Desert Island Discs

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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.

BBC Radio 4 LW

Desert Island Discs: Sandy Powell, costume designer

Sandy Powell, costume designer

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Sandy Powell, costume designer

Sandy Powell, costume designer, shares the soundtrack of her life with Lauren Laverne.

Sandy Powell, costume designer, shares the eight tracks, book and luxury item she would take with her if cast away to a desert island. With Lauren Laverne.

Sandy Powell won her first Academy Award for dressing Joseph Fiennes and Gwyneth Paltrow in Shakespeare in Love, and has since won two more Oscars - along with a further dozen nominations - and three BAFTAs. Her credits range from Gangs of New York for Martin Scorsese to Mary Poppins Returns for Disney, and she's worked with many of the biggest current screen stars, including Leonardo di Caprio, Cate Blanchett and Al Pacino. 

Sandy was born in south London and completed an art foundation course at St Martin’s School of Art.  In 1981 she got her first job designing costumes for the choreographer Lindsay Kemp’s show Nijinsky at La Scala in Milan.  She later worked for the director Derek Jarman on his film Caravaggio and continued to collaborate with him until his death in 1994.  She has also enjoyed long working relationships with Martin Scorsese and Todd Haynes. 

Sandy has won acclaim for her designs on films with historical settings, including The Wings of the Dove, The Young Victoria and The Favourite starring Olivia Colman, as well as the flamboyant glam rock world of Velvet Goldmine and the fairy-tale fantasy of Cinderella, starring Lily James. 
 
In 2011 she was awarded an OBE for services for the film industry and in 2023 she became the first costume designer to receive a BAFTA Fellowship. 

DISC ONE: Jeepster - T Rex
DISC TWO: Adagietto, Symphony No. 5 in C-Sharp Minor. Composed by Gustav Mahler and performed by Orchestre de l'Académie de Santa Cécilia and conducted by Franco Mannino
DISC THREE: Life on Mars? - David Bowie
DISC FOUR: La Vie en Rose - Alan Dunn
DISC FIVE: I’ll Never Fall in Love Again - Bobbi Gentry
DISC SIX: Satellite of Love - Lou Reed
DISC SEVEN: Where Love Lives (Come On In) - Alison Limerick
DISC EIGHT: I Left My Heart in San Francisco - Tony Bennett

BOOK CHOICE:  Josef Koudelka: Gypsies	
LUXURY ITEM:  A lemon tree
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Life on Mars? - David Bowie

Presenter  Lauren Laverne
Producer  Paula McGinley

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