
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things in life that haven’t gone right and what we might learn from them along the way. Every week, Elizabeth’s guest explores three failures, and what these failures have taught them about how to grow and succeed, better.
We’d love to hear from you! Get in touch with Elizabeth to share your failures, problems or questions - anonymously or otherwise. She'll go through these each week with the help of her very special guests. And remember: a fail shared is a fail halved. https://forms.sonymusicfans.com/campaign/how-to-fail-uk-2023/
An Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Original Production.
Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts and follow @sonypodcasts
To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com
Latest episodes

Nov 29, 2022 • 1h 1min
S15, BONUS EPISODE! How To Fail: Jo Elvin, the charity CEO on resilience, friendship fails and female anger
Jo Elvin, broadcaster, journalist and charity boss, talks about the end of Glamour magazine, a failure in friendship, and struggling to control her temper. They also discuss obsession with Peloton, love for K-pop, and the impact of tragic loss on a friendship.

Nov 16, 2022 • 1h 11min
S15, Ep12 How To Fail: Justin Basini, the Clearscore CEO on business failure, body image and friendship
TW: discussion around suicide, body dysmorphia and disordered eating.For my season finale, I wanted to do something a little different. I wanted to interview one of the most amazing people I know. Conveniently, that person is also my husband, Justin Basini, so it was pretty easy to co-ordinate diaries. As well as being my husband (arguably his most important qualification) Justin is also a highly successful entrepreneur and CEO. In 2015, he founded Clearscore, an app which provides free credit scores and reports, along with advice to help consumers make better financial decisions. It has now grown to over 18 million users, 460 employees and several international offices and is one the UK's leading fintech companies.Justin joins me to talk about his first major business failure leading to a serious breakdown in his mental health and how he got through that. We also talk about his self-perceived failures in friendship. And in one of the most honest and eye-opening chats we have ever had, we discuss his negative body image - not a thing that you often hear men discussing, and I'm so grateful to Justin for being so honest as I know it will help countless people.Along the way, we talk about how we met (thanks, Hinge), how I massively embarrassed myself on our first meeting, the joy of second marriages and the Justin Basini Funnel Theory on Dating (TM).I hope you enjoy listening to this one. It was a very special episode to me personally but I truly believe it's a very special episode full stop.--You can learn more about Clearscore here: https://www.clearscore.com/--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Justin Basini @justinbasini (he only has Twitter and LinkedIn like a SERIOUS BUSINESSMAN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 9, 2022 • 60min
S15, Ep11 How To Fail: Geena Davis, the Oscar-winning actress on fame, feminism and being diagnosed with ADD in her 40s
I am obsessed with today's guest and I'm not even going to pretend otherwise. Geena Davis, the star of such seminal movies as Tootsie, Beetlejuice, Thelma & Louise, A League of Their Own and the underrated classic, The Long Kiss Goodnight, TURNED UP AT MY ACTUAL HOUSE to record a witty, warm and fascinating conversation.*We talk about her feelings of imposter syndrome and self-doubt in the early days of her career, the fact that her failure as a model led to her first film role alongside Dustin Hoffman (who gave her incredible advice on how to defend herself against the amorous advances of her male co-stars) and the revelation of being diagnosed with ADD in her 40s. Along the way, we touch on height (she's 6ft! A tall woman like me!), the #MeToo movement, representation, almost becoming an Olympic archer, being an older mother and the seismic impact her friendship with Susan Sarandon had on Davis's life. I can't wait for you all to listen.*yes, she met my ginger cat Huxley and they got along famously.--Geena Davis's gloriously warm and ironic memoir, Dying of Politeness, is out now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/dying-of-politeness/geena-davis/9780008508111--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Geena Davis Institute @geenadavisorg Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 4, 2022 • 51min
S15, BONUS EPISODE How To Fail: Lorraine Kelly, the daytime TV icon on failing to go to uni, being fired and...penguins
Lorraine Kelly has been on our TV screens for the best part of 40 years. Born to working-class, teenage parents, she turned down a university place to join the local paper and then BBC Scotland as a researcher. By 1984, she was TV-AM’s Scotland correspondent. Today, she’s at the helm of the eponymous Lorraine show live every weekday morning.In a special bonus episode, she joins me to talk about everything from the power of drag to the TV executive who told her to change her accent to how being fired on maternity leave was actually the making of her via her worries that she only had one child and her passion for penguins. Yes. Penguins. Enjoy!--Queens for the Night airs tomorrow night on ITV at 8.30pm--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Lorraine Kelly @lorrainekellysmith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Nov 2, 2022 • 53min
S15, Ep10 How To Fail: Tom Daley, the Olympic diving champion on his fear of mistakes, body image and perfectionism
Tom Daley is an Olympic gold medallist diver, a three time World Champion and the first ever British person to win four Olympic diving medals. He's also, for the purposes of this podcast, just such a lovely, joyous person.He joins me to talk about diving failures, choking at the Rio Olympics, anxiety, body image, the curse of perfectionism, parenthood via surrogacy and what knitting has taught him about mistakes (surprisingly profound fyi). Plus: how he persuaded Kate Moss to pose for his GCSE photography project.--Made with Love, Tom Daley's guide to knitting and crochet, is out now and available to order here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Made-Love-step-step-award-winning/dp/0008546827--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Tom Daley @tomdaley Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 26, 2022 • 55min
S15, Ep9 How To Fail: Greta Thunberg on activism, friendship and failing to be a 'normal' teenager
Greta Thunberg, founder of the School Strike for Climate movement and Nobel Prize nominee, discusses her activism, failure in getting politicians to act, and coping with trolls. She opens up about her unconventional aspirations and the significance of friendship for climate activists. Thunberg also shares her love of carrots and her use of humor, including a group chat called the Moose Cult, to respond to critics.

Oct 20, 2022 • 56min
S15, BONUS EPISODE How To Fail: Rob Delaney on the death of his beloved son, Henry
Today, in a very special bonus episode, I bring you an interview it was an honour to record.Rob Delaney is a comedian, actor and writer, known to many of us as the star and co-creator of the hit Channel 4 sitcom, Catastrophe. But behind the public smile, he has dealt with unfathomable private tragedy. In 2018, Rob and his wife's beloved son Henry died at the age of two-and-a-half of a brain cancer. Delaney’s memoir of this time, A Heart That Works, is published today. It is an astonishing, honest account of the darkest possible human experience: the story of what happens when your child dies, and of everything you discover about life in the process.This is not an easy listen, but it is also an episode full of hope, insight and - yes - even humour. Listen to understand a little more of what it is to be human. Listen to make Henry's acquaintance. Listen to hear a first-hand account of love at the extremity of experience.Rob: thank you so much for trusting me. Henry: this one's for you.--Rob Delaney's A Heart That Works is out today and available to buy here: https://linktr.ee/aheartthatworks--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Rob Delaney @robdelaney Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 19, 2022 • 1h 1min
S15, Ep8 How To Fail: Malorie Blackman, the iconic Noughts and Crosses author on rejection, racism and the importance of representation
TW: miscarriage Today's guest is one of our most beloved writers: the one and only Malorie Blackman. She joins me to talk about how her setbacks have helped her define who she is - from being evicted and made homeless as a child, to the early years of writing rejection when over 80 publishers turned her down and the devastating loss of her second pregnancy. Throughout it all, Malorie Blackman has survived and thrived. In 2013 she was appointed the Children’s Laureate and now, at the age of 60, her books (including her most famous YA novel series, Noughts & Crosses) are a staple of the GCSE curriculum. In this interview, she talks about the power of resilience. It's a must-listen.--Malorie Blackman's memoir, Just Sayin', is out tomorrow and available to buy here: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/441213/just-sayin-by-blackman-malorie/9781529118674--How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com--Social Media:Elizabeth Day @elizabdayHow To Fail @howtofailpod Malorie Blackman @malorie_blackman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oct 12, 2022 • 1h 7min
S15, Ep7 How To Fail: Nihal Arthanayake on fatherhood, chicken bongs and the most difficult conversation he's ever had
Nihal Arthanayake, broadcaster and author, talks about his academic failures, failures as a son, husband, and father, and failures in friendship. He shares funny stories including one involving Method Man and a chicken bong. He also discusses cultural conditioning, the impact of receiving a life-changing phone call, the evolution of mobile phones, pursuing a career in music, guilt and regret over his father's death, and the importance of making new memories and strengthening bonds.

Oct 5, 2022 • 1h 4min
S15, Ep6 How To Fail: Jordan Stephens on male vulnerability, anger and getting naked
Former member of the band Rizzle Kicks, Jordan Stephens, opens up about male vulnerability, sobriety, fame, competitiveness, and the dangers of reality TV. He also discusses the challenges of dating a celebrity and the phrase 'toxic masculinity.' Plus, he shares a unique failure of not getting naked. A thoughtful and entertaining conversation.