The BBC Radio 4 programme Desert Island Discs invites castaways to choose eight pieces of music, a book (in addition to the Bible – or a religious text appropriate to that person's beliefs – and the Complete Works of Shakespeare) and a luxury item that they would take to an imaginary desert island, where they will be marooned indefinitely. The rules state that the chosen luxury item must not be anything animate or indeed anything that enables the castaway to escape from the island, for instance a radio set, sailing yacht or aeroplane. The luxury was not introduced to the programme until after about 100 programmes and the book after about 400 programmes. The choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests between 1951 and 1960 are listed here.
| Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eric Portman | No book | No item | ||
| Monica Dickens | No book | No item | ||
| Robertson Hare | No book | No item | ||
| Yvonne Arnaud | No book | No item | ||
| Donald Peers | No book | No item | ||
| Peter Scott | No book | No item | ||
| Constance Cummings | No book | No item | ||
| Jack Buchanan | No book | No item | ||
| Kay Hammond | No book | No item | ||
| Peter Ustinov | No book | No item | ||
| Joan Hammond | No book | No item | ||
| John Clements | No book | No item | ||
| Ted Kavanagh | No book | No item | ||
| Anona Winn | No book | No item | ||
| Muir Mathieson | No book | No item | ||
| Peter Fleming | No book | No item | ||
| Margaret Lockwood | No book | Crossword puzzles | ||
| Petula Clark | No book | No item | ||
| Larry Adler | No book | No item | ||
| Denis Compton and Bill Edrich | No book | No item | ||
| Ann Todd | No book | No item | ||
| Maggie Teyte | No book | No item | ||
| Tommy Trinder | No book | No item | ||
| Gracie Fields | No book | No item | ||
| Eric Coates | No book | No item | ||
| Bill Johnson | No book | No item | ||
| Stanley Holloway | No book | No item | ||
| Cicely Courtneidge | No book | No item | ||
| Leslie Henson | No book | No item | ||
| Jean Kent | No book | No item | ||
| Jimmy Edwards | No book | Euphonium | ||
| Joyce Grenfell | No book | No item | ||
| A. E. Matthews | No book | No item | ||
| Phyllis Calvert | No book | No item | ||
| Vivian Ellis | No book | No item | ||
| Anne Crawford | No book | No item | ||
| Freddie Mills | No book | No item | ||
| Sally Ann Howes | No book | Garlic | ||
| George Robey | No book | No item | ||
| Mai Zetterling | No book | No item | ||
| Henry Kendall | Who's Who in the Theatre | No item | ||
| Gerald Moore | No book | A double bass | ||
| Clemence Dane | No book | No item | ||
| Ronald Shiner | No book | Any animal which he could train | ||
| Diana Wynyard | No book | El Medico by Goya | ||
| George Formby | No book | His first ukulele | ||
| Kathleen Harrison | The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens | No item | ||
| Elisabeth Schumann | No book | No item | ||
| John Mills | No book | No item | ||
| Vera Lynn | No book | Curling tongs |
| Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jack Hulbert | No book | Cigarettes | ||
| Carroll Gibbons | No book | Music manuscript paper | ||
| Sybil Thorndike | No book | A blue vase, an engagement present | ||
| Spike Hughes | No book | A barrel of wine | ||
| Jeanne de Casalis | No book | A picture by Cézanne or a large feather bed | ||
| Peter Brough and Archie Andrews | No book | Golf clubs | ||
| Compton Mackenzie | No book | Four pipes and matches | ||
| Elizabeth Welch | No book | No item | ||
| Roger Livesey | No book | Golf clubs | ||
| Hermione Gingold | No book | A barrel of lipstick | ||
| Fred Emney | No book | A large box of cigars | ||
| Anna Neagle | No book | Tea | ||
| Richard Hearne | No book | No item | ||
| Wynford Vaughan-Thomas | No book | Combined radio and television receiver | ||
| Delia Murphy | No book | A still for making poteen | ||
| Richard Murdoch and Kenneth Horne | No book | Murdoch – A test-your-strength fairground machine Horne – a mah-jong set | ||
| Kirsten Flagstad | No book | Knitting needles and wool | ||
| Fay Compton | No book | Her two dogs | ||
| Robert Beatty | No book | No item | ||
| Dorothy Dickson | No book | No item | ||
| Gilbert Harding | No book | A Kelly Man | ||
| Googie Withers | No book | A jade amulet | ||
| Godfrey Winn | No book | A pack of cards for bridge | ||
| Ellaline Terriss | No book | A piano | ||
| Boyd Neel | No book | A gramophone for slow-playing records | ||
| Fred Perry | No book | Radio transmitter | ||
| Henry Hall | No book | A watch | ||
| Gladys Cooper | No book | No item | ||
| Christopher Stone | No book | A good soft bed | ||
| Joan Greenwood | No book | Cigarettes | ||
| Michael Denison and Dulcie Gray | No book | Denison – a raft (to fish) Gray – a large supply of insecticide | ||
| Trevor Howard | No book | One of his wife's cakes | ||
| Anne Shelton | Kon-Tiki by Thor Heyerdahl | The little cross that hangs over her bed | ||
| Richard Attenborough | No book | Set of record catalogues | ||
| Vivien Leigh | No book | A piano | ||
| Ted Ray | No book | A dozen hairnets | ||
| Winifred Atwell | No book | A comb (for hair and making comb and paper music) | ||
| Esmond Knight | The Story of Art by Ernst Gombrich | No item | ||
| Binnie Hale | No book | A piano | ||
| Joy Worth | No book | A very expensive piece of jewellery | ||
| Florence Desmond | No book | Family photograph album | ||
| W. J. MacQueen-Pope | No book | One of his lucky charms | ||
| Tessie O'Shea | No book | Her ukulele | ||
| Nigel Patrick | No book | His 'useless' dog | ||
| Ada Reeve | No book | A workbox for embroidery | ||
| Sonnie Hale | No book | Scented Soap | ||
| Gordon Harker | No book | A camera and lots of film | ||
| Bill Greenslade | No book | No item | ||
| Joy Nichols | No book | A mink sleeping bag |
| Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wilfred Pickles | The Oxford Book of English Verse | His yellow waistcoat | |
| Margaret Rutherford | No book | A bejewelled golden comb | |
| Ralph Lynn | No book | His eyeglass | |
| Belita | No book | An encyclopedia | |
| Duncan Carse | No book | A pin-up picture | |
| Donald Wolfit | The Bible | A violin with instruction book | |
| Jean Carson | No book | An umbrella | |
| David Tomlinson | No book | Eddie Gray's juggling equipment | |
| Sheila Sim | No book | A clock | |
| Richard Todd | No book | No item | |
| Pamela Brown | No book | Encyclopædia Britannica | |
| Max Miller | No book | A double pack of cards | |
| Moira Lister | A book about astronomy | A guitar | |
| Webster Booth | No book | An ivory pig – his lucky charm | |
| Yolande Donlan | A Mediterranean cookbook | No item | |
| Norman Wisdom | No book | Motor car and petrol | |
| Isabel Jeans | No book | Her St Christopher's Medal | |
| John Arlott | No book | The biggest second-hand bookshop in the world | |
| Jack Hawkins | No book | No item | |
| Naunton Wayne | No book | No item | |
| Arthur Wint | No book | No item | |
| Pamela Kellino | Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert | No item | |
| Sir Ralph Richardson | No book | His pipe | |
| Robert Helpmann | No book | A box of paints | |
| Leo Genn | No book | A chess set with a book of problems | |
| Lizbeth Webb | No book | Nicholas, her three-inch-tall boy mascot | |
| Geraldine McEwan | No book | A box of watercolours | |
| Cecil Parker | Oxford Book of Quotations | No item | |
| Brian Reece | No book | A ventriloquist's dummy | |
| Cyril Ritchard | No book | A photograph of his wife, Madge Elliott | |
| Nora Swinburne | The Bible | Her make-up box and contents | |
| Hugh Williams | No book | A corkscrew | |
| Alfredo Campoli | No book | A football | |
| Leslie A "Hutch" Hutchinson | An anthology of world poetry | No item | |
| Hugh Sinclair | No book | No item | |
| Peggy Cummins | No book | A painting of circus horses by Toulouse-Lautrec | |
| Jack Warner | No book | A blue silk scarf | |
| Bernard Miles | The complete works of Shakespeare | No item | |
| Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mary Ellis | No book | A keg of eau de Cologne | ||
| Vivian De Gurr St George | No book | A picture of his wife | ||
| Jessie Matthews | No book | An enormous bottle of perfume | ||
| John Betjeman | No book | The lower half of the west window of St Marys Church, Fairford, Gloucestershire | ||
| T. E. B. Clarke | Ruff's Guide to the Turf | No item | ||
| Valerie Hobson | No book | The Albert Memorial | ||
| Nigel Balchin | No book | A figure of an urchin, sculpted by Donatello | ||
| Evelyn Laye | No book | Her bed, complete with big French pillows | ||
| Robert Henriques | No book | Oil paints | ||
| Celia Johnson | A book on astronomy | A rose cutting and some English soil | ||
| Captain M. E. B. Banks RM | No book | A painting of mushrooms by William Nicholson | ||
| Reginald Dixon | No book | A harmonium | ||
| Fred Hoyle | No book | A large photo of a lot of people at a race meeting | ||
| Margaret Leighton | No book | Girl Guide camp bed | ||
| Dorothy Ward | No book | A make-up box | ||
| Bobby Howes | No book | Red and white wine |
| Date | Castaway | Book | Luxury | More info | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Laurence Harvey | The Complete Works of Shakespeare | Barrel of wine | more | ||
| Sam Costa | No book | Painting from the National Gallery | more | ||
| Dora Bryan | No book | Stereoscope with slides of her family | more | ||
| David Nixon | No book | Photograph of his wife and baby son | more | ||
| Terry-Thomas | No book | Horse saddle | more | ||
| Robert Fabian | No book | Umbrella | more | ||
| Kenneth More | No book | English rock garden | more | ||
| Nancy Spain | Fifth Form of St. Dominic's by Talbot Baines | No item | more | ||
| Donald Sinden | The Complete Works of Shakespeare | Lucky charm | more | ||
| Vanessa Lee | Encyclopædia Britannica | Clock | more | ||
| Cyril Smith | No book | Cards | more | ||
| Bebe Daniels | No book | Typewriter and paper | more | ||
| Stan Kenton | The Mature Mind by H. L. Overstreet | Unknown | more | ||
| Marie Burke | Large book of short stories | Tea | more | ||
| John Neville | No book | Landscape painting by Ivor Hitchins | more | ||
| Athene Seyler | No book | Six feet of English hedgerow | more | ||
| Len Harvey | No book | Box of books | more | ||
| Dora Labbette | No book | Paper and pencils | more | ||
| David Hughes | Encyclopædia Britannica | Golf clubs | more | ||
| Robert Atkins | No book | Live performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream from the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre | more | ||
| Stirling Moss | No book | Hair restorer | more | ||
| Ted Heath | No book | Racing form books | more | ||
| Eartha Kitt | Her autobiography | No item | more | ||
| Eric Maschwitz | No book | Botticelli's Primavera | more | ||
| Leslie Caron | No book | Artist's materials | more | ||
| Jim Laker | No book | Cricket ball and a piano | more | ||
| Eva Turner | No book | Dresden | more | ||
| Tex Ritter | No book | Cards and a guitar | more | ||
| Shirley Abicair | No book | Case of avocado pears | more | ||
| Peter Ustinov | Encyclopaedia | Tennis racket | more | ||
| Dennis Brain | Back number of motor magazines | Typewriter and paper | more | ||
| Dennis Price | Volume of Giles cartoons | Painting materials | more | ||
| Bernard Newman | No book | Atlas | more | ||
| Humphrey Lyttelton | No book | Trumpet | more | ||
| Harry Secombe | No book | Collapsible concrete model of Broadcasting House with plastic announcers etc. | more | ||
| Valentine Britten | No book | Photograph of Battersea Power Station | more | ||
| Turner Layton | No book | Piano | more | ||
| Kenneth Tynan | No book | Pleasure gardens of Barcelona | more | ||
| Ada Cherry Kearton | No book | Cards | more | ||
| Peter Katin | No book | Painting of the Virgin of the Rocks | more | ||
| Anthony Steel | No book | Portrait of his wife by Annigoni | more | ||
| Isobel Barnett | No book | Hot water bottle | more | ||
| Donald Campbell | No book | Cigarettes | more | ||
| Dennis Noble | No book | Binoculars | more | ||
| Malcolm Muggeridge | No book | Paper and pencils | more | ||
| John Watt | No book | Thermos flask | more | ||
| Spike Milligan | No book | Barometer | more | ||
| Eight inhabitants from the Ascension Islands in the South Atlantic | No book | Unknown | more | ||
| Peter Finch | Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes | Painting materials | more | ||
| Janette Scott | No book | Complete glamour outfit | more | ||
| Tyrone Power | No book | Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks | more |