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Julia Donaldson joins Vernon for Tracks Of My Years

Writer of The Gruffalo and now Britain's bestselling author, Julia Donaldson is Vernon's guest for Tracks Of My Years this week in the build up to World Book Day.

Britain's bestselling author, Julia Donaldson, is Vernon's guest for Tracks Of My Years all this week in the build up to World Book Day, selecting the ten songs that have soundtracked her life so far.

Julia is the brilliant writer behind an incredibly successful series of children's books, including The Gruffalo, Stick Man, Zog, Room on the Broom, The Smeds and the Smoos and many more. Her books have sold more than 50 million copies and have been translated into over a hundred languages and dialects across the world.

Born in 1948 and raised in north London, Julia was creative from a young age; inspired to write and perform after her father gave her the collection A Book of 1,000 Poems. At just 12, she landed an understudy role in A Midsummer Night鈥檚 Dream at the Bristol Old Vic alongside a young Judi Dench. She studied drama in Bristol and met her future husband Malcolm in 1969 when spending a summer in Paris. Together with other friends, they busked all over Europe, including performing songs that Julia would write. Back in the UK, she began writing music for children's television in the 70s, and it was this that led to her first book. A publisher asked Julia if she was interested in turning one of her songs into a book 鈥� 鈥楢 Squash and a Squeeze鈥� was then published in 1993. In 1999, she published The Gruffalo, inspired by a Chinese folk tale. It's become a well-loved classic and was followed by the sequel, The Gruffalo's Child, in 2004. Together, the two books have sold 18.2 million copies in 115 languages and dialects. Many of Julia's books have also been adapted into animations by the 麻豆社, most recently The Scarecrows' Wedding at Christmas.

Elsewhere on the show, Vernon dives into the 麻豆社 Archive for Vernon's Vault, and two listeners take on the mid-morning music quiz Ten To The Top.

A 麻豆社 Audio production for 麻豆社 Radio 2.

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2 hours, 30 minutes

Last on

Monday 09:30
麻豆社 Radio 2

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Music Played

  • Wham!

    The Edge Of Heaven

    • Wham - The Best Of Wham!.
    • Epic.

  • Simply Red

    Something Got Me Started

    • Simply Red Greatest Hits.
    • East West Records.

  • Myles Smith & Niall Horan

    Drive Safe

    • (CD Single).
    • RCA.

  • Ed Sheeran & Justin Bieber

    I Don't Care

    • No.6 Collaborations Project.
    • Atlantic.

  • The Beautiful South

    Perfect 10

    • (CD Single).
    • Mercury.

  • The Lightning Seeds

    Lucky You

    • Lightning Seeds - Jollification.
    • Epic.

  • Holly Humberstone

    To Love Somebody

    • Cruel World.
    • Polydor.

  • Frank Sinatra

    Theme From New York, New York

    • Frank Sinatra - The Reprise Years.
    • Reprise.

  • Alex Warren

    FEVER DREAM

    • (CD Single).
    • Atlantic.

  • Rihanna

    Umbrella (feat. JAY-Z)

    • Now That's What I Call Music 67.
    • NOW.

  • T. Rex

    Get It On

    • Million Sellers Vol.19 - The Seventie.
    • Disky.

  • Harry Styles

    Aperture

    • Kiss All The Time. Disco, Occasionally.
    • Columbia.

  • Creedence Clearwater Revival

    Bad Moon Rising

    • Green River.
    • Fantasy.
    • 1.

  • The Trammps

    Disco Inferno

    • NOW Boogie Nights - Disco Classics (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • Gorillaz

    Orange County (feat. Bizarrap, Kara Jackson & Anoushka Shankar)

    • The Mountain.
    • AWAL.

  • Roxy Music

    Same Old Scene

    • The Best Of.
    • EG Records.

  • The Mock Turtles

    Can You Dig It?

    • Drivetime 3 (Various Artists).
    • Dino.

  • Darius Rucker & 麻豆社 Concert Orchestra

    Come Fly With Me (Radio 2 Piano Room, 9 Feb 2026)

  • Luke Combs

    Sleepless In A Hotel Room

    • The Way I Am.
    • Columbia Nashville.

  • HUNTR/X

    Golden

    • K-Pop Demon Hunters O.S.T. (Various Artists).
    • Republic.

  • Sandie Shaw

    (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me

    • NOW That's What I Call A 60s & 70s Summer: Seasons In The Sun (Various Artists).
    • Now.

  • Ann Stephens

    Dicky Bird Hop

    • Teddy Bears鈥� Picnic.
    • Flapper.

  • RAYE

    Nightingale Lane.

    • THIS MUSIC MAY CONTAIN HOPE..
    • RAYE.

Broadcast

  • Monday 09:30
    麻豆社 Radio 2

Ten To The Top

Ten To The Top

Get all the details of how to enter and listen to Vernon's daily music quiz.