The head of a mental health charity will open up about her pioneering journalism, her exotic childhood and her romantic affairs on BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs on Sunday.

Marjorie Wallace, of Highgate Village, will choose music to accompany the dramatic chapters in her life, from her African childhood and turbulent marriage to Polish Count Skarbek, to raising her children alone while travelling the country to interview the victims of Thalidomide for articles in The Sunday Times.

The former mistress of Lord Snowdon will also tell of how she founded mental health charity SANE after reporting on the suffering of those with mental illness.

Finally, she will speak about the 10 years she spent caring for her partner, Tom Margerison, before his death from Parkinson’s Disease last year.

When he became unable to speak coherently, the couple communicated by duetting songs from great musicals.

Listen to Ms Wallace being interviewed by Kirsty Young on Radio 4 at 11.15am.