Professor Lucy Easthope, emergency planner

Desert Island Discs

BBC

Society & Culture, Music Commentary, Music, Personal Journals

4.4 • 13.7K Ratings

🗓️ 5 July 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Professor Lucy Easthope is an adviser on disaster recovery and planning.

She’s an expert in planning for and reacting to major incidents: natural disaster, terrorist attacks, pandemics and fires, and is the visiting Professor of Mass Fatalities and Pandemics at the University of Bath.

Born in Merseyside in 1978, Lucy cites the impact of watching the Hillsborough football disaster on TV as a child as one of the driving reasons of her decision to pursue a career in disaster management. Her work has involved working in mortuaries, attending fatal accidents and training teams to react to emergencies.

Alongside her career, Lucy has written two books about emergency planning and disaster recovery.

Lucy lives in Shropshire with her husband and two children.

DISC ONE: Lose Yourself - Eminem DISC TWO: Lord of all hopefulness, Lord of all joy. Performed by Matthew Steynor (organ) and The Choir of Queens' College Cambridge, conducted by James Weeks DISC THREE: Overture And A Prisoner Of The Crusades (From Chains To Freedom) Composed by Michael Kamen and performed by Greater Los Angeles Orchestra, conducted by Patti Fidelibus DISC FOUR: Tender - Blur DISC FIVE: Trustfall - Pink DISC SIX: Fast Car - Tracy Chapman DISC SEVEN: Something’s Missing - Come From Away Company DISC EIGHT: Thunderstruck - AC/DC

BOOK CHOICE: The Diddakoi by Rumer Godden LUXURY ITEM: A solar-powered torch CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Tender - Blur

Presenter Lauren Laverne Producer Sarah Taylor

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.
0:06.0	It is all over!
0:08.0	Bulls are an edge, caught behind.
0:10.0	Including cricket Super League, Women's Euro's 2025, Wimbledon, Formula One and much more.
0:17.0	It's all right to the lights and foot to the floor.
0:20.0	Oh, what's's done it!
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.
1:27.8	I'm going to... My castaway this week is Professor Lucy Easthope, an advisor on disaster recovery.
1:32.5	She's an expert on planning for and reacting to major incidents.
1:36.5	Natural disasters, terrorist attacks, pandemics and fires.
1:39.8	Cataclysms like these comprise her working life.
1:44.8	She's been involved in the response to many of the most significant disasters costing British lives from 9-11 onwards, including the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, the 7-7 bombings, the Manchester
1:51.9	Arena attack and the COVID-19 pandemic. She was born and raised in Merseyside and sites watching
	...

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