Original version

BBC Radio 4 LW

Desert Island Discs

Discussion & Talk

Podcasts

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Life Stories

Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

Eight tracks, a book and a luxury: what would you take to a desert island? Guests share the soundtrack of their lives.

BBC Radio 4 FM

Kirsty Young

Tony Iveson

Desert Island Discs: Tony Iveson

02/01/2011

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Tony Iveson

Kirsty Young's castaway is Battle of Britain veteran Tony Iveson.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the veteran RAF pilot Tony Iveson.

Aged 21, he survived being shot down in his Spitfire over the North Sea during his first taste of combat in the Battle of Britain. Unusually for a fighter pilot, he then went on to join Bomber Command and the famous Dambusters squadron, sinking the German battleship The Tirpitz and winning a Distinguished Flying Cross. 

Aged 89 he returned to the skies, becoming the oldest man to fly a Lancaster bomber: "Well, I got out of that aeroplane and looked at it and it and thought how did we do it?" he says. "I know it was a long time ago and I was young and fit and a professional flier. But I thought about some of my friends who had been lost and it was an emotional experience." 

Record: Albinoni's Adagio in G Minor
Book: A volume of Somerset Maugham's short stories 
Luxury: Two established vines and a tin bath to make wine 

Producer: Rachel Simpson.

BBC Radio 4

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Desert Island Discs

Tony Iveson

Contributors

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC Radio 4 LW

About BBC Radio 4