FAMOUS AND TALENTED BARE THEIR SOULS ON `DESERT ISLAND DISCS'

                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, January 29, 1992                   TAG: 9201280333
SECTION: EXTRA                    PAGE: 8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: LONDON                                LENGTH: Medium
FAMOUS AND TALENTED BARE THEIR SOULS ON `DESERT ISLAND DISCS'
It is more selective than "Who's Who," probably more prestigious, and it's not even on TV.
For many of Britain's elite, the ultimate accolade is an invitation to "Desert Island Discs," a 45-minute radio program that opens with a scratchy recording of screaming seagulls and sticks to a format scarcely changed in 50 years.
During the program, the guest reminisces between snatches of his eight favorite records before being consigned to imaginary solitude on a desert island with one book, one of the records and one luxury item.
Since "Desert Island Discs" went on the air on Jan. 29, 1942, almost everyone who's anyone has bared his soul on the program, or at least let drop some riveting personal insights.
Pop stars, composers, politicians, royalty, actors, academics, millionaires, dukes, authors, archbishops and athletes have been among the 2,000 castaways.
"It's a perfect example of the radio art," said Sue Lawley, one of Britain's half-dozen top TV journalists, who has hosted the British Broadcasting Corp. program since 1988.
Alan Alda, the ebullient star of the hit TV series "M*A*S*H," asked for lots of Stephen Sondheim's music and openly discussed problems with his mother.
Prize-winning novelist A.S. Byatt poured out to the program's 2 million listeners the deep-seated rivalry with her eminent sister, writer Margaret Drabble, and the crushing tragedy of the death of her 11-year-old son.
"Life is short and life is sweet," the four-time-married Joan Collins told Lawley. "It's not going to be sweet if you're saddled with some man who makes you sick."
There are only 42 invitations a year, and few turn down the opportunity. The exceptions include George Bernard Shaw, publisher Rupert Murdoch and the Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger.

by Archana Subramaniam by CNB