Michael Morpurgo

Sue Lawley's castaway this week is the widely respected children's author and the current Children's Laureate Michael Morpurgo. He styles himself as a 'story-teller/writer' and the themes he explores are the relationships between young and old, children and animals and children's experiences of loneliness and self-reliance. He was initially planning on a career in the military and trained at Sandhurst, but a change of direction led him to study English at university and become a teacher and then, when he was aware his class were bored with a book he was reading to them, started telling them his own stories.

Together with his wife, Clare, he set up the charity Farms for City Children in Devon to give inner-city children the opportunity to experience life on a farm, working with animals and being close to nature. The charity now has three farms and they have been visited by more than 30,000 children. He is the third Children's Laureate and says he is devoted to giving children a love of books and reading. His own works include War Horse, Kensuke's Kingdom, Why the Wales Came and, most recently, Private Peaceful.

[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]

Favourite track: Spem In Alium by Thomas Tallis Book: The Rattlebag: An Anthology of Poetry by Ted Hughes Luxury: Waterslide