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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.

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Kirsty Young

Sue Perkins

Cathy Drysdale

Desert Island Discs: Sue Perkins

09/07/2017

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sue Perkins

Sue Perkins, TV presenter, is interviewed by Kirsty Young for Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young interviews comedian and broadcaster Sue Perkins.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the comedian and TV presenter Sue Perkins. 

She and her friend Mel Giedroyc first appeared as a comedy duo at the Edinburgh Fringe over 20 years ago and together they presented the first seven series of The Great British Bake Off. 

Born at the end of the 1960s, Sue grew up in Croydon, the eldest of three siblings. By her own description a "shy and awkward" child, she nonetheless made it to Cambridge University to study English. She and Mel met at a Footlights open mic gig soon after she'd arrived. Their first joint high-profile success was landing a new live daytime programme on Channel 4 called Light Lunch, which turned them into household names. 

Sue also formed a second presenting partnership, making historical food programmes with Giles Coren. When she was 38 she was diagnosed with a benign brain tumour which left her unable to have children. Sue has been in a relationship with the TV presenter Anna Richardson since 2013. 

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

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