Is a ‘desert island pin-up’ a thing? In 1983, the Observer decided it was, and quizzed a variety of celebrity castaways on who would keep them cheerful pinned to the wall of their huts as they awaited rescue.
Most chose classic beauties who would provide plentiful erotic daydreaming material for long, dehydrated, sunburnt days and mosquito-tormented nights. For Clive James, that was Rita Hayworth and his tribute to her was poetic: ‘Only energy can have such an outline,’ he wrote. ‘She danced beside Fred Astaire as if he had thought of her.’ Taki, described as ‘high-lifer and Spectator columnist’, plumped for Ava Gardner, praising her ‘mystery and delicacy’, while Kingsley Amis went for Faye Dunaway: ‘All you’ve ever wanted and ought not to have even if you could get it.’
