Since moving to Singapore I have certainly lessened the amount of time I spend in a car however whenever I get the opportunity to have the car all to myself and not have to listen to ‘Disney Princesses or My Little Pony’ music I relish the chance to listen to my new addiction – Radio 4 Desert Island Discs.

Desert Island Discs is a radio show that recently celebrated 75 of broadcasting. Kirsty Young interviews a whole range of people, from all different backgrounds, the arts, science, popstars, authors and more. They have to choose 8 songs they would take to a desert island where they will be alone and they discuss why they have chosen them. At the end of the interview they are given the Bible or the Quran, a luxury item of their choice and just one track to take with them. As I absolutely love hearing people’s stories, I am constantly intrigued, amazed and educated by the mindset of what drove them forward in their lives, what they have learnt about themselves along the way and how the influences of their early lives impacted their choice of careers and lifestyles. Some of my recent highlights and learnings have been listening to Dame Judy Dench talk about stage fright saying that ‘fear is my petroleum, it fuels me’ and Kylie Minogue, when she was in a relationship with Michael Hutchence, the late lead singer of INXS, he told her to ‘put on her ego jacket on stage’ which Kylie delightfully changed into ‘I wear my tassels and feathers’ for extra confidence on stage. Nigel Owen, the International Rugby Coach, who finally found a way to change his bulimic behaviour ‘when he saw his mum dying of cancer’ and one of my favourites Nicola Adams, the world’s first female boxing Olympic Champion, how she positively anchors music to do her walk on from the changing room to the boxing ring and her visualisation techniques she has been using since her teens.

Listening to the show has also allowed me to hear more of a larger range of music, some that I totally resonate with and lots of new varieties and styles that I normally probably wouldn’t listen to otherwise. Dame Judy Dench also said that she ‘learns something new every day’, I really do look forward to getting into my car and discovering who is the latest person that I can listen to and learn from.

I invite you to download an episode (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnmr) and discover something about the person being interviewed and maybe learn something about yourself too. I wonder what your 8 songs would be, that would be good to know wouldn’t it?