Crisis What Crisis‪?‬ Andy Coulson

Over a long walk in the Scottish Highlands, I had good natter with one of Britain’s top comedy talents, Fred MacAulay – a true master of the art of stand up.  Having performed at The Edinburgh Fringe 29 times, Fred was a regular voice on BBC Scotland Radio for almost 18 years and now hosts on Greatest Hits Radio. He has also appeared on our screens on Mock the Week, QI and Have I got News For You.  

Fred, however, is no stranger to the difficulties life can throw at us … and in this episode he talks movingly about dealing with the death of his father to cancer, his son’s health battles and his own crisis of confidence when his long running radio show was suddenly taken off air.  

N.B. This was recorded whilst hiking so, as men of a certain age , our apologies for the occasional breathlessness!         

Charitable Associations
Prostate Cancer: https://prostatecanceruk.org/
Type 1 Diabetes: https://jdrf.org.uk/  

Links
Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Jill Halfpenny – the familiar and popular face on Britain’s televisions who has opened up about the terrible losses she has suffered and how she got through - shares her three crisis comforts.   

Full episode 
https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/jill-halfpenny-on-navigating-loss-living-with-grief-and-rediscovering-joy/  

Book
A Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss, 2024.  

Links    
Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com   

From the age of 13, Jill has been a familiar and popular face in the sitting rooms of Britain in shows from Byker Grove, Coronation Street and EastEnders to Humans. She won an Olivier award for her role in the musical Legally Blonde and was, of course, a Strictly Come Dancing champion in 2004.
But hidden beneath her incredible and durable career, Jill has suffered terrible loss, both as a child and more recently. At just four years old, she faced the sudden and heartbreaking death of her father to a heart attack. Then in 2017, in cruelly similar circumstances, her partner, Matt, died in their local gym. A devastating blow for Jill and her nine-year-old son Harvey.  
Jill has brilliantly documented how those terrible events impacted and shaped her in her book A Life Reimagined. In this conversation we talk about the practical methods she has deployed to navigate the multiple crises in her life.  

Book A Life Reimagined: My Journey of Hope in the Midst of Loss, 2024.  

Links    
Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com   

Christian O’Connell – the radio presenter who has opened up about his crippling panic attacks, life changing therapy and the danger zone of men’s mental health – shares his three crisis comforts.  

Full episode 
https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/christian-oconnell-on-panic-attacks-a-professional-unravelling-and-how-story-telling-saved-him/  

Links    
https://christianoconnell.com/  

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com

Radio presenter Christian O’Connell talks to Andy about his crippling panic attacks, life changing therapy and the danger zone of men’s mental health. As a young teenager Christian was hit with anxiety - beginning, as he puts it ‘as a whisper’ - until it forced him off air … leading him to leave Britain’s most popular breakfast show and risk it all on a life in Australia.  
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From working as a dustman, being fired from hospital radio and working in telesales - Christian O’Connell went on to host the Number 1 breakfast show on Absolute Radio and pick up 11 Sony Radio Academy Gold Awards. He was at the peak of his career, yet behind the scenes he was at his lowest point.  

In 2018, after suffering a series of acute panic attacks, he finally sought help with the support of his wife, and then took a huge risk and uprooted his family to the other side of the world. This move to Australia however was met with more challenges of its own as Christian struggled to be accepted.  

He talks candidly and with real emotion about how he had to build a new life, take care of his family and reach another peak in his career. Christian is arguably a national treasure both here and Down Under – his is a story of remarkable resilience and one we can all learn from.  

Links    
https://christianoconnell.com/  

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com   

Ben Goldsmith – the passionate environmentalist and financier who tragically lost his 15-year-old daughter in an accident on a farm in Somerset - shares his three crisis comforts.  

Full episode https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/ben-goldsmith-on-losing-his-daughter-iris-a-desperate-search-for-meaning-and-how-nature-saved-him/  

Ben’s Crisis Comforts:   
   Wild swimming. Anywhere I go, I love to swim in wild water. In the sea, swimming in the sea, we all love it, but swimming in rivers, ponds, I find that somehow cleanses me of emotional overload.   Walking in nature. I think we need this every day. If I don’t spend a little bit of time in nature, just for a few moments each day I start to feel short of something. I start to feel anxious.   Playing with children. Just rolling around on the floor with children and playing games and you know, just losing yourself in play with children, your own or someone else’s, I think is enormously cathartic. Links: 
Ben’s book: God Is An Octopus: https://amzn.to/3Iei6ub 
Ben’s podcast - Rewilding the World with Ben Goldsmith: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/rewilding-the-world-with-ben-goldsmith/id1685196752 
The Iris Project: https://theirisproject.org/ 
Ben’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/BenGoldsmith?s=20  

Stream/buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm    
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk      
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682    

Host – Andy Coulson   
CWC team: Jane Sankey, Louise Difford, Mabel Pickering   
With special thanks to Ioana Barbu and the brilliant people at Global      

For all PR and guest approaches please contact – podcast@coulsonpartners.com