Classic Desert Island Discs: Stephen Hawking

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2018

⏱️ 42 minutes

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Summary

Another chance to listen to the theoretical physicist speaking to Sue Lawley in 1992. Stephen Hawking wrote the best-selling A Brief History of Time and was the founder of the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge, where he was also the Emeritus Lucasian Professor. He talked to Sue Lawley about his life and work, and the illness which left him severely disabled, as well as selecting the eight discs he would choose to take to the mythical island. Favourite track: Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Book: Middlemarch by George Eliot Luxury: Crème brûlée

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to Desert Island Discs.
0:02.0	We're currently taking a break and so we thought it'd be a good opportunity
0:05.7	to showcase some of the best additions from our extensive treasure chest.
0:09.6	We hope you enjoy them.
0:11.0	This is the BBC.
0:14.0	Hello, I'm Kesti Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs Archive.
0:19.0	For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.
0:22.0	The programme was originally broadcast in 1992 and the presenter was Sue Lolli.
0:30.0	Music
0:45.0	My cast away for Christmas is a scientist.
0:47.0	He didn't excel at school but won a scholarship to Oxford.
0:50.0	Once there, he worked for the equivalent of one hour a day and got a first.
0:55.0	Shortly after his 21st birthday, he was told that he was suffering from motor neuron disease
1:00.0	and had only a few years to live.
1:03.0	This discovery transformed apathy into enthusiasm and today, 30 years later,
1:08.0	he's achieved recognition as one of the greatest theoretical scientists since Einstein.
1:13.0	Although he's defied that original prognosis for his life, his physical condition has deteriorated.
1:20.0	He's almost totally paralysed and can only communicate through a voice synthesiser.
1:25.0	He is the best-selling author of a brief history of time, Stephen Hawking.
1:30.0	In many ways, of course, Stephen, you're already familiar with the isolation of a desert island
1:35.0	cut off from normal physical life and deprived of any natural means of communication.
1:40.0	How lonely is it for you?
	...

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