Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth

To end our second year of Rosebud, we have one of our most charming, talented and brilliant theatrical dames: Dame Eileen Atkins. Dame Eileen is a uniquely talented writer and actor, both on stage and screen - from Cranford, to the RSC, to The Killing of Sister George on Broadway, to Upstairs, Downstairs and The House of Eliot (which she co-created), to Mrs Dalloway (for which she wrote the screen...

Gyles is back at Oxford after the summer... with a bang, of course. His long-awaited pantomime, Cinderella, opens at the Playhouse, with Sir Michael Redgrave reading the Prologue (and getting stage fright in the wings before the show). Plus Gyles sees James Robertson Justice naked, goes on TV again and forgets his lines for Twelfth Night. Yes, it's another great episode for you, diary fans! Hosted...

We have a broadcasting legend for you today on Rosebud, as Gyles interviews the creator and host of In Our Time and The South Bank Show, Melvyn Bragg, Lord Bragg of Wigton. Melvyn takes Gyles back to his roots in Wigton, a small town in Cumbria, in which his parents ran one of the local pubs, and the young Bragg played all day long in the streets, making bows and arrows from trees overhanging the...

Our guest today is Lord Ivar Mountbatten, a great-great-great grandson of Queen Victoria, cousin of Prince Phillip, descendant of Russian Tsars and of Pushkin, and the second son of David, the late Marquess of Milford Haven, who was Prince Philip's best man at his wedding to Princess Elizabeth in 1947. Lord Ivar tells Gyles about his complex and fascinating lineage, and he also tells him about gro...

The sun is out and our guest this week is a ray of sunshine. It's the unique British comic actress and fashion icon Su Pollard. In this brilliant conversation, Su tells Gyles about her childhood in Nottingham, how she got the bug for performing when she was still in the infants and used to go to school dressed in wild outfits that made her look like a morris dancer. He hears about her parents, Don...

Well, Gyles's diary continues to wow Harriet - and all our lovely listeners - and this week is no exception... Because at the height of the Cold War (it's 1968 and the USSR have just invaded Czechoslovakia), the young Mr Brandreth goes off on a research trip to Moscow. And it is truly fascinating - a snapshot of Soviet life with all its surveillance, austerity and difference. Back in the UK, life...

A best-selling novellist with a life story that reads like a best-selling novel... our guest this week is Anthony Horowitz. In this absorbing and - at times - moving and shocking conversation, Anthony tells Gyles about his young life and upbringing, which is extraordinary. Born to wealthy parents into a very large home of extreme privilege, Horowitz's childhood was cold, lonely and lacking in love...

A special episode of More Rosebud today with a great poet, and filled with great poetry. Roger McGough tells Gyles about his striking first memories, his childhood in Liverpool, and interweaves this with some readings of poems inspired by his life. Roger remembers his hardworking father, the long line of men who came to the house to pay their respects to his father laid out in the coffin after his...

Kemi Badenoch is the Leader of the Conservative Party and the current Leader of the Opposition, a job often described as the toughest in British politics. And in this interview with Gyles, Kemi talks about her upbringing and how it gave her the toughness she needs to survive in the ruthless environment of Westminster. Born in a hospital in Wimbledon in 1980, but brought up and educated mainly in L...

It's hard to believe how much Gyles packs into his summer term at Oxford: he's filming with the BBC, he's casting his first Oxford University Dramatic Society production, he's looking for a girlfriend, he's going to numerous balls and parties, he's in the newspapers... so this is a long and action-packed episode of the diaries. Harriet and Gyles discuss some of the changing attitudes of the times....

Rosebud is off to the seaside, to the Sarah Thorne Theatre in Broadstairs in Kent, where we meet the much-loved star of Hi-de-Hi and You Rang, M'Lord, Jeffrey Holland. And we meet some Rosebud listeners! And we sing a song and Harriet dresses up as a yellow coat. Jeffrey tells Gyles about his days working with Croft and Perry, his early life in Walsall, the sadness of losing his father when he was...

It's another cracking episode of Gyles's Oxford diaries... Gyles continues his illicit flirtation with his friend's wife, has a sad meeting with Sal, and goes to a party at Robert Maxwell's mansion. He writes a lot of articles, appears in the Sun and on a BBC documentary, and he struggles to find time to do any work. "Busy people are happy people"... but maybe Gyles is trying to squeeze too much i...

Mel Giedroyc is Gyles's special guest on this episode; and she talks about her amazing family story. Her father and his family were taken from Eastern Poland to Siberia by the Russians in 1939 - Mel's grandfather was shot, but her grandmother, dad and aunts made an extraordinary journey and eventually reached London, where Mel's father settled and met her mother. It's a fascinating, moving and som...

It's More Rosebud, and our guest today is a political heavyweight. He was a member of parliament and cabinet minister under Margaret Thatcher and John Major, was the UK's last governor in Hong Kong, and then Chancellor of Oxford University. It's Chris Patten, Lord Patten of Barnes. In this episode, Chris tells Gyles about his childhood, growing up in the west of London in a happy and loving Irish...

Richard Osman: writer, presenter, producer, creator and podcaster. From Pointless, to House of Games, to Thursday Murder Club and The Rest is Entertainment - the range, volume and success of Osman's work is impressive. So how did this shy boy who liked to stand outside things, observe and who has "weird brain gifts" become such an on and off-screen talent? Richard talks to Gyles about his early ye...

It's Gyles's first term at New College, Oxford, and in this episode we hear about what happens when the busiest man at Bedales takes on university life. And, needless to say, he hits the ground running. By the end of his first week he's had a few high-level meetings, met some influential and well-connected people, and had a tour of the Oxford Union. As the term progresses, he gives his maiden spee...

One of our most interesting, versatile and talented actors is Gyles's guest today: Sir Gary Oldman. In this very special, intimate and extensive conversation, Gary tells Gyles about his childhood in New Cross Gate in South London, growing up in a council flat with his sisters and his mum - his father left the family home when Gary was seven. He tells Gyles about his happy childhood, dressing up as...

It's More Rosebud, and time for another guest with an unusual tale to tell. Julia Baird is the half-sister of John Lennon, and here she tells Gyles about her childhood, their mother (Julia Lennon, née Stanley) and what it was like to grow up alongside a future pop icon. John Lennon and Julia Baird's family was big, and complicated - their mother, Julia, was one of five girls. She met John Lennon's...

Jeffrey Archer is one of the best-selling writers in the world, and he is our guest today. He talks to Gyles about his childhood in Weston-Super-Mare, his indomitable mother, his wicked granny, and how he was fired from his job at the local cricket ground for his entrepreneurial afternoon tea scheme. He tells Gyles about his university days, about meeting his wife, Mary, and about meeting the Beat...

A treat for fans of Gyles's diaries, as this week we've got another edition of the gap year diaries... so that's two in a row! In this episode, we start off with a visit from the writer/performer Tama Matheson, who brought Beethoven to life so brilliantly on an episode of More Rosebud a couple of weeks ago. Tama tells Gyles and Harriet about his forthcoming show about Beethoven: 'I Shall Hear in H...

This is an exclusive, and more or less uncensored, interview with the journalist and media powerhouse Piers Morgan, who Gyles spoke to live at the Bridlington Business Day this year. Piers talks to Gyles about his childhood, growing up above a country pub in Sussex, about his schooldays being a "buffoon", and about how peach brandy helped to secure him a job editing the News of the World . PIers t...

Another bumper episode of Gyles's diaries, featuring lots of chat, more diaries, and a gorgeous listener email and poem from Alex and Isabella Porter. Gyles continues his travels around the USA - he finishes his teaching job in Baltimore, and begins travelling around the US, going to Washington DC, New York City and Canada - where he visits Expo '67. Gyles tells Harriet about his wealthy ancestor,...

The brilliant actress Alison Steadman tells Gyles about her life and career. There are some really enchanting stories in this episode from her childhood in Liverpool - from the romantic way her parents met, to her adventures looking for buried treasure in the local recreation ground and her love for her pet rabbit, Skipper - this is an evocative listen. Alison tells Gyles about her childhood talen...

Rose Boyt tells Gyles about her unconventional childhood, and about her experiences of being parented by - and painted by - her father Lucian Freud, the celebrated modern artist. This is an extraordinary story: even Gyles is bowled over by the twists and turns of Rose's childhood. Rose's parents were Lucian Freud and the artist Susie Boyt, with whom Freud had three other children. He also had many...

JoJo Siwa is Rosebud's youngest ever guest - she's only 22 years old. But she's been famous since she was 9, and a megastar since she was 12, when her first single "Boomerang" went viral. The video for that song was viewed over 1 billion times. Now JoJo is all grown up and, fresh from her appearance in Celebrity Big Brother, she has a new record out: "Bulletproof". Gyles is fascinated by child sta...