Dara Ó Briain has toured the world as a stand-up comedian, and hosted the BBC’s satirical series Mock the Week for 17 years. A science graduate with a love of astronomy, he co-presented the BBC series Stargazing Live with Professor Brian Cox, and is a regular guest on television quizzes and panel shows.

Dara grew up in Bray, County Wicklow and attended Irish language schools, playing for the Gaelic football and hurling teams. He studied mathematical physics at University College Dublin where he took part in debating competitions and discovered a flair for getting laughs from an audience.

In 2001 he moved to the UK and, alongside performing at comedy gigs, he started appearing on television shows including Never Mind the Buzzcocks and Have I Got News For You. His love of mathematics came to the fore when he presented the game show School of Hard Sums and he has gone on to write popular science books for children.

Dara continues to perform stand-up and, when he’s not touring what he calls his conversational and whimsical style of comedy, he lives in London with his wife and three children.

DISC ONE: Kiss - Prince & The Revolution
DISC TWO: Requiem in D Minor, K. 626: No 1, Introitus and Kyrie - Requiem and Kyrie. Composed by Mozart and performed by London Symphony Orchestra and London Symphony chorus, conducted by Sir Colin Davis
DISC THREE: Glanfaidh Mé - Kíla
DISC FOUR: Groove is in the Heart - Deee-Lite
DISC FIVE: Cuba Libre - Gloria Estefan
DISC SIX: All About My Girl - Jimmy McGriff
DISC SEVEN: Piazza, New York Catcher - Belle and Sebastian
DISC EIGHT: Adagio for Strings. Composed by Samuel Barber and performed by Berliner Symphoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle

BOOK CHOICE: The Feynman Lectures on Physics by Richard Feynman
LUXURY ITEM: Astrophotography equipment
CASTAWAY'S FAVOURITE: Groove is in the Heart - Deee-Lite

Presenter Lauren Laverne
Producer Paula McGinley