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 Krista 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 2007.

Michael My castaway this week is the actress Jill Bolkin. She has spent her life immersed in the arts.

As a child, she always knew she wanted to act, and for more than 60 years she's appeared in radio, theatre, television and film.

I suspect, however, that the parts she holds dearest are the key supporting roles she's played. She is the daughter of Sir Michael Balkan, head of Ealing Studios in its heyday and a noted

filmmaker. When she was in her 20s, she married one of Britain's most respected poets, C.

De Lewis, and she's the mother of the Oscar-winning actor Daniel and the acclaimed cookery writer, Tamzan Day Lewis.

Jill, your life then, as I say, has been, it appears to be immersed in the arts, not just your work, but you're very passionate about music.

You have been passionate about the eight discs that you've chosen today.

And, of course, you were heavily involved in Cecil's writing.

Has the arts very much been your bread and butter?

Absolutely, yes, of course.

I listen to five hours of music every day, not consecutively, naturally,

because they've got a lot of other things to do.

So it is with words, the music and words are my lifeline.

And what about the, I mean, I presume to say there, the supporting role was one that I imagine you took seriously reading about you and knowing about you.

How do you feel about that when you are, I guess you must all the way through your life have been referred to as first of all, daughter of, then wife of, then mother of? Is that fine?

No, that's absolutely true. I'm very proud to have been all those things. Very proud. And I didn't feel like second fiddle, even if I was fourth fiddle. I didn't feel like that.

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