Celebrity Chefs on Desert Island Discs

Chefs and food writers as guests

Below is an alphabetical listing of chefs, celebrity cooks and food and wine writers that have appeared as guests on BBC Desert Island Discs radio broadcast over the last 70 years or so.

Link details

The 'program details' link takes you to a synopsis of each program on the BBC's website, listing the discs that the guest picked together with their chosen book and item of luxury. If the original recording is available, the next two links will enable you to listen in real-time or to download and keep an mp3 recording of the program. Some of the older recordings are missing because as an austerity measure in the early days, the master tapes were very often re-used for later recordings.

Jane Asher - broadcast 3rd April 1988

Mary Berry - broadcast 29th July 2012

Raymond Blanc - broadcast 20th September 1992

Heston Blumenthal - broadcast 29th October 2006

Antonio Carluccio - broadcast 6th July 2008

Robert Carrier - broadcast 15th November 1987

Oz Clarke - broadcast 12th December 1999

Fanny and Johnny Cradock - broadcast 15th October 1962

Program details
No recording available - tape lost

Clarissa Dickson Wright - broadcast 21st November 1999

Anton Edelmann - broadcast 18th April 1993

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall broadcast 29th July 2009

Keith Floyd - broadcast 30th December 1990

Jane Grigson - broadcast 8th July 1978

Loyd Grossman - broadcast 30th November 1997

Philip Harben - broadcast 13th September 1955

Program details
No recording available - tape lost

Madhur Jaffrey - broadcast 26th January 1985

Program details
Listen Now (40 min)
[ Download to keep]

Graham Kerr - broadcast 4th December 1971

Program details
No recording available - tape lost

Nico Ladenis - broadcast 23rd February 1997

Nigella Lawson - broadcast 5th October 2003

Anton Mosimann - broadcast 5th June 1988

Jamie Oliver - broadcast 23rd december 2003

Marguerite Patten - broadcast 21st January 2001

Marco Pierre White - broadcast 2nd June 1991

Michael Quinn - broadcast 17th March 1984

Gordon Ramsay - broadcast 31st march 2002

Jancis Robinson - broadcast 27th October 1996

Claudia Roden - broadcast 21st July 2001

Egon Ronay - broadcast 19th February 1977

Albert & Michel Roux - broadcast 26th October 1986

Zena Skinner - broadcast 3rd march 1969

Program details
No recording available - tape lost

Nigel Slater - broadcast 5th June 2005

Delia Smith - broadcast 5th June 1982

Rick Stein - broadcast 1st August 1999

What is Desert Island Discs

The format

Desert Island Discs is a radio program that began on the BBC in 1942. Apart from a short break during World War II, it has been broadcasting continuously on a weekly basis. Every week, a selected guest is told they will be castaway on a desert island. They can take with them eight records of their choosing, a luxury that is of no practical use, a book of their choice as well as the complete works of Shakespeare and the Bible. They are also asked which one of the eight records they would choose to 'save from the waves' if they were about to be washed away. During the course of the program, originally 30 minutes long, now running to 45 minutes, the castaway is interviewed about their life, interspersed their chosen recording, culminating with their choice of luxury, book and very favourite record.

The presenters

The presenters over the years have been:

Roy Plomley (1942-1985)
Michael Parkinson (1985-1988)
Sue Lawley (1988-2006)
Kirsty Young (2006-present day)