Desperately Seeking Wisdom

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This is a special edition of Desperately Seeking Wisdom. Just after we completed the third season a few months ago, Craig began began talking to Jonathan Scott Lee. In 2023, Jonathan's daughter, Caitlyn, took her own life at the exclusive Wickham Abbey School. Her tragic death was covered widely in the media and forced him to confront some hard questions about why Caitlyn did what she did.  As a r...

Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson is one of Britain’s most successful athletes, having won 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds.  In part two of our conversation, we talk about what Tanni has learnt from moving from being a elite athlete to working in the House of Lords...as well as the wisdom her father gave her, when he told her to think of herself as a 'Venn Diagram'.  This is the last episode o...

Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson is one of Britain’s most successful athletes, having won 16 Paralympic medals, including 11 golds. Since retiring, she’s transferred her drive to a different arena, the House of Lords.  In part one of our conversation, we discuss where her positive attitude comes from and explore how she’s achieved such remarkable success throughout her life. We discuss how she has lea...

Sir Trevor McDonald is one of our country’s most celebrated journalists and news presenters.   In part two of our conversation, Sir Trevor talks in more detail about some of the defining moments of his career, including his reaction to hearing Nelson Mandela’s wisdom when he was released after nearly three full decades in prison. This episode is produced by Red Bicycle. 

Sir Trevor McDonald is one of our country’s most celebrated journalists and news presenters.   He rose from a poor childhood in Trinidad, to cover the biggest stories of our times - and became one of the most famous people in Britain while he was at it. It’s a unique story and in part one of our conversation we talk to Sir Trevor about what his childhood taught him and how an aspirational family e...

As part of season three, this is a special compilation episode featuring guests from season one and two.  In the last couple of years we have had many inspiring conversations with people including Richard Curtis, the late George Alagiah, Amber Rudd, Sian Williams, David Baddiel and many more. You can listen to all of these episodes on our website - www.desperatelyseekingwisdom.com - or whereever y...

Robi Damelin is a peace activist based in Israel. She's a leading voice in The Parents Circle - a grassroots Israeli-Palestinian organisation, made up of over 600 families who’ve all lost family members in the conflict and campaign for a non-violent response. Robi’s life was changed forever when her beloved son David was killed by a Palestinian sniper, twenty years ago. Her response was to reject...

On Desperately Seeking Wisdom this week, we’re doing something we haven’t done before – speaking to a guest who has already been on the podcast, the comedian Matt Forde. We recorded Matt's first chat on the series less than a year ago and when we did Matt was about to get married. But soon after the happy day, he was diagnosed with cancer - a spine tumour that required major surgery towards the en...

On Desperately Seeking Wisdom this week, we’re doing something we haven’t done before; speaking to a guest who has already been on the podcast, the comedian Matt Forde. We recorded Matt's first chat on the series less than a year ago and when we did Matt was about to get married. But soon after the happy day, he was diagnosed with cancer - a spine tumour that required major surgery towards the end...

James Cracknell is a double Olympic Gold medallist, adventurer, and now Parliamentary candidate. In part two of our conversation, we discuss the horrific cycling accident that James suffered which changed his life forever - how he coped with it and what he's learnt from it. We also discuss his constant desire to tackle new challenges and what that says about who he is. This episode was produced by...

James Cracknell is a double Olympic Gold medallist, adventurer, and now Parliamentary candidate. He’s faced some extraordinary highs and devastating lows – including being left brain-damaged after being hit by a truck travelling at 65mph. In part one of our conversation, we discuss how how he bounced back from the agony of having to miss his first Olympics due to illness and was able to use that p...

This is part two of our conversation with Clive Myrie, one of the most recognisable and versatile broadcasters in the UK. He’s equally at home reporting from a warzone as he is in the studio, grilling contestants on Mastermind or presenting BBC News at Ten. In this part, Clive talks about what he's learnt through his life as a journalist, reporting on some of the most extreme global stories of rec...

Clive Myrie is one of the most recognisable and versatile broadcasters in the UK. He’s equally at home reporting from a warzone as he is in the studio, grilling contestants on Mastermind or presenting BBC News at Ten. In part one of this wide-ranging conversation, he talks about the wisdom behind the title of his bestselling book, 'Everything is Everything'. It means things are more likely to be w...

Rory Bremner is one of the country's leading comedians and impressionists. He's been making the nation laugh since the 1980s, often by taking a satirical look at the people in power. Rory’s career has seen him write and star in iconic shows like Spitting Image , Whose Line Is It Anyway and Mock the Week , as well as his long-running series Bremner, Bird and Fortune . This is part two of our conver...

Rory Bremner is one of the country's leading comedians and impressionists. He's been making the nation laugh since the 1980s, often by taking a sideways look at the people in power. Rory’s career has seen him write and star in iconic shows like Spitting Image , Whose Line Is It Anyway and Mock the Week , as well as his long-running series Bremner, Bird and Fortune . This is part one of our convers...

James Graham is an exceptionally talented playwright and screenwriter. His critically acclaimed plays and scripts – including Ink, Sherwood, Brexit: the Uncivil War, and Dear England, have captured the imagination of critics and audiences. He often takes pivotal moments in our history to show how and why we’ve ended up where we are now. In an open and frank conversation, James talks about how ther...

James Graham is an exceptionally talented playwright and screenwriter. His critically acclaimed plays and scripts – including Ink, Sherwood, Brexit: the Uncivil War, and Dear England, have captured the imagination of critics and audiences. He often takes pivotal moments in our history to show how and why we’ve ended up where we are now. In this part, James talks about how he believes story-telling...

Emily Maitlis is one of the most well-known and successful broadcast journalists in Britain. She’s covered the biggest stories of our times – and interviewed some of the most famous and powerful people, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Russell Brand and Prince Andrew. More recently she’s become one of the lead presenters of the highly rated podcast, The News Agents. In this part we find out h...

Emily Maitlis is one of the most well-known and successful broadcast journalists in Britain. She’s covered the biggest stories of our times – and interviewed some of the most famous and powerful people, including Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, Russell Brand and Prince Andrew. More recently she’s become one of the lead presenters of the highly rated podcast, The News Agents. During our conversation in...

Rory Stewart is a man of many talents. He’s been a politician, diplomat, professor, explorer and now a highly-successful podcaster. In this conversation we talk about his highs and lows, and the shame he felt at his mistakes – one so bad he considered suicide. He also gives his verdicts on the many Prime Ministers he’s worked with, explains why he’s so disillusioned with modern politics, and what...

Rory Stewart is a man of many talents. He’s been a politician, diplomat, professor, explorer and now a highly-successful podcaster. In this conversation we talk about his highs and lows, and the shame he felt at his mistakes – one so bad he considered suicide. He also gives his verdicts on the many Prime Ministers he’s worked with, explains why he’s so disillusioned with modern politics, and what...

After years working 24/7 at the top of media and government, Craig Oliver realised he wasn’t happy. He wanted to discover the secrets of a more fulfilled life. That’s what his podcast, Desperately Seeking Wisdom, is all about. In season three, he's sitting down for intimate chats with thought-provoking guests like Rory Stewart, Emily Maitlis and James Graham …to share the wisdom they gained from t...

Matt Forde is one of our funniest comedians – carving out a niche for himself as a sharp satirist and brilliant mimic of the likes of Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer. What’s really interesting about him is the humanity he brings to his podcast, The Political Party, where he treats politicians as fully-rounded and complex individuals who deserve our understanding. He speaks brilliantly about how lif...

Michael Singer has taught me so much. His New York Times bestselling books such as The Untethered Soul, are manuals on how to look at and experience life. He teaches how to radically shift our perspective on what it means to be alive – and how to accept both the past and the world we live in. There’s so much to learn from him...