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Nick Danziger

Sue Lawley's castaway is photo journalist Nick Danziger.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the photo journalist Nick Danziger. Nick was born in London but grew up in Monaco and Switzerland. He developed a taste for adventure and travel from a young age, and, inspired by the comic-strip Belgian reporter Tintin, took off on his first trip to Paris aged 13. Without passport or air ticket, he managed to enter the country and travel around, selling sketches to make money.

Nick's initial ambition was to be an artist, and he attended art school, got an MA and representation in a gallery. But his desire for travel remained - he applied and was awarded a Winston Churchill Memorial Fellowship in 1982 and used it to follow ancient trade routes - he travelled on foot or traditional local transport from Turkey to China and documented his adventures in diaries. The diaries formed his first book, the best-selling Danziger's Travels, and he never looked back. He has since travelled around the world taking photographs and in 1991 made his first documentary in Afghanistan, War Lives and Videotape, based on children abandoned in the Marastoon mental asylum in Kabul. It was shown as part of the 成人快手's video diaries series and won the Prix Italia for best television documentary series.

Nick has since travelled the world taking photographs and making documentaries about the people he has met. He has published four books, including his latest, The British, for which he returned to his roots.

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

Favourite track: The Girl From Ipanema by Stan Getz
Book: 100 Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Luxury: Pencils, paper and watercolours

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 21 Mar 2003 09:00

Music Played

  • Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

    Carry On

    • Four Way Street.
    • Atlantic.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Stan Getz

      The Girl From Ipanema

      • Compact Jazz.
      • Verve.
  • Ian Dury & the Blockheads

    Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick

    • Sex & Drugs & Rock and Roll.
    • Demon Records.
  • Musique de Herat Afghanistan

    Leili Kodam Ast Be No-e Bam Ast

    • Afghanistan.
    • Theatre de Laville.
  • Tito Puente

    Cual Es La Idea

    • Cuban Carnival - Tito Puente & his Orchestra.
    • BMG.
  • Brenda Fassie

    Nomakanjani

    • Nomakanjani.
    • CCP Records.
  • Julia Andrews and the Von Trapp Children

    Do Re Mi

    • Sound of Music Soundtrack.
    • RCA.
  • Coolio

    Gangsta's Paradise

    • Gangsta's Paradise.
    • MCA.
  • Book Choice

    • 100 Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

  • Luxury Choice

    • Pencils, paper and watercolours

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Nick Danziger

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 Mar 2003 11:15
  • Fri 21 Mar 2003 09:00

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