EPISODE · Apr 25, 2026 · 33 MIN

Adele Leigh

from Desert Island Discs · host BBC Radio 4

Of Adele Leigh, a critic once said that she put paid to the myth that to be good, a soprano had to look like a Hoffnung cartoon. The youngest principal of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden when she joined in 1948, she became a television star in the 1960s with the show All Kinds of Music and appearances on Eric Robinson’s Music For You. After leaving Covent Garden she married a diplomat and settled in Vienna where she began singing the operetta roles that were to bring her fame at the Volksoper there. In conversation with Michael Parkinson she looks back over her life and her career in music.[Taken from the original programme material for this archive edition of Desert Island Discs]Favourite track: Let's Do It by Noel Coward Book: Alice In Wonderland by Lewis Carroll Luxury: Loofah

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