Bill Bailey
4 Extra Debut. From The Undertones to Mozart. Musical comedian Bill Bailey shares his castaway choices with Kirsty Young. From 2008.
Comedian, actor and musician, Bill Bailey is castaway by Kirsty Young.
Lauded for his hugely inventive stand up, Bill has carved out a highly successful career with an altogether atypical approach. He's a familiar face on TV from his regular appearances on quiz shows Have I Got News for You, QI and Never Mind the Buzzcocks.
At school he was a gifted pupil who gave up on his education and a pitch-perfect piano student who flunked his music school entrance. He started drifting as a teenager and gave up on university within days of arrival - he says he was looking for the next challenge, and that turned out to be stand-up comedy.
He loved having to think on his feet and found the laughter of strangers intoxicating.
DISC ONE: King Curtis - Memphis Soul Stew
DISC TWO: The Undertones - Teenage Kicks
DISC THREE: Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
DISC FOUR: English Chamber Orchestra, soloist Murray Perahia - Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart鈥檚 Piano Concerto No. 26 in D major (鈥淐oronation鈥)
DISC FIVE: David Bowie - Rebel Rebel
DISC SIX: Pretenders - Talk of the Town
DISC SEVEN: Enong Jubaedah and Mang Maman - Traditional Javanese Gamelan
DISC EIGHT: New Philharmonia Orchestra with the Choir of King鈥檚 College, Cambridge, conducted by Sir David Willcocks - Gabriel Faur茅鈥檚 In Paradisum (from Requiem), Op 48
BOOK CHOICE: The collected works - W. Somerset Maugham
LUXURY CHOICE: A pack of cards
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Talking Heads - Once in a Lifetime
Producer: Jane Thurlow
First broadcast on 大象传媒 Radio 4 in June 2008.
Last on
Broadcasts
- Sun 10 Mar 2024 10:00大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra
- Sun 10 Mar 2024 15:00大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra
- Sun 10 Mar 2024 21:00大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra
- Mon 11 Mar 2024 04:00大象传媒 Radio 4 Extra
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.