Stay ConnectedGlobal campaigner and author Sarah Brown chats with people who’ve had a positive influence on the world around them, and unearths the lessons to help us do the same. Find out how to develop the better angel inside yourself. Featuring stories from globally renowned campaigners, Nobel Prize winners, celebrities, politicians and remarkable young people, Better Angels with Sarah Brown champions the activist spirit.
Credits:
Executive Producer: Ben Hewitt
Music: Pete Lyons
Photo: Brian Aris
Sarah Brown talks to Sir Patrick Stewart, OBE, the world-renowned English Actor, whose career spans The Royal Shakespeare Company, TV dramas, and the much loved roles of Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek films and professor Charles Xavier in X-Men.
In this interview special, Sir Patrick Stewart speaks openly about finding his love of acting and theatre, how he trains and looks after his iconic voice, and how he uses his voice to speak up for the causes about which he is passionate. Sir Patrick is vocal in his support for various social issues including progressive politics for fairness and social justice, addressing domestic violence with the charity Refuge, and being a powerful advocate for a better understanding of the mental health issues faced by our war veterans.
Sarah Brown chats to Nadine Labaki, Steve Nguyen, Nick Sharrat and young activists from Mobaderoon in Syria.
This episode explores the relationship between creativity and activism, and how we can learn from both to best express our personal concerns externally. Writers, artists and musicians have been the creative force behind world changing campaigns for many years. Creative ideas can inspire, change, enhance communication and express solidarity, from music, art, storytelling, illustration, drama, the spoken and written word and more. At its best creativity can move people to believe something, care and decide not to act.
Sarah Brown talks to Lebanese actress and director Nadine Labaki, renowned film and animation director, writer and producer Steve Nguyen, award-winning illustrator and author Nick Sharrat and young activists from civil society group Mobaderoon from Syria.
How do you actually make big change happen? In this episode, Sarah Brown explores the challenge of how to educate Syrian children who have been forced to flee their homes and schools due to the ongoing war. What are all the elements involved in getting hundreds of thousands of Syrian back to school and learning?
The episode focuses on education but has wider lessons about how big problems can be solved, even in the face of overwhelming crisis. This is an example of how campaigns create change, and what can be achieved when leaders and activists come together.
Sarah Brown talks to Elias Bou Saab, former Minister of Education in Lebanon, Christos Stylianides, EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Julia Gillard, former Australian Prime Minister, now Chair of the Global Partnership for Education, Dr Justin van Fleet, Director of the Commission for Financing Education Opportunity and chief adviser for Theirworld, Weded Antawi, a Palestinian computer science student campaigning for global education and Nour, 14 year old Syrian schoolgirl.
Sarah Brown talks to Ed Balls, former politician and UK government minister, economist, author, lecturer and surprise star of UK prime time television show Strictly Come Dancing! In this Interview Special Ed Balls speaks openly about finding his voice, literally, as he suffers from a lifelong interiorised stammer. As a high profile politician Ed Balls had to give big speeches and live interviews and he explains his own pathway to diagnosing and living positively with his stammer and finding ways to speak out
Sarah Brown chats to Sir Patrick Stewart, Ed Balls, Christy Turlington Burns, and Laura Bates, who share their personal experiences of mastering the challenges of public speaking and their activist voice. The programme investigates how to find the confidence, courage and skills to speak out on an issue you care passionately about.
Featuring world renowned actor Sir Patrick Stewart, super-model and maternal health campaigner Christy Turlington Burns, politician, economist and dancer Ed Balls, and feminist writer and Everyday Sexism Project founder, Laura Bates.
Sarah Brown chats to Rachel Whale. Rachel Whale is founder and CEO of social enterprise Koreo. Her passion is to create social change and she has become a master of finding and encouraging talented people to integrate activism in to their everyday lives. In this interview special Rachel explains her own tough upbringing and what drives her tenacity in her day to day work to make the world a better place.
Sarah Brown chats to Stuart Goldsmith. Stuart Goldsmith is a stand-up comedian and presenter of his own highly successful podcast - The Comedians Comedian. Stuart discusses his early work as a street performer and also his insights about what makes an individual stand out. This is a podcast rooted in activism but looks for lessons from a range of experiences, and this interview special explores how to create a distinctive voice.
Sarah Brown talks to Professor Sophie Scott. Sophie Scott is a British cognitive neuroscientist who studies what happens in our brains when we laugh. Sophie was interviewed for a previous episode of Better Angels titled 'The Power of Laughter'. This is a podcast rooted in activism but looks for lessons from a range of experiences. The interview special explores the science of laughter and how we might better understand laughter and use it to connect with people through our activism.
Sarah Brown chats to Ben Winston. Ben Winston is a television and film director and producer and Executive Producer of the Late Late Shown with James Corden. Ben and James created the famous 'Smithy' sketches that became a viral sensation for the UK Comic Relief Comedy telethon. Better Angels is a podcast rooted in activism but looks for lessons from a range of experiences, and this interview special explores the unique role of comedy in encouraging people to take action. The interview was initially set up with Ben Winston but was, happily, interrupted on the day by James Corden who shares his own thoughts about how the famous 'Smithy' sketches came about.
Sarah Brown chats to Sarah Millican. Sarah Millican won the coveted Best Newcomer Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2008 and is today one of the UK's leading comedians. She has sold out three national tours and her debut DVD, Chatterbox Live, became the biggest selling stand-up DVD by a female comedian of all time. Better Angels is a podcast rooted in activism but looks for lessons from a range of experiences. In this interview special she shares lessons for anyone hoping to speak in front of an audience about something they care about. Sarah Millican is active on Twitter and tweets actively during holidays, connecting with people who are on their own - as an online festive friend.
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