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

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

The program was originally broadcast in 1979, and the presenter was Roy Plumlee. Oh, I am sailing

I am sailing I am sailing home again

cross the sea

I am sailing stormy waters to be near you to be free.

Sailing by Rod Stewart, and it's the first choice of our cast away this week,

the prima donna Elizabeth Surdistram.

Elizabeth why did you choose that?

Well actually to tell you that I have been sailing most of my life so this idea with

the Desert Island is something which is very vivid in my mind. I love the sea but I fear

the sea. I was brought up in boats because we used to live outside Stockholm where there is a beautiful archipelago.

My father didn't have any sons so I was the one who had to row his boat when he was fishing,

you know he was spin fishing for pikes.

And we had a sailing boat.

So when I was about 11 years old, I was sent to a course in navigation to be able to handle the

navigation on my own and when I was 12 I sailed the boat on my own and then to top it off, I married a naval officer.

So you haven't really got to worry very much about being a castaway.

Well, I don't know. I mean, we have a great respect for the sea as I said but my husband has

sailed from Sweden to the West Indies quite a number of times you know how one

gets from Sweden to the West Indies? You sail south

to the Canary Islands and then you go further south until the butter melts then

...