and conducted by Oliver Knussen and performed by The London Sinfonietta DISC FOUR: Blue in Green - Miles Davis DISC FIVE: Living for the City - Stevie Wonder DISC SIX: Puccini: Madama Butterfly, Act II: Un bel dì vedremo. Composed by Giacomo Puccini and performed by Mirella Freni (Soprano) and Wiener Philharmoniker, conducted by Herbert von Karajan DISC SEVEN: Symphony of Psalms (1948 Version): III. Alleluja. Laudate Dominum - Psalmus 150 (Vulgata) Composed by Igor Stravinsky and performed by English Bach Festival Choir and The London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Leonard Bernstein DISC EIGHT: Let’s Say We Did. Composed by John Scofield and Mark-Anthony Turnage and performed by John Scofield, John Patitucci, Peter Erskine, Frankfurt Radio Symphony, hr-Bigband and Hugh Wolf BOOK CHOICE: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier LUXURY ITEM: A grand piano and tuning kit CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: St. Matthew Passion, BWV 244 Pt. 1 No. 1, Kommt, ihr Töchter, helft mir klagen. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach and performed by Bach Collegium Japan, conducted by Masaaki Suzuki Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor

Marianela Núñez is a Principal dancer of the Royal Ballet and Opera. Born in Argentina in 1982, Marianela knew she wanted to be a ballet dancer from the age of five and joined the Teatro Colón Ballet School in Buenos Aires when she was eight. She dedicated herself to becoming a professional ballerina and had the full support of her parents despite having to leave home at fifteen to join the Royal Ballet in the UK. After spending a year at the Royal Ballet School and learning English from watching episodes of Friends, she joined the corps de ballet and worked her way up the company to become Principal Dancer. She has danced the lead roles in the ballet repertoire on the London stage and around the world as a guest artist. In 2018, she celebrated her 20th anniversary with the Royal Ballet with a performance of lead roles in Giselle, The Winter’s Tale, Manon, Marguerite and Armand, and Swan Lake in her anniversary year. Director of The Royal Ballet Kevin O’Hare called her “one of the greats of her generation”. Marianela has many awards for her dancing including the Laurence Olivier Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in 2013. She lives in London with her two cats. DISC ONE: Adíos Nonino (“Goodbye Grandad”) - Astor Piazzolla DISC TWO: Hoy Puede Ser Un Gran Dia (“Today Could Be a Great Day”) - Joan Manuel Serrat DISC THREE: Dancing Queen - ABBA DISC FOUR: Don’t Stop Me Now - Queen DISC FIVE: Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, TH 13 / Act 1: 8a. Pas d'action: Introduction (Andante) - Adagio ("Rose Adagio") Performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Mark Ermler DISC SIX: Adam: Giselle / Act 2: Lever du soleil et arrivée de la cour. Performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Richard Bonynge DISC SEVEN: Count on Me - Bruno Mars DISC EIGHT: I Can See Clearly Now - Johnny Nash BOOK CHOICE: The Collected Works of Jorge Luis Borges LUXURY ITEM: A cashmere blanket CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Tchaikovsky: The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, TH 13 / Act 1: 8a. Pas d'action: Introduction (Andante) - Adagio ("Rose Adagio") Performed by The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, conducted by Mark Ermler Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Gareth Southgate OBE is the most successful England men’s football manger in the modern game. He holds the record as the man who has represented England in more games than anyone else, with 102 games as men's senior team manager, 57 caps as a player and 37 as men's under-21 head coach, leading to a total of 196 games in which he has been involved as a player or coach. It’s a remarkable career and one which shows his resilience and determination. Ever since he joined a football team as a schoolboy, he dreamed of being a footballer and perhaps one day, wearing the England shirt. He was rejected by Southampton as a teenager and was determined to come back and succeed. He managed to do that, playing for Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Middlesbrough as a defender and midfielder. After his playing career ended he went into management eventually becoming one of the England national team’s most successful managers. Along the way, his different approach to leadership in sport, together with his quest to understand what is Englishness makes him one of the most impressive football managers in England’s history. Southgate is an Ambassador for The Prince's Trust and Help for Heroes. DISC ONE: The Way It Is - Bruce Hornsby and the Range DISC TWO: Rainy Days and Mondays - Carpenters DISC THREE: Everybody Wants to Rule the World - Tears for Fears DISC FOUR: The Whole of the Moon - Waterboys DISC FIVE: One - Mary J. Blige, U2 DISC SIX: Shape of You (Stormzy Remix) - Ed Sheeran DISC SEVEN: Someone Like You - Adele DISC EIGHT: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi BOOK CHOICE: The Chimp Paradox by Dr Steve Peters LUXURY ITEM: Coffee CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Experience - Ludovico Einaudi Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Cher has been a global star for over six decades. Her career has spanned music, television and film and throughout that time her outfits have made flamboyant fashion statements. She was born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California and had a peripatetic childhood. Her mother married six times and with each new husband the family moved house. In 1962, when she was 16, Cher met Sonny Bono in a coffee shop. She moved in with Sonny as his housekeeper and personal assistant and began singing backing vocals for his boss, the music producer Phil Spector. In 1965 Sonny and Cher released I Got You Babe which reached number one in the US and UK charts – knocking the Beatles off the top of the chart. Cher is an award-winning actor who has starred in films including Silkwood, Mask and Moonstruck. In October 1998 she released her 22nd studio album Believe – the title track remains the biggest-selling number one by a solo female artist in British chart history. DISC ONE: Whiter Shade of Pale - Procol Harum DISC TWO: Love Me Tender - Elvis Presley DISC THREE: A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes - Ilene Woods DISC FOUR: Evil - Stevie Wonder DISC FIVE: You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’ - The Righteous Brothers DISC SIX: I Can’t Make You Love Me - Bonnie Raitt DISC SEVEN: Minute By Minute - The Doobie Brothers DISC EIGHT: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke BOOK CHOICE: The Saracen Blade by Frank Yerby LUXURY ITEM: An eyelash curler CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Change Is Gonna Come - Sam Cooke Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Former cricketer Ebony Rainford-Brent is the first Black woman to play for England and she was part of the team which won the Women’s Cricket World Cup in 2009. Today she is a broadcaster and cricket commentator for Channel 4, Sky Sports and the BBC’s Test Match Special. Ebony was born in south London and as a child it was football that caught her attention, especially Liverpool FC and her hero Robbie Fowler. At primary school she was encouraged to have a go at cricket through a charity called Cricket For Change which was set up to encourage more state school children into the sport. Holding a bat in her hands for the first time, she hit the ball as hard as she could and, as she watched it soar through the air, she was hooked. Ebony started out playing for Surrey Cricket Club’s Under 11’s team as a bowler. In 2003 a serious back injury forced her to stop playing and she thought her sporting career was over. She was determined to prove the medics wrong so she retrained as a batswoman as batting was easier on her back. In 2007 she made her debut for England and two years later was part of the World Cup-winning team. In 2020 Ebony joined forces with Surrey Cricket Club and founded the African-Caribbean Engagement Programme (ACE) to build grassroots cricket programmes for young people in black communities across the UK. In 2021 she was awarded an MBE for her services to cricket and charity. DISC ONE: Cold Sweat - James Brown DISC TWO: Girlie Girlie - Sophia George DISC THREE: Pass Me Over - Anthony Hamilton DISC FOUR: A Long Walk - Jill Scott DISC FIVE: Rock Steady - Aretha Franklin DISC SIX: Never Forget - Take That DISC SEVEN: Superheroes - Stormzy DISC EIGHT: Work To Do - The Isley Brothers BOOK CHOICE: The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho LUXURY ITEM: A drum kit CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: A Long Walk - Jill Scott Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Mark Steel is a writer, comedian and radio presenter. His performing career began as a poet in the alternative comedy scene in the early eighties at the Comedy Store. A regular presenter on Radio 4, he began his award winning series, Mark Steel’s in Town in 2009. Alongside his performing career, he’s been a regular newspaper columnist writing for the Guardian and Independent Newspapers. Mark was born in 1960 and adopted at ten days old by Doreen and Ernie. He grew up in Swanley, Kent and left home at 18 to live in a squat in Crystal Palace. After his own son was born, Mark spent many years tracing his birth parents and eventually met up with his genetic father who had been a professional gambler and a friend of Lord Lucan. Mark has two children and lives in London. DISC ONE: My Boy Lollipop - Millie Small DISC TWO: Janie Jones - The Clash DISC THREE: San Quentin (Live at San Quentin State Prison, San Quentin, CA - February 1969) - Johnny Cash DISC FOUR: Killing in the Name - Rage Against The Machine DISC FIVE: Trøllabundin - Eivør Pálsdóttir DISC SIX: Love Me or Leave Me - Nina Simone DISC SEVEN: Into My Arms - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds DISC EIGHT: 1977 - Ana Tijoux BOOK CHOICE: Wisden Cricketers' Almanack LUXURY ITEM: A piano CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Love Me or Leave Me - Nina Simone Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

Brenda Hale, Baroness Hale of Richmond, is a former judge who served as the first female president of the Supreme Court. In 2019 she announced the court’s judgement that the prorogation of Parliament was ‘unlawful, void and of no effect’. The twinkling spider brooch she wore that day caused a sensation and set social media aflame. She was the first woman and the youngest person to be appointed to the Law Commission and in 2004 became the UK’s first woman law lord. Lady Hale was born in Yorkshire and read law at the University of Cambridge where she graduated top of her class. She spent almost 20 years in academia and also practised as a barrister. Later at the Law commission she led the work on what became the 1989 Children Act. Lady Hale retired as a judge in January 2020. DISC ONE: Messiah - Part 1: O Thou That Tellest Good Tidings To Zion, composed by Georg Friedrich Händel, performed by Kathleen Ferrier and The London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir Adrian Boult DISC TWO: Love Me Do by The Beatles DISC THREE: Move Him Into The Sun. Composed and conducted by Benjamin Britten. Performed by Peter Pears (tenor) and Galina Vishnevskaya (soprano) with the Bach Choir and the London Symphony Orchestra DISC FOUR: Part 1 Nos 4 & 5: Gloria in excelsis Deo – Et in terra pax. Composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists and conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner DISC FIVE: The Marriage of Figaro), K. 492 Sull'Aria. Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, performed by sopranos Charlotte Margiono and Barbara Bonney, Netherlands Opera Chorus and the Concertgebouw Orchestra DISC SIX: Hand in Hand by Glória (Ireland’s Gay and Lesbian Choir) DISC SEVEN: Parry: I Was Glad, composed by Hubert Parry, performed by Westminster Abbey Choir, Simon Preston (organ) and conducted by William McKinney DISC EIGHT: Dies Irae. Composed by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by Swedish Radio Choir and the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir, with the Berlin Philharmonic, conducted by Claudio Abbado BOOK CHOICE: A Desert Island survival manual LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered computer with sudoku puzzles and a writing application CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Part 1 Nos 4 & 5: Gloria in excelsis Deo – Et in terra pax, composed by Johann Sebastian Bach, performed by The Monteverdi Choir and The English Baroque Soloists, conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Simon Reeve is a broadcaster and writer best known for his TV documentaries which combine travel and adventure with investigations into the challenges faced by the places he visits. His journeys have taken him across jungles, deserts, mountains and oceans, and to some of the most dangerous and remote regions of the world. He’s dodged bullets on frontlines, dived with seals and sharks, survived malaria, walked through minefields and tracked lions on foot. Simon grew up in Acton in west London. He experienced anxiety and depression as a teenager and left school with few qualifications. He eventually found a job in the post room at the Sunday Times and from there progressed to working with the news teams, filing stories on a range of subjects from organised crime to nuclear smuggling. In the late 1990s he wrote one of the first books about Al-Qaeda and its links to Osama Bin Laden. His expertise in this area was quickly called upon after the 9/11 attacks in the USA, and he became a regular guest on American television and radio programmes. The current pandemic put Simon’s overseas trips into abeyance and he has turned his attention to the UK, recently making programmes about Cornwall and the Lake District. DISC ONE: Eskègizéw Bèrtchi by Alèmayèhu Eshèté DISC TWO: Vissi d’arte - from Puccini’s Tosca, performed by Kiri Te Kanawa with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Pritchard DISC THREE: It Takes Two by Rob Base & DJ EZ Rock DISC FOUR: We Will Rock You by Queen DISC FIVE: Mr Brightside by The Killers DISC SIX: Wiley Flow by Stormzy DISC SEVEN: You’re Lovely to Me by Lucky Jim DISC EIGHT: Rocket Man by Elton John BOOK CHOICE: Moonshine for Beginners and Experts by Damian Brown LUXURY ITEM: Bird seed CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Rocket Man by Elton John Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Lauren Laverne talks to Ian Wright in an episode first broadcast in 2020. Ian Wright is a former professional footballer and now a football pundit on TV and radio. He began his career at Crystal Palace before moving to Arsenal where he became their highest goal scorer of all time, a record only surpassed eight years later by Thierry Henry. Born to a Jamaican couple in south-east London, Ian grew up with his mother and step-father. His biological father had left the family when Ian was under two years old. Things at home were difficult and Ian spent as much time as possible outside playing football. At his primary school a teacher, Mr Pigden, took him under his wing and Ian would later credit him with changing his life. He left his secondary school at the age of 14 to get a job. Although he took part in trials for many professional football clubs as a teenager, he was never selected. He continued to play for amateur sides. By the age of 21, he had three children to provide for, so when Crystal Palace came calling in 1985, he turned them down three times before accepting a two-week trial, followed by a three-month contract. His football career had finally begun. After impressing as a forward at Palace, he was bought by Arsenal for a record fee in 1991. He was called up to the England squad the same year and would go on to collect 33 caps. He spent his last couple of years in professional football at a number of clubs around the country and in total, he played 581 league games, scoring 387 goals for seven clubs in England and Scotland. Since his retirement from football in 2000, he has had a career as a pundit on both TV and radio. He has eight children and has been happily married to his second wife, Nancy, since 2011. DISC ONE: The Marriage of Figaro: Duettino - Sull'aria by Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, composed by Lorenzo Da Ponte and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart DISC TWO: Looking For You by Kirk Franklin DISC THREE: River Deep Mountain High by Ike and Tina Turner DISC FOUR: Redemption Song by Bob Marley & The Wailers DISC FIVE: Mysteries of the World by MSFB DISC SIX: Endlessly by Randy Crawford DISC SEVEN: Crown by Stormzy DISC EIGHT: Just Fine by Mary J Blige BOOK CHOICE: The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon LUXURY ITEM: A seven iron golf club and golf balls CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Endlessly by Randy Crawford Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Cathy Drysdale

Lauren Laverne talks to Dr Nicola Fox in a programme first broadcast in 2023. Dr Nicky Fox is only the second woman to hold the post of Head of Science at NASA since the agency was founded in 1958. She has responsibility for around a hundred missions which are investigating the mysteries of outer space. These missions are tackling questions such as how do hurricanes form and are we alone in the universe. Nicky was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire and her father introduced her to the wonders of space when she was just a few months old. In 1969 he lifted her out of her cot to watch the television coverage of the Apollo 11 mission when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. Nicky’s enduring fascination with the cosmos led her to study physics at Imperial College in London. After completing her PhD she took up a post-doctoral fellowship at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre in Maryland. In 2010 she became the project scientist for the Parker Solar Probe, humanity’s first mission to a star, which launched in 2018 and is still flying through the sun’s atmosphere collecting data. Recently she oversaw the Osiris-Rex mission which brought back the first asteroid samples from deep space. In 2021 Nicky was awarded the American Astronautical Society’s Carl Sagan Memorial Award for her leadership in the field of Heliophysics. DISC ONE: The Best – Tina Turner DISC TWO: Livin’ On A Prayer - Bon Jovi DISC THREE: Lara’s Theme - MGM Studio Orchestra, composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre DISC FOUR: Danny Boy - Andy Williams DISC FIVE: When You Know - Shawn Colvin DISC SIX: (Reach Up for the) Sunrise - Duran Duran DISC SEVEN: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day DISC EIGHT: Canyon Moon - Harry Styles BOOK CHOICE: Pale Blue Dot by Carl Sagan LUXURY ITEM: Lego CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Boulevard of Broken Dreams - Green Day Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Steven Spielberg is the most successful director of his generation and the highest-grossing director of all time: his films have taken more than $10 billion worldwide. From Jaws to E.T. and Jurassic Park to Schindler’s List, his storytelling has captivated audiences around the world. Steven grew up in Phoenix, Arizona, where he started making films as a young boy. In 1958 he made a short Western which won him a Boy Scout merit badge. He screened it to his entire Scout troop and their laughter and applause got him hooked on film making. In 1971 he directed a television movie called Duel about a motorist who is pursued by a murderous truck driver. The film attracted good reviews from critics, and before the age of 30, Steven had directed his first global hit: Jaws grossed $471 million worldwide and is credited as heralding the arrival of the blockbuster era. He now says Jaws was ‘a free pass into my future.’ He has won three Academy Awards, and has received eight nominations for best director. The Fabelmans, his most recent film, is a semi-fictionalised account of his own coming of age, drawing on his film-making experiences as a child. Steven is married to the actor Kate Capshaw, who starred in his film Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom, and they have seven children. DISC ONE: The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Gene Pitney DISC TWO: Fugue in G minor, BMW 578 – “The Little” arranged by Leopold Stokowski, composed by J.S Bach, performed by Philadelphia Orchestra and conducted by Yannick Nezet-Seguin DISC THREE: Michelle by The Beatles DISC FOUR: What the World Needs Now Is Love by Jackie DeShannon DISC FIVE: Come Fly with Me by Frank Sinatra DISC SIX: The Ghost of Tom Joad by Bruce Springsteen DISC SEVEN: Somewhere, composed by Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim, performed by Reri Grist DISC EIGHT: Coolhand by Buzzy Lee BOOK CHOICE: The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck LUXURY ITEM: H-8 Bolex camera CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Coolhand by Buzzy Lee Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

This is an extended version of a programme first broadcast on Sunday 28 May 2023. Ronnie O’Sullivan OBE is currently ranked the number one snooker player in the world, and is widely regarded as one of the finest players in the history of the sport. He has won the Masters a record seven times and he jointly holds the record for winning the World Snooker Championship seven times. Since 1997 he has held the world record for the fastest 147 break, leading to his nickname 'the Rocket'. Ronnie grew up in Essex and his father gave him his first snooker cue when he was seven. He took to the game immediately: he was playing on a full size snooker table when he was just eight, and two years later he was beating adult players. By the age of 12, he was winning cash prizes in local tournaments, and was soon earning more than his teachers. Ronnie turned professional when he was 16, and quickly established himself as a star player and a fans' favourite - but he has also made headlines away from the snooker table, with accounts of his depression and struggles with alcohol and drugs. For many years he has kept his physical and mental health in check through his passion for running. He received an OBE in 2016 for services to snooker. DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem DISC TWO: Careless Whisper - Wham! DISC THREE: Step by Step - Whitney Houston DISC FOUR: Real Gone Kid - Deacon Blue DISC FIVE: You’re So Vain - Carly Simon DISC SIX: Maybe Tomorrow - Stereophonics DISC SEVEN: Drops of Jupiter (Tell Me) - Train DISC EIGHT: That’s All - Genesis BOOK CHOICE: Running with the Kenyans by Adharanand Finn LUXURY ITEM: A painting set CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: That’s All - Genesis Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

This is an extended version of a programme first broadcast on Sunday 17 September 2023. Adrian Edmondson first shot to national fame in 1982, playing the studded punk Vyvyan in the TV sitcom The Young Ones, set in a seedy student flat. The cast largely came from the developing alternative comedy scene, and included Rik Mayall and Alexei Sayle. Adrian was born in Bradford in 1957. He spent time as a child in Cyprus, Bahrain and Uganda, following his father who worked as a teacher for the armed forces. He attended a boarding school in Yorkshire from the age of 11, where he often rebelled against its rules and restrictions, but enjoyed performing in school plays. He headed to Manchester University to study drama, where he soon met Rik Mayall. They bonded over their shared interests in comedy, double acts, violent slapstick and the plays of Samuel Beckett. It was the start of a long performing partnership and friendship, which included the anarchic TV comedy and long-running touring show Bottom and a production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot on the West End stage. Adrian has also worked widely as an actor and musician, including an acclaimed appearance as Scrooge for the RSC, and performances with the reunited Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band. Adrian married Jennifer Saunders in 1985, and they have three daughters. DISC ONE: Downtown - Petula Clark DISC TWO: A Song of the Weather - Flanders & Swann DISC THREE: Sugar, Sugar - The Archies DISC FOUR: On My Radio - The Selecter DISC FIVE: Jole Blon - Vin Bruce DISC SIX: Saturday Gigs - Mott the Hoople DISC SEVEN: I’m Bored - Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band DISC EIGHT: Wide Open Spaces - The Chicks (formerly The Dixie Chicks) BOOK CHOICE: Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett LUXURY ITEM: A tab of acid CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Wide Open Spaces - The Chicks Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

This is an extended version of a programme first broadcast on Sunday 10 March 2024. James Graham is an award-winning dramatist whose plays include This House, Ink and Dear England starring Joseph Fiennes as the England football manager Gareth Southgate. His acclaimed television productions include Sherwood and Quiz, based on the story of the so-called coughing Major Charles Ingram who was found guilty of cheating on the game show Who Wants to be a Millionaire? James was born in Kirkby-in-Ashfield in Nottinghamshire in 1982. He was a shy boy who was encouraged to perform in school plays by his teachers. He went on to study drama at Hull University where he wrote his first play Coal Not Dole! He took the play to the Edinburgh fringe and the reception it received from audiences encouraged him to carry on writing. After graduating he worked as a stage doorkeeper at the Theatre Royal in Nottingham where one of his personal highlights was looking after Danny La Rue, the star of the Christmas panto. His first London premiere came in 2005 at the Finborough Theatre in London with Albert’s Boy, which explored the arguments for and against nuclear weapons. In 2020 James was awarded an OBE for services to drama and young people in British theatre. DISC ONE: Disco 2000 - Pulp DISC TWO: Chatanooga Choo Choo - Glenn Miller DISC THREE: Up In Arms - Foo Fighters DISC FOUR: Syncopes - Gabriel Yared DISC FIVE: Your Disco Needs You - Kylie Minogue DISC SIX: Where Are We Now? - David Bowie DISC SEVEN: If You Came To See Me Cry - Katie Brayben (from Tammy Faye: The Musical) DISC EIGHT: Going To A Town - Rufus Wainwright BOOK CHOICE: A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking LUXURY ITEM: A keg of Single Malt Scotch Whisky CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Where Are We Now? - David Bowie Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley