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Roy Plomley's castaway is writer Ved Mehta.

The writer Ved Mehta unfortunately lost his sight at the age of four: "Most blind people in India at that time were beggars, or stayed with their relations like wounded animals."

He describes to Roy Plomley how, in spite of tremendous odds, he gained an education at Oxford University and Harvard, and went on to become a staff writer for the New Yorker, and he chooses the eight records he would take to the mythical island.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: String Quartet No 14 in C Sharp Minor (Last Movement) by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: 11th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 31 Aug 1984 09:05

Music Played

  • K.L. Saigal

    I Gham Diye Mustaqil

    • Shah Jehan.
  • Johann Strauss II

    The Blue Danube

    Orchestra: Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Johann Sebastian Strauss (3rd)

  • Paul Robeson

    Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

    • Paul Robeson's Treasure.
  • Claudio Monteverdi

    Laetatus sum (from Vespers 1610)

    Orchestra: Vocal and Instrumental Ensemble of Lausanne Conductor: Michel Corboz

  • Henry Purcell

    Wine Does Wonders

    Choir: The Deller Consort

    • Tavern Songs.
  • Ella Fitzgerald

    By Strauss

    Artist: Nelson Riddle and his Orchestra

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Dalla sua pace (from Don Giovanni)

    Soloist: Peter Shreiber Orchestra: Prague National Theatre Orchestra Conductor: Karl Böhm

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      String Quartet No.14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131 - 7th movement

      Orchestra: The Juilliard String Quartet

  • Book Choice

    • 11th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Roy Plomley
Interviewed Guest Ved Mehta

Broadcasts

  • Sat 25 Aug 1984 18:25
  • Fri 31 Aug 1984 09:05

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