marylsommers: Desert island discs: every guest listed

Sunday, January 29, 2012

Desert island discs: every guest listed

What have we learnt from 70 years of Desert Island Discs? See who's been in and what they chose
? Get the data

As Radio 4's Desert Island Discs enters its 70th year, our Scraperwiki spreadsheet reveals a number of themes running through castaways' choices over the past seven decades.

With the entire Desert Island Discs archive now available on the BBC Radio 4 website, guests' selections of books and luxuries are comprehensively revealed in all their profound, surprising - and occasionally downright odd - glory.

Since the programme began in 1942, a total of 43 guests, including Terry Wogan and George Clooney, elected to while away the hours with Tolstoy's War and Peace, according to the BBC archive.

Camila Batmanghelidjh and Raymond Tallis chose the existentialist writings of Sartre and Heidegger to aid the solitude, but Proust was the philosopher of choice, featuring in at least 50 episodes.

Unsurprisingly, booze featured heavily on the imaginary island, with politicians particularly keen on a tipple. David Cameron was one of dozens of guests who wanted whisky, while David Davis requested "a magic wine cellar which never runs out".

Lord Brian Rix's choice of a "proper orthopaedic cushion" epitomised the trend towards home comforts: Christabel Bielenberg chose a "comfortable chair"; Daniel Baremboin a piano with a mattress.

The musical instrument was a winner, with 183 guests, including Sir Ian McKellen, opting for a piano - perhaps unsurprisingly given 1212 of the show's 2892 guests have been from stage, screen and radio, and 635 from music backgrounds.

Guitars were next, with 57 appearances in the archive. Five castaways chose the trombone and 12 chose the saxophone. One: James Mason in 1961, wanted bagpipes, to the undoubted consternation of island wildlife.

Ever resourceful, guests have increasingly chosen to harness solar power in their attempts to stay sane on the island. Thirty-six chose solar-powered items, the most eye opening of which being the solar-powered vibrator chosen by Cornelia Parker.

Some more facts from the archives:

1. 25 guests wanted pillows
2. 41 guests chose the Encyclopaedia Britannica
3. 149 chose paper
4. 47 guests wanted a television
5. 136 requested paint

No doubt the ingeniously simple and effective Desert Island Discs format will continue to provide interesting data for years to come.

What do you think of the castaways' choices? And how different will they look in another 70 years' time?

The 70th anniversary edition of Desert Island Discs, featuring Sir David Attenborough in his fourth appearance on the show, will be broadcast on Sunday 29 January