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Anna Ford's appearance on Desert Island Discs today gives her an opportunity to kick Mark Thompson over discrimination against older women on the screens of the BBC.

It's in contrast to her last media outing, with the Telegraph's Judith Woods in January, in a piece entitled "This may be the last interview I ever give". Says Judith of her subject, she has nothing to sell and, far from being an attention junkie, claims she would happily give her fame away “to a passing tramp”.

But wait....there is one thing, she admits, that would instantly coax her out of her quietude – a phone call from Kirsty Young. “The one programme I would love to appear on is Desert Island Discs,” she glows. “That’s the ultimate accolade, much better than winning any award. “If I were shipwrecked on a desert island, I would take with me a recording of the sound of English birdsong. Could there be anything more life-affirming?”