Main content

Michael Mansfield

Barrister Michael Mansfield joins Kirsty Young to choose his Desert Island Discs.

Kirsty Young's castaway is the barrister Michael Mansfield.

He is one of Britain's leading QCs - the Birmingham six, the Marchioness disaster, the Stephen Lawrence trial and the death of Jean Charles de Menezes are only a handful of the high profile cases he's been involved in.

He describes himself as a 'radical lawyer' and says he's been educated by the cases he's taken on. He has become, he says, increasingly angry and radical over the years. "I do feel that reputation, standing up for principle, is one of the few ways in which a difference can be made."

Record: The Goons - What's the Time, Eccles?
Book: The Rights of Man by Thomas Paine as his Bible: and
The Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz
Luxury: A drum kit.

Available now

45 minutes

Last on

Fri 22 Oct 2010 09:00

Music Played

  • Pink Floyd

    Another Brick In The Wall, Part 2

    Composer: Waters

    • Pink Floyd: A Collection of Great Dance Songs.
    • EMI.
  • Edward Elgar

    Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36: Variation IX "Nimrod"

    Artist: The Massed Bands conducted by Lt Colonel Graham Jones, Senior Director of Music Guards Division.

    • From Radio 4鈥檚 coverage of the Ceremony of Remembrance from the Cenotaph on 9 November 2008..
  • Sergey Rachmaninov

    Sergei Vasilievich Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 2 in C minor

    Artist: Jean-Bernard Pommier - with the Halle Orchestra conducted by Lawrence Foster

    • Tchaikovsky/Rachmaninov: Piano Concertos: Jean-Bernard Pommier.
    • Virgin Classic.
  • Benjamin Zephaniah

    The Death of Joy Gardner

    Composer: Benjamin Zephaniah

    • Reggae Head.
    • 57 Productions.
  • Castaway's Favourite

    • The Goons

      What's The Time, Eccles?

      Composer: Milligan

      • The Last Goon Show of All.
      • 91热爆.
  • Iona Rowan (on vocals & guitar) & Freddy Vanson

    Won't Wait for Hope

    Composer: Poetry by Freddy Vanson

    • The World Citizens Sessions 2010, Vol.1.
    • 91热爆grownsounds.
  • Herbert Howells

    The opening of the Requiem

    Artist: St John鈥檚 College, Cambridge choir led by Christopher Robinson

    • Howells: Choral Works.
    • Naxos.
  • Antonio Forcione

    Touch Wood

    Composer: Forcione

    • Touch Wood.
    • NAIMCD 069.
  • Book Choice

    • The Cairo Trilogy - Naguib Mahfouz

  • Luxury Choice

    • A drum kit

Credits

Role Contributor
Presenter Kirsty Young
Interviewed Guest Michael Mansfield

Broadcasts

  • Sun 17 Oct 2010 11:15
  • Fri 22 Oct 2010 09:00

Featured in...

The Desert Island Discs podcast

The Desert Island Discs podcast

Subscribe or download individual episodes.

Listen to over 2,000 programmes

Click above to browse castaways, from 1942 to today.

Articles

Read the surprising things we've learned about some stand-out castaways.

Podcast