Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005 - Michael Holroyd

Sue Lawley's guest this week is Michael Holroyd. A respected biographer, as a boy, he sought refuge from an unhappy home in Maidenhead Public Library. It was there he discovered the work of Hugh Kingsmill who was to become his first biographical subject. And it was then that he "discovered the attraction," as he says, "of stepping from my own life into other people's". Since then he has devoted seven years to writing the life of Augustus John, and 17 to the biography of George Bernard Shaw.

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

Favourite track: Last movement of String Quartet - No16 in F Opus 135 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Book: The High Hill of the Muses - Anthology by Hugh Kingsmill
Luxury: Waterbed

Published on Sunday, 20th February 2000.

Available Podcasts from Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005

Subscribe to Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Desert Island Discs: Archive 2000-2005 webpage.