Main content

Posy Simmonds

Kirsty Young's castaway is cartoonist Posy Simmonds.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week the cartoonist, writer and illustrator Posy Simmonds. Her social observation and sharp wit gained a loyal following in The Guardian where - among their stripped pine, lentils and patchwork - she depicted the lives of prototype woolly liberals Wendy and George Weber. Since then she's gone on to create highly acclaimed children's books and also graphic novels Gemma Bovary and Tamara Drew.

Posy says she started drawing as soon as she could pick up a pencil and as a child was making magazines and little comics with titles like How to Turn Yourself Into an Up-to-Date Ted and How to Make Love and Be Loved in Four Easy Lessons. She remembers drawing as the perfect thing to do, because she could sit on her own and talk to herself.

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

Favourite track: The opening of the prelude from Cello Suite No 1 in G Major by Johann Sebastian Bach
Book: Four volumes of the London Telephone Directory
Luxury: The Crown Jewels.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 4 Jul 2008 09:00

Music Played

  • Joseph Haydn

    The Adagio from Haydn's Piano Sonata in E Minor

    Soloist: Alfred Brendel

    • Haydn: 11 Piano Sonatas.
    • Philips.
  • Cookham Church Choir

    In Dulci Jubilo

    • Behold that Star: Christmas Carols from the Choir of Holy Trinity Church, Cookham.
    • Holy Trinity Church Choir.
  • Georges Brassens

    Marinette

    • Chanson Pour L鈥橝uvergnat.
    • Philips.
  • Elvis Presley

    Don't Be Cruel

    • Don鈥檛 Be Cruel.
    • RCA.
  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    Cantata No. 197a: Ehre sei Gott in der H枚he

    Choir: Monteverdi Choir Conductor: John Eliot Gardiner

    • J.S.Bach: Christmas Oratorio.
    • Archiv.
  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Dove sono (from The Marriage of Figaro)

    Soloist: Gundula Janowitz

    • Mozart: The Marriage of Figaro.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.
  • Mark O鈥機onnor

    God's Dear Son

    • Covath.
    • Lyng.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Johann Sebastian Bach

      Suite for Solo Cello No. 1 in G major - Prelude

      Soloist: Pablo Casals

      • Pablo Casals plays Bach - the Electrical Recordings.
      • Pearl.
  • Book Choice

    • Four volumes of the London Telephone Directory

  • Luxury Choice

    • The Crown Jewels

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Posy Simmonds

Broadcasts

  • Sun 29 Jun 2008 11:15
  • Fri 4 Jul 2008 09:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast