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

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

For more information about the program, please visit BBC.co. UK slash radio4. The My castaway this week is the writer and comedian Tim Minchin.

Add to the list composer, actor and musician, and you'll just about have the measure of him. He's had set-out performances at

London's O-2, written the songs for the smash hit West End Show Matilda and collected

an armful of awards along the way and all the way,

before he's hit 40, it would be easy to hate him.

If it weren't for the acute satirical insight of his lyrics

and the virtuosity of his musicianship.

Another of his talents is undercutting all the success and acclaim,

with lines like, I thought fame would make me happy,

but she's a fickle cheap romance.

What does make you happy to mention, wonder? Oh that's a tough start.

Um, coffee, red wine, sleep, um, you know, a limited amount of time with my own children.

I'm talking about myself, you know, just the normal stuff.

We should have got a good time then.

Do you think writing for children as you very successfully have with Matilda do you think you understand children was it easy to work out what would be appealing to that six year old audience?

I didn't feel a real connection to my childhood self although I did have a young

baby and another one on the way when I wrote Matilda and I think without that I would have

really struggled because it just opened that door back a little bit and sort of reminded me how innocent innocence is.

You know, I'm not a magical thinker.

I don't think I need my special undies on on my special pencil on the opposite of

...