The Person First Podcast

  In the days following the 7/7 London bombings in 2005, acting sergeant Gary Hayes of the British Transport police (BTP) was assigned to the temporary mortuary where bodies were being brought for identification. “When we got bodies in they’d been down in those tunnels for two or three days, the decomposition, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life,” he said. But it was a less visceral sight...

  Jordan is an English comedian, recording artist, radio host, actress and author. She came to fame on BBC1’s The Voice UK in 2016 #TeamPaloma. Jordan made TV history as the show’s first ever Transgender contestant – and the first competitor ever to be asked back to the show within the same series. Her ‘Battle Round’ duet with Theo Llewellyn is widely regarded as not only the series’ emotional hig...

    At the age of 18, Gary Mansfield was given a prison sentence for actual bodily harm, following an incident where £4.2m of heroin was found in his car. Now a professional artist, encouraged by a teacher in prison and urged on by leading lights in the artistic community, Gary is in a very different place to where he started out. In this episode Ben and Alvin talk to Gary and find out about the p...

  Leon McLeod was one of the first police officers on the scene of the London Bridge terror attack. The father-of-one and his colleague PC Wayne Marques, armed only with their batons, gave chase to the knife-wielding terrorists, with little thought for their own safety. Among the screams and chaos, Leon kept his cool and helped dozens of victims –  many of whom had been enjoying a night out at Bor...

  Hairdresser Stewart Roberts, 56, knows only too well the issues facing people dealing with substance abuse and homelessness. So in 2014, he set out to make a difference. He went down to the Salvation Army in Romford, bringing his scissors, and offered to trim whoever was waiting in line for a hot meal. After a successful first session, other shelters soon started asking for Stewart to come and d...