Bill Gates
Kirsty Young interviews entrepreneur and philanthropist Bill Gates.
Kirsty Young's castaway is Bill Gates.
He sat at his first computer while still at school in Seattle, wrote his first computer programme aged just 13 and went on to co-found the company Microsoft, becoming one of the key figures of the technological revolution. In 2000, he and his wife, Melinda, launched the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation which has given to date over $34 billion to projects aimed at reducing health inequality around the world.
Born into a professional family - his father was a lawyer, his mother a former teacher who later became involved with volunteer work - he was introduced to the idea of 'giving back' at an early age. An avid reader as a child, he attended Harvard where in his sophomore year he and Paul Allen developed software for the first micro-computers. The company would go on to achieve huge success with its Windows operating system.
By 1987, Gates had become the world's youngest self-made billionaire, then worth $1.25 billion. Consistently listed as the Richest Man in the World, he stepped down as CEO of the company in 2000 although he remained as Chairman until 2014.
These days his primary focus is his philanthropy. In 2010, Gates and his friend Warren Buffett announced the Giving Pledge which aims to inspire the wealthy people of the world to give away the majority of their net worth to worthy causes.
Producer: Cathy Drysdale.
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Clips
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Bill Gates: ‘I got pretty obsessed’
Duration: 04:14
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Bill Gates: ‘Steve was an incredible genius’
Duration: 02:08
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Bill Gates: ‘We were stunned to realise $1000 could save a life’
Duration: 00:50
Music Played
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Queen & David Bowie
Under Pressure
- Best of Bowie.
- EMI.
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CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE
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Willie Nelson
Blue Skies
- Legend: The Best of Willie Nelson.
- Sony BMG.
-
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Ed Sheeran
Sing
- X.
- Asylum Records.
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The Jimi Hendrix Experience
Are You Experienced?
- Are You Experienced?.
- MCA.
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Mary J. Blige & U2
One
- Achtung Baby.
- Island.
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The Beatles
Two of Us
- Let It Be.
- Apple.
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Rodgers & Hammerstein
How Can Love Survive?
Performer: Kurt Kasznar & Marion Marlowe.- Original Broadway Cast Recording.
- Sony Classical/Columbia/Legacy.
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Lin-Manuel Miranda, Anthony Ramos, Daveed Diggs, Okieriete Onaodowan, Leslie Odom Jr.
My Shot
- Hamilton (Original Broadway Cast Recording).
- Atlantic Records.
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BOOK CHOICE
The Better Angels of Our Nature by Steven Pinker
LUXURY ITEM
DVD Collection of Lectures from The Teaching Company
Credits
Role | Contributor |
---|---|
Presenter | Kirsty Young |
Interviewed Guest | Bill Gates |
Producer | Cathy Drysdale |
Broadcasts
- Sun 31 Jan 2016 11:15BBC Radio 4
- Fri 5 Feb 2016 09:00BBC Radio 4
Featured in...
Desert Island Discs Archive: 2016-2018—Desert Island Discs
Guests are invited to choose the eight records they would take to a desert island.
Podcast
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Desert Island Discs
Castaway guests share the soundtrack of their lives.