Desert Island Discs interview

As a guest presenter of the BBC Radio 4 radio show Desert Island Discs, I recently had the opportunity to present a special pop culture-focused mass media episode of the long-running programme, which usually centres around a ‘castaway’ taking a specific number of hand-picked recordings (hence the word ‘Discs’) with them to a deserted island.

My interview was one conducted with a young castaway that I already knew named Ben, who is a promising fresher (first-year student) attending a prominent university in South Yorkshire. He is a 19-year-old Sheffield resident who was known for being rather academically gifted at school and, by avocation, engaging in pop culture-linked media-savvy hobbies. Not that long ago, we managed to get in contact via the wonders of technology to enquire about six media products across a sundry of mass media that he would take with him if he were to end up stranded on a deserted island by some happenstance. Since I went to school with him, I was not surprised by most of his choices. He responded with a variegated hexad of media products.

• Avengers: Endgame (2019)

His first choice was the 2019 motion picture Avengers: Endgame, a blockbuster film where an accrescent line-up of iconic comic book superheroes and some new favourites assembling to defeat a thickset threat named Thanos, who is still lingering in their universe and reverse the damage that he caused. The film was a cinematic juggernaut and it steamrolled the international box office grossing nearly $3 billion dollars worldwide.
Me: Okay, what would be your first choice of entertainment that you would take with you to a desert island?
Ben: Umm… I am guessing the successful Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame, which is the sequel to Infinity War and serves as, you may know, a de facto finale for some of the heroes that many others, including me, have grown accustomed to in the MCU in its Infinity Saga such as Iron Man whose film kickstarted the whole thing.
Me: Why have you chosen Avengers: Endgame as your first choice?
Ben: Well, it is because I am a huge fan of Marvel’s comic books and films, and Endgame is one of my many, if not my most, favourite films of all time.
• Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

He enjoyed another Marvel Studios-produced movie called Thor: Ragnarok released in 2017. The movie is the third one starring the eponymous Norse mythology-inspired Avenger in his own film series, which is a part of the ever-expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe, and, as evident from the poster, it features the green and humongous Incredible Hulk.
Me: Nice choice. What is your second film choice?
Ben: Again, [Thor: Ragnarok] is another film that I really enjoy watching and often re-watch it from time to time and never get bored of it.

• The Killers – Mr. Brightside (2003)

To switch things up, we moved on to the usual focus of Desert Island Discs: the titular ‘discs’, which are mainly recordings such as songs and audiobooks. Ben decided on a song titled Mr. Brightside (which is the 2003 debut single of the American new wave band The Killers that was started two years earlier) for his preferred disc. Believe it or not, this disc was rather indeed a surprising choice.

Me: Out of myriads of melodies there, what is the most tuneful song that you would listen to on a desert island?

Ben: Mr. Brightside by The Killers. I love this song. I listen to it all the time as it really puts me in a good happy mood.

• Marvel’s Spider-Man for PS4 (2018)

Afterwards, we climbed (figuratively!) into a discussion about electronic entertainment. Marvel’s Spider-Man, the PlayStation-exclusive hit electronic adventure featuring the iconic Spider-Man character set in the Big Apple developed by the creators of the initial trio of Spyro games and Ratchet & Clank, was his first video game pick.

Me: What kind of games do you like to play?

Ben: My favourite game of all time is Insomniac’s Spider-Man for the PS4. I have replayed and completed it loads of times and still enjoy going back to it and playing it now.

• Any book from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series (2007-present)

He considers the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid book series, which has been a literary mainstay since it debut as a
2007, to be a part of his childhood.

Me: Any literary works? I know that I might be technically too old for these books but I enjoy skimming through books with cartoony illustrations such as the long-running Diary of a Wimpy Kid books by Jeff Kinney.

Ben: Those books were my childhood! I used to read them all the time as a kid, and every so often I will go back and read them again.

Me: Ah, I guess that we are of like mind.

• Minecraft (2009)

Unsurprisingly, he is also a fan of a popular Swedish-developed sandbox game under the name Minecraft.

Me: Last but not least, what is another thing that you would bring to a desert island?

Ben: Another one of my favourite things to do is to just sit and play Minecraft.

Me: Why is the sandbox game Minecraft your other option for a game?

Ben: I can [play Minecraft] for hours and never get bored; it’s a really great and enjoyable way to pass time.

---

Travel feature

Just like many major cities on this isle, my hometown of Sheffield, which is situated in the northern English county of South Yorkshire, there are many quintessential local landmarks considered emblematically iconic in the stainless steel powerhouse. The Steel City is home to many important things such as notable companies (such as Sheffield Forgemasters, a company that specialises in making steel, and the video game company Sumo Digital), shopping centres Meadowhall and Crystal Peaks, The Moor Market, entertainment venues (e.g. Ponds Forge, Valley Centertainment near Sheffield Arena, The Leadmill, the relatively young The Light Cinema, etc.), esteemed universities (University of Sheffield and, of course, my university Sheffield Hallam University) and sports teams (two of whom in football having a famous rivalry). In fact, the city of Sheffield was home to the world’s oldest continuous football club, Sheffield F.C. The team is now based in nearby Dronfield in Derbyshire since 2001

Sheffield is famed for being established around 5 rivers and, like the city of Rome, on 7 hills. In no order, the five rivers are named the Rivers Don (the largest of which all the others flow in), Loxley, Porter (also known as Little Don River), Rivelin and Sheaf (which the city was named after).

The latter 4 rivers are tributaries of River Don. My city is known for being heavily surrounded by nature as people have nicknamed it ‘largest village in England’ and a portion of Sheffield is located in the Peak District, a hilly region situated at the vast Pennine Chain’s southern end. Most of the Peak District is part of a large national park of the same name known for its picturesque scenery and an interesting assortment of biota (i.e. wildfire and greenery) found within its limits.

If hiking in the Peak District is not really your thing, there is plenty of alternatives in Sheffield proper. For entertainment options in the Steel City, then look no further as the city, one of Britain’s largest, is home to venues such as local nightclub The Leadmill (where our very own Arctic Monkeys have played at many times), leisure centre Ponds Forge (known for its swimming pools) and, of course, Valley Centertainment (an entertainment complex with proximity to both Meadowhall shopping centre and Sheffield Arena, which has undergone some name changes several times for promotional purposes in its three decades of operation).