Experience is Everything

Saga Group

Some moments change you. Some experiences turn you into a smarter, or more thoughtful, or tougher person. They build your resilience, your sense of humour and your empathy too. In Experience is Everything, the nation's favourite lexicographer and media personality Susie Dent talks to household names to find out what they’ve learned over their extraordinary lifetimes. In enthralling conversations with actors, comedians, athletes, musicians and celebrities we’ll discover the most surprising, comical and moving moments that made them who they are today… because there’s no substitute for experience.

Episodes

  1. Johnny Ball’s greatest stories – From Ringo Starr to Queen Elizabeth II

    28 APR

    Johnny Ball’s greatest stories – From Ringo Starr to Queen Elizabeth II

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning presenter and Countdown lexicographer Susie Dent discovers life lessons from living legends.  Johnny Ball has been in the entertainment industry for more than 60 years, from his days as a Butlins Redcoat to becoming one of the UK’s most beloved children’s TV presenters. He single-handedly made maths and science exciting for so many, turning educational television into an absolute must-watch. In this episode of Experience is Everything, Johnny talks to Susie about how he got the gig presenting hit children’s TV show Play School; what happened when he told the Duke of Edinburgh he had a crush on Queen Elizabeth IIl; and how he told The Beatles ‘there’s no money in n roll’. Saga Insurance exclusively designed for people over 50. When experience matters, choose Saga. Search Saga Insurance today. www.saga.co.uk/insurance  Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  YouTube: @EIEpod Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584091016049# Instagram: eiepod TikTok: eiepod Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    46 min

  2. 14 APR

    Jane Horrocks on Absolutely Fabulous and finding a purpose in life

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Jane Horrocks has one of the most recognisable voices in entertainment. Known for her strong Lancashire accent, she became a household name after being offered the role of the quirky Bubble in Absolutely Fabulous, and amazed us all with her ability to impersonate the greatest singers in the world in Little Voice. In this episode of Experience is Everything, Jane talks to Jenni about the moment she fell in love with acting; the support she has received from acting legends such as Alan Rickman; how her distinctive voice has become part of her personality; and how to find a purpose in life once your children have left home. • This podcast is brought to you by Saga Money - the personal finance experts for people over 50. Whether you want to save invest, review your will, release equity or get a mortgage, just go to⁠ Saga Money⁠: https://www.saga.co.uk/money Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  YouTube: @EIEpod https://www.youtube.com/@eiepod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61584091016049# Instagram: eiepod https://www.instagram.com/eiepod TikTok: eiepod https://www.tiktok.com/@eiepod Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    43 min

  3. 31 MAR

    Paul Lewis – “My cautiousness cost me money!”

    The whole Saga team and family is deeply saddened by the passing of Dame Jenni Murray, who had been the wonderful host of this podcast. This episode is one of two last interviews she had recorded with us, and with the permission of her family we are releasing them – as we believe Jenni would’ve wanted both to be seen and enjoyed by the public.  In the first of these, Jenni spoke with award-winning financial journalist and Saga columnist Paul Lewis, who has been advising us on what to do with our money for more than 40 years. He’s hosted Radio 4’s Moneybox programme since 2000 and is the author of six books. In this episode, Paul told Jenni that having a career as a financial journalist was not on the cards; the greatest lessons he has learnt about money; why we need to start spending our money; and the weirdest place he has been recognised. It’s a fascinating episode, and Jenni brings out insights throughout with her signature warmth and curiousness.  • Presented to you by Saga Boutique River Cruises. Sail away with so much included in the price. 2026 season on sale now, browse the full collection here. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  YouTube Facebook Instagram TikTok Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    42 min

  4. 10 MAR

    Prue Leith – On leaving Bake Off and finding love again at 70

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Dame Prue Leith has lived an eventful life. She blagged her way into cookery school, built a Michelin-starred restaurant from scratch, wrote sixteen cookery books and eight novels, and spent nearly a decade of British summers in a marquee judging cakes on The Great British Bake Off. Along the way she turned herself into one of the most recognisable and outspoken figures in the country. In this episode of Experience is Everything, Prue sits down with Jenni to talk about why she walked away from one of the best jobs on television, the complicated love story that began when she fell for her mother’s best friend’s husband, and why she has become one of the most passionate advocates for legalising assisted dying. She also reflects on the unexpected joys of later life, and why falling in love in your seventies can feel surprisingly like being a teenager again. • Saga Insurance exclusively designed for people over 50. When experience matters, choose Saga. Search Saga Insurance today. www.saga.co.uk/insurance  Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  YouTube: ⁠⁠@EIEpod⁠⁠  Facebook: ⁠⁠Experience Is Everything with Saga⁠⁠  Instagram: @⁠⁠eiepod⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠@eiepod⁠⁠ ⁠⁠saga.co.uk⁠⁠ ⁠⁠podmasters.co.uk Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    36 min

  5. 24 FEB

    Adjoa Andoh – On Bridgerton, punk music and growing up in the Cotswolds

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Actor Adjoa Andoh has done it all from theatre to TV, film, radio and audiobooks. Directing and starring in Shakespeare plays, gracing our television screens on shows such as Casualty and Doctor Who, and working on films like Invictus alongside Morgan Freeman and Matt Damon. Adjoa talks to Jenni about what it was like growing up in The Cotswolds in a mixed race family; accepting her first acting job at the same time she found out she was pregnant; how she has found juggling her work with motherhood; and whether she’ll be returning to Bridgerton as the sharp-witted Lady Danbury in series five! Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  This podcast is bought to you by Saga Money - the personal finance experts for people over 50. Whether you want to save invest, review your will, release equity or get a mortgage, just go to⁠ Saga Money⁠: https://www.saga.co.uk/money YouTube: ⁠@EIEpod⁠  Facebook: ⁠Experience Is Everything with Saga⁠  Instagram: @⁠eiepod⁠ TikTok: ⁠@eiepod⁠ Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. ⁠saga.co.uk⁠ ⁠podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    42 min

  6. 10 FEB

    Tanni Grey-Thompson – “My wheelchair gave me my life”

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Paralympian Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson has 11 golds, four silvers and one bronze medal to her name. She’s won the London Wheelchair Marathon six times, has held more than 30 world records, and now sits in the House of Lords advocating for people with disabilities. Tanni talks to Jenni about how her parents had to fight for her to go to a ‘normal’ school; how getting a wheelchair changed her life; what it feels like to lose; and how she has had to learn to ignore the opinions of others, especially when she fell pregnant with her daughter Carys.  Tune in for a powerful conversation about determination, dignity, and the strength it takes to define your own path. • Presented to you by Saga Boutique River Cruises. Sail away with so much included in the price. 2026 season on sale now, browse the full collection ⁠here⁠. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform. ⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Facebook ⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠ Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. ⁠⁠⁠saga.co.uk⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    43 min

  7. 29 JAN

    Alex Kingston - "When Strictly called, I knew it was now or never"

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Actor Alex Kingston has made it big on both sides of the Atlantic, from her role starring alongside George Clooney as Dr. Elizabeth Corday on ER, to playing the wife of Dr. Who, River Song.  Alex tells Jenni about how she survived heartbreak after the end of her first marriage to Ralph Fiennes; how she got her big break over in the States; how fighting cancer made her feel invincible; and the real reason she finally said yes to doing Strictly, after having turned it down time and time again. This podcast is bought to you by Saga Money - the personal finance experts for people over 50. Whether you want to save invest, review your will, release equity or get a mortgage, just go to Saga Money: https://www.saga.co.uk/money Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform.  YouTube: @EIEpod  Facebook: Experience Is Everything with Saga  Instagram: eiepod TikTok: eiepod Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    43 min

  8. 13 JAN

    Tim Spector – “I realised I really didn’t want to die in my fifties”

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.  Professor Tim Spector is one of the world’s leading experts in nutrition and gut health microbiome, having co-founded the personalised nutrition programme, Zoe. He is also a Professor at Kings College London and a best-selling author. But, becoming a doctor wasn’t always what he wanted to do. He explains to Jenni how he got into – and fell in love with medicine. Yet it wasn’t until a health scare in his fifties that the trajectory of his career was changed forever - along with his lifestyle. Tim talks to Jenni about the major moments in his life that have shaped the way he lives – and how surviving a helicopter crash on a skiing holiday made him determined to live to the full. • Presented to you by Saga Boutique River Cruises. Sail away with so much included in the price. 2026 season on sale now, browse the full collection here. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform. ⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Facebook ⁠⁠ ⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠ ⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠ Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. ⁠⁠saga.co.uk⁠⁠ ⁠⁠podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    38 min

  9. 30/12/2025

    Sir Trevor McDonald – “The news life is an addiction”

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends. Sir Trevor McDonald is one of Britain’s most beloved and influential journalists and newsreaders – but getting there wasn’t easy. He tells Jenni about the gulf between his dreams of a career in news and what his demanding parents wanted for him, the wrench of leaving his home country of Trinidad in 1969 to join the BBC World Service, and the cost of his determination and ambition on his family life. From covering the Troubles in Northern Ireland to landing the coveted position of newsreader on ITN’s News At Ten to world-exclusive interviews with Saddam Hussein, President George W Bush and Nelson Mandela, Sir Trevor reveals the lessons that drive his astonishing work ethic.  This episode is presented to you by Saga Boutique Cruises. Saga have created boutique cruises designed exclusively for the over 50s, with so much included in the price. 2026 season on sale now. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform. Follow us on: YouTube Facebook Instagram TikTok 00:00:00 Introduction & Welcome00:00:53 Trevor McDonald’s Childhood in Trinidad00:02:56 Importance of Education and Early Aspirations00:04:46 Choosing Journalism Over Traditional Careers00:06:43 The Role of Family and Work Ethic00:08:54 Preparing for Major Interviews (Saddam Hussein Example)00:11:02 Moving to London and Joining the BBC00:13:22 Transition to ITV and News at Ten00:15:12 Reporting in Northern Ireland: Experiences & Challenges00:17:41 Becoming a Celebrity News Anchor00:19:35 The Addictive Nature of Newsrooms00:21:28 Experiences with Racism and Diversity in Media00:23:42 Interviewing World Figures: Mandela, Saddam Hussein, Bush00:31:47 Covering Tragedies and Coping Emotionally00:34:27 Career Sacrifices and Family Impact00:36:47 Interracial Marriage and Children’s Experiences00:37:33 How Journalism Has Changed00:39:39 Interviewing Modern Political Figures: Trump Reflection00:41:48 Advice to His 18-Year-Old Self00:42:48 Reflections on Celebrity and Legacy00:43:29 Conclusion & Farewell Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    46 min

  10. 16/12/2025

    Tony Blackburn – “Retire? I’ve got a job to kill for!”

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray discovers life lessons from living legends.   This time Jenni hears the extraordinary story of one of the greatest broadcasters of all time. After cutting his teeth at sea on pirate radio, Tony Blackburn became the first voice on Radio One. He won the Radio Academy’s Lifetime Achievement Award twice and gained a new generation of fans when he became the very first winner of I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here. He tells Jenni how he faced success, setbacks, shipwrecks, a famous moment of on-air over-sharing during his divorce and much more with humour and humility. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform. ⁠YouTube⁠ ⁠Facebook ⁠ ⁠Instagram⁠ ⁠TikTok⁠ Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. ⁠saga.co.uk⁠ ⁠podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    46 min

  11. 01/12/2025

    Paul Merton – “You can cope with anything if you find the funny in it”

    NEW SERIES: Award-winning Radio 4 broadcaster and Daily Mail columnist Jenni Murray meets beloved household names and discovers the moments that changed them. What have they learned over their remarkable lifetimes? In an extraordinarily frank, funny and poignant first episode, Have I Got News For You’s comic mainstay Paul Merton explains how a love of comedy got him through some of the hardest moments of his life. He reveals how it helped him cope with the death of his wife, and tells how it got him through both life-threatening illness and hospitalisation for mental health issues. It’s an astonishing story of resilience and humour. Presented to you by Saga Boutique River Cruises. Sail away with so much included in the price. 2026 season on sale now, browse the full collection here. Find Experience is Everything every two weeks on your favourite podcast platform. • YouTube: @EIEpod • Facebook • Instagram: eiepod • TikTok: eiepod Experience is Everything is a Podmasters production for Saga. saga.co.uk podmasters.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    51 min

  12. TRAILER

    Experience is Everything - trailer

    Experience is Everything - the brand new podcast from Saga, interviewing national treasures and household names to discover the most surprising, comical and moving moments that made them who they are today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

    1 min

Trailer

4.7
out of 5
44 Ratings

About

Some moments change you. Some experiences turn you into a smarter, or more thoughtful, or tougher person. They build your resilience, your sense of humour and your empathy too. In Experience is Everything, the nation's favourite lexicographer and media personality Susie Dent talks to household names to find out what they’ve learned over their extraordinary lifetimes. In enthralling conversations with actors, comedians, athletes, musicians and celebrities we’ll discover the most surprising, comical and moving moments that made them who they are today… because there’s no substitute for experience.

Information

  • Creator
    Saga Group
  • Years Active
    2025 - 2026
  • Episodes
    12
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Saga Group Ltd / Podmasters 2026
  • Show Website
    Experience is Everything

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