Later this afternoon I’m having a chat on Zoom with the prolific long-distance cyclist Frank Burns. Some of you may know him from the Cycle Touring Festival at which (like me) he is a serial attendee and occasional speaker. More, perhaps, on the outcome of our discussion at another time. The reason I mention him now is that I noticed earlier today that he had posted something the Cycle Touring Festival Facebook page about the cycling travel writer Dervla Murphy having appeared on Desert Island Discs in 1993. She was 61 at the time and she chose as her book The Diary of Samuel Pepys and her luxury was ‘a still to distill berries etc… into drink‘. Well, she is Irish after all. I’ve just listened to the whole programme whilst having a post-run bath and it’s highly recommended.

Here is the link to the programme on BBC Sounds.

It got me thinking which other cyclists had appeared on the show; there have, after all, been over 2,200 episodes of the programme since it started in 1942. Alas I could only find a database that includes names, chosen books and luxuries. But that did allow me to see who had chosen a ‘bicycle’ or ‘bike’ as their luxury…

Those choosing a ‘bicycle’ were:

*He appeared again in 1984 and changed this to ‘a photograph of my wife’.

…and just one person choosing a ‘bike’. I assume Dennis is referring to a push bike rather than a motorbike but you never know.

UPDATE: Here are a few snippets; Dervla Murphy (1993), Lewis Wolpert (1996), Kitty Godfree (1987), Michael White (1996) and Dennis Skinner (1990) – it was definitely a push bike, a mountain bike!

Photo credits: BBC / 2011 GAMMA-RAPHO/NUTAN

Audio credit: BBC