Roy Plomley played himself for this excellent episode of Desert Island Discs

On the 3rd November 1941 a brain wave hit the young Roy Plomley as he was getting ready for bed: to make a short series of  programmes where personalities would become "castaways". They would be sent to a desert island, armed with eight 78rpm records. As they explained their musical choices they would also reveal their lives.

A year later this proposal became reality and Desert Island Discs was born. Thousands of records later, with 78s a distant memory, Desert Island Discs remains relatively unchanged. It's the third longest running radio programme in the world, after The Daily Service (1928) and A Week in Westminster (1929), still accompanied by the unforgettable signature tune, Eric Coates' 'By the Sleepy Lagoon'. When Roy Plomley passed away his mantle went first to Michael Parkinson and then to Sue Lawley.