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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day — Arts
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Every success story you’ve ever been told is incomplete. How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is the part they leave out.

Each week, Sunday Times #1 bestselling author Elizabeth Day sits down with someone extraordinary – and asks them about the moments that didn’t go according to plan and how these failures shaped them.

Kate Winslet on body image. Malala Yousafzai on rewriting her story. Pamela Anderson on refuting shame. Phoebe Waller-Bridge on creativity. Salman Rushdie on survival. Emilia Clarke on fame. What happens when the people you most admire stop performing and start telling the truth? Five hundred episodes in, we’re still finding out.

With sold-out nights at the London Palladium and Sydney Opera House, millions of listeners worldwide, and a British Podcast Award to its name, How To Fail is one of the UK’s most successful podcasts. And yes, we’re aware of the irony.

Pick an episode. Start anywhere.

An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment production.

All guest booking is managed from an official Sony Music email address.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcastsTo bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Copyright: © Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment

Latest Episodes:

James Blunt - ‘The Iraq war lost me my GRAMMYS’ Oct 23, 2024

Show notes

TW: miscarriage and pregnancy loss

You’ll probably have heard of James Blunt. And if you haven’t, you’ve almost definitely heard his most famous song, You’re Beautiful. There was a time in the early 2000s that it was EVERYWHERE. And that’s because James Blunt was absolutely huge. His debut 2004 album, Back To Bedlam, was the biggest-selling album of the decade in the UK, shifting over 12 million copies. I know!! TWELVE MILLION.

He has released another six albums since then, every one of them a top 10 hit, winning two Brit Awards and two Ivor Novellos along the way.

But Blunt faced an astonishing cultural backlash for his ubiquity - eventually choosing to fight back in his own words on Twitter, where he rapidly became known for his acerbic put-downs and self-deprecating humour.

He joins me to talk about the ‘honour’ of being a ‘one-hit wonder’, his rejection by every single major record label and his failure to win any Grammys, despite being nominated for five in one night. We also talk about his friendship with the late Carrie Fisher, whether he bears a grudge against any of the musicians who slagged him off (looking at you, Damon Albarn and Noel Gallagher), the absurdity of fame and - in a moving exchange - the male experience of miscarriage.

At points, his humour was so dry it took me a couple of seconds to realise he’d made a joke. Listening back, I can confirm I find him utterly hilarious.

Back To Bedlam is about to be released as a remastered 20th anniversary edition.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Eric Ryan

Studio and Mix Engineer: Matias Torres Sole and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Miranda Hart - 'I always knew I’d get married at 51' Oct 16, 2024

Show notes

It’s been ten years of ‘bear with.. bear with’ but *finally* we’ve got our beloved Miranda Hart back. Due to a long-term undiagnosed chronic illness (which we talk about, of course) Miranda has been largely out of the public eye for the past decade. I was so touched to be the first person she spoke to on her return to work. We covered writing her new book (full of amazing life advice), being an introvert, medical gaslighting, body image and…wait for it... her new husband.

Miranda and I had a ball - her failures include not being a farmer’s wife, not being an athlete and not making the school choir (it turns out there was a reason for this but she only found out years later and has never spoken about it before…). So if that’s not tantalising enough for you then, quite frankly, I don’t know what is.

In my subscriber episode ‘Failing with Friends’, Miranda stayed on to answer your questions including one about farting in front of your partner. Yes, we went there.

Thank you, Miranda and welcome back, we missed you!

‘I Haven’t Been Entirely Honest with You’ by Miranda Hart is out now.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Eric Ryan

Studio and Mix Engineer: Matias Torres Sole and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Neneh Cherry - ‘My mother’s death undid me.’ Oct 09, 2024

Show notes

If you’d told the 12-year-old me, listening to Manchild and Buffalo Stance on repeat at school in Belfast, that I would one day be interviewing Neneh Cherry, I wouldn’t have believed you. This woman is so iconic and has shaped so much of our culture - it’s not just her monster hits such as Seven Seconds (with Youssou N’Dour) or the fact that Massive Attack recorded their seminal first album in her bedroom, or that she’s met everyone from James Baldwin to Chuck D, it’s also that all three of her children are musicians too, including her daughter, chart-topping popstar Mabel (and former How To Fail guest - you can listen to her episode here).

Neneh joins me to talk about an unconventional and itinerant upbringing, surrounded by music, art and expression. We chat about creativity and self-doubt, about motherhood and sisterhood and about how she once spectacularly failed to make pizza for Ian Dury.

Neneh’s beautiful memoir ‘A Thousand Threads’ is out now.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Rupert Everett - 'Everyone is my Professional Nemesis' Oct 02, 2024

Show notes

Rupert Everett is the best type of A-list guest. He’s been through the highs and the lows of fame and come out of the other side wiser, stronger, and with no qualms about speaking his mind.

Plus his new book ‘The American No’ was born from failure (a collection of brilliant short stories that were TV and film ideas). We talked about: ‘learning to die’ professionally; his love for fragile but strong women such as Paula Yates (with whom he had a 6-year affair); coming out in Hollywood; Madonna; My Best Friend’s Wedding with Julia Roberts and Cameron Diaz; why Oscar Wilde is a Christ figure, how drugs have ruined his brain and using hyper-sexuality as an escape.

See, told you he didn’t hold back.

Rupert’s new book ‘The American No’ is available now in all the usual places.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Yuval Noah Harari - ‘AI doesn't have to end badly for humankind’ Sep 25, 2024

Show notes

Well, look, of COURSE I was intimidated. Yuval Noah Harari is one of our most revered thinkers - a philosopher for our age and a bestselling writer of books that have redefined our thinking about humanity. You will probably know him as the author of Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind (25 million copies sold and counting). Now, he tackles AI in his latest work, Nexus.

Yuval joins us to talk about the potential of AI, as well as its dangers (I was actually left feeling more positive than negative, so it’s a great antidote to all the doom-mongering out there). We also discuss his childhood, his sexuality and his one big regret about not ‘coming out’ earlier - not to others, but to himself. He gives an extremely considered response to the terrible crisis in the Middle East and talks about how his critical stance against the Israeli state has lost him friendships. Plus: why he thinks he fails at meditation despite doing it for two hours a day. And if you’re a Failing With Friends subscriber, you’ll get to hear me ask the really BIG questions: his favourite karaoke tune and whether he gives cat or dog energy.

These were such enlightening, important conversations, filled with hope and explained with such clarity. Thank you, Yuval.

PS. You’re totally a cat.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Diane Abbott - ‘I’ve never had a nice chat with Keir Starmer’ Sep 18, 2024

Show notes

Diane Abbott is a force of nature - and she needs to be, with so much vitriol directed towards her. She has weathered decades of racist and sexist abuse but has still blazed a trail through British politics as the first ever Black female MP. Not for nothing is she now known as ‘Mother of the House’.

We talk about why some people (*cough* white, privately educated men in politics *cough*) are given multiple opportunities to fail upwards, while others aren’t and how she’s always felt the need to prove herself. We also discuss how, as the child of two Windrush generation parents, she had to stand up to her teachers in school when they told her Cambridge University ‘wasn’t for her’ and how she felt she failed in her degree. We chat about political failure in leadership and general elections, drinking Mojitos on public transport, anti-semitism and why she’s never had a ‘nice chat’ with Keir Starmer. Plus: dating ex-boyfriend Jeremy Corbyn (warning: involves much tinkering with socialist motorbikes).

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Kate Winslet - ‘I remember thinking: I do not want to be famous’ Sep 11, 2024

Show notes

Look, I don’t like to brag but in case you hadn’t noticed, we’ve got Kate Winslet on How To Fail this week. ACTUAL KATE WINSLET! The one and only! And oh my goodness, what an incredible guest she is: acutely intelligent, funny and brilliantly forthright. We covered so much ground - from the media obsession with her body image, to her regret at giving up tap-dancing, her feelings of failure around not yet having directed, working with Emma Thompson and the time Woody Allen called her ‘a bad actress’...it’s *all* here.

We talk about a career that started at the age of 17 in Heavenly Creatures and went on to encompass some of the biggest roles in the biggest movies of all time - Sense and Sensibility, Titanic, Iris, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and so much more. Along the way, Winslet has won an Academy Award, two Emmys, five Baftas, five Golden Globes and been awarded a CBE. Now, 48, Winslet’s titular role in Lee, the biopic of war photographer Lee Miller, also marks her first time as producer. It was a passion project she was determined to get made, although it took her eight long years to do so.

And for anyone who wants to hear more about the filming of The Holiday and whether she and Leonardo di Caprio are still friends, then you *have* to tune into Failing With Friends, our subscriber episode, where Winslet spills all the beans.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Producer: Hannah Talbot

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Agony Uncle Salman Rushdie – ‘I walked into a glass door and fell in love’ Sep 04, 2024

Show notes

This is a very special one-off edition of How to Fail, where I bring you a peek behind the paywall to hear one of my favourite subscriber editions of ‘Failing with Friends’. If you’re not already a subscriber (and if not, why not, quite frankly?) then this is a little glimpse of what we’ve been up to. Failing With Friends is where my lovely listeners write in and ask for advice about their failures, problems or just to say hello. In this episode, the highly-acclaimed author, Sir Salman Rushdie kindly stayed on after his interview with me, to help answer your questions. Salman certainly lived up to his role as Agony Uncle, revealing his thoughts on people who bulls**t, his hack for writer’s block, and even giving excellent dating advice. I hope you enjoy it! And if you do, don’t forget to subscribe for a weekly Failing With Friends episode as well as the chance to listen to How To Fail completely ad-free. (You also get exclusive access to the How To… channel and will be able to binge all 12 episodes of How To Write A Book).

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Ellie Simmonds - Being different is a superpower. Aug 28, 2024

Show notes

Paralympic swimmer Ellie Simmonds OBE has won five - count ‘em - Gold Medals. Amazingly, her first two were at the age of 13 and she’s set two world records. But she happily admits she learned more ‘from the races that didn’t go well’. Ellie talks to me about putting an intense amount of pressure on herself, never being able to switch off and how she still struggles with that now - especially when it comes to getting enough sleep. She also opens up very movingly about being adopted as a baby and growing up in a family that celebrated difference. We also chat about why there’s still so much more education needed around disability and why travel has taught her to counter her fear of being out of control. An amazing woman.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Guenther Steiner - F1 made me an absent father Aug 21, 2024

Show notes

The first thing Guenther Steiner said when he walked into the HTF studio was: ‘Recently your guests have been Shania Twain and Salman Rushdie, are you sure you want me and haven’t made a mistake?’ This tells you almost everything you need to know about the breakout star of Netflix’s F1: Drive to Survive and former Haas team principal: he’s hilarious, he’s modest and he still finds his newfound fame fairly baffling.

Although he’s known for his fruity vocabulary alongside his racing skills, I confess that the only person to swear in our chat was me. Guenther was an incredibly charming guest - honest, thoughtful and kind. We talked about failure in sport, how to keep calm in high pressure situations and what Toto Wolff is *really* like. Plus, Guenther’s regrets at not spending enough time with his family and why there are no women drivers in F1. The only question that stumped him was when I asked what his favourite car was - you’ll have to listen for the answer.

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly

Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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