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 choices of book and luxury can sometimes give insight into the guest's life, and the choices of guests between 1981 and 1990 are listed here.
| width=120px | Date! | width=150px | Castaway! | Book | Luxury | More info |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Shōgun by James Clavell | Marzipan | more | ||||
| Dictionary of National Biography | Field glasses | more | ||||
| War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Piano | more | ||||
| Three novels by Aldous Huxley | Piano | more | ||||
| Plasticine model of Roy Plomley and a pin | more | |||||
| by J. R. R. Tolkien | Tennis practice equipment | more | ||||
| Collected Speeches by Winston Churchill | Wine | more | ||||
| Bilingual edition of poetry by Giorgos Seferis | Painting materials | more | ||||
| Dictionary of quotations | French Shampoo | more | ||||
| Wine | more | |||||
| Collected essays by George Orwell | Vibraphone | more | ||||
| Flagpole and Union Jack | more | |||||
| by J. R. R. Tolkien | Sunglasses | more | ||||
| Times Concise Atlas | Elastoplast | more | ||||
| War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy | Writing materials | more | ||||
| Plays by George Kelly | Pillow | more | ||||
| Collected works by Ernest Hemingway | Gold statuette of Winston Churchill | more | ||||
| In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust | Cards | more | ||||
| by Pauline Réage | Ferrari | more | ||||
| In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust | more | |||||
| Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne | Music manuscript paper | more | ||||
| Collin's Albatross Book of Verse by Louis Untermeyer | Astronomical telescope | more | ||||
| Bath with a hot water system | more | |||||
| Touch the Earth by T. C. McLuhan | Pillow | more | ||||
| Roulette table | more | |||||
| Meditations Upon Our Human Condition by John Donne | Pencils and paper | more | ||||
| by Kahlil Gibran | Telephone | more | ||||
| French language course | Eyelash curler | more | ||||
| Boy Scout handbook | Reflecting telescope | more | ||||
| Noble House by James Clavell | Video player and films of family | more | ||||
| History of Leyton Orient F.C. | Cello | more | ||||
| Dictionary | Cello | more | ||||
| Bed | more | |||||
| Experiences of an Irish R.M. by Martin Ross | Boathouse at Dawn by Ivon Hitchens | more | ||||
| Complete works by Emily Dickinson | Clean sheets | more | ||||
| Eagle in the Sky by Wilbur Smith | Australian lager | more | ||||
| Perrier water | more | |||||
| Writings by Samuel Johnson | Beehive | more | ||||
| Ada by Vladimir Nabokov | Guitar | more | ||||
| Beaux Arts Trio | Books about gardening, painting and boat handling | Violin and strings and piano | more | |||
| Record box | more | |||||
| Novels by P. G. Wodehouse | Camera and film | more | ||||
| Gardening manual | Boat building book | more | ||||
| Book with blank cork pages | Astronomical telescope | more | ||||
| Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable | Wine | more | ||||
| Koran | more | |||||
| Her autobiography | Chocolates | more | ||||
| Complete works by Alfred, Lord Tennyson | Sand iron and golf balls | more | ||||
| Piano manual | Piano | more | ||||
| Four Quartets by T. S. Eliot | Writing materials | more | ||||
| Memoirs by Louis de Rouvroy | Scrabble | more | ||||
| Anthology of poetry | Typewriter | more |