Desert Island Discs - Cath Kidston

Kirsty Young's castaway is the designer Cath Kidston.

Cheerful and practical, her products nod towards the 1950s. She began with ironing board covers but these days you can listen to a radio decorated with one of her designs, pitch one of her tents or decorate the children's bedroom with her cowboy wallpaper.

In her own room as a child she used to play at keeping shop. These days her business has a turnover of more than £50 million. "I really felt, from very, very early on, I was onto something with the notion of what I was doing," she says. "I remember feeling I'd really overstepped the mark when I opened my second shop - thinking, that's probably going a stage too far."

Record: Always Look on the Bright Side of Life Book: The Larousse French/English dictionary Luxury: A hot water bottle

Producer: Isabel Sargent.

Published on Sunday, 24th April 2011.

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