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Shami Chakrabarti

Kirsty Young's castaway is Director of Liberty Shami Chakrabarti.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the director of Liberty, Shami Chakrabarti. A pithy and incisive speaker, she is rarely out of the media spotlight and has been voted 'one of our most inspiring political figures'. She joined Liberty the day before the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 and, as the events unfolded on the television screens, it was, she says, impossible to predict just how much they would shape the civil rights debate in the years that followed. For her, it was not just a matter of philosophical or political principle - her son was born soon after the attacks and his birth, she says, influenced her own feelings: "I understood more what it is to be afraid, what it is to really worry about whether your family are going to be blown up on the underground."

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

Favourite track: I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free by Nina Simone
Book: To Kill A Mocking Bird by Harper Lee
Luxury: A private screening room with movies.

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45 minutes

Last on

Fri 7 Nov 2008 09:00
BBC Radio 4

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Music Played

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Nina Simone

      I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free

      • Best of Nina Simone.
      • RCA.

  • David Bowie

    'Heroes'

    • Heroes.
    • EMI.

  • Robert Schumann

    Von fremden Ländern und Menschen (from Scenes fron Childhood)

    Soloist: Daniel Barenboim

    • Schumann: Kinderszenen.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • George Gershwin

    Rhapsody in Blue

    Soloist: Howard Shelley Orchestra: The Philharmonia Orchestra Conductor: Yan Pascal Tortelier

    • Gershwin: Piano Concerto.
    • Chandos.

  • Kaiser Chiefs

    The Angry Mob

    • Yours Truly, Angry Mob.
    • B Unique.

  • The Enemy

    It's Not OK

    • We’ll Live and Die in These Towns.
    • Warner.

  • Cyndi Lauper

    Time After Time

    • Cyndi Lauper - Twelve Deadly Cyns and then some.
    • EPIC.

  • Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

    Requiem in D minor - Introitus

    Choir: The Leipzig Radio Chorus Orchestra: The Dresden State Orchestra Conductor: Peter Schreier

    • Requiem: Schreier.
    • Philips.

  • Book Choice

    • To Kill A Mocking Bird - Harper Lee

  • Luxury Choice

    • A private screening room with movies

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Shami Chakrabarti

Broadcasts

  • Sun 2 Nov 2008 11:15
    BBC Radio 4
  • Fri 7 Nov 2008 09:00
    BBC Radio 4

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