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Desert Island Discs

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.

Desert Island Discs: Mike Leigh OBE

21/09/1997

Mike Leigh OBE

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Mike Leigh OBE

Sue Lawley's castaway is director Mike Leigh OBE

Sue Lawley's castaway is director Mike Leigh OBE.

The castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the filmmaker and director Mike Leigh. He first came to public attention on a dark and stormy evening when 16 million people tuned to BBC1 to watch his film Abigail's Party. It was also the night that ITV was blacked out by a strike, there was a highbrow documentary on BBC2, and Channel 4 didn't exist. His recent films Secrets and Lies and Naked won top awards at Cannes, building on the recognition he received for his earlier, more gentle portrait of working-class life - Life is Sweet. He explains to Sue Lawley how his early films were inspired by the work of Harold Pinter, Samuel Beckett and Francois Truffaut. 

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] 

Favourite track: Clarinet Concerto in A Clarinet Concerto in A Major K622 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Book: One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Luxury: Lavatory and lavatory paper

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Letter from America by Alistair Cooke

Alistair Cooke’s weekly talks on American life, history and politics from 1946 – 2004.

Alistair Cooke’s weekly talks on American life, history and politics, as broadcast on BBC Radio 4 from 1946 – 2004.

Alistair Cooke’s weekly talks on American life, history and politics. Over 900 programmes, as broadcast from 1946 – 2004.

Letter from America by Alistair Cooke: American stereotypes on film

American stereotypes on film

BBC Radio 4 - Letter from America by Alistair Cooke, American stereotypes on film

American stereotypes, as portrayed by Hollywood.

An examination of the stereotypes of American life as portrayed in Hollywood movies, and seen by a global audience.

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