Lord Alf Dubs, politician and campaigner

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2025

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

Lord Alf Dubs is a Labour peer and former MP. He came to the UK from Prague in 1939 on one of the Kindertransport trains organised by Sir Nicholas Winton which rescued mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

Alf was born in Prague in 1932. His father was from a Jewish background and was brought up in what was then Northern Bohemia while his mother came from Austria. His father left Prague for London as soon as the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia in March 1939. In June, when he was six-years-old, Alf was put on a Kindertransport train, arriving at Liverpool Street station two days later where he was met by his father. His mother eventually joined them in London the day before war broke out.

Alf studied Politics and Economics at the London School of Economics and was elected as the Member of Parliament for Battersea South in May 1979. He lost his seat in 1987 and the following year he was appointed director of the Refugee Council, becoming the first refugee to head up the charity.

In March 2016 Alf tabled an amendment to the 2016 Immigration Act (known as the Dubs Amendment) which asked the Government to accept 3,000 unaccompanied refugee children into the UK. The amendment passed but the Government closed the scheme the following year after accepting 480 children.

In 2016 Alf received the Humanist of the Year award by Humanists UK of which he is also a patron. In 2021 his Czech citizenship was restored making him the first Czech-British member of the House of Lords.

DISC ONE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet DISC TWO: Smetana: Má Vlast, JB1:112: 2. Vltava. Performed by Czech Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Jiří Bělohlávek DISC THREE: She's Leaving Home - The Beatles DISC FOUR: Bandiera Rossa - Canzoniere del Lame DISC FIVE: Mozart: Horn Concerto No. 1 in D Major, K. 412: I. Allegro. Performed by Barry Tuckwell (French horn), Academy of Saint Martin in the Fields, conducted by Neville Marriner DISC SIX: Danny Boy - Daniel O'Donnell DISC SEVEN: Take This Waltz - Leonard Cohen DISC EIGHT: Ode to Joy. Composed by Ludwig van Beethoven and performed by Gewandhausorchester Leipzig, conducted by Herbert Blomstedt

BOOK CHOICE: Germinal by Émile Zola LUXURY ITEM: Walking boots CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: It's Easy To Remember (Take 4) - John Coltrane Quartet

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Paula McGinley

Transcript

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0:00.0	Get closer to the action with live commentary from the world's greatest sporting events on BBC Sounds.
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0:21.5	Drop shots!
0:22.9	Winner!
0:23.7	On five sports extra, sports extra two and sports extra three.
0:27.7	Listen, only on BBC Sounds.
0:31.7	BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts.
0:35.2	Hello, I'm Lauren Levern and this is the Desert Island Discs podcast from BBC Radio 4.
0:40.0	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.
0:47.4	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.
0:54.9	Listeners will also get access to episodes 28 days earlier than everyone else.
0:59.2	I hope you enjoy listening.
1:25.5	I'm going to be listening. My castaway this week is the Labour peer and campaigner Lord Alfred Dobbs.
1:30.3	He came to Britain at the age of six in 1939, a child refugee who arrived on one of the eight Kinder Transport Trains, organised by Sir Nicholas Winton, that rescued
1:35.8	mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia. As he grew up, he became fascinated by
1:41.8	politics, wondering whether the systems which had upended his
1:45.2	life could be used for good instead. He's spent his life trying to find out. He's campaigned on
1:51.9	everything from road safety to the probation service, but the cause that's been closest to his
	...

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