Prof David Phillips
President of the Royal Society of Chemistry Professor David Phillips joins Kirsty Young to choose his Desert Island Discs.
Kirsty Young's castaway is the President of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Professor David Phillips.
His love of science has taken him on an extraordinary journey. At the height of the Cold War, he swapped a post in America for a place at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow, where he partied with the Bolshoi and was interrogated by the KGB. He is also Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Imperial College, but, despite his eminence, he admits his students had a 'professor button' fitted onto their hi-tech lasers. It was, he explains, a knob he could twiddle while showing visitors around the lab, but it wasn't connected to the machinery and meant he didn't ruin his students' experiments.
Record: The Marriage of Figaro
Book: War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
Luxury: A piano with music
Producer: Leanne Buckle.
Last on
Music Played
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Franz Schubert
String Quintet in C major - 1st movement
Artist: Isaac Stern, Cho-Liang Lin, Jaime Laredo, Yo-Yo Ma & Sharon Robinson
- Schubert: Boccherini: Quintets鈥�.
- Sony Classical.
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Ralph Vaughan Williams
The opening of Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis
Artist: The Academy of St Martin-in-the-Fields conducted by Neville Marriner
- Tallis Fantasia.
- Argo.
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Mound City Blue Blowers
Georgia on My Mind
Composer: Johnny Mercer/ Hoagy Carmichael
- Sensational Classic Jazz & Blues Re- issues, Vol. 2.
- Sensation.
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Tom Lehrer
The Elements
Composer: Tom Lehrer 鈥� music by Sir Arthur Sullivan
- An Evening wasted with Tom Lehrer.
- Reprise.
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Yuri Shaporin
The Soldier鈥檚 Chorus
Artist: The Red Army Chorus conducted by Vladimir Alexandrov
- Soviet Army Chorus & Band.
- Angel records.
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Giacomo Puccini
Viene la Sera (Evening is coming). Love duet from the end of Act 1 of Madam Butterfly.
Artist: Luciano Pavarotti & Mirella Freni with the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Herbert Von Karajan
- Madam Butterfly.
- Decca.
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Francisco T谩rrega
Recuerdos de la Alhambra
Artist: John Williams
- Spanish Guitar Music.
- Sony Classical.
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Castaway's Favourite
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Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
The Marriage of Figaro Finale
Artist: Ingvar Wizell & Jessye Norman with the 成人快手 Symphony Orchestra.
- Mozart: Marriage of Figaro.
- Phillips.
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Book Choice
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War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy
Luxury Choice
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Piano with music
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Credits
| Role | Contributor |
|---|---|
| Presenter | Kirsty Young |
| Interviewed Guest | David Phillips |
Broadcasts
- Sun 1 May 2011 11:15成人快手 Radio 4
- Fri 6 May 2011 09:00成人快手 Radio 4
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Archive 2011-2015—Desert Island Discs
Guests are invited to choose the eight records they would take to a desert island.
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