The Convex Conversation

As the Festival of Speed kicks off at Goodwood in Sussex, the 11th Duke of Richmond reveals how and why he created it in 1993, and how it’s grown into the world’s greatest celebration of motor sport.  F1 champions like Lando Norris, Valentino Rossi and Damon Hill will be joined by the Andretti family and astronaut Tim Peake – just some of the names to look out for this year.  Charles recounts stor...

Over 24 years, British diplomat Ian Proud became one of the most accomplished crisis experts in the Foreign Office, dealing with global emergencies like the Bali Bombing, Salisbury poisonings and 911. He talks openly about the Post Traumatic Stress Disorder he suffered as Head of the Political Section in Thailand after being one of the first on the scene of the Boxing Day Tsunami and how he believ...

Friqtao, the Paris-born pianist known for spontaneous performances in train stations, went viral when he started sharing his music on socials, striking a chord with more than 3.5 million TikTok followers. Wearing his signature beanie and headphones and inspired by all kinds of culture including Japanese Ghibli films, the 24-year-old morphs pop and hip-hop, posting his own compositions and covers b...

Cally Beaton reveals how a chance conversation with the late, great Joan Rivers led to her leaving her high-flying career in TV & film and multi-million-pound contracts behind for the unpredictable life of a comedian.  Cally was 50 when she quit the boardroom at ViacomCBS. As a single mum of two, it was a huge risk but she quickly became one of the most exciting stand ups on the comedy circuit...

Reigning Strictly champion Carlos Gu shares his incredible story, from growing up in a remote village in China with dance coursing through his veins, to winning the coveted glitter ball with Lioness Karen Carney.  Carlos is currently on tour with fellow pro Amy Dowden in their breathtaking show, Amy and Carlos Reborn, and they star in Channel 4’s Celebrity Hunted which goes out on our screens next...

Helen braves a chilly 11-degree dip in Windermere in the Lake District with renowned Cold Water Swim Coach Gilly McArthur to experience the benefits of cold exposure and blue spaces.   Gilly is part of a world-class team working on an NHS research project with Oxford and Portsmouth Universities, investigating whether cold water & outdoor swimming can help alleviate anxiety and depression.   Gi...

In one of her first interviews, Wing Commander Sasha Nash reveals she’s embracing the challenges in her new role as Officer Commanding of the RAF’s world-famous aerobatic team, The Red Arrows.  A former front-line Tornado pilot, Sasha is excited about the 2026 display season which will feature seven jets as opposed to the team’s trademark nine, primarily due to the iconic Hawk T1 fast approaching...

Prison Group Director for the West Midlands Mark Greenhaf takes us behind bars at HMP Swinfen Hall in Staffordshire – a Category C prison for men aged 18-28 – to explore his forty-year career championing reform and rehabilitation.   We’re joined by attempted murder victim Natalie Queiroz MBE who talks to some of the young lads serving life about the impact of knife crime and how they can use their...

As Earth faces its sixth mass extinction, with a million plant and animal species at risk, Australian environmentalist & climate expert Natalie Kyriacou OAM explains how, for the first time in history, it’s being driven by human activity. Her new book, Nature's Last Dance, is a razor-sharp, honest, witty and deeply moving look into the heart of our extinction crisis. Natalie shares unusual tal...

Blood tests that can detect tiny traces of abnormal proteins which have leached from the brain into the blood are proving a real breakthrough in efforts to diagnose Alzheimer’s disease early - a thing of science fiction five years ago, according to eminent neurologist Professor Jonathan Schott. Based at the Dementia Research Centre at UCL’s Institute of Neurology, Jon is also Chief Medical Officer...

Popular science presenter and space expert Dallas Campbell was one of millions following NASA’s recent Artemis II mission around the Moon, with live updates by the four astronauts from space. Dallas talks us through the significance of the mission, how it compares with Apollo, and his delight at how it’s captured public imagination at a politically divisive time on Earth.  His brilliant new book –...

In part two of our special with multi-BAFTA and Emmy-winning wildlife and documentary film-maker Doug Allan, he discusses climate change and, in particular, the impact it’s having on the polar regions.   Doug says if the world had paid more attention to indigenous people in the Arctic and elsewhere, and listened seriously, we might have been more aware of the dangers ahead.   Doug shares more incr...

Sir David Attenborough says cameramen don’t come much more special than Doug Allan.   The multi-BAFTA and Emmy-winning wildlife cameraman has filmed some of the most spectacular sequences for landmark programmes like Blue Planet. Orcas attacking gray whales off California; polar bears trying to catch belugas in a frozen hole in Arctic Canada and killer whales washing seals off ice floes in Antarct...

Clyde Best OBE was just 17 when he left Bermuda and came to London to play for West Ham United, becoming the first black superstar of First Division football in England. His dad told him in 1968 that he’d be playing for those coming after him. A new documentary - Transforming the Beautiful Game: The Clyde Best Story – shows just how many world-class black players Clyde has inspired, including Engl...

Retired detective Ash Smith, played by David Thewlis in Channel’s 4’s shocking new docudrama Dirty Business, talks about his decade‑long investigation with neighbour Professor Peter Hammond into England's water companies and the incredible response to the programme. It’s a dramatisation of the real-life story of how they uncovered the illegal dumping of raw sewage by water companies in Britain’s w...

The world’s fastest marathon runner over 50 shares his extraordinary story of resilience, redemption and personal transformation.  Ken Rideout grew up in a broken home in inner-city Boston, Massachusetts; became a corrections officer in a hard-core prison at 18; made millions as a trader on Wall Street but behind the financial success battled a long, dark addiction to opioids.  Adopting a baby fro...

Award-winning reportage artist and TED Fellow George Butler draws in ink and watercolour in war zones, refugee camps and disaster areas all over the world telling poignant, human stories we rarely hear on the news. His testimonies of ordinary people capture courage, resilience, strength and moments of hope, introducing us to real characters behind the headlines. George has drawn in a leprosy clini...

When Figen Murray’s 29-year-old son Martyn was murdered in the Manchester Arena terrorist attack in 2017, her family - and those of the 21 other victims - was torn apart.  No longer able to function as a psychotherapist, Figen studied for a Masters in Counter Terrorism and has spent the last six and a half years lobbying Government and the Lords to create a new law to make venues safer and protect...

Merseybeat poet Roger McGough on life as a poet, number one hits with sixties comedy band The Scaffold, hanging out with musicians like Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and Keith Moon, growing up during the second world war in Liverpool and being part of the cultural movement. Roger reads from his new book – The Collected Poems: 1959-2024 - which he featured recently in his tour Alive and Gigging, and says...

The Princess of Wales braved blustery weather to get out in the Peak District with Mind Over Mountains, co-founded by adventurer Alex Staniforth. Catherine discovered how Alex and the team use nature, the outdoors and expert coaches to help people open-up about their mental health.  Plagued by adversity as a child – coping with epilepsy, bullying and a life-long stammer – Alex discovered the power...

Elizabeth Emanuel designs for stars like Rita Ora, Courtney Love and Madonna but her name will forever be remembered for creating Diana, Princess of Wales’, fairytale wedding dress with her then partner David Emanuel. From her London studio, Elizabeth shares stories behind the surreal royal experience which changed the young designers' lives forever. She recalls the extreme tactics used to conceal...

Renowned writer & TV producer Howard Sounes reveals fascinating stories behind his best-selling biographies on Bob Dylan, Sir Paul McCartney, Moors murderer Myra Hindley, serial killers Fred and Rose West, and more.  His latest book is based on exclusive access to 100 hours of Fred West’s police interviews which he helped turn into Netflix documentary series ‘Fred and Rose West: A British Horr...

Before Nahid de Belgeonne became ‘the nervous system whisperer’, she worked in high-growth fashion, tech, publishing and wellness start-ups, building her entire identity on composure, capability, and chronic motion. After a near-death experience and the eventual realisation she was living in a state of high-functioning anxiety and collapse, Nahid began to restore herself and went on to create The...

Investigative journalist Nick Stapleton - co-host of Scam Interceptors - talks about the worldwide fraud explosion, worth trillions, and how it’s getting even more sophisticated thanks to AI. Nick reveals what it’s like confronting scammers through ethical hacking on the BBC show, and shares stories from his career as an undercover reporter. He’s the son of TV legends John Stapleton and Lynn Fauld...

On his final tour of Afghanistan in 2009, British Army Officer Lt Col Stewart Hill was blown up by a crude Taliban bomb as he led his troops on Operation Panther's Claw. He suffered a devastating, invisible brain injury which left him hanging between life and death.   Tipped to become a fine general, Stewart was medically discharged from a world he loved. He’s spent years re-discovering his lost i...