Britain’s most unabashed Israel-lover Julie Burchill was in full swing when she was the guest of BBC Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs at the weekend.

Not only did she choose Hatikvah as her favourite disc, imagining listening to it while sipping home-made pineapple cocktails on her island: she also included two other Israel-themed records in her list of eight — Andy Williams’s theme song from the film Exodus and Ehud Banai’s reggae Hebrewman, which reminded her of happy times spent in Ivrit classes.

She also mentioned that she is a patron of the charity Safe Haven for Donkeys in the Holy Land, a title she shares with, among others, Uri Geller, Anne Widdecombe and Anthony Head (who is currently starring in Stephen Poliakoff’s BBC2 drama Dancing on the Edge).