Each BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs invites a castaway to choose eight pieces of music, a book (in addition to the Bible - or a religious text appropriate to that person's beliefs - and the Complete Works of Shakespeare) and a luxury item that they would take to an imaginary desert island, where they will be marooned indefinitely. The rules state that the chosen luxury item must not be anything animate or indeed anything that enables the castaway to escape from the island, for instance a radio set, sailing yacht or aeroplane. The choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests between 2001 and 2010 are listed here.
Very rarely programmes will be repeated in place of new shows as a tribute to former guests who have recently died – for example Radio 4 repeated Humphrey Lyttelton's show, originally aired on 5 November 2006, on 15 June 2008. Desert Island Discs takes two short breaks, in spring and summer. BBC Radio 4 broadcasts new programmes for approximately 42 weeks each year on Sunday mornings, usually with a repeat transmission five days later. On Remembrance Sunday (in November) the programme is not broadcast but that week's programme gets a single airing in the Friday repeat slot.
2001 DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfoCombined dictionary and thesaurusLaptop computer moreGeorge MacDonald FraserOxford English DictionaryTypewriter moreMarguerite PattenPride and Prejudice by Jane AustenTrowel for digging moreTerry O'NeillGreat Expectations by Charles DickensWind-up radio moreSir John MortimerOxford Book of English Verse moreGriff Rhys JonesThe Pickwick Papers by Charles DickensNewspaper moreOxford Textbook of Medicine by D. A. WarrellA down pillow moreCharlie WattsCollected Poems 1934-52 of Dylan Thomas moreJohn LillHuge Tome on fauna and floraSolar-powered piano moreHenry SandonA Shropshire Lad by A. E. HousmanHuge supply of Indian tea with Worcester tea pot more - - moreShirley HughesA painting by Titian, Bacchus & Ariadne moreWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyLots and lots of chocolate moreTanni Grey ThompsonA guide to edible foods on a desert islandFive juggling balls moreRonald BlytheLife of Johnson by James BoswellLots of paper with pens moreChris TarrantThe Silence of the Lambs by Thomas HarrisHis lucky sixpence moreTasmin LittleHarry Potter book by J. K. Rowling or Little Dorrit by Charles DickensEndless supply of coffee moreMargaret DrabbleThe Old Wives' Tale by Arnold BennettPainting by Maurice Cockerill - Ariadne's Thread moreOxford Anthology of English VerseThe microscope used to examine the lineage of the roundworm moreSir Timothy CliffordA la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel ProustRenaissance casket with a selection of 15th & 16th century Italian drawings in it moreCourtney PineBeneath the Underdog by Charles Mingus1939 tenor edition saxophone moreUnder the Greenwood Tree by Thomas HardyUnlimited supply of paper, paints and pencils moreSir Kyffin WilliamsGerminal by Émile ZolaA small painting called "The Head of a Girl" by Michael Schwertz moreFrank McCourtOxford Anthology of English VersePair of binoculars moreSir Harry KrotoQuantum Electro Dynamics Physics by FeynmanAirbrush computer graphics set moreThe Wealth of Nations by Adam SmithPack of cards morePeggy SeegerA Scots Quair by Lewis Grassic GibbonBanjo with plastic head and an inexhaustible supply of strings and pegs moreMartin BellCorduroy (his father's first book) by Adrian BellBarrel of Adnam's Ale brewed in Suffolk moreCormac Murphy O'ConnorGrand piano moreClaudia RodenA la recherche du temps perdu by Marcel ProustOil paints and brushes moreOriginal prayer book without any amendmentsMister Trumper's aftershave moreJoss AcklandThe Diary of Samuel PepysHuge jar of liquorice moreBruce FogleMolecular engineering laboratory - to construct a dog moreFaust by Johann Wolfgang GoetheCassette recorder and cassettes moreSimon SchamaThe Leopard by Giuseppe di LampedusaBethsheba by Rembrandt moreBilly ConnollyOxford English DictionaryHis banjo moreKen FollettPhilosophical Investigations by Ludwig WittgensteinEntire cellar of a great collector of French wine moreWilliam HagueThe Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert CaroDojo moreSir Cameron MackintoshComplete Cookery Course by Delia SmithSolar-powered Magimix moreAnne FineCollected Poems of Philip LarkinPencil and paper moreJamie OliverDoesn't read books - needs notepaper and pens to write recipesLeatherman - like a Swiss Army Knife but more substantial moreEwan McGregorIn Search of Lost Time by Marcel ProustChromatic harmonica more
2002
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfoThe Aubrey-Maturin series 20 (complete hardback set) by Patrick O'BrianGolf clubs and balls moreSusana WaltonThe Education of a Gardner by Russell PageDowny Pillow moreBob WorcesterGlobes at Greenwich by Elly Dekker morePhyllis SellickThe Oxford Companion to MusicClockwork radio tuned to Radio 4 moreDavid LinleyThe Art of Looking Sideways by Alan FletcherGuitar moreSir Paul NurseTelescope moreKazuo IshiguroCollected short stories of Anton ChekhovBig roll of paper moreSue MacGregorHistory of the World by John RobertsUnlimited supply of nicely-scented sun block moreLord May of OxfordCapablanca's Hundred Best Games of Chess by Hans GolombekIsle of Lewis chess set from The British Museum moreDame Beryl GreyThis Sceptred Isle by Christopher LeeBox of watercolour paints moreFay GodwinEgg tempera paints, brushes, and boards to paint onmoremoreKitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly by Anthony BourdainmoremoremoremoreVision: 50 Years of Creativitymore - A notebook and pencilmoremoreSuggsmoreSue JohnstonDickens by Peter AckroydBBC Radio 5 LivemoremoreThe Mabinogi in modern WelshmoreDiplomacy and Murder in Tehran: Alexander Griboyedov and the Tsar's Mission to the Shah of Persia by Laurence KellymoreVan Gogh's IrisesmoremoreOut of the Silent Planet by C. S. LewismoremoreSpeaking of Diaghilev by John DrummondmorePhilip PullmanA La Recherche Du Temps Perdu by Marcel ProustA Jar of Apricots by Chardin morePaul GambacciniThe Complete Carl Barks Library by Carl BarksPiano moremoreWar and Peace by Leo TolstoyPencils and papermoreRobin Cook MPmoreA pianomoremoreOil paintsmoremoreOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García MárquezmoremoreA pianomorePatricia CornwellAn endless supply of notebooks and pens more
2003
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfomoreGillian AndersonThe Power of Now by Eckhart TolleRecordings of her daughter and "her love" reading self-written stories and poetry moreUlysses by James JoycemoreSir Trevor NunnThe Complete Works of Charles DickensA photo of his wife and all of his children moremoremoreWorld of Wonder: 10,000 things every child should knowmoreWar and Peace by Leo TolstoymoremoreThree Men in a Boat by Jerome K. JeromePotato seedsmoreOne Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García MárquezPencils, paper and watercoloursmoreAll the Little Live things by Wallace Earle StegnermoreSense and Sensibility by Jane AustenmoremoremoremoreUtopia by Thomas MoremoremoremoremoreA pianoLa première gorgée de Bière et autres plaisirs minuscules by Philippe DelermSunglassesmoremoremorePencil and papermoreDavid Copperfield by Charles DickensmoreAngela's Ashes by Frank McCourtmoreBarnaby Rudge by Charles DickensmoremoremoreGlimpses by Brendan KennellymoremoreDon Quixote by Miguel de CervantesmoremoremoremoreSnorkelling equipmentmoreRIBA drawings collectionmoremoreThe Borrowers by Mary Nortonmore
2004
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfoWar and Peace by Leo TolstoymoremoremoremoreThe Earth from the Air by Yann Arthus-BertrandmoremoremorePencils and thick paper to write and draw onmoremoremoremoreSUMO by Helmut NewtonTriptych, May - June, 1973 by Francis BaconmoremoreThe Rattle Bag: An Anthology of Poetry edited by Seamus Heaney & Ted HughesWaterslidemoremoreHuckleberry Finn by Mark Twain A pianomoreMansfield Park by Jane AustenmoremoremoremoremoreYes Minister and Yes, Prime Minister videosmoreVanity Fair by William ThackeraymoremoreNicholas Nickleby by Charles DickensmoremoremoremoreTreasure Island and Kidnapped by Robert Louis StevensonmorePride and Prejudice by Jane AustenmoremoreSpotted dick with Lyon's golden syrupmoremoreEthics by Spinoza, translated by G. H. R. ParkinsonmoremoremoreEngelbert - What's In a Name: The Autobiography by Engelbert Humperdinckmoremore
2005
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfoDirty Havana Trilogy by Pedro Juan GutierrezmoremoreBirthday Letters by Ted HughesmoremoremoreMicrocosmographia Academica by Francis M. CornfordmoremoremoreMy Family and Other Animals by Gerald DurrellmoremoreOlive oilmorePensées by Blaise PascalVermeer painting: The Piano LessonmoreHis mysterious object (an object found by his father that as yet no one can identify)moremoreSombrero Fallout by Richard Brautiganmoremore"A book which is in my head about my brother"Modelling clay and toolsmoreWild Reckoning: An Anthology Provoked by Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" edited by John Burnside and Maurice RiordanmoremoreDerek Jarman's Garden by Derek JarmanHoward Hodgkin's painting: Learning About Russian MusicmoreReading Lyrics: More Than 1,000 of the Century's Finest Lyrics by Robert Gottlieb and Robert KimballmoremoremoremoremoremoreStop Thinking, Start Living by Richard CarlsonmoremoremoremoreDemian by Hermann HessemoremoremoreCoffeemoremoremoremoremoremoreTeach yourself mathematics illustrated by voluptuous womenmore
2006
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfomoreVanity Fair by William ThackeraymoremoreVanity Fair by William ThackeraymoremoreRizla liquorice papersmoreThe complete works of MiltonContinuous supply of very cold & dry white winemoremoreInk, pen, paper and correction fluidmoremoreEthics by SpinozamoremoreHow Britain made the Modern World by Niall FergusonmoremoremoremoreFamily photograph albumsmoreOther Men's Flowers: An Anthology of Poetry by Lord WavellmoreRembrandt's Hendrickje BathingmoremoreIn Search of Lost Time by ProustmoremoreHollywood Wives by Jackie CollinsmoreCaptain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor by Mervyn PeakemoreRemembrance of Things Past by ProustmoremoreJamie's Dinners: The Essential Family Cookbook by Jamie OlivermoreLe Morte d'Arthur by Thomas MaloryBeing and Nothingness by Jean-Paul SartremoreOn Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGeemoremoreReach for the Sky: The Story of Douglas Bader by Paul BrickhillmoremoremoremoremoreRemembrance of Things Past by ProustmoreWar and Peace by Leo Tolstoymoremore
2007
DateCastawayBookLuxuryMoreinfoDesert Islands by Walter de la MaremoreUlysses by James JoycemoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoremoreBeing and Time by Martin HeideggermoreThe History of Western Philosophy by Bertrand RussellmoreVideo camera and filmmoreComplete works of Dylan ThomasmoremoreLessons in Ndebele by James Pelling and Pamela PellingmoremoremoremoremoreBook on medieval history (Cambridge Press)Daily Araucaria crosswordmoremoreCollected plays of George Bernard ShawmoremoreGreat Expectations by Charles DickensmoremoremoremoremoreCollected works of Thomas HardymoreUntold Stories by Alan BennettmoreLong Walk to Freedom by Nelson MandelamoreOxford Anthology of English PoetrymoreFirst Love by Ivan TurgenevmoremoremoreCollected works of Anthony TrollopemoremoreAbsolute Beginners by Colin MacInnesmoremorePride and Prejudice by Jane Austenmore
2008