蜜芽传媒

Gyles Brandreth makes talks about his music choices with Kirsty Young.

A former Conservative MP, he is also a some-time actor, broadcaster and prolific writer who has authored biographies, diaries, stage plays and mysteries.

Pursuing a political career has been, he says, the over-riding ambition of his life. However the happiest moment came not from politics, but when he was performing in a West End show that he had written himself. These days, his ambitions are to return to the stage and the role he wants to take on is Chekhov's Uncle Vanya.

"I have no complaints" he says; "my life has been one long series of tomato and marmite sandwiches. I've always had what I wanted."

DISC ONE: No毛l Coward - There are Bad Times Just Around the Corner
DISC TWO: Charles Trenet - Boum
DISC THREE: Simon Cadell - I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
DISC FOUR: Choir of St Paul鈥檚 Cathedral - John Greenleaf Whittier and Hubert Parry鈥檚 Dear Lord and Father of Mankind
DISC FIVE: The Godolphin and Latymer School - Carl Davis鈥檚 Warning: Man in Uniform
DISC SIX: Laurence Olivier - The Speech to the Senate from William Shakespeare鈥檚 Othello
DISC SEVEN: Andrew C. Wadsworth and Shona White - Stephen Sondheim鈥檚 With so Little To be Sure of
DISC EIGHT: John Reed and the D'Oyly Carte Company - Opera Gilbert and Sullivan鈥檚 The High Aesthetic Line

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Simon Cadell - I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face
BOOK CHOICE: The Complete plays of Anton Chekhov
LUXURY CHOICE: Michelangelo's Pieta

Producer: Leanne Buckle

First broadcast on 蜜芽传媒 Radio 4 in 2011.