Longtime Ago People

Bill Sharman - Howard 1955  father/son   When I sat down with Howard , I quickly realised that a burger can be a time machine. What starts as a chat about Wimpy on one of the hottest days of the year becomes a walk straight back into post‑war Britain, when “hamburgers” were still a novelty and Wimpy was quietly inventing what we now think of as British fast food. Howard’s dad, Bill Sharman, isn’t...

Po, Kan, Lambert, Dai-Sensei & Zhong Ming Fashi - Simon 1960   mentors/student  When I sat down with Simon , he told me that everything began with one evening in childhood, three TV channels, and a single kung fu programme. That moment set him on a 52‑year martial arts journey that carried him from the Isle of Wight to Asia, and now to a quieter life in the Philippines, where he still trains e...

John 1958  father/son  “The Longtime-Ago-Person is Probably Me” When I sit down with John, I’m taken straight into a childhood that feels almost impossible now. He grew up in a vicarage on the edge of Dartmoor, the kind of place where a boy could walk out after breakfast, vanish for the entire day, and nobody thought to worry — partly because there wasn’t a phone to reach for. As we talk through h...

Rhys 1963  son/father/count/dj/islander   When I catch up with Rhys — or “The Count”, as he’s known on air — I’m taken straight back to 1976, when two twelve‑year‑olds (we are the two twelve-year-olds) walked into a school classroom and realised they were the entire class. From that moment, a friendship was built on shared trouble, fast laughs, and the kind of music discovery that rewires your bra...

Season 2 Epilogue — Longtime Ago People  Season Two brings me back to what I’ve always believed about memory — how it hides in music, in family stories, and in the everyday influence of people who shaped us long before we realised it. Looking back over these ten conversations, across places, eras and lives, I’m reminded again that who we are is never just about us. This season has taken me from th...

Loz 1964   son/father/grandfather  A noisy pub outside Petworth becomes a time machine the moment Loz starts talking, carrying us straight back to Southampton in the late sixties and seventies. We get into street football with one car a day, climbing trees, roaming until hunger called you home, and the wild logic of exploring half‑built housing estates with absolutely no health and safety in sight...

Lee 1951   grandson/sailor/traveller/DJ/adviser/musician  A quiet corner of Sussex opens the door to one of the most wide‑ranging life stories I’ve ever recorded. Sitting with Lee, we begin in 1950s Great Yarmouth, where summers meant guest houses, seaside theatres, and helping his nan run a busy holiday season. His dad worked the beachfront with a camera, and Lee’s first taste of performing came...

All Steve's People - Steve 1963   family/son, husband & father  A rough sea, a low sky, and the bridge to Hayling Island set the tone for my conversation with Steve — a story about what truly holds a life together. As we talk, he takes me back to a Portsmouth childhood framed by open doors, tight streets, and the hard memory of standing between warring parents. His mum’s grit — three jobs...

Sheila & Alan - Sarah 1973   parents/daughter  A quiet house is not the same as a silent life. In this episode, I sit down with Sarah, who invites me into a world where her deaf father dances by feeling the vibrations through the floor, her car‑loving mum measures affection in late‑night lifts, and a Welsh childhood filled with open doors and louder music becomes the blueprint for building cho...

Reg Rogers - Matt 1963   great‑great uncle/great‑great nephew  It’s a striking truth about the First World War: a huge proportion of British and Commonwealth soldiers who died have no known grave. Many were buried where they fell, lost to artillery, or laid to rest in makeshift cemeteries that vanished as the front moved. Today, hundreds of thousands are either commemorated on memorials to the mis...

David Bowie - Rupert 1957   ziggy stardust/fan Starman on the radio. Ziggy on the screen. A youth rewired in real time. In this episode, I dive in with Rupert to explore the moments where Bowie didn’t just soundtrack life — he edited it. We trace that rush from Space Oddity to Starman, the glam years that made risk feel normal, and the Berlin experiments that taught us how silence, texture and pul...

Jim & George - Ian 1947 grandfather/father/son  A family line can stretch across continents and still feel like one village street. In this episode, I sit down with my second cousin Ian, and we unspool a life that begins in Windhoek, runs through Cape Town and “East London”, South Africa , and eventually finds its footing back in Sussex after his father’s illness forces a return none of them e...

Wiggy, Doris, Mick, Peter & more - Sean 1965   grans & uncles/grandson & nephew  In this episode, I sit down with Sean to share vivid snapshots of Wiggy, A grandmother named for her hair, the Londoner who never quite forgave leaving the city, and Ron, the quiet man who gave up inheritance for marriage and then left for war. What starts as a conversation about a beloved gran becomes a r...

David 1967  Well scout, wildcatter, mentor & mate  A £99 suit, a borrowed tie, and a last-minute interview kicked off David’s career—a journey that leapt from the North Sea to Wall Street, and eventually to long Napa weekends after 4 a.m. starts. In this episode, I trace that unlikely arc with him: a teenager who didn’t know oil from Brent crude becomes a well scout by asking sharper questions...

Russell 1961 husband, father, son & supporter   A red jumper at a community centre disco. A chapel aisle, some said, he shouldn’t walk. A bus to the wrong end of a cup final and a long, cold trek home from the station after a night in a cell. When I sat down with Russell, I found a life textured by central Scotland in the sixties and seventies—steelworks grit, Friday pay packets, and the tidal...

Season 1 Epilogue — Longtime Ago People What happens when we pause to truly listen to the stories that shaped us? As Season One draws to a close, I find myself reflecting on ten conversations that revealed how seemingly small decisions can dramatically alter the course of family destinies across generations. When I began this podcast a few months ago, I had no clear destination—only a quiet curios...

Llewelyn Williams - David 1955 father/son  What remains when a father disappears from a child’s life at the age of seven? When I sat down with David Williams, I found the answer lay not in grand gestures, but in fragments—sausages sizzling on Stanley Beach in Hong Kong, bowling club outings, and the fading images of a man he barely knew, yet whose extraordinary life continues to echo through the d...

Douglas & Agnes Thurston - Ingrid 1956  parents/daughter   In this deeply affecting conversation, I speak with my Auntie Ingrid about her parents (my grandparents) —Douglas George Thurston and Agnes Franziska—whose improbable love story unfolded amid the devastation of post-war Germany. Douglas, a British soldier known affectionately as “Busty,” had survived the horrors of being a Japanese POW...

Simon Redhead - Andy 1957 brothers  What happens when the quiet cornerstone of a family disappears? I speak with Andy about his younger brother Simon — a man whose life, and sudden death, left a lasting imprint far beyond what anyone had imagined. Simon grew up in Leeds, surrounded by teachers, and went on to become a much-loved PE teacher himself. It wasn’t until his funeral, attended by hundreds...

Bembridge School - Bas & Miles 1964  school friends  There’s something quietly remarkable about friendships that endure across decades. I recently sat down with my old school friend Bas—now living in Sydney—for a conversation that spanned forty years yet felt like no time had passed at all. We found ourselves transported back to Bembridge School on the Isle of Wight, where we spent our formati...

Bill McGuffie - Moray 1957  father/son  What happens when musical brilliance collides with the complexities of fatherhood? In this episode, I speak with Moray McGuffie about his father Bill—a Scottish piano prodigy whose life was as dazzling as it was difficult. Bill’s story begins with a jaw-dropping moment: stepping in at age twelve to play with a professional band, sight unseen. Despite losing...

George Palmer - John 1966  father/son  Every family has its storytellers—the keepers of memories that might otherwise slip away. In this conversation, recorded on the sun-drenched Mediterranean coast of Spain, I spoke with my brother-in-law who, John, without even realising it, had found himself living out his father George’s dream. Early on, a quiet revelation set the tone: “I just found out from...

Gary Booth - Karl 1963  brothers  What happens when a curious boy from Manchester decides the conventional path isn’t for him? In this episode, I speak with Karl about his brother, Gary—a man who, at 21, walked away from Thatcher’s Britain with just £150 and a self-taught smattering of French. That leap launched a 35-year adventure spanning continents, languages, and brushes with death, transformi...

Christine Miles - Brenda 1939  best friends  What makes a friendship last for over five decades? In this heartwarming conversation, I sit down with Brenda—once known to me as "Auntie Brenda"—to explore the remarkable 50-year friendship between her and my aunt Chrissie. Their journey began in 1967 at Queen Charlotte's Hospital in London, where the two women worked as midwives, sharin...

Thomas & Helen (Rae) Part II - Toni 1938  parents/daughter  While talking with my mother, I explored my family's experiences, particularly focusing on my grandparents' move from London to the Isle of Wight. I discussed how they adapted during World War II and their journey from working-class backgrounds to owning and operating a guesthouse business. My analysis offers insights into f...