Hi, it's Nicola Cochlin. Young people have been making history for years, but we don't often hear about them. My brand new series on BBC Sounds sets out to put this right. In history's youngest heroes, I'll be revealing the fascinating stories of 12 young people who've played a major role in history and who've helped shape our world. Like Audrey Hepburn, Nelson Mandela,

Louis Braille and Lady Jane Grey, history's youngest heroes with me, Nicola Cochlin. Listen on BBC Sounds.

Hello, I'm Kirsty Young. Thank you for downloading this podcast of Desert Island Discs from BBC Radio 4.

For rights reasons, the music choices are shorter than in the radio broadcast.

For more information about the programme, please visit BBC.co.com.ukes slash Radio 4. My castaway this week is the writer Frank Cotrell-Boy's. His film credits include

Hillary and Jackie, welcome to Sarajevo and

24-hour party people. According to one critic, he's arguably the most original and versatile

screenwriter in the UK. He's also written TV soaps, radio and stage plays, and children's novels,

picking up laudettes and awards along the way. Of the range of his work, he says,

I sometimes think it's because I haven't found out what I'm good at. These days, it's children

who are his main audience, and he should know what they want. A father of seven himself, he has a

large and willing brute to test his tales on. Of his work for young readers, he says,

it's amazing how much impact you can have.

Not just an emotional impact, but you can light someone up.

You can change someone in a moment.

There was a moment, I think, Frank Cottrell-Boyce,

when you felt that you were destined to become a writer.

You were 11. Tell me about it.

Yeah, I was in Sister Paul's class in St. Bartholomew School in Rain Hill. And I'd had a really good friend all the way through school and he was off sick. His name was Graham. And I kind of poured all the energy that I used to pour into making him laugh during lessons into this piece of work.

And at the end of the lesson, Sister Paul collected all the pieces of work in, and she picked up mine,

and she looked at it, and she looked at slightly askance at it, and she sort of looked at me and wondered where it had come from.

She looked at me as though I'd laid an egg.

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