John Graham

Kirsty Young's castaway is the crossword compiler John Graham.

Now aged 90, he works under the name Araucaria and, for more than fifty years, has infuriated, intrigued and entertained with fiendish clues and mind-twisting anagrams.

Like his father and grandfather he became a vicar but, when divorce forced him to leave the church, crosswords provided an unlikely source of revenue.

Of the skills needed to dream up cryptic clues, he says: "So much of it is something that goes on unconsciously. You see the word, you play with it in your mind, you don't actually think about the punters at all at that stage, you try and do it for yourself. I hope that it equips one for life in the sense that it makes one think more clearly and that can only be good."

Record: Haydn - The Heavens are Telling Book: The complete works of Saki. Luxury: A telescope

Producer: Leanne Buckle.

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Jaksot(209)

Commander Chris Hadfield

Commander Chris Hadfield

Kirsty Young's castaway is Chris Hadfield.He was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station and took part in three space missions spending a total of 166 days orbiting the Earth. ...

20 Joulu 201535min

Kylie Minogue

Kylie Minogue

Kirsty Young's castaway is Kylie Minogue.With seven number ones and ten million singles sold in the UK, she is the third-biggest selling female artist in Britain and has sold around 70 million records...

13 Joulu 201535min

Atul Gawande

Atul Gawande

Kirsty Young's castaway is the surgeon, author and former Reith lecturer, Atul Gawande.A general and endocrine surgeon in Boston, he is professor in both the Department of Health Policy & Management a...

6 Joulu 201534min

Sandi Toksvig

Sandi Toksvig

Kirsty Young's castaway this week is Sandi Toksvig.Host of BBC Radio 4's News Quiz until June 2015, she is also a writer and comedian and recently entered the world of politics, helping to found the W...

29 Marras 201535min

Gurinder Chadha

Gurinder Chadha

Kirsty Young's castaway is filmmaker Gurinder Chadha.Writer, director and producer behind the films Bend it like Beckham, Bhaji on the Beach and Bride and Prejudice, she began her career as a BBC news...

22 Marras 201532min

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon

Rt Hon Nicola Sturgeon

Kirsty Young's castaway is the Right Honourable Nicola Sturgeon, MSP.Leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and the fifth First Minister of Scotland in the devolved era, she is the first woman to...

15 Marras 201534min

Lord Indarjit Singh

Lord Indarjit Singh

Kirsty Young's castaway is the broadcaster and religious leader, Lord Indarjit Singh. Creator of The Sikh Messenger newspaper and co-founder of the Inter Faith Network he also has the distinction of ...

13 Marras 201535min

Marjorie Wallace

Marjorie Wallace

Kirsty Young's castaway is the mental health campaigner and Chief Executive of SANE, Marjorie Wallace.After leaving University College London with a psychology and philosophy degree, her first job in ...

1 Marras 201536min

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