Norma Percy is a documentary film-maker. She has been making programmes for over three decades and her productions have featured a range of political leaders from Tony Blair and Bill Clinton to Mikhail Gorbachev and Slobodan Milošević. Her film-making method, which she developed alongside her colleague Brian Lapping, tells the stories of our times by taking viewers into the room where the big decisions were made, with the people who made them.Norma was born in New York City and majored in Government at Oberlin College in Ohio. In 1963 she moved to London where she studied at the London School of Economics, before finding a job in the House of Commons as a researcher for the MP John Mackintosh.In 1972 she became a researcher for Brian Lapping, working on the Granada series State of the Nation. Later she produced The Second Russian Revolution and the award-winning Watergate – a five-part BBC series about the Watergate scandal.Her programmes have won an Emmy, two BAFTAs and four Royal Television Awards. Norma lives in London with her husband, the geneticist Professor Steve Jones. DISC ONE: Be Prepared - Tom Lehrer
DISC TWO: Waltz in C sharp-minor, Op.64 No. 2. Composed by Frederic Chopin and performed by Khatia Buniatishvili
DISC THREE: Well, Did You Evah? - Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra
DISC FOUR: Hard Day’s Night - The Beatles
DISC FIVE: Never Say No - The Fantasticks New Off-Broadway Cast
DISC SIX: Swan Lake, Op. 20, TH.12 / Act 3: The Black Swan. Composed by Pyotr Tchaikovsky and performed by Erich Gruenberg (violin), London Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Richard Bonynge
DISC SEVEN: It Ain’t Me Babe - Joan Baez
DISC EIGHT: Political Science - Randy Newman BOOK CHOICE: In Search of Lost Time by Marcel Proust
LUXURY ITEM: A hot shower
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It Ain’t Me Babe - Joan Baez Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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Lord Alf Dubs, politician and campaigner
Lord Alf Dubs is a Labour peer and former MP. He came to the UK from Prague in 1939 on one of the Kindertransport trains organised by Sir Nicholas Winton which rescued mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.Alf was born in Prague in 1932. His father was from a Jewish background and was brought up in what was then Northern Bohemia while his mother came from Austria. His father left Prague for London as soon as the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939. In June, when he was six-years-old, Alf was put on a Kindertransport train, arriving at Liverpool Street station two days later where he was met by his father. His mother eventually joined them in London the day before war broke out. Alf studied Politics and Economics at the London School of Economics and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Battersea South in May 1979. He lost his seat in 1987 and the following year he was appointed director of the Refugee Council, becoming the first refugee to head up the charity.In March 2016 Alf tabled an amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act (known as the Dubs Amendment) which asked the Government to accept 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children into the UK. The amendment passed but the Government closed the scheme the following year after accepting 480 children.In 2016 Alf received the Humanist of the Year award by Humanists UK of which he is also a patron. In 2021 his Czech citizenship was restored making him the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.DISC ONE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet
DISC TWO: Smetana: Má Vlast, JB1:112: 2. Vltava. Performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek
DISC THREE: She's Leaving Home - The Beatles
DISC FOUR: Bandiera Rossa - Canzoniere del Lame
DISC FIVE: Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D Major, K. 412: I. Allegro. Performed by Barry Tuckwell (French horn), Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner
DISC SIX: Danny Boy - Daniel O'Donnell
DISC SEVEN: Take This Waltz - Leonard Cohen
DISC EIGHT: Ode to Joy. Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Herbert BlomstedtBOOK CHOICE: Germinal by Émile Zola
LUXURY ITEM: Walking boots
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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Professor Lucy Easthope, emergency planner
Professor Lucy Easthope is an adviser on disaster recovery and planning. She’s an expert in planning for and reacting to major incidents: natural disaster, terrorist attacks, pandemics and fires, and is the visiting Professor of Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath.Born in Merseyside in 1978, Lucy cites the impact of watching the Hillsborough football disaster on TV as a child as one of the driving reasons of her decision to pursue a career in disaster management. Her work has involved working in mortuaries, attending fatal accidents and training teams to react to emergencies. Alongside her career, Lucy has written two books about emergency planning and disaster recovery. Lucy lives in Shropshire with her husband and two children.DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem
DISC TWO: Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy. Performed by Matthew Steynor (organ) and The Choir of Queens' College Cambridge, conducted by James Weeks
DISC THREE: Overture And A Prisoner Of The Crusades (From Chains To Freedom) Composed by Michael Kamen and performed by Greater Los Angeles Orchestra, conducted by Patti Fidelibus
DISC FOUR: Tender - Blur
DISC FIVE: Trustfall - Pink
DISC SIX: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman
DISC SEVEN: Something’s Missing - Come From Away Company
DISC EIGHT: Thunderstruck - AC/DC BOOK CHOICE: The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden
LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered torch
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Tender - Blur Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
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Romesh Ranganathan, comedian and broadcaster
Romesh Ranganathan is a comedian and BAFTA-winning broadcaster who has been a fixture on British television screens for the past decade. In addition to his TV shows and stand-up tours he presents the Weakest Link on BBC One, Radio Two’s Saturday morning show and another weekly Radio Two programme in which he shares his passion for hip hop music. Romesh was born in Crawley in West Sussex where he still lives. His parents came to the UK from Sri Lanka in 1975. His father Ranga was an accountant who spent time in prison for fraud during Romesh’s teenage years. At that point Romesh and his brother were brought up by their mother Sivashanthini – known as Shanthi – who has appeared alongside Romesh on several of his television programmes.In 2001 Romesh became a maths teacher at the school where he’d previously been a pupil. A few years later he started taking part in open mic evenings where he developed his skills as a stand-up. In 2011 he quit his teaching job to pursue a career in comedy. He has spoken candidly about his own mental health and in 2023 he became a patron of the charity CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably). Romesh lives in Crawley with his wife Leesa and their three sons.DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem
DISC TWO: Let’s Hear it for the Boy - Deniece Williams
DISC THREE: The Power of Love - Huey Lewis & The News
DISC FOUR: Through the Wire - Kanye West
DISC FIVE: Broken Clocks - SZA
DISC SIX: Back at One - Brian McKnight
DISC SEVEN: I Wish - Stevie Wonder
DISC EIGHT: Bring the Noise - Public Enemy
BOOK CHOICE: Life of Pi by Yann Martel
LUXURY ITEM: An unlimited supply of aubergine curry
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Back at One - Brian McKnight If you are suffering distress or despair and need support, including urgent support, a list of organisations that can help is available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley
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Abdulrazak Gurnah, writer
Abdulrazak Gurnah is emeritus Professor of Post-Colonial Literatures at the University of Kent and the 2021 Nobel Prize winner in Literature. Born in Zanzibar in 1948, the second of six children, Abdulrazak grew up in the dying days of the island’s status as a British protectorate before independence was declared in 1963. The revolution which followed made Zanzibar an undesirable and unsafe place to live in for young men of Arab heritage. In 1967, he left to seek opportunities in Britain.He subsidised his studies through a series of low paid jobs which included strawberry picking, factory work and time as a hospital porter. In the evenings he was studying at night school and after gaining a PhD in English, he joined the University of Kent, eventually becoming a Professor.Alongside his academic career, Abdulrazak was writing and it took him twelve years to find a publisher for his 1987 debut novel, Memory of Departure.He has published ten more novels since then, including 1994’s Paradise and 2001’s By the Sea (short and longlisted for the Booker Prize respectively) which explore themes of exile, displacement, belonging and colonialism. He was awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Literature for his body of work and “for his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the fates of the refugee in the gulf between cultures and continents”. He lives in Kent, with his wife, the Guyanese-born scholar, Denise de Caires Narain. DISC ONE: Hit the Road Jack - Ray Charles
DISC TWO: Petite Fleur - Sidney Bechet
DISC THREE: Nipepee - Seif Salim
DISC FOUR: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 7 - 1. Allegro maestoso. Composed by Clara Schumann. Performed by Isata Kanneh-Mason (piano) and Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Holly Mathieson
DISC FIVE: A Day in the Life - The Beatles
DISC SIX: Kaira - Toumani Diabaté
DISC SEVEN: So What - Miles Davis
DISC EIGHT: Folon - Salif Keita BOOK CHOICE: That Glimpse of Truth: The 100 Finest Short Stories Ever Written selected by David Miller
LUXURY ITEM: A nail clipper
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Petite Fleur - Sidney Bechet Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Sarah Taylor
Ireland