The Convex Conversation

60 years ago Sean Connery uttered those immortal words “Bond, James Bond” when Dr No premiered in October 1962.   As the franchise celebrates the milestone with a focus on the iconic music scores, Helen talks to Neal Callow - Art Director of the last five Bond films starring Daniel Craig – and Austrian entrepreneur Jakob Falkner – the man behind the world’s first permanent Bond installation.   Nea...

Fresh from performing 25 one-woman shows at the Fringe, New York comedian Emily Wilson talks to Helen about her “life-changing” experience in Edinburgh. In the show, written by Emily and Sam Blumenfeld, Emily shares the humiliating story of being a finalist on The X Factor USA when she was just 15, performing in front of Simon Cowell, Nicole Scherzinger and the other judges. Through hysterical, se...

Ten-year-old Betsi Rose Powley tells Helen that sharing her battle with Ewing Sarcoma - a rare form of cancer - with 70,000+ followers on Instagram has kept her positive through gruelling chemo & radiotherapy, and made her happy she's helped others cope with with their treatment.    In her first podcast, Betsi says making short films from her hospital bed at The Royal Marden kept her going, gave h...

Pilot and founder of Spitfires.com Matt Jones shares extraordinary stories with Helen from his record-breaking and risky circumnavigation of the globe in G-IRTY - a beautifully restored 1943 Mk IX Silver Spitfire. Matt and his team flew 22,138 nautical miles around the world in just four months, crossing deserts, red mountains, barren areas of Russia, fields of ice and stunning cobalt lakes - clim...

This week Helen visits a small primary school in Ntumbiri in Northern Kenya to meet Ephantus Mugo - winner of Disney's Conservation Hero Award 2020 - to find out and experience how children are learning the value of conservation to improve their lives.  Ephantus explains the challenges rural communities in Kenya face and how, in his role as Conservation Education Programme Coordinator for Lewa Con...

Stephen King described Sarah Pinborough’s psychological thriller Behind Her Eyes as ‘bloody brilliant’. Netflix snapped it up and made it into a hugely successful six-part series in record time The ending - #wtfthatending - trended on social media and the book, like many of Sarah’s others, shot to the top of best-sellers lists all over the world. Sarah talks us through what happened, how her mum f...

This week I’m in Northern Kenya with an 11-person team from investment firm Ninety One to document their unique experience taking part in Tusk's annual marathon through the beautiful Lewa Wildlife Conservancy alongside some of the world’s most endangered species. The corporate team raised money for Tusk and visited incredible projects funded by the conservation charity, including schools, to see f...

London’s Ambulance Service is the busiest in the world, receiving around seven thousand 999 calls a day. Jules Lockett shares stories from her 21 years at the heart of the Emergency Operations Centre - as a call-handler, trainer & now EOC General Manager – and reveals her pride in wearing the NHS/Ambulance uniform. As a member of the LGBTQ+ community, Jules talks about 50 years of Pride and how Lo...

In part two of our special, F1 legend Sir Jackie Stewart explains the dangers of emotion & how he managed to remove that emotion before a race by forcing himself to read despite having severe dyslexia. The former three-times World Champion talks about how dangerous racing was in the sixties & seventies, his crash at Spa in 1966 and the safety measures he fought hard to bring in, even though it did...

In part one of our two-part special, former three-times World Champion Sir Jackie shares stories from his heyday in racing – the close bond with other F1 drivers & their families, the excitement, glamour & adrenalin but also the incredible dangers & sadness of losing friends on the track. Jackie’s beloved wife of 60 years, Helen, was his stopwatch, timing his laps to the millisecond with unwaverin...

Simon Jeffries, co-founder of The Natural Edge, explains how mindset is a skillset & the path to long-term happiness begins & ends with our minds. Drawing from his own personal experiences, including eight years & three tours as a Special Forces soldier, Simon shares some simple tips for making positive change, starting the journey to turn our potential into peak performance. If you’ve plateaued,...

Led Zeppelin’s frontman Robert Plant is to thank for two of the nation’s most loved & respected broadcasters hitting the road to share extraordinary stories from a combined 100 years in the music business. Bob Harris & Danny Baker have been touring Britain with ‘Harris and Baker’s Backstage Pass’ recounting tales from the most seminal moments in music history featuring icons like David Bowie, Marc...

To mark Dementia Action Week, Dr Dennis Chan from UCL reveals the ground-breaking work he & research colleagues are doing to detect Alzheimer’s disease - one of the biggest causes of dementia - years, even decades, before symptoms like memory loss show. Dr Chan explains how Virtual Reality is useful in testing & how everyday digital data like our heart rates, sleep patterns & breathing patterns ga...

Helen travels to the southern tip of the Western Isles to learn everything there is to know about one of life’s great delicacies & what it’s like to be an oyster farmer in one of the most beautiful, remote places in the Outer Hebrides. Gerard MacDonald founded the company after a visit to France & the realisation that the cold pristine waters of the Atlantic could offer the perfect habitat. Landin...

Triathlete Dame Flora Duffy dreamt of winning the Olympics from the age of seven when she started competing in triathlons in Bermuda where she was born & spent her childhood.   Fast-forward to Tokyo 2020, and the 34-year-old won gold in typhoon conditions – finishing her cycle, swim & run more than a minute clear of Britain’s silver medallist Georgia Taylor-Brown. Flora gives Helen an insight into...

Line of Duty star Vicky McClure introduces us to her Dementia Choir, subject of a third series on BBC1 this autumn. She explains how science has proved the positive impact music has on those living with dementia, something she sees when she’s with the choir members and experienced with her nonna Iris, who died of dementia. Vicky also reveals how she uses music to help her prepare for roles in dram...

After 24 years as a correspondent, Foreign Affairs Editor & Diplomatic Editor at Sky News, award-winning journalist Tim Marshall has used his experiences to write best-selling books using maps of crucial regions to explain the geo-political strategies of world powers.  Tim - who is commentating on the situation in Ukraine and writing for publications like The New Statesman - explains why he thinks...

Coinneach Macleod, who comes from a small crofting settlement on the remote island of Lewis in the Outer Hebrides, reveals how he’s unexpectedly become known to millions all over the world as The Hebridean Baker. Coinneach’s unique blend of delicious recipes & fascinating stories from the Scottish Islands, music, stunning scenery, culinary secrets from his Aunt Bellag (93) & Gaelic in his one-minu...

Actor Neil Morrissey was catapulted to fame in Men Behaving Badly & has been on our screens for the last four decades, in drama & comedy.  The Good Karma Hospital star tells Helen about growing up in children's homes from the age of ten, being taken away from his parents, and how acting saved him.  He also explains what it was like being a household name through the phone hacking years, talks abou...

The Ukrainian refugee crisis is the fastest growing in Europe since the second world war & could last years, with more than 2 million people already abandoning their homes following Russia’s invasion. Founder & CEO of Indigo Volunteers Holly Penalver talks about her charity’s role at the Ukranian borders, the extraordinary international response & the need for the UK to urgently issue more visas....

To mark International Women's day, we hear from Shabnam Dawran – a national news presenter from Afghanistan – who made headlines all over the world for standing up to the Taliban in Kabul when she was refused entry to her TV studios in the first few days of the new regime.    The 26-year-old was forced to flee her home country a few months ago after being threatened at gun point & sharing her stor...

Broadcaster & editor-in-chief of The Frank Magazine Melanie Sykes speaks openly to Helen about her recent discovery she’s autistic & her new-found determination to speak out & help others.   Melanie has embraced her diagnosis at the age of 51 & says she’s looking at life through a different lens, unpicking and making sense of some of the past.   Melanie also talks passionately about the magazine s...

As a young boy, Alessandro Savelli grew up in Genoa in Italy enjoying pasta made by his grandmother. When he wanted to start a brand from scratch, he came up with the idea for Pasta Evangelists, offering hand-made fresh pasta and the ingredients for delicious sauces delivered through the letterbox.   Alex and his partner Finn pitched on Dragons Den two years ago for £75,000 of investment but were...

Netflix say The Queen's Gambit has broken all records for the most watched limited series, with 62 million households gripped by their seven-part drama. But the story behind it is just as fascinating.   Co-creator & executive producer Allan Scott bought the rights to the Walter Tevis book in the eighties & tells Helen the trials & tribulations behind trying to get studios interested in the story o...

As well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions fade & over-ambitious goals for a new body start to slip, wellness guru Rhian Stephenson explains the power of food and how to feel good & energised all year round.   Rhian is a nutritional therapist & naturopath who gave up her role as CEO of Psycle London to create her own wellness company, ARTAH out of her passion to help and inspire people to enjoy op...