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Desert Island Discs

Guy Martin, presenter and former motorcycle racer

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Music Commentary, Music, Society & Culture, Personal Journals

4.314.3K Ratings

🗓️ 28 June 2026

⏱️ 51 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Guy Martin is a television presenter, mechanic and former motorcycle racer. During his career he achieved 17 podium finishes at the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Races – one of the most prestigious and dangerous motorcycling events in the world. His television programmes often focus on his daredevil nature and combine two of his greatest loves - engineering and history.

Guy was brought up in the village of Kirmington in North Lincolnshire. When he was five his father, who raced bikes himself, bought him his first motorcycle which he promptly crashed into the rose garden. His father is a mechanic and Guy used to sit and watch him at work in the shed from a young age and at 12 he began working for him at weekends and during school holidays.

Guy’s first race meeting was at Cadwell Park in Lincolnshire when he was 19. Less than a minute into the race he crashed. He was not badly injured but the bike was destroyed in the process. In 2004 he made his debut at the biggest road race of them all – the Isle of Man TT, finishing seventh in the Senior race and winning the Newcomers Trophy.

Guy retired from racing in 2015 after a very bad crash at the Ulster Grand Prix. After that he turned to his bicycle and has taken part in several endurance cycling events, including the Tour Divide, to test his resolve and stamina and fill the adrenaline gap.

Guy lives in Lincolnshire with his wife Sharon, their daughter Dottie and three dogs.

DISC ONE: Bam Ba Lam (Here Comes Daddy) - Alabama 3 DISC TWO: Testify - Rage Against the Machine DISC THREE: Blinded by the Light - The Streets DISC FOUR: Getaway - The Music DISC FIVE: Me and my Monkey - Robbie Williams DISC SIX: Hurt – Johnny Cash DISC SEVEN: The Day is My Enemy - The Prodigy DISC EIGHT: With or Without You - U2

BOOK CHOICE: Stealing Speed by Mat Oxley LUXURY ITEM: The back catalogue of Race Engine Technology magazine CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: With or Without You - U2

Presenter: Lauren Laverne Producer: Paula McGinley

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts.

0:06.9

Hi, I'm Zing Singh.

0:08.3

And I'm Simon Jack.

0:09.3

And together we host Good Bad Billionaire.

0:11.4

The podcast exploring how some of the world's richest people made their fortunes.

0:15.2

And we're back for a new season with a brand new lineup of billionaires.

0:18.6

Yeah, global pop icon Beyonce.

0:20.6

Hollywood movie director

0:21.7

Stephen Spielberg. Football superstar Christiana Rinaldo, anyone? And as ever, we're asking you to

0:27.1

decide whether they're good, bad or just another billionaire. That's good, bad billionaire.

0:31.3

Listen first on BBC Sounds. Hello, I'm Lauren Levern and this is the Desert Island

0:37.0

Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4.

0:39.4

Every week, I ask my guests to choose the eight tracks, book and luxury that they'd want to take with them if they were cast away to a desert island.

0:46.8

For rights reasons, the music's shorter than on the original broadcast, but you can find a version with longer music tracks on BBC sounds.

0:54.3

Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else.

0:58.7

I hope you enjoy listening. My castaway this week is the TV presenter and former motorcycle racer Guy Martin.

1:27.0

On the track, he achieved 17 podium finishes

1:29.8

at the Isle of Man T-T races, one of the most prestigious and dangerous motorcycling events in the

1:35.6

world. Along the way, he's survived numerous spectacular crashes. He's also set seven speed records,

1:42.0

including fastest on a wall of death, in a soapbox and on a tractor.

1:46.8

On screen, he's the hugely popular host of programs that bring together his fascination with engineering,

1:52.4

history and his daredevil nature. We've seen him build a replica army tank from scratch,

...

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