Desert Island Discs

Original version

BBC Radio 4 FM

BBC Radio 4 is a radio channel that started transmitting on the 30th September 1967. It replaced BBC Home Service.

BBC Radio 4

Radio 4

Radio 4 (FM)

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 LW

Desert Island Discs: Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

Sonita Alleyne, Master Jesus College, Cambridge

Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

Sonita Alleyne shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne

Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College Cambridge, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury she would want to take if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Sonita Alleyne is the Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, the first woman to hold the post and - more significantly - the first black master of any Oxbridge college. In her previous career in the media, she was the co-founder and former CEO of the production company Somethin’ Else. 

Born in Barbados, she came to England aged three and grew up in East London, the youngest of three children. She was an able reader by the time she started primary school, and her potential was spotted at her secondary school, where she was encouraged to apply to Cambridge.

She read philosophy at Fitzwilliam College and, after a brief and unfulfilling spell selling life insurance, she followed her passion for jazz by starting to write for music magazines. In 1989 she joined the radio station Jazz FM. When she was made redundant a couple of years later, she and two former Jazz FM colleagues set up a production company they called Somethin’ Else.  

Sonita stepped down as CEO in 2009 to concentrate on other boardroom roles. She served on the BBC Trust for nearly five years, sits on the board of the London Legacy Development Corporation, and founded the Yes Programme to show primary school pupils their future career options. She is a fellow of the Radio Academy and a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts.

Sonita began her ten year tenure as Master of Jesus College in October 2019. She lives in Cambridge with her partner, the screenwriter James McCarthy, and their teenage son.

DISC ONE:  I’ve Known Rivers  by Gary Bartz & NTU Troop 
DISC TWO:  Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton
DISC THREE:   Key To The World by L J Reynolds 
DISC FOUR:   Martha by  Tom Waits  
DISC FIVE:  Tennessee by Arrested Development 
DISC SIX:  To Forgive But Not Forget by Outside   
DISC SEVEN:  Last Train to Clarksville by Cassandra Wilson 
DISC EIGHT: Swing Low Sweet Chariot by Marvin “Hannibal” Peterson
  
BOOK CHOICE: Coming Through Slaughter by Michael Ondaatje
LUXURY ITEM:A genie in a lamp which would only work within the confines of the island
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE:Les Fleurs by Minnie Riperton 

Presenter: Lauren Laverne
Producer:  Cathy Drysdale

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

Sonita Alleyne, Master of Jesus College, Cambridge

Genres

Brand

BBC Radio 4 FM

About BBC Radio 4