Desert Island Discs

Dwayne Fields, explorer

Dwayne Fields is an explorer and broadcaster who was appointed the UK’s Chief Scout in 2024. He is the first black Briton to reach the Magnetic North Pole. His television work includes fronting the series 7 Toughest Days and co-presenting Endurance: Race to the Pole, and Expedition: Search for the Nile, with fellow adventurer Ben Fogle. Dwayne was born in Jamaica and was brought up by his great-grandmother for the first few years of his life. When he was six he moved to north London to live with his mother. He struggled to adapt to his new surroundings until he found his way to a Cub Scouts meeting where he experienced a sense of belonging for the first time since his arrival. As a teenager, he grew up surrounded by gang violence and experienced a serious knife attack when he was 19. A few years later, during a heated confrontation, he had a gun pointed at him. The gun misfired twice and he survived. This shocking incident spurred Dwayne to change his life and challenge himself to inspire other young people to do the same. In 2010, he walked 400 nautical miles to reach the Magnetic North Pole. In 2019, he co‑founded the WeTwo Foundation with explorer and wild camper Phoebe Smith. The Foundation gives young people from challenging backgrounds the chance to experience life‑changing adventures Dwayne lives in Peterborough with his wife Angelique, and their five children. DISC ONE: Three Little Birds - Bob Marley And The Wailers DISC TWO: Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross DISC THREE: I Miss You - DMX feat. Faith Evans DISC FOUR: The Loco-motion - Kylie Minogue DISC FIVE: Here I Come - Dennis Brown DISC SIX: You’re the Apple of My Eye - Louis Armstrong and Velma Middleton DISC SEVEN: Roar - Katy Perry DISC EIGHT: I'm Still Standing - Elton John BOOK CHOICE: The Untold Railway Stories: Celebrating 200 Years of Passenger Railways edited by Monisha Rajesh LUXURY ITEM: A multi-functional pocket knife CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Three Little Birds - Bob Marley And The Wailers Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Roula Khalaf, journalist

Roula Khalaf is a journalist and the first woman to serve as editor of the Financial Times in its 138‑year history. She joined the paper in 1995 as North Africa correspondent, covering the Algerian civil war before reporting more broadly across the Middle East, including Syria, Iran and Iraq, and later the Arab Spring. Roula was born in Beirut and grew up there during the Lebanese civil war which began in 1975. She studied communications at Syracuse University in New York State and then completed a Master’s degree in International Affairs at Columbia University. She joined Forbes Magazine in 1989 before relocating to the UK. Her work has earned several awards, including Foreign Commentator of the Year at the Editorial Intelligence Comment in 2016 Awards and the Foreign Press Association’s Feature Story of the Year for her reporting on Qatar in 2013. Roula has two children with her husband Assaad and lives in London. DISC ONE: Misunderstanding - Genesis DISC TWO: Dernière Danse - Indila DISC THREE: Oghneyat Al Bostah - Ziad Rahbani DISC FOUR: Feeling Good - Nina Simone DISC FIVE: Zina - Babylone DISC SIX: Ya Laure Houbbouki - Fairuz DISC SEVEN: Good Riddance (Time of Your Life) - Green Day DISC EIGHT: 7 Seconds - Youssou N’Dour ft Neneh Cherry BOOK CHOICE: A Peace to End All Peace: The Fall of the Ottoman Empire and the Creation of the Modern Middle East by David Fromkin LUXURY ITEM: A notebook and pen CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Ya Laure Houbbouki - Fairuz Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Richard Young, photographer

Richard Young is a photographer who was once known as the “king of the paparazzi”. His portfolio is a who’s who of some of the biggest stars in film, music, stage and popular culture from the past fifty years. From gatecrashing Elizabeth Taylor’s party for Richard Burton’s 50th at the Dorchester to later being invited to photograph her Damehood celebrations. He can count the first photographs of Paul Getty Jr. after his kidnapping as just one of his many scoops. He was born in Hackney to a Jewish family and his father ran a hosiery stall in Berwick Street market for more than sixty years. Richard has dyslexia and after being expelled from school at fourteen, he went to Soho and landed a job in fashionable clothes shop frequented by Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, David Hockney and Francis Bacon. A two-year stint in New York followed, working as a studio assistant at Electric Lady Studios, before he returned to London and found himself in a bookshop handed a camera and told to get on with photographing authors. For the past fifty years, he has lived a nocturnal, high octane life of private jets, parties and exclusive events, eventually becoming as much a fixture in the world of celebrity as the people he photographed. Richard lives in London with his wife Susan. His photography gallery is in London and has visitors from around the world. DISC ONE: Rehab - Amy Winehouse DISC TWO: Just Walkin’ in the Rain - Johnny Ray DISC THREE: Cosmic Dancer - T. Rex DISC FOUR: Positively 4th Street - Bob Dylan DISC FIVE: Point Blank - Bruce Springsteen DISC SIX: Isn’t It a Pity - George Harrison DISC SEVEN: A Beautiful Day - Queen DISC EIGHT: The Gypsy’s Wife - Leonard Cohen BOOK CHOICE: Siddhartha by Herman Hesse LUXURY ITEM: Caviar CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Point Blank - Bruce Springsteen Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor Desert Island Discs has cast other photographers away to the island over the years including David Bailey, Sally Mann and Vanley Burke. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Tahra Zafar, costume and effects designer

Tahra Zafar is a costume and creature effects designer. She designed the Paddington Bear puppet featured in the hit West End production Paddington: The Musical. Born into a theatre family, she grew up with an Armenian American father who worked as a choreographer in the first West End production of West Side Story, and a mother who moved from a career as a ballerina to theatre work around the world. Her interest in making began early, helping her father with practical projects such as restoring their house, even learning to build walls and spending her spare time model making, with Airfix creations suspended from her bedroom ceiling. After studying theatre design at Central Saint Martins, she began her career making theatre costumes. She spent some time at the Jim Henson creature workshop where she made some of the creatures for the first Harry Potter film including Hedwig the owl and Scabbers the rat. After her daughter was born, Tahra worked on some of the characters for In the Night Garden with her daughter, a willing judge of what worked for toddlers. In 2012, Tahra was in charge of 23,000 costumes for the London 2012 Olympic opening and closing ceremonies. This role included an audience with the late Queen to ensure the wig and dress were correct for Her Majesty’s stunt double when that iconic skydive was performed at the Olympic opening ceremony. Tahra lives in London with her daughter. DISC ONE: Thunderbirds (Main Theme) - The Barry Gray Orchestra DISC TWO: Gee, Officer Krupke. Composed by Leonard Bernstein and performed by Leo Kharibian, Norman Furber and Vince Logan DISC THREE: Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 In D Minor (movement six) Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Berlin Philharmoniker, Wiener Singverein and conducted by Herbert von Karajan DISC FOUR: Brazil – Geoff Muldaur DISC FIVE: Sir Duke - Stevie Wonder DISC SIX: Groove Is in the Heart - Deee-Lite DISC SEVEN: Eclipse - Pink Floyd DISC EIGHT: Take Five - Dave Brubeck BOOK CHOICE: The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy Complete Books by Douglas Adams LUXURY ITEM: A set of art materials and a storage box CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Eclipse - Pink Floyd Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Sarah Taylor Desert Island Discs has cast other costume designers away to the island over the years including Oscar winners Jenny Beavan and Sandy Powell. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.

Professor Michele Dougherty, scientist

Professor Michele Dougherty is President of the Institute of Physics and Professor of Space Physics at Imperial College London. She was appointed Astronomer Royal last year – the first woman to hold the post in its 350-year history. She was brought up in Durban in South Africa and studied for a Bachelor of Science degree in applied maths at Natal University. After completing a Master’s and PhD she took up a fellowship at the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany where she investigated solar wind and galactic wind outflows. In 1991 she joined Imperial College London where she helped devise a magnetic field model for the Ulysses mission. In 1997 she became principal investigator for the magnetometer instrument on board the Cassini probe which was sent to study Saturn and its system. She is currently lead investigator for the J-MAG magnetometer instrument on the European Space Agency's JUICE mission (Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) which launched in 2023. It will reach Jupiter in 2031 and spend at least three years observing the planet and three of its largest moons, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. Michele was appointed CBE in the 2018 New Years Honours List for services to UK Physical Science Research. DISC ONE: Puccini: Turandot, Act III: Nessun dorma! Performed by Luciano Pavarotti (tenor), John Alldis Choir, Wandsworth School Boys Choir and London Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Zubin Mehta DISC TWO: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli DISC THREE: Violin Concerto No. 1 in D Major, Op. 19: III. Moderato. Composed by Tchaikovsky. Performed by Frank Peters Zimmerman (violin), and Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Lorin Maazel DISC FOUR: We Three Kings of Orient Are - Robert Shaw Chamber Singers DISC FIVE: Dancing Queen - ABBA DISC SIX: Dance With My Father - Luther Vandross DISC SEVEN: Franck: Panis Angelicus. Performed by Dame Kiri Te Kanawa (soprano), English Chamber Orchestra, conducted by Barry Rose DISC EIGHT: Pie Jesu (From Requiem) Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber. Performed by Malakai Bayoh, Schola Cantorum of the Cardinal Vaughan Memorial School and London Mozart Players, directed by Scott Price BOOK CHOICE: The Lord of The Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien LUXURY ITEM: An assortment of wine CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85: III. Adagio. Composed by Elgar. Performed by Jacqueline du Pré (cello) and London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sir John Barbirolli Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley Desert Island Discs has cast many space experts away to the island over the years including NASA's Dr Nicola Fox, the astronomer Carl Sagan and the astronauts Tim Peake and Chris Hadfield. You can hear their programmes if you search through BBC Sounds or our own Desert Island Discs website.