A master at throwing interviewers off his own scent, comedian Mark Steel got so bored of being asked the same questions that he started making things up. Swerving his traps, James speaks to Mark about his totally real but fantastical sounding family background and new tour.
Self-confessed workaholic Alastair Campbell can't help but feel that he's not doing enough. He's written 18 books, is editor at large of The New European newspaper and his podcast, The Rest is Politics, co-hosted with Rory Stewart, is usually ranked top of the UK charts. But Alastair promised his mum that he'd never go back to the political front line. Alastair's latest tome, But What Can I Do?, seeks to empower its readers to make their own difference.
Evie Meg, AKA thistrippyhippie has over 16 million followers on TikTok, making her one of the most prominent online disability advocates. Conversely, one of Evie's conditions, PANDAS, is little-known and often misunderstood. For Mental Health Awareness Week, Evie speaks to James about how her life is impacted by PANDAS and Tourette's syndrome, shedding light on how the boundaries between physical and psychological health are often blurred.
Brexit, Covid, Partygate, lockdowns, leaks, the war in Ukraine, a cost-of-living crisis and the scandals that plagued our politics. Guto Harri was in the room when the big decisions were made. In this podcast, expect unprecedented access behind the shiny black door of Number 10 Downing Street, during one of the most chaotic periods in British political history. Guto was Boris Johnson’s Communications Chief. When he first walked over the Number 10 threshold, things weren’t normal. A set of circum...
His first stand-up gig was at the tender age of 16. It was not critically well received. But Jack Whitehall quickly became a firm favourite on our screens, dominating the television comedy circuit and starring in shows such as Fresh Meat and Bad Education. But his early success also had its problems. Jack speaks to James about how challenging it was finding his voice as well as his new UK tour, Settle Down.
At 34 years old he's the SNP's youngest ever leader in Westminster, moving at breakneck speed from supermarket checkout boy to Rishi Sunak's political adversary at PMQs. With Nicola Sturgeon's shock resignation and continuing investigation into the party's finances, he picks up the mantle during a turbulent time for the independence movement. But Flynn seems cool and collected about the task ahead. He speaks to James about his background and explains how having a disability inadvertently led him...
For more than a decade, Liam Thomas worked as an undercover detective in the Metropolitan Police’s Covert Surveillance Unit, mixing with dangerous criminals and eventually investigating corrupt officers within his own force. A self-styled keeper of secrets, Liam believes he and his profession are recruited in childhood. His book, The Buyer is a gripping, self-reflective memoir and dramatic account of what it means to be on the inside and the outside at the same time.
On paper, a professorship at Cambridge is not an obvious outcome for a person who cannot read or write by the age of 18. It is also not what we might expect for an eleven-year-old boy who cannot speak. But after listening to Jason Arday's account of his early life, academic excellence sounds more like destiny. Now a sociologist at one of the world's most prestigious universities, Jason speaks to James about perseverance, love and the importance of the collective.
Her career contains stand-up, marathon-running, acting and campaigning; all of which tend to reappear in no obvious or particular order. Now Eddie is trying her hand at doing everything all at once: playing all 19 characters in Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations on stage. She speaks to James about the multitudes in her life. Tickets for the London show are available now.
Brought up in a household where showing off was effectively banned, an acting career was perhaps the antithesis of what Hugh Laurie's parents expected of him. He did, for a short period follow in the footsteps of his Olympic rowing gold medallist father - but it was not to be. His new production of Agatha Christie's 'Why Didn’t They Ask Evans?' broadcasts on ITV1 across Easter and streams on ITVX thereafter.
Emergency Planner and Disaster Expert Lucy Easthope has advised on everything from plane crashes and tsunamis to pandemics and terror attacks. Lucy speaks to James about the Government’s decision-making during the coronavirus pandemic and what life was like for disaster planners under austerity. Her new book, When The Dust Settles, lifts the lid on a career spent picking up the pieces.
As with The Beatles, Adele and James Corden, Mehdi Hasan is one of the rare British talents to crack America. But he's profoundly depressed by the state of his adopted nation. The journalist speaks to James about the impact President Trump had on his daily life as well as his book, Win Every Argument: The Art of Debating, Persuading and Public Speaking
He's the nation's most loved maitre d and the first face seen by singletons looking for love of Channel 4's First Dates. But behind the friendliness and warm exterior is a man serious about service and hospitality. Fred speaks to James about his how his parents' career in the French health service made him the man he is today as well as his latest series, Fred's Last Resort which sees him train British contestants in the art of high-end hotel service.
She's best known for starring in Countdown, one of Britain's longest-running television game shows. But Carol Vorderman has managed to fit twice as much into her life as most of us. She speaks to James about her chaotic but loving upbringing, culture shock at Cambridge and new life as 'the country's most vociferous anti-corruption crusader'.
Comedian Phil Wang has decided he's got to start being silly in response to a world which he thinks is getting serious. Born in Stoke on Trent to an English mother, Wang moved to Malaysia where his father is from one week after being born. He speaks to James about going to a Chinese school, his views on empire and his new extended tour, Wang In There, Baby!
Actress Amanda Abbington, star of Sherlock and Netflix thriller Safe, speaks to James about her misdirected early attempts at dancing, the moment she realised she was an actor and the adrenaline rush of the stage. Her latest show The Unfriend is at London's West End Criterion Theatre until April 16.
He is credited with reestablishing the Labour Party as a mainstream, centrist political force after a period of hard-left internal conflict. Sound familiar? The former leader of the Labour Party speaks to James about his Welsh upbringing, enduring marriage and political philosophy.
Broadcaster Terry Christian grew up in a large Irish Catholic family in Manchester where not attending mass or university was out of the question. After dropping out of a chemistry course he didn't want to start, a young Terry caught the eye of a TV producer, kickstarting his presenting career. His big break came in the form of The Word, a youth-led and often anarchic TV show for Channel 4.
Blackadder legend Tony Robinson talks to James about the state of British politics, the power of meditation and the return of Time Team.
Content warning: this episode contains descriptions of racial violence, racial slurs and suicidal feelings. By the time Matthew Collins was 15 years old, he was enthralled by the far-right and had joined the National Front. But after one particularly violent incident in South East London, Collins began passing on his secrets to the other side. Now an activist for the anti-fascist organisation, Hope Not Hate, he tells James his remarkable story.
The internment of Japanese Americans across the U.S. during World War II is not an obvious subject on which to develop a musical, however it is exactly what George Takei, Star Trek legend and social media icon has done. Now in his mid-eighties, Takei brings a show inspired by events from his own childhood to London’s Charing Cross Theatre. Tickets for ‘George Takei’s Allegiance’ are available now until Saturday 8 April.
Back in the day when she was best known as Tricia Armstrong in Coronation Street, Tracy Brabin did not shy away from national politics, appearing in Labour campaigns and using her stardom to generate interest in the political project. But it was the tragedy and brutal murder of her friend Jo Cox in Tracy's hometown which catapulted her into the Commons. Now the first Mayor of West Yorkshire, she speaks to James about her life and the shocking events in the aftermath of Jo's death.
From union General Secretary, to Home Secretary to award-winning writer. By his own admission, Alan Johnson has lived a charmed life. He speaks to James about his tricky early years and political heroes. His book, One of Our Ministers is Missing is his latest spy thriller.
A quick glance at Lisa Nandy's family tree shows that politics runs through her veins, but when she first arrived in the House of Commons it wasn't an easy transition. She speaks to James about her life growing up in Manchester, her political ambitions and a very embarrassing job interview. Her book, How We Build a Country That Works is out now.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Ressa's pursuit of the truth has landed her in trouble with the most powerful man in her motherland: President Duterte of the Philippines. Ressa has racked up over 100 hours of potential prison time and multiple warrants for arrest. Her book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator is a story told from the frontline of the digital war, mapping networks of disinformation ranging from Duterte's drug wars to Britain's Brexit.
Dr Gabor Maté is one of the world's most revered physicians, specialising in addiciton, trauma, ADHD, stress and childhood development. As a young person, strangers would stop him in the street to remark upon his frightened-looking demeanour. Dr Maté believes he inherited trauma from his mother, a Hungarian Jewish woman trying to escape the Nazis. His book, The Myth of Normal is his first book in 14 years and seeks to understand and respond to the epidemic of physical and mental illness througho...
He’s most famous for his role in HBO’s Succession, playing Logan Roy, the ruthless, capitalist, pater familias at the top of media conglomerate, Waystar Royco. But the actor Brian Cox has lived on both ends of the wealth gap and his latest passion project, How the Other Half Live is a two-part television show exploring money itself. He speaks to James about his own upbringing and how it shaped him. How the Other Half Live was first broadcast on Channel 5 in November 2022 and is available to watc...
Ever since he arrived on our screens in the early noughties, illusionist Derren Brown’s dramatic television stunts routinely generated controversy, with complaints originating from sources as diverse as the GMB union, church groups and on one occasion, the police. But they were never upheld. Derren speaks to James about the humanity at the heart of his craft and what led him to it. His latest stage performance, Showman runs from December 9 2022 – March 18 2023 and is his most personal show to da...
How does a shy little boy go on to perform to arenas brimming with thousands of screaming fans? Martin Kemp of Spandau Ballet fame speaks to James about how his life was transformed by a local drama school teacher and how it led him to the dizzying heights of rockstar fame. Martin's book, Ticket to the World is a celebration of 80s culture from one man at the centre of it all.
Hey listener, we’ve got a new LBC podcast that we think you’d like called Sweeney Talks with old-school reporter, John Sweeney. John is trouble. He's taken on Vladimir Putin, challenged Donald Trump, and after months of uncovering hard truths in Ukraine, he’s back. John is never silent about what he’s experienced. Sweeney talks, and in this podcast, so do his guests. John speaks to people like him, who are not prepared to be part of the silent majority. They refused to toe the line, and have fou...
