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Robert Harris

Best-selling author Robert Harris joins Kirsty Young to choose his Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the best-selling writer Robert Harris.

He was, apparently, a political junkie from a young age; he was just six when he wrote the essay: 'Why me and my dad don't like Sir Alec Douglas Home' and he also had an early realisation that he wanted to grow up to be a writer. His first novel - Fatherland - imagined a world after the Nazis had won World War II. It sold more than three million copies and made him a household name. "I can remember I wrote the opening sentence and I practically had to go and lie down afterwards," he said, "the possibilities of it - and the feeling that I'd finally arrived at what I wanted to do - it was overwhelming."

Record: Every Day I write the book - Elvis Costello
Book: Scoop by Evelyn Waugh
Luxury: A nightly fragrant bath.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 3 Dec 2010 09:00

Music Played

  • Johann Sebastian Bach

    St Matthew Passion - Mache dich, mein Herze

    Artist: Ulrik Cold

    • St Matthew Passion.
    • Harmonia Mundi.
  • Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra & The Sentimentalists

    ON THE SUNNY SIDE OF THE STREET

    Composer: Fields/McHugh

    • Hits of 44.
    • ASV.
  • Antonio Vivaldi

    Gloria in D Major

    Artist: The English Concert and Choir, led by Trevor Pinnock

    • ³Ò±ô´Ç°ù¾±²¹-³Õ¾±±¹²¹±ô»å¾±-°ä´Ç°ù±ð±ô±ô¾±â€¦.
    • Archiv.
  • Stubby Kaye (with chorus)

    Sit Down, You're Rockin' The Boat

    Composer: Frank Loesser

    • Guys and Dolls: Original Broadway cast.
    • MCA.
  • Georg Philipp Telemann

    Concerto for Three Oboes, Three Violins and Bass

    Artist: The Concentus Musicus of Vienna led by Nicolaus Harnoncourt

    • Telemann: Double Concertos.
    • Teldec.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Elvis Costello

      Every Day I Write the Book

      Composer: Costello

      • Very Best of Elvis Costello.
      • Universal Music tv.
  • Antonio Lotti

    Gloria

    Artist: Balthasar Neumann Choir and Ensemble led by Thomas Hengelbrock

    • Lotti.Missa Sapientiae.Bach….
    • Deutsche Harmonia Mundi.
  • Charles Trenet

    La Mer

    Composer: Charles Trenet

    • Charles Trenet.
    • Columbia.
  • Book Choice

    • Scoop - Evelyn Waugh

  • Luxury Choice

    • A nightly fragrant bath

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Robert Harris

Broadcasts

  • Sun 28 Nov 2010 11:15
  • Fri 3 Dec 2010 09:00

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