Desert Island Discs - The theme tune meddling of 1964 - BBC Home Service

Desert Island Discs was the brainchild of Roy Plomley. It has been a fixture on the wireless in Britain since 1942 - a programme that's as familiar and comfortable to generations of Brits as an armchair and an old pair of slippers.
The BBC wouldn't mess with such a beloved national treasure, would they?
Oh yes - they most certainly would!
In 1964 that oh-so-familiar theme tune was changed. Gone were the gentle waves. The herring gulls were replaced by tropical birdsong, and a new arrangement of the theme tune 'By The Sleepy Lagoon' by Eric Coates was used. It must have caused outrage amongst the gentlefolk of Tunbridge Wells and Leamington Spa.
However, back in those days the BBC occasionally listened to its audience and of course the familiar intro and theme tune were restored after a short absence.
Over the years Desert Island Discs has moved from The BBC Forces Programme to The BBC Home Service to The BBC Light Programme back to The Home Service and finally to Radio 4.
The avuncular Roy Plomley remains by far the longest serving presenter - 43 years from 1942 to 1985 (except for one episode where Plomley was the castaway and Eamonn Andrews hosted the programme instead). Always erudite and polite, Roy Plomley was only 28 when Desert Island Discs began, yet he sounded much more mature than his years.
Subsequent presenters have been:
Michael Parkinson (1986–1988)
Sue Lawley (1988–2006)
Kirsty Young (2006–2018)
Lauren Laverne (2018–present)
As you will hear in these clips, in the early years the continuity announcer spoke over the theme tune to explain the premise of the programme - ie if the guest were a castaway on a desert island, which eight gramophone records would they choose to take with them?
The host has always encouraged the castaway to talk about their life and career, but in earlier years a great deal was made of whether the guest thought they would cope on a desert island.