5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Vincent Deary is professor of applied health psychology at Northumbria University, where his research focuses on the development of new psychosocial interventions for people with a variety of health complaints, including cancer survivors and fear of falling in older adults. As a clinician he works in the UK's first trans-diagnostic F...
Apr 08, 2024•14 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. After a career in journalism and publishing, Chris Anderson became the curator of the TED Conference in 2001 and has developed it as a global platform for identifying and disseminating ideas worth spreading. His TED mantra – ‘ideas worth spreading’ – continues to blossom on an international scale, with more than one billion TED Talks...
Apr 05, 2024•13 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Emma Tarlo is an anthropologist, writer and curator and an Emeritus Professor at Goldsmiths, University of London. Having authored numerous highly regarded academic titles, she published her first trade title, the prize-winning Entanglement: The Secret Lives of Hair (Oneworld), to great acclaim in 2016. In her new book, Under the Hor...
Mar 29, 2024•15 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. John Vaillant is the international bestselling author of The Tiger: A True Story of Vengeance and Survival and The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed. He has written for, among others, The New Yorker, The Atlantic, National Geographic and the Guardian. His latest book, Fire Weather: A True Story from a Hotter Wor...
Mar 25, 2024•15 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Cathy Newman is one of Channel 4 News' main studio presenters. She joined Channel 4 News as political correspondent in January 2006 after seven years writing for the Financial Times. Cathy is an award-winning investigative journalist whose scoops have included allegations of sexual harassment in Westminster, an investigation into a B...
Mar 22, 2024•16 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Jackie Morris is an award-winning British writer and illustrator. Morris studied at the Bath Academy of Art and started her career as an illustrator by working for magazines including Radio Times, New Statesman, New Society and Country Living. She has illustrated over 60 books, and is best known for the stunning The Lost Words (2017)...
Mar 18, 2024•11 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Paula Byrne is the author of the bestselling biographies The Adventures of Miss Barbara Pym, Perdita, Mad World, The Real Jane Austen, Belle, Kick and The Genius of Jane Austen. She is founder and chief executive of ReLit, the Bibliotherapy Foundation, a charity devoted to the mental health benefits of reading. Her new book, Hardy Wo...
Mar 15, 2024•12 min
Building upon Kew's commitment to re-examine the history of its collections, this discussion explores the colonial legacies of botany and botanic gardens, featuring a panel of leading writers and thinkers in this area. All too often history shows us that the origins of botanic gardens are intertwined with the histories of colonialism, imperialism and enslavement. How can understanding these connections pave the way to a more inclusive future? Given this legacy, what is the role that botanic gard...
Mar 12, 2024•1 hr
5x15 and The Writers' Prize present a powerhouse line-up of international writing talent to speak with host, literary critic, and journalist Alex Clark about their recent works, all in contention for this year's Prize. Paul Murray, The Bee Sting Paul Murray, born in Dublin in 1975, authored An Evening of Long Goodbyes, Skippy Dies, The Mark and the Void, and The Bee Sting. An Evening of Long Goodbyes was shortlisted for the Whitbread First Novel Award. Skippy Dies was shortlisted for the Costa N...
Mar 07, 2024•1 hr 24 min
5x15 is thrilled to announce a special event with multi-award-winning writer and biologist Merlin Sheldrake, author of the smash-hit bestseller Entangled Life, in conversation Gaia Vince. The more we learn about fungi, the less makes sense without them. They can change our minds, heal our bodies and even help us avoid environmental disaster; they are metabolic masters, earth-makers and key players in most of nature's processes. In Entangled Life, Merlin Sheldrake takes us on a mind-altering jour...
Feb 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min
5x15 is delighted to announce a special event with Nina Stibbe, the 'funniest person who owns a computer' (in the words of Ann Patchett), in conversation with acclaimed memoirist Cathy Rentzenbrink. This is not to be missed! Ten years after her beloved and multi-award winning book Love, Nina, Nina is back with Went to London, Took the Dog, a diary of her return to London in her sixty-first year. After two decades away, Nina is back in the city she used to call home, with her dog, Peggy. Together...
Feb 05, 2024•1 hr 4 min
5x15 is delighted to announce the second event is our new events partnership with Rathbones, in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew on the theme of Regeneration. No discussion about climate change and biodiversity loss is complete without acknowledging the importance of children, adolescents and young adults. While activists look to involve and encourage new generations, many young people are themselves leading the way as instigators of change, faced with the urgency of the global cris...
Feb 02, 2024•1 hr 1 min
David Grann is a staff writer at The New Yorker. He has written about everything from New York City's antiquated water tunnels to the hunt for the giant squid. His stories have appeared in several anthologies. He has written for the New York Times Magazine, the Atlantic Monthly, the Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and the New Republic. He lives in New York with his wife and two children. His books include the international best-seller Killers of the Flower Moon, and his new book, The Wa...
Jan 29, 2024•17 min
As plant-based diets gain popularity and outdoor activities like hiking and wild swimming become more advocated for wellness, the crucial link between nature and human health is gaining recognition. But what does it entail to derive nutrients, physical, and mental health benefits from the natural world? While the significance of dietary choices is well-established, can we also enhance agricultural practices to foster fertile soils, better health, and a deeper connection to the land? David R. Mon...
Jan 26, 2024•1 hr 4 min
5x15's new season kicks off in January with a special conversation about consciousness and the world of psychedelics with two highly acclaimed authors, neuropsychologist Andy Mitchell and neuroscientist Anil Seth. The 'psychedelic renaissance' is upon us. While psychedelic drugs were once demonised, and are still largely illegal, they are now officially a 'breakthrough therapy' used to treat mental health disorders and enhance well-being. But there is a risk that making them safe or normal might...
Jan 22, 2024•1 hr
Kassia St Clair studied the history of women's dress and the masquerade during the eighteenth century at Bristol and Oxford. She has since written about design and culture for the Economist, House & Garden, TLS, Quartz and New Statesman, and has had a column about colour in Elle Decoration since 2013. Her first book The Secret Lives of Colour was a top-ten bestseller, a Radio 4 Book of the Week and has been translated into over a dozen languages; her second, The Golden Thread, was a Sunday T...
Jan 19, 2024•15 min
Paul Caruana Galizia became a reporter after his mother Daphne was assassinated and since then has won a British Journalism Award, a Media Excellence Award from the Association of International Broadcasters, a silver medal at the British Podcast Awards, and a bronze medal at the Radio Academy ARIAs. With his two brothers, he won a Magnitsky Human Rights Award and an Anderson-Norman-Lucas Award for. His book A Death in Malta is a spellbinding account of the shocking murder of his muckraking mothe...
Jan 15, 2024•18 min
Rosamund Young is the bestselling author of The Secret Life of Cows - named a Times book of the year - and the recently published The Wisdom of Sheep & Other Animals. Alongside her brother Richard and her partner Gareth she runs Kite’s Nest Farm on the edge of the Cotswold escarpment, where nature is left to itself as much as possible and the animals receive exceptional kindness and consideration. The farm produces beef and lamb from 100% grass-fed animals which are sold in the farm shop. Le...
Jan 12, 2024•15 min
Adam Sisman is a writer specialising in biography, living in Bristol, England. He is the author of Boswell's Presumptuous Task, winner of a National Book Critics Circle Award, and the biographer of John le Carré, A. J. P. Taylor and Hugh Trevor-Roper. Among his other works are two volumes of letters by Patrick Leigh Fermor. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and an Honorary Professor at the University of St Andrews. "Mr. Sisman has an ideal biographical style: inquisitive and open...
Jan 09, 2024•16 min
The Six Ideas to Change the World series, in partnership with Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, concludes in November with writer and journalist Jeff Goodell, author of the best-selling book The Heat Will Kill You First. The planet is changing in extreme ways. Spring is arriving a few weeks earlier and autumn a few weeks later. Heatwaves are becoming more intense and more common. Heat is the first order threat that drives other climate change impacts, and it will affect everything from ...
Nov 28, 2023•59 min
The Six Ideas to Change the World series, in partnership with Keystone Positive Change Investment Trust, continues in October with award-winning writer and journalist Elizabeth Kolbert, author of the international best-seller The Sixth Extinction. Plastics are poisoning us. In the midst of a global pollution crisis, research clearly illustrates the toxic effects of microplastics, which both release and attract dangerous chemicals. But while plastics are a relatively recent human invention, they ...
Nov 06, 2023•57 min
The first event in 5x15's new series with Rathbones, in collaboration with Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, is a celebration of Nature's Diversity. This panel discussion explores how nature can teach us to challenge traditional expectations. From plants and fungi living outside orthodoxies, to the symbolic connections between plants and queerness through LGBTQ+ history, and the stories of writers and artists who have been drawn to nature, our expert panel of scientists and storytellers will illuminat...
Nov 02, 2023•58 min
When it comes to playing games, asking the right questions is everything. Where should you move first in Connect 4? What is the best property in Monopoly? And how can pi help you win rock paper scissors? In his new book Around the World in 80 Games, the award-winning mathematician Marcus du Sautoy explores the maths behind the games we love to play, and why we love to play them. Spanning millennia, countries and cultures, he discovers how maths and games have been integral to human psychology an...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr
What is the meaning of home? As the nights begin to draw in and we head into the autumn, 5x15 is delighted to welcome the wonderful authors Kate Humble and Helen Rebanks for a special conversation about the time we spend at home. Kate Humble has inspired many readers with her positive and purposeful approach to life, whether it's reconnecting with nature or changing our lifestyles. Now, in her new book Where the Hearth Is, she turns her attention to life indoors. In the move away from office bui...
Oct 26, 2023•1 hr 6 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Mark O’Connell is the author of A Thread of Violence, Notes from an Apocalypse, and To Be a Machine, which was awarded the 2018 Wellcome Book Prize, the 2019 Rooney Prize for Irish Literature, and was shortlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction. He is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. His work has a...
Oct 09, 2023•15 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Sarah Ogilvie teaches at the University of Oxford, and specializes in language, dictionaries, and technology. As a lexicographer she has been an editor at the Oxford English Dictionary and was Chief Editor of Oxford Dictionaries in Australia. As a technologist she has worked in Silicon Valley at Lab 126, Amazon's innovation lab, wher...
Oct 05, 2023•18 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Justine Picardie is the author of six books, including her bestselling memoir If the Spirit Moves You; Miss Dior: A Story of Courage and Couture; and the international bestseller, Coco Chanel: The Legend and the Life, which will be reissued in a new, revised edition in August 2023 to coincide with the forthcoming Chanel exhibition at...
Oct 02, 2023•22 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Octavia Bright is a writer and broadcaster. She co-hosts Literary Friction, the literary podcast and NTS Radio show, with Carrie Plitt. Recommended by the New York Times, Guardian, BBC Culture, Electric Literature, Sunday Times and others, it has run for ten years and has listeners worldwide. She has also presented programmes for BBC...
Sep 28, 2023•13 min
5x15 brings together five outstanding individuals to tell of their lives, passions and inspirations. There are only two rules - no scripts and only 15 minutes each. Ed Yong's first book, I Contain Multitudes, about the amazing partnerships between microbes and animals, was shortlisted for the Royal Society Science Book Prize and the Wellcome Book Prize. It was a New York Times bestseller. He is a science writer on the staff of The Atlantic, where he won the Pulitzer Prize in explanatory journali...
Sep 25, 2023•22 min
5x15 welcomes Colm Tóibín, novelist, critic, essayist and one of the most highly acclaimed writers of our time. In his new essay collection A Guest at the Feast, Tóibín traverses life in all its complexity, capturing moments that are both melancholy and amusing, rich and strange. Travelling between the streets of Buenos Aires and a deserted Venice, and the works of writers such as John McGahern and Marilynne Robinson, these essays uncover the places where life and fiction overlap. Don't miss the...
Sep 18, 2023•1 hr
