18/4/81: Princess Grace of Monaco on Desert Island Discs

On Saturday 18 April 1981, Princess Grace of Monaco (née Grace Kelly, 1929), on the occasion of her 25th wedding anniversary, was the guest on Roy Plomley's radio programme Desert Island Discs on BBC Radio Four.

Princess Grace chose the eight records she would take to a desert island as well as choosing two pillows as a luxury object and the plays of her uncle George Kelly. Her favourite piece of music was Chopin's Berceuse in D flat major, Op. 57.

Grace Kelly died in September 1982 after suffering a stroke while driving her car.

Source: BBC Desert Island Discs, BBC Genome

23/1/81: Samuel Barber dies

On Friday 23 September, American composer Samuel Barber (b. 1910) died in his New York apartment. He had twice won the Pulitzer Prize and his Adagio for Strings has become one of the most popular works in the orchestral canon.

The New York Times described him as "a calm, reticent man whose white hair and handsome head lent him in his later years the look of a Roman senator".

Source: New York Times archive