John Cleese

Writer and performer John Cleese is castaway by Sue Lawley.

John was educated at public school and Cambridge University.

By the end of the 1960s, he found fame as the tallest member of the comedy troupe Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

Hotel owner Basil Fawlty who in just 12 episodes of Fawlty Towers displayed the repressed rage of a manic Englishman.

Since then, he’s concentrated on films The Life of Brian, Clockwise and the hugely successful A Fish Called Wanda.

Why does he feel like he’s trying to escape conformity..?

DISC ONE: Michael Tilson Thomas and The LA Philharmonic Orchestra - Rhapsody in Blue by George Gershwin
DISC TWO: Monty Python - The Meaning of Life
DISC THREE: John Williams - Cavatina (The Deer Hunter)
DISC FOUR: Sidney Bechet and The New Orleans Feetwarmers - Maple Leaf Rag
DISC FIVE: Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Herbert von Karajan - Tristan und Isolde, Prelude
DISC SIX: Harry Nilsson - Gotta Get Up
DISC SEVEN: Florenza Cossotto, Maria Gracia-Allegri and The La Scala Orchestra - Pietro Mascagni's "Inneggiamo, il Signor" (Easter Hymn from Cavalleria rusticana)
DISC EIGHT: Louis Armstrong - What A Wonderful World

CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Florenza Cossotto, Maria Gracia-Allegri and The La Scala Orchestra - Pietro Mascagni's "Inneggiamo, il Signor" (Easter Hymn from Cavalleria rusticana)
BOOK CHOICE: Stand By Your Man by Tammy Wynette
LUXURY CHOICE: Michael Palin - stuffed

Producer: Angie Nehring

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in January 1997.