The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In this episode, Gav chats to Penny Mallory, the first woman to ever compete in the World Rally Championship, despite claiming she was only a mediocre driver. As a child she saw alcoholism and mental illness destroy her family. Fleeing home at 14, homeless and fending for herself on London streets, her life couldn’t have been more dangerous or bleak, yet somehow she turned things around, became a champion rally driver and went on to have a very successful career as a TV presenter, stunt driver, author and speaker. Penny is a qualified Coach, a licensed and accredited Mental Toughness Coach and Trainer, and Master Practitioner in CBT. She now helps people and companies with Mental Toughness. Please do have a listen, leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you.

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In this episode, Chris Moon MBE talks to Gav about his unbelievable life story. After leaving the army, David worked for the Halo Trust clearing land mines. In 1993 whilst working in Cambodia, he was kidnapped by the Khmer Rouge (one of the most brutal terror groups in history), but somehow he managed to survive. Two years later, whilst clearing mines in Mozambique, he trod on a mine, blew himself up and ended up losing his right leg and arm. Amazingly, less than a year after this terrible accident, Chris ran the London marathon with a prosthetic leg and arm, and less than a year after that he became an Ultra-marathon runner and completed the notorious 156 mile Marathon Des Sables in the Sahara Desert, in doing so he became the first amputee ultra-runner. Chris sums up the spirit of "Being Amazing Despite...". He has an amazing story and incredible resilience. I found chatting to him truly inspirational. Please do have a listen, leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you.

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In this episode, the co-founder of The DO Lectures, David Hieatt, chats to Gav about his road to becoming amazing (David's, not Gav's). David started his career in advertising, whilst being somewhat distracted by his obsession with sports brands. This obsession turned into his own skateboarding and biking brand, Howies. David and his wife, Clare, built Howies into a very successful and uber cool brand that they eventually sold. David talks about his regret at selling Howies at the wrong time to the wrong people and how that "despite" actually fed and led to the phenomenal growth and success of both The DO Lectures and his and Clare's brilliant Made in Wales jeans company, Hiut Denim Co. Dave is the reason that this podcast exists and the reason that I am hosting it. He has an unbelievable amount of creativity, wisdom and warmth, which I hope the listeners get the chance to tune into here. Please do leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you.

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In Episode 6 of Being Amazing Despite..., Gav chats to Philippa White. In 2004 Philippa left a career "flogging shit" in advertising in London to set up a social enterprise, The International Exchange (TIE), in Brazil. A leadership program where business leaders from the developed world can help tackle some of the bigger problems in the developing world The story of TIE is a major amazing achievement that Philippa is rightfully proud. TIE was doing very well and growing nicely. And then Covid struck, and the idea of business people travelling across the world to help developing charities on the ground became impossible. Facing the potential end of her life's work with TIE, Philippa managed to swiftly pivot the organisation and rebirth TIE as something new and brave (and potentially bigger). Please do leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you. Learn more about TIE at www.theinternationalexchange.co.uk

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In Episode 5 of Being Amazing Despite..., Gav chats to Caspar Craven. Caspar was running an unsuccessful business and was close to divorce when he had the genius idea to pack it all in and sail around the world for 2 years in a small yacht with his wife, who hated sailing and suffered from seasickness, and his 3 little children, aged 9, 7 and 2. This in itself is a very interesting, if slightly bonkers, story. But the amazingness of Caspar's story is actually how he managed to achieve such a monumental adventure and his learnings along the way, including overcoming himself and his habit of stuffing things up. Please do leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you.

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. In Episode 4 of Being Amazing Despite..., Gav chats to James Shone. James was a successful teacher who in 2012 had just landed his dream job as a headmaster. Then, during a routine medical examination, doctors discovered James had a huge brain tumour. After 27 hours of surgery, James' brain tumour had gone, but so had his eyesight. He woke up after the operation to discover he was blind. Shortly after this, he also lost his job This story is about how James went from rock bottom to doing amazing things through setting up a charity, 'I can and I am', to inspire children and teenagers to a life of confidence and potential, despite being blind and unemployed. Please do leave a review, rating and subscribe. Thank you. https://www.icanandiam.com.

The DO Lectures is an ideas sharing event run out of an old cowshed in Cardigan Bay, Wales. In this series of DO podcasts, Gav Thompson chats to people about how they have achieved their amazing levels of success, as well as uncovering some of the despites that they have had to overcome to get there. Sue Perkins is one the the UK's best loved comedians, performers and TV presenters. She chats to Gav about her time as President of the Cambridge Footlights, about starting out in the industry with her best friend Mel Giedroyc and the road that led to her becoming the queen of the baked goods light entertainment juggernaut, Bake Off. They talk about her very honest and refreshingly human approach to travel shows and debate when one becomes a National Treasure. They also have a very revealing conversation about some of Sue's despites, such as her brain tumour and anxiety, as well as compare Dad dying stories. Please have a listen, enjoy, subscribe and review.

In this second episode of Season 2 of "Being Amazing Despite...", Gav chats to Eleanor Tweddell about being amazing despite losing your job. Eleanor talks to Gav about her new (rather timely) book 'Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you' (a subject very close to Gav's heart) and offers some tips and advice for anyone going through something similar. Eleanor founded Another Door, a club supporting people who have been made redundant or lost their job, when she was made redundant and had a feeling she wanted to do something other than corporate life. She has worked for organisations such as Costa Coffee, Virgin Atlantic, Vodafone - but it felt like it was time to change.  Feeling a little lost, she went to The Do Lectures, and she says we were the catalyst for her making the big leap into the unknown and starting Another Door. Eleanor's book is here https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/0241458978/ref=cm_sw_em_r_mt_dp_VWSTFbN9EWQQH and Another Door is here https://www.anotherdoor.co.uk  Please listen, enjoy, review and subscribe. Show produced by George McDonagh. Music by James Morton

In this first episode of Season 2 of "Being Amazing Despite...", Gav chats to comedian and award-winning podcasting maestro, Adam Buxton. Adam Buxton is a comedy legend. Starting in the Adam & Joe show in the 90’s. Movie roles in Hot Fuzz, Stardust & Son of Rambow followed along with his own radio shows on XFM and 6 Music. More recently, he has hosted BUG, the very funny show on stage & Sky Atlantic that analyses music videos and their hysterical online commentary. Most pertinently, for the last 5 years has been hosting the Adam Buxton Podcast which has won many, many podcast awards and is generally considered to be about as good as podcasts get. Gav & Adam compare notes on their childhood obsession with snogging, how Adam first discovered David Bowie, the art of the brilliant podcast, Adam's alternative career prospects, and how he recently came very close to offending Robbie Williams.   Please listen, enjoy, review and subscribe. Show produced by George McDonagh.  Music by James Morton.

Here is a little trailer to announce Season 2 of The DO Lectures Podcast with Gav Thompson. Season 2 is entitled Being Amazing Despite... In this second season, Gav will talk to guests about their own amazing lives and careers, but paying particular attention to the things that they have had to overcome to achieve their amazingness - big and small, public or private, physical or mental, failures or small curve balls. Season 2 kicks off with episodes featuring  - Adam Buxton, comedian and podcast legend - Eleanor Tweddell, author of "Why losing your job could be the best thing that ever happened to you" - Sue Perkins, baking commentator, traveller and national treasure with many more to follow. Released every alternate Friday, starting on Friday 6th November 2020. Please listen, enjoy, review and subscribe.