Hello I'm Krestey Young and this is a podcast from the Desert Island Discs archive.

For rights reasons, we've had to shorten the music.

The program was originally broadcast in 1992,

and the presenter was Sue Lolly. My castaway this week is a rugby player.

My castaway this week is a rugby player. Three and a half years ago he fulfilled a dream he'd had at the age of six and became captain of England.

He was only 22, the youngest player in the team and the youngest to hold the captaincy for decades.

But youth has proved no obstacle to achievement.

England wasn't enjoying much success when he took charge,

but since then they've reached the final of the World Cup

and of course they've won the grand slam for the last two years

running. He is Will Carling. A dream since the age of six will I mean could you actually play

rugger at the age of six I think I started playing playing rugby at the age of six and a half or

seven. You know it's hard to say exactly when, but it was before I went to

prepsal because all I know was when I got there I just wanted to play rugby.

But it was always the oval ball was it? You never considered the round one?

No I didn't. I don't know why. My father used to play a lot. But he never forced me, but I think it was the fact that I watched

internationals and I used to love them. So it was, you know, rugby was, was it, I don't

know whether it was because it was slightly more physical and when I was young I thought that was great.

And were you quite a chunky chap? At that age I was quite big, yeah. So when you got to prep school you just kind of push the others out of the way and ran with the ball never passed it. Never passed the ball. Things haven't changed that. So from the very beginning you were really really competitive, naturally competitive for you?

I think it was, yeah.

I remember at cricket once I was given out and obviously I didn't agree with it and I stormed into what we had a little pavilion and threw my back down.

Turn around to see my mother who had come stormy after me and she gave me one of the hottest slaps I've ever had.

...