War Horse would never have been a film without Desert Island Discs
DESERT ISLAND DISCS HAD A NEW PRESENTER, MICHAEL PARKINSON, 30 YEARS AGO ON TUESDAY. HERE ARE ALL THE CASTAWAYS WHO WERE OVER 90 WHEN THEY (LAST) WENT ON THE SHOW...
Dr Bill Frankland 103 in 2015
Athene Seyler 99 in 1988
Lord Jeremy Hutchinson 98 in 2013
Cecil Lewis 93 in 1991
Dame Gwen Ffrangcon-Davies 97 in 1998
Manny Shinwell 93 in 1978
Kitty Godfree 91 in 1987
Denis Healey 91 in 2009
Dame Alicia Markova 91 in 2002
Lewis Gilbert 90 in 2010
June Spencer 90 in 2010
Dame Fanny Waterman 90 in 2010
Tony Iveson 90 in 2011
Betty Driver 90 in 2011
Reverend John Graham 90 in 2011
Sir Sydney Kentridge 90 in 2013
Murray Walker 90 in 2014
Naomi Mitchison 93 in 1991
HERE IS SOME WONDERFUL TRIVIA ABOUT THE SHOW...
War Horse would (probably) not have been turned into a critically acclaimed play and a blockbuster film had it not been for Desert Island Discs.
Dr Rosemary Morris listened to Michael Morpurgo on the programme in 2004 and was so fascinated by his life story that she bought his books - including War Horse, a children's story that had been published 22 years previously.
Dr Morris's son Tom was the associate director of the National Theatre and was looking for something for the Handspring Puppet Company to do.
She suggested War Horse and within three years it had become a hit play at the National Theatre.
Iain Duncan Smith revealed that his father was once chatted up by Marilyn Monroe. "I'm told nothing happened, but that's what my mother tells me, so I'm not quite certain."
Wendy Richard didn't like being asked anything other than anodyne questions. She stopped Sue Lawley four times in the course of the recording and was highly distressed when she wasn't allowed to take her pet Cairn terrier to the island as a luxury.
THIS WEEK'S PONDERABLES...
On both Saturn and Jupiter, it rains diamonds
It was 125 years ago on Wednesday that the soccer world's first penalty kick was taken - by Airdrieonians FC in Scotland. The first penalty kick in the English football league was taken by Wolverhampton Wanderers in September 1891
Galileo spent so much time looking at the sun with his telescope that he was blind for the last four years of his life
Ironically, "misspell" is one of the most commonly misspelled words in the English language
Bookshop customers are six times more likely to buy cookery or romance titles when they can smell chocolate
Newborn dolphins don't sleep for a month
THIS WEEK'S IMPONDERABLE...
Why do we "tie the knot"? There are several possible explanations: the Carthaginians used to tie the thumbs of the bride and bridegroom with a leather lace; in Ancient Rome, brides wore girdles that were tied in knots that the groom had the job of untying; while in the Hindu marriage ceremony, the groom is required to tie a ribbon around the bride's neck.
WISE WORDS...
"It is only after you have lost your teeth that you can afford to buy steaks" (Pierre-Auguste Renoir) "The only way to make sure people you agree with can speak is to support the rights of people you don't agree with" (Eleanor Holmes Norton)