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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: Loyd Grossman

30/11/1997

Loyd Grossman

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Loyd Grossman

Sue Lawley's castaway is television presenter Loyd Grossman

Sue Lawley's castaway is television presenter Loyd Grossman.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the television presenter Loyd Grossman. His career has allowed him to peer through the keyholes of the rich and famous and comment on their homes. He once described Tony Blackburn's house as like that of a maiden aunt in Eastbourne. It's a formula which has lasted 14 years. Although he was well into his 20s before he learnt to cook, some 20 million viewers watch him as he deliberates, cogitates and digests the culinary efforts of his would-be masterchefs. As a boy his dream was to be a rock star or a historian. In the end, he gave up both, forsaking his study of the gin-drinking experiences of 18th-century Londoners and forgoing his evenings spent dodging beer cans thrown on stage. He turned instead to journalism and Harpers & Queen. It was by accident that he was picked out to present for the new fledgling television station, TVAM, but by the time they realised their mistake his TV career was launched.

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

Favourite track: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun by Cyndi Lauper
Book: Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
Luxury: Fishing rod

BBC Radio 4

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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 tourists

American tourists

BBC Radio 4 - Letter from America by Alistair Cooke, American tourists

An examination of what American tourists expect to see when on vacation.

Tony Blair's vision of a nodern Britain, alistair Cooke's suggestions for a tour of the US, and Roosevelt's post-war plea for Americans to holiday in the Caribbean.

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