Main content

Virginia Ironside

Sue Lawley's castaway is agony aunt Virginia Ironside.

This week's castaway on Desert Island Discs has all the qualifications she needs for her job. A journalist, she learnt her craft in the 1960s when she interviewed rock star legends like Mick Jagger, Jimmy Hendrix and Janis Joplin.

She's also a single mum, frequently experiences deep bouts of depression and finds that many of her lasting relationships are with alcoholics. The agony aunt Virginia Ironside describes to Sue Lawley how her life and her work are inseparably entwined.

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

Favourite track: Hot Tomales by Will Grove-White
Book: The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale
Luxury: Big bag of plaster to make heads of friends

Available now

40 minutes

Last on

Fri 22 Aug 1997 09:05

Music Played

  • Marvin Gaye

    Sexual Healing

    • The Love Album 2 (Various Artists).
    • Virgin.
  • Hoagy Carmichael

    Hong Kong Blues

    • The Classic Charmichael.
    • 成人快手 Records.
  • What Made Milwaukee Famous

  • Dilika

    Ngayishela Yavuma

    • 成人快手land Black South African Music.
    • Real Music.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Will Grove-White

      Hot Tomales

      Orchestra: The Ukulele Orchestra Of Great Britain

  • Nina Simone

    The Other Woman

    • The Best Of The Colpix Years.
    • Roulette.
  • Leonard Cohen

    Closing Time

    • Leonard Cohen - The Future.
    • Columbia.
  • Ray Charles

    Georgia On My Mind

    • The Classic Years - Ray Charles.
    • Essential.
  • Book Choice

    • The Power of Positive Thinking - Norman Vincent Peale

  • Luxury Choice

    • Big bag of plaster to make heads of friends

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Virginia Ironside

Broadcasts

  • Sun 30 Mar 1997 12:15
  • Fri 4 Apr 1997 09:05
  • Fri 22 Aug 1997 09:05

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast