How To Fail With Elizabeth Day Elizabeth Day

TW: This is an episode in which we talk about violence, loss and grief.

This bonus episode is one of the most special, moving encounters I've ever had while doing this podcast. It was prompted by an incredible book I read while I was away over Christmas - a book unlike any other. But to explain how it came about, I need to take you back a few years.
On 31st October 2015, 20-year-old Morgan Hehir was walking home after a night out with friends when he was viciously attacked by a group of strangers and stabbed in a random act of violence. He died later in hospital. In the aftermath of this tragedy, his father, Colin, started keeping a diary both of his grief and of his long fight to bring his son's killer to justice.
That diary has now been turned into an extraordinary book, About A Son, written by the acclaimed novelist David Whitehouse. It’s a book that moved me to tears with its empathy and precision. And it’s a book that has brought me to Colin Hehir, who is today's guest on this very special episode of How To Fail.

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About a Son is published tomorrow. You can order it here: shorturl.at/behiI

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MAGPIE, my latest novel, is out now in the UK in paperback. You can order it here: shorturl.at/iuDEN

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

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

Colin Hehir @Hairy007

So many people have requested this guest and now I'm beyond thrilled to oblige! Yes, that's right it's author Candice Carty-Williams whose first novel, Queenie, became a publishing sensation. Queenie won the 2019 Book of the Year at the British Book Awards making Carty-Williams the first Black author to do so.
Now, her second novel People Person is about to be published, a TV adaptation of Queenie for Channel 4 is in the works and she’s writing an original drama for the BBC.
She joins me to talk about growing up in South London, re-writing her novel through lockdown, why she regrets not having therapy sooner and what she's learned about boundaries. Plus: Amy Winehouse. She also opens up about the death of one of her closest friends and what it taught her. And: why readers assuming her books are autobiographical is actually kind of annoying.

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People Person is published next month but you can pre-order it here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/people-person/candice-carty-williams/9781398710542

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

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

Candice Carty-Williams @candicec_w

I'm launching a BRAND NEW PODCAST, hosted with my best friend (and professional therapist) Emma Reed Turrell. Best Friend Therapy launches on 28th March. Search for it wherever you get your podcasts and hit the subscribe button now to make sure you never miss an episode! Two best friends. One therapist. Zero filter.

Yes, it's the one and only Top Boy himself: Ashley Walters. As Dushane, the East London drug kingpin in Netflix's hit show Top Boy, Walters is our favourite kind of antihero - and it’s a role he’s about to reprise for the fourth series.
He joins me to talk about his own upbringing in Peckham, South London, an only child raised on a council estate by his mother, Pamela, and what it was like combining that reality with a burgeoning love for acting which sometimes felt like a double life. Plus, his failure to have invented Deliveroo (it's a long story), what prison taught him, the failure of toxic masculinity, his failure to remember lines and what being recognised by strangers has made him feel about this inner worth. I love love LOVE this episode because Ashley was so open and vulnerable in a way that just adds to his power. Enjoy!

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

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

Ashley Walters @ashleywalters

Yes, it's the SEASON FINALE so you bet I'm going to use CapsLock. And for our final episode of Season 13, I speak to the cooking legend that is Delia Smith.
But if you're expecting a chat about her failure to poach an egg in 1986, you're very much mistaken. Because, at 80, Delia has just written a new book about the meaning of life. Called You Matter, it's an insightful inquisition into what it is to be human. She joins me to talk about human evolution and where it's leading us, as well as why failure is an integral part of getting to know ourselves.
This is such an interesting episode: I loved chatting to Delia but we didn't spend that long on her actual three failures. Instead we talked more broadly about life, love, loss, faith, meditation (without using that specific word) and everything in between. She tells me about what it's like to be a cooking icon, why she hates Masterchef and the sous-vide machine and yes, we do talk about THAT moment of 'let's be having you' at the Norwich City football match. She opens up about being a woman who doesn't have children in the public eye, her failure to pass the 11 plus and how that shaped the rest of her life, and her love of Pharrell Williams. It was a joy to have such an unexpected conversation. I hope you like it too - and we'll be back soon with some bonus episodes. PLURAL.

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I'm doing a live show! Come along to the Royal Festival Hall at 4pm on Sunday 13th March and join me, the wonderful Andi Oliver and Jordan Stephens, for an afternoon of chats and laughter and, yes, failure. I'll be interviewing the two of them, chat-show style, and then YOU will get a chance to ask us all your questions. Hope to see you there. You can book tickets here: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/whats-on/literature-poetry/sunday-afternoon-wow-elizabeth-day?eventId=890800

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Delia's new book, You Matter, is out tomorrow and available to order here: https://www.waterstones.com/book/you-matter/delia-smith/9781912914333

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The YouTube video with Karim Sulayman that Delia mentions in this episode is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCy8Cfvoe6g

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

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

Rangan Chatterjee is one of the most influential doctors in the UK and has pioneered a different kind of approach in healing the sick. He believes almost everyone has the ability to transform their health and their happiness through making small, sustainable everyday changes. It shouldn't be revolutionary - but it is. And it's a message he's taken to TV, radio and his own hit podcast, Feel Better, Live More.
He joins me to talk about how why happiness is like a 'three-legged stool', why self-compassion is a superpower and why he once slapped himself on the face while playing pool. He opens up about his self-perceived failure to look after his son during a terrifying illness, his failure to lose well and his failure to be himself.
Rangan is such a lovely, kind man. I feel so jealous of anyone who gets to have him as their GP (although I do actually love my GP...shout out to the Mawbey Group Practice massive! Whoop whoop!) Anyway, I hope you enjoy putting this episode in your ears.

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Rangan's new book, Happy Mind Happy Life: 10 Simple Ways to Feel Great Every Day is available to preorder here https://www.waterstones.com/book/happy-mind-happy-life/dr-rangan-chatterjee/9780241397855

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

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Social Media:

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

Rangan Chatterjee @drchatterjee