The BBC has announced that hundreds of episodes of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs are to be made available online, bringing a very protracted broadcasting dispute to an end, almost 70 years after the show first aired. The BBC archive, covering the last 10 years of the radio show and 500 Desert Island Discs episodes, will be accompanied by a searchable database of every composition, every book and every luxury item chosen by guests on the Radio 4 show.

The BBC has reached an agreement with the family of the late Roy Plomley, who created Desert Island Discs in 1941 and presented the show until 1985.  For many years Desert Island Discs was not available online because Roy Plomley’s family, who own the copyright to the show, were unable to reach a deal with the BBC. Since 2009 each episode has been available for a seven-day catchup window only on the BBC iPlayer.

Desert Island Discs is a British institution, and it’s enduring appeal is easy to understand. Fundamentally it taps into a romantic ideal of escaping the ratrace, and settling in an idyll of white sands, turquoise seas and palm trees. The real key to it’s success, like all the best inventions, is it’s simplicity and accessibility – eight records, one book and one luxury item. So the question is, if you were in that Radio 4 studio with presenter Kirsty Young, what would be your choices?

Selecting your ultimate eight records would be almost as challenging as handling the isolation on that remote desert island!! But here goes………. Beatles – “A Day in the Life”, Small Faces – “Tin Soldier”, Pink Floyd – “Time”, Genesis – “Snowbound”, Spencer Davis Group – “Gimme All your Loving”, Guns ‘n’ Roses – “November Rain”, Simple Minds – “Big Sleep”, and the Kinks “Waterloo Sunset”. My book would be Nick Hornby’s “High Fidelity”, or Peter Brown’s Beatles tome “The Love you Make”. My luxury item would be a bountiful and endless supply of Andrex toilet rolls!!

What would be in your selection of eight records?

If you have no immediate plans of escaping to a desert island in the Pacific Ocean, how about having your favourite vinyl record or CD, framed and mounted, on a wall in your home in the UK? Order now by clicking on……..  http://www.myfirstrecord.co.uk/ …….. and this way your favourite songs can act as constant reminder of an alternative life on a paradise island……..

Alternatively this would make a unique present or original gift for a special celebration  ie a 40th, 50th or 60th Birthday, A Silver, Ruby or Golden Wedding Anniversary, Mother’s or Father’s Day or Valentine’s Day!!  THE PERFECT PERSONALISED PRESENT!!

If you wish to take advantage of this new facility and listen to previous episodes of Desert Island Discs, click here……. http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr/episodes