Desert Island Discs from outside. Roy Plomley enforced these rules strictly. He did, however, grant a special dispensation to Princess Michael of Kent, who chose her pet cat. The rules are, however, less strictly enforced today; for instance, Lawley allowed John Cleese to take Michael Palin with him, on the condition that he was dead and stuffed. Examples of luxuries have included champagne and a piano, the latter of which is one of the most requested luxuries. After Plomley's death in 1985, the programme was presented by Michael Parkinson and from 1988 by Sue Lawley. Lawley stepped down in August 2006 after 18
Michael Palin University-educated engineer working for a steel firm. His maternal grandfather, Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lockhart Ovey, DSO, was High Sheriff of Oxfordshire in 1927. He was educated at Birkdale and Shrewsbury School. His sister Angela was nine years older than he was. Despite the age gap the two had a close relationship until her suicide in 1987. He has ancestral roots in Letterkenny, County Donegal. When he was five years old, Palin had his first acting experience at Birkdale playing Martha Cratchit in a school performance of "A Christmas Carol". At the age of 10, Palin, still interested in acting, made a