Hello, I'm Kirstie Young, and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1986, and the presenter was Michael Parkinson. Castaway is no stranger to Desert Islands. He's already been banished to them many times by people he's criticized in his writings.

He is beyond dispute, Britain's most controversial journalists.

Reviewing a collection of his work, one critic wondered whether or not the author was mad

another declared him to be a genius. At present he writes regularly for the

spectator, the Sunday Telegraph and the Daily Mail and is a newly appointed editor of the literary review.

He's Auburn War.

Obran, recently you gave up your most controversial column, your diary in private eye.

Why was that?

Well it been running for 16 years. I think that's quite a long time for any sort of comedy spot to last.

And I found myself not only just making the same jokes which didn't matter because people like that

for making them rather less well, you you know and I thought it'd be an

extremely embarrassing column to be lumbered with if it wasn't working I thought better

leave it while it was still more or less at a peak. What about the rumors that you

had some kind of a rift with Richard Ingram's editor of the appointment

of the new editor?

They got up by private eye, I think, trying to publicise itself a bit, but it simply wasn't true at

all.

There was a slightly awkward moment when there was a great presentation lunch, when after 16 years I turned up to be given

a very, very handsome silver-plated wine funnel.

And Richard Joe's occasion to announce his retirement and I had to speak next, you say.

...