The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius

Send us Fan Mail A life can look ordinary from the outside, right up until you hear the moments that quietly changed everything. I’m joined by Sue Garrett, a retired nurse, mother, grandmother, baker, music lover, and devoted wife, for a Legacy Life Reflections conversation that moves between laughter and real, lived tenderness. We start where Sue feels most clear headed: her garden near Leeds Cas...

Send us Fan Mail In this special Legacy Life Reflections episode, Chris Grimes welcomes John Morrison — with his family gathered in the room to bear witness. From the terrace of Henbury Golf Club, his "clearing" of 38 years, John traces a full and generous life: a strict, loving mother who called her children "the jewels in her crown of life"; a working life that ran from PE te...

Send us Fan Mail When Andy Gotts was 18, a stranger in Norfolk asked him why he didn't look happy. That single question and the Photography Teacher it quietly led him to, set in motion a 36 year path from a college darkroom in King's Lynn to Hollywood's most idiosyncratic black-and-white portraits. In this Stories of Distinction & Genius episode, Chris Grimes welcomes Andy &quot...

Send us Fan Mail Only a tiny proportion of Professional Speakers are able to land the best stages again-and-again-and-again - and it is not always the celebrities. I’m joined by Maria Franzoni, Speakers' Advocate, Speaker Coach and former Speaker Bureau Owner, to dig into what actually drives paid Speaking engagements, repeat bookings, and higher Keynote Speaker fees. If you’ve ever wondered...

Send us Fan Mail He helped raise £225 million, worked punishing weeks, and then walked away from it all. Jon Kaye joins me in The Clearing to unpack the moment he stopped chasing the obvious definition of success and started rebuilding a life around creativity, community, and better questions. We talk through Jon’s founder story in private equity: the risk of resigning with a pregnant wife, a new...

Send us Fan Mail You can hear a whole philosophy of change hidden inside one simple move: Put the bike where you can see it. That is the kind of practical, human behaviour design we get into with Mike Coulter, a lifelong Creative who’s worked across advertising, helped shape projects at the DO Lectures, and now teaches tools for building 'Tiny Habits' that actually stick. We start with t...

Send us Fan Mail A Dorset walk to a walled garden. Light dancing on water. A motto whispered at crossroads: onwards and upwards. Linda Jacob invites us into a life built on fairness, quiet courage, and the everyday craft of choosing our response when events feel out of hand. We talk about here roots in Buckinghamshire, a grandmother named Florence who taught kindness without gossip, and the determ...

Send us Fan Mail Your Team can tell when you’re not really there and horses can tell even faster! Leadership Strategist, Speaker, Author & Equine-guided Coach Julia Felton, joins me to unpack “Business HorsePower”: the practical Leadership lessons that we can borrow from nature and horse-herd-dynamics to build trust, presence, and stronger Teams in the 21st century. We talk candidly about burn...

Send us Fan Mail If you don't yet have a frame of reference for Design Response Queen Lori Haller, then here she comes! "The reason I named my company Designing Response is that's how I show up: I'm not here to just create a beautiful design and jooje the copy. I'm here hardcore to hop-on-top of whatever project it is and make sure I get a RESPONSE: Click a button, say &qu...

Send us Fan Mail What does it take to turn a derelict pub, a borrowed hotel room, and a spontaneous spa acquisition into a thriving Suffolk brand? Meet the Pilleys! Daniel, James, and Rebecca—for a fast-moving 'Founder Story' about gutsy bets, patient craft, and the kind of trust you can only build at home and at work. From Salon 9’s leap from 2 hotel rooms to a 9 chair high street salon...

Send us Fan Mail What if a Martial Arts Academy wasn’t about belts first, but about belonging? Tony Rice, 5th Dan and Founder of Yarm Martial Arts, opens the doors to a place parents call a "Confidence Factory" - where 5 year-olds learn eye contact and kindness, teens find a safe refuge on tough days, and adults rediscover calm between work and family. We dig into the simple habits that...

Send us Fan Mail A courageous journey, a chance meeting and a single ring on the bell at the gilded gates of his future, changed everything for Kevin Tewis and launched him into being! And nothing has stopped him ever since! At 15, a disastrous careers interview informed Kevin that he simply wasn’t good enough and a life of stacking biscuits as opposed to a glorious creative career lay ahead. To q...

Send us Fan Mail What if staying sharp has nothing to do with age and everything to do with curiosity? We sit down with Harry Mount, editor of The Oldie, for a brisk, generous tour through a life shaped by language, architecture, bicycles, and the courage to change course. Harry opens with the soul of the magazine—why it prizes wit over celebrity and celebrates people “with snap in their celery”—a...

Send us Fan Mail Calling all High Performing Business Travellers! What if travel didn’t drain your energy but amplified your performance? That question sits at the heart of our conversation with Founder Ingrid Sanderson of Principal Travel, a boutique, independent firm built to help professionals arrive fresh, not frazzled. We dig into how her team blends concierge-level care with smart digital to...

Send us Fan Mail Pressure doesn’t just test us; it can transform us. My guest, Diana Esther Berschader, introduces us to her "Diamond Within" Spiritual Philosophy: A living source of inner guidance that many of us forget under layers of fear, fatigue, and old stories. Her path runs from a Soviet childhood where a ballerina’s dream was dismissed, through years of illness and an eventual c...

Send us Fan Mail What if your best leadership tools were already inside you—waiting for the right spark? Expert Coach & Advisor to Founders & Leaders, Rachel Shelmerdine, joins us for a 'Founder Story' that blends rebel grit, design-world savvy, and the gentle audacity to be yourself. Once one of the first specialist coaches in the UK design sector, Rachel stepped back to homesch...

Send us Fan Mail Alex Prince is a Bristol based Osteopath and Inventor of the Z Chair by Sit Straight, an ergonomic chair to promote better posture and better spinal health. I'm sitting on mine now! You can get YOURS at https://www.sitstraight.co.uk or simply Google the Z Chair! Alex and I have engaged in a perfect bit of reciprocity: We've exchanged a Show for a Z Chair!  Alex gets to t...

Send us Fan Mail What if your team’s friction isn’t about difficult people—but mismatched “food”? We sit down with Nigel Risner, the self-styled Chief Zookeeper, to unpack a disarmingly simple idea: people are different, not difficult. From that starting point, Nigel shows how to stop serving steak to dolphins, how to read the room fast, and how to change your language so action follows naturally....

Send us Fan Mail The conversation opens with a tender contradiction: how do you keep the best of your childish self while learning to say goodbye to what no longer fits? Adam Buxton joins us to trace that thread from DIY TV to Decca, from late-night Channel 4 oddities to the calming crunch of Norfolk gravel under foot. We talk about his second memoir, I Love You Bye, the bomb-blast of losing paren...

Send us Fan Mail A single sentence on a wall changed everything. Ben, the founder of Kempton Installation Services, walked into our Inner Circle meeting ready to blame the weather for a quiet order book—and walked out with a different story. We dig into how he stopped thinking like a small business owner, doubled down on what actually worked, and built a six-to-eight-week pipeline without praying...

Send us Fan Mail A single choice can shape a lifetime. When Nigel Hughes told a careers panel he’d choose ballet over the Marines, he set a compass for courage, creativity, and connection that still points true decades later. We invite you into Nigel’s “clearing”—a 1642 Suffolk cottage turned open house—where hedges host micro-moths, neighbours drop by for sugar-free Black Forest gâteaux, and lead...

Send us Fan Mail What if the moments that break you could become the blueprint for how you lead? That’s the heartbeat of our conversation with Gina Gardiner—leader, author, broadcaster, and unapologetic catalyst for change—who turned a devastating ski accident and years of chronic pain into a living masterclass on resilient, human leadership. We trace the arc from breaking gender barriers as a you...

Send us Fan Mail What if the next chapter of your creative life needed a stage you had to build yourself? We sit down with Steve Furst—comedian, actor, writer, and the man behind cabaret icon Lenny Beige—to share how an eviction notice on a beloved Hampstead room sparked Circle and Star, a new intimate theatre with a big heartbeat. From raising funds at speed to converting favours into an opening...

Send us Fan Mail Hungry buyers don’t need convincing; they need finding. That’s the heart of our conversation with strategist and storyteller Erica Mackay from the Marketing Detective Agency, where “Giraffes Don’t Eat Steak” isn’t just a catchy title—it’s a sharp reminder that not every audience is your audience. We swap spray-and-pray tactics for research-led clarity and show how to spot the lion...

Send us Fan Mail A quiet letter. A packed car on the way back from university. A house that suddenly feels bigger than your life. These moments whisper the same question: who are you now? Coach and founder Mary Van Eker joins us to share the story behind her new signature 'The Me I Forgot' Programme, a 4 week programme designed for women 45+ who want to rediscover their identity, purpose...