Description
The castaway in Desert Island Discs this week is Professor George Steiner. One of the most prominent intellectuals of our time, he'll be talking to Sue Lawley about how the English academic establishment has taken decades to accept him despite his early popularity as a Cambridge lecturer, and about the problem of reconciling the love of beauty with great acts of evil.
He'll also be describing how his family left Austria for France in the 1920s and how he was one of only two boys to survive in his class in the largely Jewish lycee he attended in Paris.
When asked to select just one record to take to the island, Professor George said that for him, it was all or nothing.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Book: 500 year ahead calendar and appointment book
Luxury: Computer
Sue Lawley's guest on Desert Island Discs today is the writer Martin Amis. He describes his books as comedies, but, like London Fields and Other People, they are frequently dark and disturbing.
He says that he has no choice as to the subjects of his books. "They come from nowhere and feel like a...
Published 12/29/96
The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is Absolutely Fabulous! Jennifer Saunders began "doing funny things with props" in the early 1980s. With her stage partner Dawn French, she toured the clubs and comedy venues making people laugh with acts like The Menopause Sisters. As part of the...
Published 12/22/96