The best Desert Island Discs with sports stars, from Jill Scott to Ian Wright

Ellie Harrison looks back on the interviews with sports heroes that have made us laugh and cry

Footballers Jill Scott and Ian Wright (Getty)

We’ve all felt the effects of a good episode of Desert Island Discs – crying on the commute, laughing to ourselves in public, singing as we potter about the house. There’s something about the format of the Radio 4 interview show, in which stars choose meaningful songs from their lives, that seems to make people open up in the most moving way. Perhaps it has something to do with the prospect of being cast away to a lonely island.

Another national love that often leaves us blubbing is sport. So with the women’s World Cup in full flow and England through to the quarter finals, what better time to celebrate some of the best Desert Island Discs episodes from the UK’s sportspeople? We’ve noticed a theme among them, by the way: they all really love a euphoric, inspirational anthem.

Here are the sports Desert Island Discs that have, well, knocked it out of the park…

Jill Scott (2023)

Lauren Laverne’s interview with Jill Scott, who played football for England 161 times before her retirement last year, made us laugh and cry. Scott told a brilliant anecdote about picking up her MBE at a Warrington post office in lockdown, but broke our hearts with accounts of what it was like to play as a little girl against boys whose parents would yell abuse.

“If I beat their precious son, I remember people shouting things at us at the age of nine, like ‘Break that girl’s legs’ and ‘Kick her’,” she said. But resilience got her through, and her music choices reflected that, with picks such as Whitney Houston’s cover of “Step by Step” and Labi Siffre’s “(Something Inside) So Strong”.

Ronnie O’Sullivan (2023)

The greatest player in the history of snooker opened up to Laverne about the moment he knew he was made for the game aged 12, his depression and struggles with alcohol and drugs, and how his father being jailed for murder affected him.

“It was horrendous, it was horrible. I lost my best mate, I lost my backbone. I lost the plot a bit,” he said. He also talked about his love of running and how that helps his mental health, as well as his passion for making art with his friend Damien Hirst. His luxury item was the paints he uses to paint dot pictures with Hirst, as that’s one of the ways he copes with stress.

Ronnie O’Sullivan

Ian Wright (2020)

There was not a dry eye in Britain as Wrighty told Laverne about the teacher who changed his life. The former Arsenal and England footballer credited Mr Pidgen with being the first person to give him a sense of responsibility, which came in contrast to the tough stories he told about his absent father and his violent stepfather.

“I don’t know why [Mr Pidgen] chose me but he did,” said Wright. “He gave me responsibility, I used to collect the registers from the teachers, then they made me milk monitor. It was really good, I just felt important. He wouldn’t let me play football if he heard I’d been naughty in class. He just gave me a sense of feeling like I had some use… He was the greatest man in the world.” Wright cried. We all cried. It was wonderful.

Ian Wright (The FA via Getty Images)

Tony Adams (2010)

Adams, another former Arsenal and England footballer, gave Kirsty Young a candid account of his recovery from alcoholism. He talked about how, at his lowest and when he was a young player, he would drink so much that he would pass out and wet the bed, with his mother silently hanging the mattress out of the window to dry the next day.

One of the songs he chose was Neil Diamond’s “Sweet Caroline”, which he dedicated to his mother, saying it made him cry. His luxury item? A football, of course.

Kelly Holmes (2006)

Olympic athlete Holmes told anecdotes about a career blighted by injury. She bowed out of the 1996 Olympics due to a fracture; won a bronze medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics despite considerable physical pain; and several times appeared close to retirement as a result of a series of health problems.

Her mental health also suffered, and she opened up about this on the programme, telling Sue Lawley, “I became depressed and I cut myself… You don’t ever think you are going to, but I got desperate for things to go right, you know?”

Kelly Holmes (Getty Images)

Andrew Flintoff (2015)

Former England cricketer Flintoff, known better as “Freddie” and for being a brash, boisterous lad, showed his more considered, vulnerable side on Desert Island Discs, speaking to Young about his issues with alcohol and depression.

“When you are drinking because you are trying to get away from something. I think that is when you have got to look at everything,” he said. He also discussed how his father taught him to play cricket and played hits from Elton John’s “Rocket Man” to Judy Garland’s “Over the Rainbow”.

At the end of the interview, Young said in her warm, wise way, “Thank you, Andrew. Because I think that’s who I’ve met today.”

David Beckham (2017)

The former England captain talked to Young about his many career highs and lows, from receiving death threats after famously being sent off against Argentina in the 1998, to his score from the halfway line against Wimbledon in 1996, and his constant striving to make his father proud – the first time his dad told him he’d done really well was when he got his 100th cap for England in 2008.

His musical choices included hits from Elton John and Rolling Stones – but none from the Spice Girls. His wife, Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckam, can’t have been happy about that!

Nicola Adams (2016)

Boxer and Olympic gold medallist Adams told Young the story of how she only got into boxing by chance, when her child minder cancelled so she ended up accompanying her mother to the gym, where she was put into a junior boxing club to keep her occupied while her mother did an aerobics class.

Adams also recalled the moment when, aged 14, she and her brother had to rush her mum to hospital when, unbeknown to her children, she was seriously ill with meningitis. Her mother recovered, but Adams and her brother were forced to “grow up quite quickly” after the incident as their mum slowly regained her strength.

If you have been affected by this article, you can contact the following organisations for support: actiononaddiction.org.uk, mind.org.uk, nhs.uk/livewell/mentalhealth, mentalhealth.org.uk.