How To Fail With Elizabeth Day Elizabeth Day

TW: addiction

Regular listeners of How To Fail will know that I love Peloton: the one-stop fitness workout which offers cycling, strength, yoga and more. THIS IS NOT AN AD, JUST A GENUINE FEELING! Anyway, the undisputed King of Peloton is Cody Rigsby - an instructor who brings a combination of poptastic joy and savage sass to the bike. He is one of the most popular instructors on the platform, with over 1 million Instagram followers, and counts Prime Minister Rishi Sunak amongst his die-hard fans.
But Rigsby had a tough upbringing: his father died of a drug overdose when Cody was just four months old. Raised by a single mother who also had addiction issues, Rigsby endured spells of homelessness and financial instability. Growing up queer in North Carolina, he struggled to find role models or representation, which is why, on the Peloton bike, he uses it as 'a Trojan horse' of acceptance. Rigsby also talks movingly for the first time about losing his friend Oliver to addiction and his belief that he failed to intervene until it was too late.
Even if you've never stepped foot near a Peloton, I promise you this is an interview that will move and entertain you in equal measure.

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My new book, FRIENDAHOLIC: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, is published tomorrow and is available to order - at half price - here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Cody Rigsby @codyrigsby

PINCH ME, IS THIS ACTUALLY HAPPENING? Yes, yes it is. Ok. Deep breaths. For my season finale, I bring you the one and only Bernie Sanders: the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history; unofficial leader of the US progressive movement and a two-time former Presidential candidate.
He joins me to talk about his failed attempts to win the Democratic Party nomination, his failure to make his high school basketball team and the time he unwittingly went viral for wearing a pair of mittens to President Biden's inauguration. It's a conversation that will make you think and possibly make you angry (but that, as he explains, can be a good thing).
It was an honour to meet Senator Sanders and although he doesn't much like talking about himself, I gave it my best shot. I think this is probably his most personal interview yet. I found his reflections on how his childhood shaped his political outlook really fascinating. And I posed so many questions about whether he cries and where he puts his disappointment that he actually asked me if it was a therapy session. My answer? 'Basically, yes.' He had the good grace to laugh.

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Bernie Sanders's new book, It's Ok To Be Angry About Capitalism is out now and available to order here.

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My new book, FRIENDAHOLIC: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, is published on 30th March and is now available to preorder - at half price - here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Bernie Sanders @berniesanders

For International Women's Day, I bring you - NO BIG DEAL - Margaret Atwood. The Booker-Prize winning author of numerous works including The Blind Assassin, Cat's Eye and Alias Grace, has been a pioneer in the depiction of women in literature, redefining the dystopian novel with her revolutionary 1985 book, The Handmaid's Tale, which went on to sell eight million copies and been adapted into a hit TV show.
Atwood's work is visceral, wise and sharply intelligent, so it's safe to say I was ever so slightly intimidated by the prosepct of interviewing her. But oh my goodness, what an utter delight she was. We talked about everything from astrology to cults to witchcraft and the scapegoating of women over the millennia. And we discuss her failures in needlework, musicals and a failed novel that led, circuitously, to the conception of The Handmaid's Tale.
I was on a high after this conversation for days and I hope you will be too.

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Margaret Atwood's new collection of short stories, Old Babes in the Wood, is out now and available to order here.

I can also highly recommend subscribing to her excellent Substack. She recently wrote here about her experience of coming on this podcast - including the email she sent me outlining her failures prior to recording which is quite possibly one of the most lyrical emails I've ever been sent. Find that here.

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My new book, FRIENDAHOLIC: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, will be published next month and is now available to preorder - at half price - here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Margaret Atwood @MargaretAtwood

One of the only times my friend Fran has been truly impressed by a podcast guest was when I sent her a picture of me recording with Greg James. During the pandemic, Fran and her family would listen to him on Radio 1 every morning and he helped them through those long lockdown days with a necessary a dose of good cheer.
Many people around the country will relate to that story: since 2018, Greg has hosted BBC Radio 1’s iconic breakfast show, attracting around five million listeners every day. He's got one of the most beloved and familiar voices in broadcasting, so it's a total joy to welcome him to How To Fail.
He joins me to talk about his failures in cricket, in fame and...dog ownership.

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Greg James's new Formula 1 podcast, The Fast and the Curious is available to listen wherever you get your podcasts, along with his cricketing podcast, Tailenders, and Teach Me A Lesson with Greg James and Bella Mackie.

His chldren's books, co-authored with Chris Smith, are avaialble to buy here.

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My new book, FRIENDAHOLIC: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, will be published next month and is now available to preorder - at half price - here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Greg James @gregjames

For a long time, Joan Bakewell has been a professional inspiration to me: a broadcasting superstar whose professional longevity is a testament to her talent, curiosity and hard work. She is a few months shy of her 90th birthday but still as busy as ever, presenting Portrait and Landscape Artist of the Year for Sky Arts. She’s also a peer of the realm and the president of Birkbeck, University of London.
Baroness Bakewell joins me to talk about her extraordinary career interviewing everyone from Marcel Duchamp to Nelson Mandela. Plus: sexism, class, her failure to become an actress, her memories of the Blitz, her two divorces and her long-running affair with the esteemed playwright Harold Pinter.
It was such an amazing conversation and a real honour for me to talk to this thoroughly wonderful woman.

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My new book, FRIENDAHOLIC: Confessions of a Friendship Addict, will be published next month and is now available to preorder - at half price - here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Joan Bakewell @JDBakewell

TW: rape, racism and transphobia

I have admired this woman from afar for many years and was so honoured when she agreed to sit down with me for How To Fail. Munroe Bergdorf is impossible to summarise: she is an activist, model, writer and broadcaster but those words can't accurately convey how much she has done to shape our culture.
In her UTTERLY BRILLIANT new book, Transitional, Munroe draws on her own experience to reveal just how deeply ingrained transitioning is in human experience. It's a book that explores change and the fluidity of identity and relationships, sexuality and gender and it's so, so powerful.
She joins me to talk about the long journey to live her truth and how she overcame a lack of self-worth to understand she was worthy of healthy relationships. We talk about how she navigated PTSD, panic attacks and anxiety and about her refusal to play by the rules.
It is an extraordinary conversation, as befits an extraordinary person. But please do be aware that we cover some traumatic territory, including Munroe's violent rape at the hands of a stalker. I am so grateful to Munroe for her courage in talking about it. Such stories are urgently necessary to share in order to attack misplaced stigma and shame, and Munroe emerges from everything she talks about with strength, grace and integrity intact. This is not a story of being defined by trauma, but of overcoming it - and of continuing to fight for change.

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Transitional by Munroe Bergdorf is published tomorrow and availabe to order here.

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod

Munroe Bergdorf @munroebergdorf