Desert Island Discs - Medley

The best radio ideas are the simplest. Asking an individual to choose their favourite songs is not a revolutionary idea. Yet as, in so many great radio concepts, it is the twist and the packaging which makes an idea really live.

In 1942, Roy Plomley devised the idea of asking the guest to choose the eight records they would take with them to a desert island. The non-challenging interviewing environment, fuelled by the emotion and memories prompted by the pieces of the music provokes an insight into the guest's mind and heart which few other formats would generate.

Following Roy Plomley's death, Michael Parkinson took over the show, replaced by Sue Lawley who made way after 18 years for Kirsty Young. The show, originally on The Forces Programme and now on BBC Radio 4, has become the longest-running factual programme in the World.