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: Tennis: Martina Navratilova

Martina Navratilova

Tennis

Desert Island Discs

BBC Radio 4 Extra - Desert Island Discs Revisited, Tennis, Martina Navratilova

Tennis legend Martina Navratilova is castaway by Kirsty Young.

4 Extra Debut. From ABBA to Maria Callas. Tennis legend Martina Navratilova makes her castaway choices. With Kirsty Young. From July 2012.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the legendary tennis player, Martina Navratilova. 

In an extraordinary career, she's won 59 Grand Slam titles - her last, just a few weeks short of her fiftieth birthday.  Her life off the court has been equally eventful - she grew up in communist Czechoslovakia and, as a teenager, threw rocks as Soviet tanks rolled in; tennis offered a way to see the world and she defected to the US when she was 18 years old.  

After thirty years at the top of her profession she retired - and says she finally found time for the rest of her life: "Tennis really was a total commitment, you didn't have much time for anything else.  So, when I quit, I was going through something emotionally that most people go through when they're 18, 20 years old.  Really having the time for personal relationships, developing friendships and taking the time with everybody. I think I've caught up by now."

DISC ONE: Lady Gaga - Bad Romance 
DISC TWO: Maria Callas with the Orchestra of the National Theatre of the Opera in Paris, conducted by Georges Pretre - Georges Bizet's L’amour est un oiseau rebelle 
DISC THREE: ABBA - Dancing Queen
DISC FOUR: Luciano Pavarotti with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta - Giacomo Puccini's Nessun dorma
DISC FIVE: Ella Fitzgerald - Love is Here to Stay 
DISC SIX: k.d. lang - Crying 
DISC SEVEN: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra - Bedrich Smetana's Vltava from Ma Vlast [My Homeland]
DISC EIGHT: Maria Callas - Giacomo Puccini's Un bel di vedremo 

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra - Bedrich Smetana's Vltava from Ma Vlast [My Homeland]   
BOOK CHOICE: The Fountainhead - Ayn Rand  
LUXURY CHOICE: A pillow her mother made for her

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in July 2012.

Desert Island Discs Revisited: Tennis

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Tennis castaways share their desert island choices.

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