Listen "John Updike"
Episode Synopsis
Sue Lawley's castaway on Desert Island Discs this week is the celebrated American writer John Updike. His novels include Rabbit Run (and three Rabbit follow-ups), Couples and The Witches of Eastwick.He is both poet and historian, famous for charting the changes in post-war American society such as increasing marital breakdown and changing attitudes to death. He started his writing career by selling stories to the New Yorker magazine - something his mother had tried for years but had never succeeded. And he'll be telling Sue Lawley about how he overcame a bad stutter, how he has learnt to control his psoriasis and how now, aged 63, he finally feels normal; part of the gang he never was as a teenager. [Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs] Favourite track: Sing, Sing, Sing by The Benny Goodman Orchestra
Book: Complete Works by Marcel Proust
Luxury: Silken tent (for luxury, not survival)
Book: Complete Works by Marcel Proust
Luxury: Silken tent (for luxury, not survival)
More episodes of the podcast Desert Island Discs: Archive 1991-1996
Martin Amis
29/12/1996
Jennifer Saunders
22/12/1996
Ian Dury
15/12/1996
Robert Winston
08/12/1996
Bruce Forsyth
01/12/1996
Rt Hon Tony Blair MP
24/11/1996
Tessa Sanderson
17/11/1996
Sir Laurens Van Der Post
10/11/1996
Chris Patten
03/11/1996
Jancis Robinson
27/10/1996
ZARZA We are Zarza, the prestigious firm behind major projects in information technology.