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Rt Hon Shirley Williams

Sue Lawley's castaway is politician Baroness Shirley Williams.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the politician Baroness Williams of Crosby. Shirley Williams has spent her life immersed in politics. Her father was a Labour Party activist and her mother the writer and pacifist Vera Brittain. Their home was always filled with topical conversation, from the rise of Hitler to the Spanish Civil War.

She became a Labour Party member when still a teenager and, after a chance encounter in an air-raid shelter, formed a friendship with the then Home Secretary Herbert Morrison. She enjoyed a career within the Labour Party but, dismayed by its drift to the left, she abandoned it to become one of the Gang of Four who set up the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and later supported its merger with the Liberal Party. Now, as the Liberal Democrats are in the midst of leadership elections, she reflects on the difficulties the party has faced in recent months, and what it must do to regain public support.

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

Favourite track: How Beautiful are the Feet by George Frideric Handel
Book: Collection by W H Auden
Luxury: PC linked to the internet

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 3 Feb 2006 09:00
大象传媒 Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Scott Joplin

    The Entertainer

    • The Entertainer.
    • Biograph.

  • Anton铆n Dvo艡谩k

    Symphony No. 9 in E minor 'From the New World' - 2nd movement

    Orchestra: Berlin Philharmonic Conductor: Klaus Tennstedt

    • Dvorak: Symphony No 9.
    • EMI.

  • Benjamin Britten

    So Abram rose and clave the wood (from War Requiem)

    Soloist: Peter Pears and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau Orchestra: London Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Benjamin Britten

    • War Requiem.
    • Decca.

  • Frank Loesser

    My Time of Day (from Guys and Dolls)

    Artist: Ian Charleson

    • Guys and Dolls - original National Theatre Cast.
    • Music for Pleasure.

  • E.T. Mensah and the Tempos Dance Band

    Ghana Freedom

    • Day by Day.
    • Retro Afric.

  • Vangelis

    Chariots of Fire

    • Themes: Vangelis.
    • Polydor.

  • Henry Purcell

    The Plaint

    Soloist: Anne Grimm Orchestra: The Amsterdam Baroque Orchestra and Choir Conductor: Bott-Thomas-Schopper

    • Purcell:The Fairy Queen.
    • Erato.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • George Frideric Handel

      How beautiful are the feet (from Messiah)

      Soloist: Felicity Lott

      • Handel: Messiah.
      • RPO.

  • Book Choice

    • Collection - W H Auden

  • Luxury Choice

    • PC linked to the internet

Credits

Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Shirley Williams

Broadcasts

  • Sun 29 Jan 2006 11:15
    大象传媒 Radio 4
  • Fri 3 Feb 2006 09:00
    大象传媒 Radio 4

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