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Beryl Bainbridge

Kirsty Young's castaway is writer Beryl Bainbridge.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the writer Dame Beryl Bainbridge.

She grew up in Liverpool - in a home filled with acrimony and argument - and started writing when she was still a child. Her only ambition, she says, was to get married and have a 'proper' family, but when her first two children were still young, her marriage broke down and she turned to writing once again. She believes she finds inspiration from the trouble and friction of everyday life and that if her marriage hadn't failed, she would have been too happy to write another word. Now she is one of our most respected authors. She has written 17 novels and countless articles, screenplays and television plays. She's won armfuls of awards too - but, despite being shortlisted five times, she's never won the Booker prize. She doesn't mind not winning, she says, but she would like to be the writer who has had the most nominations.

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

Favourite track: Can I Forget You? by Richard Tauber
Book: The Case Books by John Hunter
Luxury: Pens and Paper.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 8 Feb 2008 09:00
±«Óãtv Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Connee Boswell

    Silver Threads Among the Gold

    • Memory Lane/Silver Threads Among.
    • Brunswick.

  • The Beatles

    Eleanor Rigby

    • Yellow Submarine/Eleanor Rigby.
    • Parlophone.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Richard Tauber

      Can I Forget You?

      • The Golden Age of Richard Tauber.
      • Golden Age.

  • Vera Lynn

    Kiss Me Goodnight Sergeant Major

    • We’ll Meet Again: Vera Lynn.
    • Telstar.

  • Richard Harris

    MacArthur Park

    • Radio Two: More Songs of the Century.
    • Telstar.

  • Rolf Harris

    Two Little Boys

    • The Best of Rolf Harris.
    • EMI.

  • Meat Loaf

    Bat Out Of Hell

    • 18 Rock Classics Volume 3.
    • Pickwick.

  • David Bowie

    Space Oddity

    • Best of Bowie.
    • EMI.

  • Book Choice

    • The Case Books - John Hunter

  • Luxury Choice

    • Pens and Paper

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Beryl Bainbridge

Broadcasts

  • Sun 3 Feb 2008 11:15
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4
  • Fri 8 Feb 2008 09:00
    ±«Óãtv Radio 4

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