Desert Island Discs Revisited

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BBC Radio 4 Extra

Factual: Life Stories

Selected castaway gems from the BBC Desert Island Discs archive.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Pride: Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King

Pride

Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Desert Island Discs Revisited, Pride, Billie Jean King

Billie Jean King shares her castaway choices with Kirsty Young.

From Aretha Franklin to Elton John. Tennis champion Billie Jean King makes her castaway choices. With Kirsty Young. From 2018.

39 Grand Slams and a total of 20 Wimbledon titles.  

Billie Jean King is regarded as one of the greatest tennis players of all time. 

She shares her castaway choices and shares her life and times with Kirsty Young.  

Born in California in 1943, Billie was the eldest daughter of Bill and Betty Moffitt. She discovered tennis aged ten: at 15 she won in her age bracket at the Southern California championships, and in 1961, she won the women's doubles at Wimbledon with Karen Hantze, the youngest pair to achieve such a victory. 

In 1968, when professional competitors were admitted to Grand Slam tournaments, she won Wimbledon for the third time and was paid just £750 while Rod Laver, the men's champion, took home £2,000. So began her campaign for gender equality, which involved boycotting tournaments and setting up their own professional women's circuit. In 1973, then aged 29, she beat the 55-year-old former tennis champion Bobby Riggs in a match which became known as 'The Battle of the Sexes': it remains the most-watched tennis match ever. That year the US Open awarded the same financial reward to men and women and in 2007 Wimbledon followed suit. Billie Jean also founded the Women's Tennis Association and the Women's Sports Foundation in the 1970s.

She married her husband, Larry, in 1965 but by the late 1960s, she had realised that she was gay. She was outed by a former lover who sued her for palimony in 1981, and although she won the case, she lost almost all her commercial endorsements. 

Billie has been with her partner, Ilana Kloss, for nearly 40 years and retired from singles matches in 1983 and doubles in 1990. She was awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Obama in 2009 and has continued to be an ambassador for her sport and for gender equality.

DISC ONE: Respect - Aretha Franklin
DISC TWO: Ain't No Mountain High Enough - Diana Ross
DISC THREE: Winds Of Change (Mandela To Mandela) - Nona Hendryx
DISC FOUR: Gustav Holst’s World In Union - Katherine Jenkins and the Crouch End Festival Chorus
DISC FIVE: If I Dare (from Battle of the Sexes) - Sara Bareilles
DISC SIX: You Don't Have To Say You Love Me - Dusty Springfield
DISC SEVEN: Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John Band
DISC EIGHT: Hey Jude - The Beatles

BOOK CHOICE: Oh, the Places You'll Go! by Dr. Seuss
LUXURY CHOICE: Scrapbook of photos of her family
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Philadelphia Freedom - Elton John Band

Producer: Cathy Drysdale.

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2018.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Pride

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Your digital radio entertainment station showcasing the best in comedy and drama. With recent favourites from BBC Radio 4.

Collection of castaways to mark Pride 2023

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