IT used to be said of Desert Island Discs, when it was being compared with other long-running radio programmes, that few were as dependent upon the personality of its presenter. It’s now 37 years since Roy Plomley last sat in the host’s chair. Since then, Michael Parkinson, Sue Lawley, Kirsty Young and Lauren Laverne have proved more than adequate successors, with slight adaptations bringing more depth or varied emphases, allowing it to move with changing times. However, a glow of nostalgia still surrounds the show’s association with its creator.
‘Why didn’t we think of Desert Island Discs before?’ wrote Leslie Perowne, the BBC’s head of Popular Record Programmes, when Plomley first presented the idea in 1941. Plomley had dabbled in acting before drifting into broadcasting as an announcer and occasional presenter and Perowne was used to receiving the ambitious 27-year-old freelance’s
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