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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: Alice Thomas Ellis

29/03/1998

Alice Thomas Ellis

BBC Radio 4 - Desert Island Discs, Alice Thomas Ellis

Sue Lawley's castaway is novelist Alice Thomas Ellis

Sue Lawley's castaway is novelist Alice Thomas Ellis.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the novelist Alice Thomas Ellis.

A devout and traditional Catholic, she didn't begin writing until she was 42. The Sin Eater, that first novel, was her reaction to the changes in the Catholic Church after Vatican Two and channelled her anger at what she saw as the excesses of the 1960s. She's a woman of apparent contradictions. She wanted to be a nun, but fell in love and became a mother of seven instead. She's deeply religious but believes in ghosts and the supernatural and although her books are often triggered by anger, they are frequently tender and full of humour. 

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

Favourite track: Rorate Caeli Desuper by Monks & Choirboys or Downside Abbey
Book: Come Hither - An Anthology by Walter de la Mare
Luxury: A very comfortable sofa

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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: Clinton sexual assault case thrown out

Clinton sexual assault case thrown out

BBC Radio 4 - Letter from America by Alistair Cooke, Clinton sexual assault case thrown out

Paula Jones' civil prosecution of Clinton for an alleged 1991 sexual assault thrown out.

Judge Wright throws out Paula Jones' civil prosecution of President Clinton for an alleged sexual assault in 1991. How will it affect the investigation of the Whitewater land deal?

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