Project Possible with Rich Leigh

This week's episode is with Charlie Mullins OBE, the founder of Pimlico Plumbing and the self-styled ‘most famous plumber in the world’. Charlie was born in 1952 in north London to a working class family. In his own words, they were very poor, and he remembers going to school with holes in his clothes. He began working from the age of 8 or 9, and that work ethic stuck. He started his company when...

Olympic silver medallist Dan Norton, born in Gloucester, is the the all-time record try scorer in the World Rugby Sevens Series, crossing the tryline 358 times for England over the course of 92 tournaments, totalling an enormous 1804 points in total (including 7 conversions - a 100% kicking record, he tells me!). Norton bowed out of the game as the fourth highest points scorer of all time, going d...

Ultra-endurance athlete Sean Conway, born in Zimbabwe, has been the subject of documentaries aired on Discovery and Amazon Prime. He is the author of six books and a highly sought-after motivational speaker. Multiple world record holder Sean has: Cycled the length of Britain. Sailed the length of Britain. He’s swam the length of Britain. He’s cycled across Europe. He’s run the length of Britain. H...

- Content warning: suicide - For the first time this series, we're going to put a content warning. In this episode, we talk about suicide, grief and loss, and if that's not for you, that's entirely understandable. ---------- Suicide is the biggest cause of death of people under the age of 35. 4x the number of people die by suicide than in road accidents every year. In this episode, we speak to Mik...

After being crushed under a 1 TONNE (2200lbs) bale of hay, her Olympic dreams were shattered. But what Kelda Wood MBE has done since that life-changing accident is nothing short of incredible. From being the first adaptive rower to row the Atlantic - solo - to helping survivors of the Manchester Arena bombing and many others living with life changing injuries, illnesses or trauma with her charity...

Former Cage Warriors champion Christian Leroy Duncan is a 28 year old mixed martial artist from Gloucester, UK, with a pro record of 8-1-0. 7 of his wins have been stoppages, with six knockouts and one submission. Christian fights out of MMA pioneer Mark Weir's Range Martial Arts Academy, and made his UFC debut in March 2023, bringing his unique and flowing style to the middleweight division. In t...

Coming from a council estate in Wales to creating a multi-billion pound industry and two of the most famous brands in the UK, Hayley Parsons OBE is a one-of-a-kind entrepreneur. In this rare interview, Hayley talks about how she created Confused.com while working at Admiral, and how being overlooked for the CEO role was "the best thing that ever happened" to her, as it spurred her on to create GoC...

Who do Lord Sugar, Steven Bartlett and the Spice Girls have in common? The answer is Andrew Bloch, Mr Black Book himself. Public relations is all around us - every time you open a newspaper or social media platform, the fingerprints of PR are there, building and protecting reputations. Andrew is a PR expert. He started his career in the agency that inspired British comedy Absolutely Fabulous, and...

The fourth episode of The Starting Line podcast, with undefeated professional boxer Shabir Haidary. Shabir fled Afghanistan aged just 12, finding himself in Gloucester in the UK after a harrowing journey in which he admits he thought he’d die numerous times, having witnessed things ‘no child should’, both in Afghanistan and on his long and terrifying journey. At 14, Shabir found boxing, and he has...

The third episode of The Starting Line podcast, with the inspirational James Cracknell OBE. Two-time Olympic gold medal winner. Six time world champion. Junior world champion. Add the extensive and impressive list of feats since his Olympic rowing days, which includes rowing the Atlantic with Ben Fogle, finishing as the fastest ever Brit at the time of competing in the gruelling 350km Marathon des...

The second episode of The Starting Line podcast, with the brilliant Marnie Swindells, winner of the most recent series of the BBC’s flagship business show, The Apprentice, and the founder of boxing gym business Bronx LDN. Join us as we go behind the scenes on the show, discuss Marnie’s early life, her challenges, her ambitions, her motivations and more. The Apprentice averages 7 million viewers pe...

The one, the only, Mr Levi Roots. Listen as we talk about Levi's journey, from the boy that couldn't read or write to becoming one of the most recognisable names in the UK. Levi's story is as winding as it is inspiring - and I promise you, you don't know the half of it. = About The Starting Line = From a turbulent childhood marred by domestic violence, addiction and crime to being named the #1 mos...

From a turbulent childhood marred by domestic violence, addiction and crime to being named the #1 most influential PR person, my journey has been anything but conventional. At 17, I dropped out of school. At 18, I became a father for the first time, and left the chaos of my family council house, determined to rewrite my story and break the cycle so many understandably struggle to. By 30, I was a s...