Desert Island Discs

Shania Twain is a singer and songwriter and one of only two artists in history to have three consecutive diamond albums.
By the time she was eight years old, she had a repertoire of one hundred songs which she would sing in bars. She began to write her own songs at the age of ten. Her mother was convinced that she was going to be a star and took her to perform in smoky clubs.
Off stage, all was not well in the family home and Shania grew up in a turbulent household where there was much fighting. When she was thirteen years old, she persuaded her mother to drive Shania and her sisters to Toronto to a women’s shelter.

Her parents eventually reunited and then were both killed in a car accident when Shania was twenty-two years old. She then became the guardian of her younger siblings and put her music dreams on hold to look after them.
Eventually she got a job in a golf resort singing and came to the attention of a Nashville music executive and was offered a recording contract when she was thirty.
She was enjoying a record-breaking global musical career when disaster struck. She was bitten by a tick and contracted Lyme disease which prevented her from singing for the best part of a decade. She announced her return in 2011 and returned to the stage in 2012.
Shania lives in Switzerland with her second husband.
DISC ONE: We’ve Only Just Begun - Carpenters
DISC TWO: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road - Elton John
DISC THREE: Dust in the Wind - Kansas
DISC FOUR: El Paso - Marty Robbins
DISC FIVE: Gabriel’s Oboe - Ennio Morricone
DISC SIX: Gentle on my Mind - Glen Campbell
DISC SEVEN: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder
DISC EIGHT: Ode to Billie Joe - Bobbie Gentry

BOOK CHOICE: Life is Fair by Brian Hines
LUXURY ITEM: Insect Repellent
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Dust in the Wind - Kansas
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
Desert Island Discs has cast other musicians away over the years including Adele, Cher, Kylie Minogue and Cyndi Lauper. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Paul Farmer is a charity leader who has spent his life campaigning, fundraising and changing the national conversation around some of the most challenging issues in our society. Currently at the helm of Age UK, he previously spent 16 years as the CEO of Mind, the UK’s largest mental health charity.
Paul was born in Oxford, the son of a former Benedictine monk and a former nun. He read history at St Peter’s College, Oxford, where he met his future wife, Claire. After graduating, he found a role working for a heritage centre and fell in love with the charity sector, moving to the Samaritans. His experiences taking calls from those struggling with their mental health awakened a passion for working in the mental health sector.
In 2006 he moved Mind, where he became CEO. He led a fifteen-year campaign that helped to change legislation, and the national conversation around mental health. For the past few years, he has campaigned for older people as Chief Executive at Age UK, and encouraged the public to prepare and plan for a happier, healthier later life.
Paul lost his wife, Claire, to cancer in 2019. He lives in West London.
DISC ONE: Think - Aretha Franklin
DISC TWO: Part of the Agnus Dei from the Mass for Five Voices, performed by The Sixteen with Harry Christophers conducting - William Byrd
DISC THREE: Don’t Leave Me This Way - The Communards
DISC FOUR: Rotterdam (Or Anywhere) - The Beautiful South
DISC FIVE: Feeling Good - Nina Simone
DISC SIX: Into My Arms - Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
DISC SEVEN: Drunk Surfer - Westside Cowboy
DISC EIGHT: Sunshine on Leith - The Proclaimers
BOOK: A collection of Simon Armitage’s poetry
LUXURY: A bowling machine with a combination of cricket and tennis balls
CASTAWAY’S FAVOURITE: Sunshine on Leith - The Proclaimers
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor and Hannah Hufford
Desert Island Discs has cast away many campaigners to the island over the years including Marjorie Wallace, Julia Cleverdon, and Sue Ryder, Baroness Ryder of Warsaw. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Professor Liz Morris is a glaciologist whose work in some of the earth’s most inhospitable environments has broadened humanity’s understanding of climate change and polar science. Her accolades include the prestigious Polar Medal and an OBE for services to Polar Science.
Liz was born in London in 1946 and family legend has it that she fell in love with snow and ice the following year during what was known as the Big Freeze - one of the most severe and punishing winters in British history.
She studied physics at Bristol University and applied for a role at the British Antarctic Survey in the early Seventies. At that time the institute did not have any female scientists working in the field and her application was rejected.
Liz bided her time and eventually did get to work at the BAS, becoming head of the Ice and Climate Division in 1986. The following year she became the first British woman to undertake tent-based research in Antarctica, arriving just as the ozone hole discovery was breaking.
Liz completed her last field trip in 2014. In 2020 the Antarctic Place-Names Committee named a glacier in her honour.
Liz divides her time between the Cotswolds and Scotland.
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Paula McGinley

Norman Cook is a musician and DJ also widely known as Fatboy Slim.
As a DJ, he has played everywhere from Bondi Beach and the Great Wall of China to the House of Commons and a fish and chip shop. His many accolades include a world record for the most number one singles by one musician in different acts. He has had a number of musical aliases including Pizzaman, Cheeky Boy and Beats International. He was also a member of the Housemartins.
He was christened Quentin by his parents and changed his name to Norman when he embarked on his musical career. His passion for music and collecting records led him down the path of becoming a DJ and his outdoor gigs, particularly in Brighton, saw him play to crowds of over a quarter of a million people.
He has been married twice, his second wife was the DJ and radio presenter, Zoe Ball. Norman lives in Brighton
DISC ONE: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheels of Steel - Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
DISC TWO: Golden Slumbers / Carry That Weight - The Beatles
DISC THREE: Rainbow Connection - The Muppets
DISC FOUR: (White Man) in Hammersmith Palais - The Clash
DISC FIVE: I Feel Love - Donna Summer
DISC SIX: Satisfied ‘N’ Tickled Too - Taj Mahal
DISC SEVEN: I Must Be In a Good Place Now - Bobby Charles
DISC EIGHT: Born Slippy (Nuxx) - Underworld
BOOK CHOICE: The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists by Robert Tressell
LUXURY ITEM: A label maker
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: I Feel Love - Donna Summer
Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
Desert Island Discs has cast other musicians away over the years including Norman’s former neighbour Sir Paul McCartney and David Bryne. His former wife, Zoe Ball is in the Desert Island archive along with his former classmate, Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Jo Nesbø is a writer, known as the king of 'Nordic Noir'. His internationally bestselling crime thrillers following the exploits of detective Harry Hole have been translated into fifty languages, sold over sixty million copies and have been adapted for film and TV.
Being a bestselling author was not his first job. As a teenager, he played football professionally before an injury put paid to his sporting career. He played guitar and wrote songs for a band which then became very successful in Norway and he combined his gigging nightlife with a day job on Norway’s stock market.
His relentless schedule led to him taking time off from both the band and the stock market and whilst he was travelling on a plane to Australia, he wrote his first draft of his debut Harry Hole novel. He has since gone on to write thirteen Harry Hole novels along with children’s stories and other standalone books.
Jo lives in Oslo.
DISC ONE: Perfect Skin - Lloyd Cole and the Commotions
DISC TWO: Ticket To Ride - The Beatles
DISC THREE: Make Me Smile (Come Up And See Me) - Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
DISC FOUR: I Can’t Be Satisfied – Muddy Waters
DISC FIVE: Bus to Baton Rouge - Lucinda Williams
DISC SIX: Hand of God - Nick Cave, Warren Ellis
DISC SEVEN: Swamp - Talking Heads
DISC EIGHT: Independence Day - Bruce Springsteen
BOOK CHOICE: Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
LUXURY ITEM: A shoehorn
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Independence Day - Bruce Springsteen
Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer: Sarah Taylor
Desert Island Discs has cast other writers away over the years including Lee Child, Steven King and Martina Cole. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.