Sue Lawley's castaway is the actress Kim Cattrall. Kim Cattrall became a household name in her forties as a result of playing man-eater, defiant singleton and PR mogul Samantha Jones in Sex and the City. She is about to star in the play Whose Life is it Anyway? in the West End of London.
She was born in Liverpool but grew up in Canada and decided to be an actress at a young age. She says a formative experience was appearing in a school play Piffle It's Only a Sniffle when she took the role of a cold germ which had to infect the other children by tickling them with a feather until they sneezed. She spent time in drama schools in Canada, Liverpool and New York and says now that her first love is theatre - and her film roles allow her to feed her theatre habit.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: My Favourite Things by John Coltrane
Book: An English Dictionary
Luxury: Fragrant body cream
19 Dec 2004
Engelbert Humperdinck
Sue Lawley's castaway is the singer Engelbert Humperdinck. Engelbert Humperdinck is one of Britain's most successful entertainers. He is known as the King of Romance and has been at the top of the showbusiness ladder for nearly 40 years - selling more than 130 million records including sixty-four gold and 23 platinum albums.
He was born Arnold George (Gerry) Dorsey in 1936 in India and was one of 10 children. At the age of 10, his family returned to the UK and Leicester. At 17 he began performing in clubs and pubs. In 1965 his manager changed his name to Engelbert Humperdinck but it was still two years before his chance arrived. His big break came in April 1967 when Dickie Valentine was ill and Engelbert took his slot on the show Sunday Night at the London Palladium. His single Release Me flew off the shelves staying in the charts for 56 weeks. He went off to conquer America and there he shared the bill with Dean Martin and Frank Sinatra while he counted Elvis Presley as a close friend. He starts a new UK tour in February next year and his autobiography Engelbert - What's in a Name? was published this year.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Return to Me by Dean Martin
Book: What's in a Name? by Engelbert Humperdinck
Luxury: A saxophone
12 Dec 2004
John Fortune
Sue Lawley's castaway this week is John Fortune.
John Fortune is one of Britain's most respected and enduring satirists. For the past 12 years he has been half of the award-winning double act, The Long Johns, with John Bird, that have brought a sharper political edge to Bremner, Bird and Fortune. As a result of the act, they have been named the Best Opposition by The Oldie Magazine and are Bafta award winners. It is a return to the forefront of political satire for John Fortune - he had joined Peter Cook in setting up The Establishment Club in the 1960s and had taken the review to America to widespread acclaim and returned to Britain to write for, among others, BBC Three and Not So Much a Programme, More a Way of Life.
[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]
Favourite track: Piano Sonata No 30 in E Major by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: The Leopard (In Italian & English) by Giuseppe di Lampedusa
Luxury: A rug made by the Baluch people from Afghanistan
Reach and audience
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Apple Podcasts (US)
4.6 / 5
62 ratings
Spotify
4.8 / 5
18 ratings
Contact Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005
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