Margot Fonteyn interview among rediscovered Desert Island Discs archive

An archive of missing BBC Radio 4 Desert Island Discs has been found, including interviews with stars such as dancer Margot Fonteyn.

Presumed lost since the 1960s and 1970s, more than 90 Desert Island Discs including interviews with Fonteyn, Bing Crosby, James Stewart, David Hockney and Dirk Bogarde were found this month.


Audio collector Richard Harrison discovered the box of episodes. He is a member of the Radio Circle, which tries to locate lost programmes. 

The BBC has not always archived radio programmes historically, and collectors such as Harrison look for recordings and reels of those missing episodes from listeners who may have recorded them at the time. 

Fonteyn appeared on the 750th edition of the radio show in 1965. 

At the time, she was a prima ballerina at the Royal Ballet. In the rediscovered episode, she speaks to broadcaster Roy Plomley about her time at the company and how the arts re-emerged post World War Two.

During the interview, she mentions her first dance lesson at the age of six. Despite showing a "natural aptitude" for ballet, she says she "took it terribly seriously" and that she was "terribly anxious to do exactly what" she was told. 

She speaks about performing abroad and comments on how scenery and costumes were left behind in the Netherlands when the Germans invaded, she reveals the company "left hurriedly in what we were wearing and could wear on top of our ordinary clothes".

The full interview can be heard on BBC Sounds.