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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:

S18, Ep5 Geri Halliwell-Horner on writing, grief - and what the Spice Girls taught her Oct 04, 2023

Show notes

On this week's episode, I welcome the all-singing, all-writing, all-dancing POWERHOUSE that is Geri Halliwell-Horner. She started out as Ginger Spice, in the most iconic girl band of all time (simple facts), the Spice Girls, selling over 100 million records worldwide. After the birth of her first child in 2006, she started writing while a single mother and released a series of bestselling children’s books - the Ugenia Lavender novels. Now, she returns with the publication of the young adult novel Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen, a mixture of fantasy and history carrying a message that we can all be our own heroes.
Geri joins me to talk about her love of writing (and why an early mentor was none other than William Boyd), not applying herself enough at school, why the Spice Girls belongs to everyone, how she dealt with grief after the death of her father and why it's morally important to her to 'age with grace and power.'
Geri is my second ever Spice Girl on the podcast (the first was the amazing Melanie Chisholm) and it is a podcast goal of mine to have them all on as guests. They were such an amazing and empowering part of my teenage life. Three more to go. CAN YOU IMAGINE? IT WOULD BE A DREAM COME TRUE.
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Rosie Frost and the Falcon Queen by Geri Halliwell-Horner is out now and available to order here.
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I'm going on tour! To AUSTRALIA, mate! You can now purchase tickets to see me live at Sydney Opera House on 26th February 2024 or the Arts Centre Melbourne on 28th February 2024.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Geri Halliwell-Horner @gerihalliwellhorner

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S18, Ep4 Arlo Parks on the impossibility of perfection Sep 27, 2023

Show notes

Arlo Parks is a singer, songwriter and poet. Her debut album, Collapsed in Sunbeams was released when she was just 21 and earned her two Grammy nominations, a BRIT Award and the Mercury Music Prize. Her second, My Soft Machine, came out earlier this year. This month also marks the publication of her first volume of poetry, The Magic Border, a collection of never-before-seen poems and song lyrics.
Parks joins me to talk about her faiure to create a perfect piece of work, her failure to save others, her failure to fit into what other people think of her - and why Phoebe Bridgers epitomises 'big brother energy'. I loved talking to this beautiful human - her thoughtfulness and her lyrical expression will soothe you and make you think.
Enjoy!
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Arlo's poetry collection, The Magic Border, is out now.
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I'm going on tour! To AUSTRALIA, mate! You can now purchase tickets to see me live at Sydney Opera House on 26th February 2024 or the Arts Centre Melbourne on 28th February 2024.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Arlo Parks @arlo.parks

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S18, Ep3 Rory Stewart on why politics is broken - and what to do about it Sep 20, 2023

Show notes

Rory Stewart is a bestselling writer, podcaster, former politician, adventurer and charity boss. You might know him from his chart-topping podcast, The Rest is Politics, which features Stewart and Alastair Campbell disagreeing agreeably about issues of the day.
After Eton and Oxford, Stewart briefly joined the army and then the diplomatic service. In his 30s, he was elected as an MP, rising to become the Secretary of State for International Development. He stood - unsuccessfully - against Boris Johnson for leadership of the Conservative Party (a failure which haunts him still and which he discusses in this episode). Now, having resigned from politics entirely, he has published a book, Politics on the Edge, about his decade in parliament.
He joins me to talk about the failure of the political system, his own failure to solve it and I explain the rules of 'Shag, Marry, Kill' - never let it be said that I can't lower the tone, eh?
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Rory's new book, Politics on the Edge, is out now and available to order here.
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I'm going on tour! To AUSTRALIA, mate! You can now purchase tickets to see me live at Sydney Opera House on 26th February 2024 or the Arts Centre Melbourne on 28th February 2024.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Rory Stewart @rorystewartuk

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S18, Ep2 Sara Pascoe on fertility, fear and what success really means Sep 13, 2023

Show notes

TW: fertility and miscarriage
Sara Pascoe is a critically acclaimed comedian, writer and actor. Her latest stand-up tour is called - aptly enough for this podcast - Success and her debut novel, Weirdo, is published tomorrow. It's a dark, funny, stream-of-consciousness narrative ride through the internal machinations of Sophie, an anxious, sometimes obsessive, often unhappy woman trying to feel less lost. I gobbled it up.
Sara joins me to talk about failing at acting, why every year she promises herself she'll never do the Edinburgh Fringe again (and every year breaks that promise) and, in a heartbreaking third failure, she talks candidly about failing to get pregnant for over a decade, suffering a miscarriage, doing IVF and eventually having a baby but remaining in a state of high anxiety throughout her pregnancy. It's a beautiful conversation, and I am so grateful to Sara for talking about something that is very difficult to put into words. I know her courageous vulnerability will help so many people.
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Weirdo by Sara Pascoe is out tomorrow.
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I'm going on tour! To AUSTRALIA, mate! You can now purchase tickets to see me live at Sydney Opera House on 26th February 2024 or the Arts Centre Melbourne on 28th February 2024.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Sara Pascoe @sara.pascoe

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S18, Ep1 Miriam Margolyes on not marrying a nice Jewish doctor Sep 06, 2023

Show notes

WAHOOOOO! A whole new season of How To Fail, and WHAT an opening guest we have for you. Yes, it's the one and only Miriam Margolyes: actor, bestelling author and the nation's favourite talkshow guest. She's been described by Vogue as 'Britain's mischief-maker in chief' and started her career in radio and theatre, before moving into films (she won a Bafta for her role in Martin Scorcese’s The Age of Innocence and is beloved by legions of younger fans for playing Professor Sprout in the Harry Potter movies). Margolyes is a TV regular in shows such as Blackadder and Call the Midwife and is just about to publish the second instalment of her memoirs, Oh, Miriam!
Today, she joins us to talk about letting down her parents, the joy of friendship, her fear of letting her body down and the lifelong regret she has over telling her mother the truth of her own sexuality. A poignant, provoking and - yes - hilarious conversation. Enjoy!
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You can order Miriam's new memoir, Oh, Miriam! here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Miriam Margolyes @mmargolyes

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The F-Word Miniseries: Mo Gawdat and Elizabeth Day on Friendship Aug 17, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to The How To Fail F-Word miniseries! Three days, three guests, three different F-words.
In this final episode, the tables are turned and I’m the one being interviewed on...friendships. My interviewer is non other than my dear friend and beloved How To Fail repeat guest, the wonderful Mo Gawdat. And, as ever with us, the conversation goes both ways. This was recorded for Mo’s own podcast, Slow Mo, and released on his channels last month. Enjoy.
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You can find Mo's own podcast, Slo Mo, here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Mo Gawdat @mo_gawdat

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The F-Word Miniseries: Nigel Morris on leaving school at 15 and becoming a billionaire Aug 16, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to The How To Fail F-Word miniseries! Three days, three guests, three different F-words.
Today, we have Nigel Morris...on fuel.
Nigel Morris is the definition of a self-made man: born in Essex, the son of an army sergeant father and a Welsh mother, he left school at 15 before going on to co-found one of the biggest banks in the world, Capital One. How did he do it? What motivates him? How does he manage his ambition?
A slightly different How To Fail episode from usual, but perhaps an even more interesting one because of it. We don't get that many business people offering to share their failures in such an open way and I'm very grateful to Nigel for doing so.
This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at an annual event hosted by Clearscore, the free credit score app. Full disclosure: Clearscore is my husband's company. I was not paid a fee so this is not a branded episode (but they're really good fyi).
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod

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The F-Word Miniseries: Gabor Maté on Feelings Aug 15, 2023

Show notes

Welcome to The How To Fail F-Word miniseries! Three days, three guests, three different F-words.
Today, we start with Gabor Maté...on feelings.
Gabor is a renowned speaker, physician and author; a practitioner who has revolutionised our understanding of stress, addiction and childhood development. He has written four bestselling books, including the worldwide best-seller When the Body Says No which argued - controversially at the time - that stress had a major role in the onset of most chronic diseases. His latest work, The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness & Healing in a Toxic Culture, is co-authored with his son, Daniel. It outlines how true health is possible, but only if we are willing to embrace authenticity and acknowlege our true feelings.
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The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté is out now and available to buy here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Gabor Maté @gabormatemd

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S17, BONUS EPISODE: Lucy Spraggan on survival, sobriety and staying true to herself Jul 19, 2023

Show notes

TW: discussion of sensitive issues including sexual assault, suicide and addiction
This interview contains Lucy's account of sexual assault. That account starts about 30 minutes in and is flagged before we discuss it.
I don't have many words to write about this extraordinary guest because I really need you to listen to her story, in her own words. The singer and songwriter Lucy Spraggan shot to fame as an X Factor contestant in 2012. She was just 20 when she was scouted to take part in the ITV series and she became an overnight sensation, with her audition watched by millions. But her time on the show was cut short after she was subjected to a horrific sexual assault. At the time, it was reported she had withdrawn from the talent contest owing to illness. That wasn't the case. For years, Lucy did not feel able to tell the story of what happened to her - until now.
This is Lucy's only podcast interview and it marks the publication of her incredible and courageous memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through. It was Lucy, and her publishers, who approached How To Fail and it was only after extensive consultation with all of them that we agreed to sit down in an environment that felt safe and respectful to Lucy's experience.
She is, quite simply, one of the bravest people I have ever met. This was an emotional and, at times, confronting interview. But what comes out of it loud and clear is Lucy's strength, her compassion and her resilience. Also, she's so lovely and funny too.
This is not an interview about her trauma. She is so much bigger than that. This is an interview about the survivor that she is. We talk about sexuality, sobriety, reality television, the unexpected kindness of Simon Cowell and her journey to embrace the fullness of herself. I loved every second and I love Lucy Spraggan.
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If you've been affected by any of the issues raised, Samaritans are here to help 24/7. Call for free on 116 123.
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You can order Lucy's memoir, Process: Finding My Way Through here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Lucy Spraggan @lspraggan

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S17 BONUS EPISODE! Dan Carter: one of the greatest rugby players of all time on what failure taught him about winning Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

Dan Carter is one of the greatest rugby players in the history of the sport. The former All Black is one of only a handful of players to have won multiple World Cups and holds the all-time international points scoring record. His other achievements include - ahem - being voted the world’s sexiest male athlete in 2010.
Today, in a very special bonus episode, Carter joins me to talk about how he learned to live alongside failure and how this made him into a better champion. I promise you this is not just for the rugby fans - Carter has so much to say about mindset and focus that I truly believe listening to him can help everyone take the first steps towards a more fulfilled life.
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You can pre-order Dan Carter's new book, The Art of Winning: Ten Lessons in Leadership, Purpose and Potential here.
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Dan Carter @dancarter_

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