For as long as he can remember, James Wong has been obsessed with botany. He shares his small central London flat with 500 houseplants and has incorporated them into coffee tables and TV stands. Having trained at the prestigious Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, his media career began with the hit series Grow Your Own Drugs and he’s written 6 best-selling books. Follow James on Instagram and Twitter @Botanygeek
Simple lies over complex truths have always troubled the actor, Eddie Marsan. Growing up in London’s East End, Marsan rejected the racists who blamed their problems on other people, questioning everyone but themselves. As a performer, Marsan frequently plays the type of toxic characters he encountered in his youth. He stars in The Thief, His Wife and the Canoe, a true story about a man who fakes his own death to claim life insurance, and whose abuse makes us reassess our own behaviour. It’s avai...
In Central London in the 1970s, a household catering to sick Iranians housed Omid Djalili. Balancing school with his home life proved to be a challenge, and the effects of the noise and the chaos filtered into Djalil’s adulthood. In spite of it all, the actor and comedian made it onto the silver screen in Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. Tickets for his latest show, The Good Times Tour are available now.
Jonathan Pie is a fictional broadcast reporter created and performed by comedian Tom Walker who is this week’s guest. Walker brought Pie to life in the aftermath of Jeremy Corbyn’s election as Labour leader and the character went viral, racking up millions of views almost overnight. His critically acclaimed sell out show, Jonathan Pie: FAKE NEWS is now available at jonathanpie.com
In this episode of Full Disclosure, James speaks to Mark Drakeford. Born and brought up in West Wales he started off his career as probation officer and youth Justice worker. A professor at both Swansea and Cardiff Universities before moving into politics full time he rose from councillor to First Minister of his beloved Wales In this episode of Full Disclosure, James speaks to Mark about his background, the challenges he has faced as First Minister and his hopes for the people of Wales and beyo...
When he was forced to move 800 miles away from the outskirts of Hollywood to Idaho as a boy, Curtis Stigers was furious. After school he gravitated back towards the centre of things - to New York City, where his career as a musician began in earnest. He’s worked with the likes of Elton John, Eric Clapton, Prince, and Rod Stewart and achieved commercial success in the 1990s, most notably with the international hit, “I Wonder Why”. His latest album, This Life is out now and dates for his 2022 tour...
When she was a teenager, Caroline Criado Perez found feminism embarrassing. But then she read a book which changed her life. It documented how our language is used to make women invisible, and set her on a mission to make the specifics of the female experience as self-evident as men's. Her book, Invisible Women is a #1 Sunday Times best-seller and you can sign up for the Invisible Women newsletter at carolinecriadoperez.com
He was nearly shot on one of his first jobs as a 25 year old, and throughout his illustrious career, John Simpson has continued to dice with death, reporting from thirty war zones and most recently during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan. In the context of his early years it looks like fate; whilst Simpson was still in the womb, a V-1 bomb fell on his neighbour’s house but within a week of his life he had returned to the site. His latest novel, Our Friends in Beijing is the second in his Jon S...
The Leader of the Opposition, Sir Keir Starmer has had a meteoric rise from his humble beginnings in a small Surrey town. The Starmer household was a busy three-bed occupied by his parents’ four children and four dogs, and in 1985 he became the first to graduate in his family. In this episode of Full Disclosure, James speaks to Starmer live at the Leicester Square Theatre in support of Global’s Make Some Noise, LBC’s charity that supports small charities in local communities across the UK. To do...
Known across the world for fearlessly holding dictators to account, Christiane Amanpour, as a young staffer at CNN found herself kicked off the network after a disastrous first attempt at reporting. The knock-back did not stop her; Amampour went on to cover conflict hotspots in the Gulf and Balkans, later the humanitarian crises of Hurricane Katrina and the 2011 Japanese tsunami. She is now the Chief International Anchor for CNN and will be honoured with the Larry Foster Award for Integrity in P...
Born to Jamaican parents, Beverley Knight grew up in a dedicated Pentecostal household where church attendance and music performance were inextricably linked and singing was an act of devotion to God. By the time Knight was a young adult she regarded her passion as a serious professional prospect, and as she completed her philosophy degree her records played in the clubs of Cheltenham. She’s now starring in The Drifter’s Girl at the Garrick Theatre in London.
As the younger son, Adil Ray was given more freedom to pursue his creative instincts than his older, more academic sibling. Before moving into the mainstream, Adil spent his student days in an elderly Jamaican woman’s loft hosting a pirate radio show. He now appears on millions of television sets across the country presenting ITV’s Good Morning Britain, hosting the revival of game show Lingo, and is the creator and star of sitcom, Citizen Khan.
Charlotte Church was catapulted into the spotlight at the age of 11 after singing down the line on television show, This Morning. Within two years Church had performed at Rupert Murdoch’s wedding to Wendi Deng, opened for Shirley Bassey and played the Royal Albert Hall. As a teenager she had her phone hacked and was hounded by the tabloids - but these experiences also helped her find her political voice. Her new TV show, Charlotte’s Dream Build, sees her transform the former home of Laura Ashley...
When ‘Teenage Kicks’ by The Undertones was released in 1978, legendary DJ John Peel took the unprecedented step of playing it back to back on Radio 1. The lead singer was 20 year old Feargal Sharkey and the band were formed out of a desire to prove that five young men growing up in the Derry conflict zone could successfully learn to play instruments, write their own songs and hit the big time. Taking action is a thread which runs throughout Sharkey’s life, and after a successful solo career and ...
Despite being named by The Times as the best current English-language comedian in the world, Stewart Lee insists that nobody really knows who he is. His absence from the panel show circuit, resistance to social media and use of multiple on-stage personae may be contributory factors. In the first Full Disclosure of 2022, James tries his hand at getting to know the man behind the accolades. Tickets for his autumn show, Basic Lee are available now.
Realising there was nothing he could not do, Johnny Vaughan left school and did nothing. Before becoming the presenter of the Big Breakfast and the drivetime host on Radio X, Vaughan spent much of his life navigating a host of hostile institutions and forming unlikely friendships. In this week’s episode, James speaks to Johnny about his life before broadcasting. Johnny Vaughan presents on Radio X, 4pm - 7pm, Monday - Friday.
When Sue Perkins was asked by her manager to present a programme about competitive baking, she declined the offer on multiple occasions. After lots of persuading, Perkins finally agreed to work on the show that would go on to become the most-watched programme on British television. At its peak, The Great British Bake Off attracted an audience of 16 million people. This week she speaks to James about her career, her relationship with comedy partner, Mel Giedroyc and the impact the English class s...
The comedian, actor and musician, Bill Bailey describes his upbringing in the town of Keynsham in Somerset as idyllic. He credits his strong work ethic to his father who was a GP in the village and whose waiting room was situated in the front of their family home, where, occasionally he’d bump into ailing strangers as they attempted to navigate the various doors. Bailey believes his work ethic is what helped him to become the oldest winner of Strictly Come Dancing in 2020. His En Route To Normal...
Les Dennis has been a star in Britain's light entertainment scene for decades, but his career began off screen as a stand-up comedian in the working men's clubs of Northwest England. By the 1980s Dennis had become a household name, including as the host of the much-loved Family Fortunes. After a professional lull accompanied by a turbulent private life, Dennis took part in one of the first series of Celebrity Big Brother, endearing himself to a new generation of viewers. Dennis currently stars i...
When he published his first memoir back in 2014, the actor and author Alan Cumming took a deep dive and opened up about his traumatic childhood. In his second memoir, Baggage: Tales from a Fully Packed Life, he dispels the myth that he had 'overcome' his trauma or 'triumphed' over it. Cumming believes that a willingness to be vulnerable is what captivates audiences, whether it be on stage or on screen, and he boasts an eclectic filmography ranging from Stanley Kubric's Eyes Wide Shut to Spice Wo...
How does a miner's daughter from Bishop Auckland in County Durham end up in the White House? Whilst her community was small, a combination of luck, opportunity and sharp intellect led Fiona Hill to Russia, opening her eyes to our shared human experience and deepening her geopolitical understanding. Hill's diplomatic qualities helped her work under both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Then in the first quarter of 2017 Hill was appointed by President Trump to his National Security Coun...
As a professional cricketer he was nicknamed ‘Whispering Death’ for his light-footed, silent run up to the bowling crease. As a commentator he was known for his unflinching and direct analysis of the game. Then, in the aftermath of the murder of George Floyd in 2020, Michael Holding lead an impassioned and unexpected message about the “dehumanisation of the black race” within our collective human history. In this episode of Full Disclosure he speaks to James about his life and career. His book, ...
When he was 25 years old, Jimmy Carr realised that material wealth would not bring him happiness. He decided to sack off his safe job in middle management to become a comedian despite having no previous comedy experience. He went on to become one of Britain’s biggest names but still believes he possesses no inherent talent for his craft. His first book, Before & Laughter is part memoir and part self-help book, written for those stuck in a bit of a rut.
She would not have become an MP were it not for her sister, Jo Cox who was murdered on a street in Birstall, West Yorkshire in 2016 by a white supremacist terrorist. Speaking to James one week after the killing of Sir David Amess MP, Kim Leadbeater questions how much has changed since her sibling's death. After fighting and winning a toxic campaign in her late sister's constituency of Batley and Spen, safety for politicians is an issue at the top of Leadbeater's agenda as she forms her own uniqu...
Joe Tracini was only 18 months old when he first performed on stage with his Dad, Joe Pasquale. By the time he was 15 he was named as the most promising comedy act by Ken Dodd. Tracini then landed a role in Hollyoaks but his acting career was overwhelmed by a serious drug and alcohol addiction. Then in 2018 Tracini revealed that he had been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder and he started to make short films explaining the condition, drawing in a new crowd and taking on a new releva...
When Bernardine Evaristo was in her thirties she decided she wanted to win the Booker Prize. After breaking away from her career in theatre, Evaristo eventually became the first Black British person to receive the literary award and was catapulted into the international spotlight with her novel, Girl Woman, Other. But Evaristo’s life began in “curtain twitching” white suburbia where racists routinely smashed in the windows of her family home. Her first non-fiction book, Manifesto is also her mem...
Waheed Arian spent his childhood fleeing the war zones of Afghanistan. After recovering from an almost fatal illness at a Pakistan refugee camp as a child, he set his sights on becoming a doctor. Putting his life in the hands of people smugglers, Waheed eventually reached the UK and studied medicine at Cambridge. He now saves lives as an NHS A&E medic and is the founder of charity, TeleHEAL, providing volunteer medical support to people around the world. His book, In the Wars is out now.
The Deputy Leader of the Labour party was brought up by a parent who could not read or write. After getting pregnant and leaving school aged 16, Angela Rayner became a home carer where she found her feet as a union representative, eventually rising to be Unison’s most senior official in the North West. Now she’s taking on the government over workers’ rights and cronyism; her battles no longer fought on the estate she grew up on, but from across the despatch box.
In the run up to the 2016 Trump election, Joe Mulhall of Surrey, England managed to convince the American white supremacist terrorist group, the Ku Klux Klan, of his support for them. Shortly afterwards he found himself armed and accompanying an Alabaman militia group on the hunt for undocumented migrants and ISIS members on the Mexican border. Mulhall works for Hope Not Hate, an advocacy group that campaigns against racism and fascism. His book, Drums in the Distance: Journeys Into the Global F...
For 20 years, Queen guitarist and astrophysicist, Brian May had been too busy to realise that he didn’t belong to a record label. Then at the height of lockdown he decided to reissue his 1992 solo album, Back To The Light. He speaks to James about his friendship with Freddie Mercury, his love of science and becoming a grandfather.
