On Tuesday 23 June 2026 we had another packed Desert Island Discs session with two of our members selecting the records they would choose if they were to be castaway on a desert island.
We started with Diana who had been born in East London, but whose early life had included stays in Devon and Rushton for the purpose of evacuation. With memories of the time, her first record was Vera Lynn’s recording of We’ll Meet Again. Diana had learned ballet and dancing, and had appeared in a children’s performance of Keep Your Sunny Side Up along with Barbara Windsor (then Barbara Deeks). We stayed with dancing for a Tango – La Cumparsita Tango by Gerardo Matos. She married and moved to Kenton in 1960, and to remind her of holidays in France she chose Un Air de Faubourg by Bernard Marly.
In Kenton she joined the Kingsbury Singalongs, and to remind her of those days she chose Blue Moon by Frank Sinatra. Diana also loved musical theatre, and chose I Could Have Danced All Night from My Fair Lady. We then moved on to O Mio Babbino Caro from Gianni Schichi sung by Kiri Tekanawa, a piece her father had played on the piano at home. Continuing with musicals, we had Don’t Cry For Me Argentina from Evita sung by Madonna, and from Nabucco we had the Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves – Va Spensiero.
To ensure Diana would get up and dance every day on the island, she closed with The Rivers of Babylon by Boney M, Dancing Queen by Abba and Thank You For the Music by Abba,
After a break for teas and coffees, we moved on to our second castaway – Joe. Joe had been born in Port Said, Egypt, but in 1957, following the Suez Crisis, the family were able to relocate to England. To remember those early year, we started with a short excerpt from Inta Omri – the full piece can last for 30 minutes! With internationally minded parents the family was soon doing well and living in Wembley, and to remind him of those early days he chose Jailhouse Rock by Elvis Presley. Joe’s mother managed to get a job with El Al, and members of an employee’s family were allowed to travel for a nominal sum around the world so long as they took an unallocated seat on a plane. Joe managed to visit Rimini regularly on family holidays. To remember that we had Volare sung by Domenico Modugno.
Romance struck and he met Jocelyne, and they are still together more than 50 years later. To remind him of the early years we had The Beatles singing Till There Was You. Teenage Joe took full advantage of his low cost travel opportunity, travelling as far as Japan (above) and Brazil. To remind him of Brazil we had Tristesa, and that was followed by a French song J’ai Quitté Ma Pays by Enrico Macias. Joe’s next track reminded him of the USA with California Dreaming performed by José Feliciano. To remind him of some of the clients he had worked for locally, he chose Careless Whisper by George Michael. To cheer him up on dull days he would play I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher. His final choice would remind him of the words we can use, the love we can give and the practical actions, all of which are free and can help others. He closed with Je Veux performed by Zaz.
Our next Desert Island Discs castaway will be Pete on 28 July 1947 at 2:00pm.