Main content

Camila Batmanghelidjh

Kirsty Young's castaway is campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh.

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is the children's campaigner Camila Batmanghelidjh. Camila Batmanghelidjh has devoted her life to the kind of children most people would cross the street to avoid - youngsters who are often violent, don't go to school and who are unfamiliar with a stable family life. More than a decade ago she took over a run of disused railway arches in South London to set up a centre offering food, advice, education and counselling. Now her outreach projects serve more than 11,000 children each year and, such is her success, she's feted by celebrities and courted by politicians.

The product of a wealthy Iranian family herself, she decided early on that her vocation lay in working with children and that this was a task she could not combine with motherhood. Last week she was named Woman of the Year in recognition of her ground-breaking work.

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

Favourite track: Redemption Song by Bob Marley
Book: Being and Nothingness by Jean Paul Sartre
Luxury: A yoyo

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 27 Oct 2006 09:00
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

More episodes

Previous

Robert Fisk

Next

Heston Blumenthal

See all episodes from Desert Island Discs

Music Played

  • Eminem

    Mockingbird

    • Encore: Eminem.
    • Aftermath.

  • Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov

    Scheherazade - 2nd movement

    Orchestra: New York Philharmonic Orchestra Conductor: Leonard Bernstein

    • Rimsky-Korsakov-Scherazade.
    • CBS.

  • Jacques Brel

    Ne Me Quitte Pas

    • Ne Me Quitte Pas.
    • Barclay.

  • Choir of Cregagh Presbyterian Church, Belfast

    Amazing Grace

    • World’s 100 Best Loved Hymns: Vol 4.
    • Emerald.

  • Edward Elgar

    Cello Concerto in E Minor

    Soloist: Jacqueline du PrΓ© Orchestra: The London Symphony Orchestra Conductor: Sir John Barbirolli

    • Jacqueline Du PrΓ©: A lasting Inspiration.
    • EMI.

  • Luther Vandross

    Dance with My Father

    • Dance with My Father.
    • J Records.

  • Castaway's Favourite

    • Bob Marley

      Redemption Song

      • Legend - the Best of Bob Marley.
      • Tuff Gong.

  • Johannes Brahms

    Cello Sonata - 1st movemernt

    Soloist: Miroslav Rostropovich & Rudolf Serkin

    • Brahms: Die Cellosonaten: Rostropovich/Serkin.
    • Deutsche Grammophon.

  • Book Choice

    • Being and Nothingness - Jean Paul Sartre

  • Luxury Choice

    • A yoyo

Credits

Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Camila Batmanghelidjh

Broadcasts

  • Sun 22 Oct 2006 11:15
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4
  • Fri 27 Oct 2006 09:00
    Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Radio 4

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