What I Wish I'd Known

Andy McNab is one of the UK's most decorated former soldiers and has become a bestselling author of military fiction. He joins Rachel and Alice to discuss his childhood in the borstal system and juvenile detention and how creating a story about his daughter in his mind helped him survive torture in Iraq.Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfectMind: www.mind.org.ukHelp for Heroes: www.helpforheroes.org.ukThe Armed Forces Charity: www.ssafa.org.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jacqueline Gold CBE is the CEO of Ann Summers, Vice-President of The Children's Trust and one of the UK's most successful businesswomen. She sits down in her home with Rachel and Alice and opens up about her parent's divorce, surviving sexual abuse and turning her trauma into a positive by empowering women in both the bedroom and the boardroom.Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfectNSPCC: www.nspcc.org.ukThe Survivors Trust: www.thesurvivorstrust.orgCruse Bereavement Care: www.cruse.org.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Professor Green, Stephen Manderson, is one of the UK's most successful rappers and mental health campaigners. He joins Rachel and Alice to talk candidly about being brought up on an East London council estate by his grandmother, struggling with depression and how his father's suicide made him re-evaluate his own life.Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfectMind: www.mind.org.ukSamaritans: www.samaritans.orgNational Suicide Prevention Alliance: www.nspa.org.ukProducer: Ben Mitchell Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Times Journalists Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson return to talk to extraordianry people who have overcome trauma or adversity in their early lives to achieve great success. This series they are joined by the likes of the rapper Professor Green, CEO of Ann Summers Jacqueline Gold CBE and 2020 Booker Prize winning author Douglas Stuart. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ade Adepitan describes how, despite losing the use of one leg due to polio as a toddler in Nigeria, he forged a career encompassing sport, broadcasting and writing, winning many medals for wheelchair basketball, tennis and dance. Which was the biggest challenge: overcoming the racism he faced in East London in the 1970’s, poverty or contemporary attitudes towards disabled people? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord John Bird, founder of ‘The Big Issue’ Magazine, describes how he overcame poverty, crime and homelessness to become a member of the House of Lords. In this frank interview John Bird discusses the harsh realities of urban poverty in twentieth century England, the orphanage system and the skills he learnt to survive a life on the streets.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lord Stuart Rose, Baron Rose of Monewden, is a millionaire businessman. He was knighted for his services to the retail industry and has been CEO of many companies including Marks and Spencers, Ocado and Fat Face. But his success is in start contrast to the lives of his parents who were dogged with financial adversity, mental health, illness and, ultimately, suicide. In this frank interview Stuart Rose discusses his family’s immigrant work ethic; a childhood in Africa and in Quaker Boarding school; and the impact of his mother’s tragic death. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Tom Daley, the champion British diver, discusses the impact of childhood stardom, bullying and the devastating loss of his father: ‘my biggest cheerleader’. Tom reveals his deeply romantic side, his passion for parenthood and, astonishingly, his lifelong fear of diving off the top board. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Former chancellor and Home Secretary Sajid Javid talks about growing up with four brothers, children of immigrants from Pakistan, sharing a two bedroom house in one of Bristol's most notorious areas. Sajid describes how he overcame racism and low educational expectations to forge a stellar political career and to hold some of the most influential positions in British Government. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Poet and Booker Prize Judge, Lemn Sissay MBE shares the harrowing but compelling story of his childhood. Stolen from his birth mother and rejected by foster parents, Lemn endured years of mistreatment with the UK care system. Today he is one of Britain's most renowned poets and literary figures. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.