Stars back Desert Island host

LAUREN Laverne has thanked fans for their support after she was savaged for her hosting of Desert Island Discs.

Laverne, 41, stepped in for Kirsty Young after she left the Radio 4 show due to illness. Young, 50, recently announced that she will not return.

In an article for The Spectator magazine, Melanie McDonagh claimed Laverne ‘runs Kathy Clugston of Gardeners’ Question Time close as the worst appointment Radio 4 has made in its apparent effort to alienate its listeners’.

But a host of people, including Little Britain comic Matt Lucas and author Irvine Welsh, were quick to defend Laverne. Yesterday, the DJ thanked listeners for their support, tweeting: ‘Today has been an entirely unexpected inventory of who is in my corner. I have to say I couldn’t be happier.’