Main content

Jacqueline Wilson

Sue Lawley's castaway is children's laureate Jacqueline Wilson.

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the Children's Laureate Jacqueline Wilson. She's won just about every award going for children's fiction and, in a career spanning more than 30 years, has written more than 80 books. Even as a child she knew she wanted to write but, after an inauspicious time at school, she reluctantly trained to be a secretary instead. Then she began to pitch ideas for a new teen magazine, Jackie, her stories were bought and she quickly became a staff writer.

But she was 50 before she devised her most famous creation, Tracy Beaker. Tracy is a streetwise, feisty girl growing up in the competitive world of a children's home, who never loses the hope that one day her mum will come back for her. The book was a breakthrough for Jacqueline and its subsequent television adaptation introduced her to a mass audience. In 2002 she was awarded an OBE for services to literacy.

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

Favourite track: Concerto for Piano and Orchestra No 5 in E flat by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: The collected works by Katherine Mansfield
Luxury: A fairground carousel

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 21 Oct 2005 09:00

Music Played

  • Queen

    Crazy Little Thing Called Love

    • The Game.
    • Parlophone.
  • Mandy Miller

    Nellie the Elephant

    • Hello Children Everywhere.
    • EMI.
  • Acker Bilk

    Stranger On The Shore

    • Sherwin Music.
    • 14.
  • Linda Ronstadt

    Freezing

    • Song from Liquid Days.
    • CBS.
  • Dory Previn

    Mythical Kings And Iguanas

    • In Search of Mythical Kings.
    • EMI.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Ludwig van Beethoven

      Piano Concerto No. 5 in E flat major 'Emperor'

      Soloist: Leonard Bernstein Orchestra: New York Philharmonic

      • Beethoven: the Royal Collection.
      • Sony Classical.
  • Christoph Willibald Gluck

    Soumis au silence (from Orpheus and Euridice)

    Soloist: Marion Harousseau Orchestra: Musicians of the Louvre Conductor: Marc Minkowski

    • Orpheus and Euridice.
    • Archiv.
  • Dusty Springfield

    The Look of Love

    • Love Songs.
    • Sony.
  • Book Choice

    • The collected works - Katherine Mansfield

  • Luxury Choice

    • A fairground carousel

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Sue Lawley
Interviewed Guest Jacqueline Wilson

Broadcasts

  • Sun 16 Oct 2005 11:15
  • Fri 21 Oct 2005 09:00

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