Today, to mark the publication of my new novel Magpie, I bring you an EXTRA-SPECIAL TREAT in the form of the wonderful Tanya Reynolds.

Tanya is a brilliant actress who plays Lily in the hit Netflix show Sex Education and was recently seen on our screens as Mrs Elton in the remake of Emma, starring Anya Taylor-Joy. She's ridiculously talented, an all-round legend and also, as my tremendous good luck would have it, the audiobook narrator for Magpie - this episode even includes an exclusive chapter.

Tanya joins me to talk about her failure to get into drama school, her failure to make decisions, the life-changing art of improv and her failure to 'spend her time wisely'. Highly relatable and hilarious. Enjoy!

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If this episode whetted your appetite, you can buy the rest of Magpie on audiobook here

You can also order it in other formats here

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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Naomi Mantin and Chris Sharp. We love hearing from you. To contact us, email howtofailpod@gmail.com

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Social Media:

Tanya Reynolds @tanyaloureynolds

Elizabeth Day @elizabday

How To Fail @howtofailpod 

 

 

 

 

 

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BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Tanya Reynolds

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 podcastsales@sonymusic.com

Society & Culture

Personal Journals

History

Philosophy

Places & Travel

You will probably know Angel Strawbridge from Escape to the Chateau, the hugely popular TV show she fronted with her husband, Dick. You might also recognise her from her trademark vintage style, bestselling books and bright red hair.
Escape to the Chateau, which followed the Strawbridges as they renovated a dilapidated French castle with no water, no electricity or heating (with two young children in tow) ran for nine seasons before coming to an end in 2022. Shortly afterwards, an audio recording of Angel speaking angrily to an unknown man was leaked. It made headline news - this is the first time Angel has ever spoken publicly about her so-called ‘explicit rant’. Today, she gives her side of the story. I’m grateful for her honesty and her willingness to discuss everything that happened. 
Angel’s other failures include her struggles with dyslexia at school and taking time to find true love (but - spoiler alert - it was worth the wait).


As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 


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


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

Angel Strawbridge - No Regrets

TW: this episode contains graphic descriptions of violence and injuries. 
Two years ago, Sir Salman Rushdie, one of the most celebrated and famous authors in the world was on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York, when a figure dressed in black clothes and a mask rushed onto stage and stabbed him numerous times. He nearly died. 


Today, I’m so honoured that this extraordinary man joins me to talk about what this experience taught him - and how the forces of love ultimately triumphed over the forces of hatred. We talk about his new book, Knife: Meditations on an Attempted Murder, as well as his early failures at boarding school where he was bullied for being a foreigner who was too clever and bad at games. Plus his failure to be an actor and his early writing rejections. There is some amazing advice in here for anyone involved in the act of creativity about leaning into the messy imperfections and getting to understand who you really are in the process. And…what Margaret Thatcher was *really* like.


As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 


Knife by Salman Rushdie is available to buy 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


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

Salman Rushdie - ‘I’d rather have had a different life’

TW: this episode contains graphic descriptions of birth trauma and PTSD.
You might know Louise Thompson as the former Made in Chelsea star. Or the fitness influencer who launched two businesses and graced the cover of Women’s Health magazine twice. But when she gave birth to her son Leo, all that changed. She experienced a series of life-threatening haemorrhages before ending up in Intensive Care, absolutely convinced she was going to die. Since then, she has suffered PTSD, panic attacks and countless further complications, resulting in being fitted with a stoma in January this year.
And yet she has managed to turn her pain into something deeply inspiring. Her story is extraordinary - harrowing, yes, but also uplifting and always unfailingly honest. She talks about her failure to get a ‘proper job’ (one for Made in Chelsea fans…), her failure to advocate for herself during a traumatic birth and the difficult experience of her body failing her in the most painful ways. I’m truly honoured that she has chosen to come on How to Fail to share her story.


As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.
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


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

Louise Thompson - ‘I asked myself: Am I alive?’

Today’s guest has the biggest selling studio album ever in the UK by an international female artist. She has won five Grammys, sold more than 100 million albums worldwide and, at 58, remains the top-selling female country pop artist of all time. This year, she makes her Glastonbury debut in the coveted Legends slot, undertakes a new tour of the UK and Ireland and returns to Las Vegas for her third residency.
And yet Shania Twain has battled adversity from a young age; her childhood was challenging and impoverished. From the age of eight, she was helping to support her family by singing in bars. Today, she is a cultural icon who has influenced a new wave of artists including Taylor Swift and Harry Styles.
Shania and I talk about her inability to remember song lyrics, her failure to stick to the rules and the grief she felt after her parents died in a car accident. Plus, why recording Man, I Feel Like A Woman, was a transformative experience for how she felt about her own body and her own femininity. It was such an honour being in the same room as this total icon, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.
As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.
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


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

Shania Twain - ‘There is no man that intimidates me’

Oh my. I can’t tell you how moving I found this interview. That doesn’t mean it’s a weepy one - sometimes, the most powerful exchanges are the ones where you witness the sheer strength it takes someone *no*t to cry.
Dame Arlene Phillips is defined by her strength: strength of mind and of body (at 80, she’s still hard at work as a hit choreographer). You’ll know her as an internationally celebrated jazz and musical theatre legend, who has worked on some of the biggest-selling musicals in West End and Broadway theatre, as well as a number of blockbuster movies. But you might not know she lost her mum to leukaemia when she was just 15, had a challenging upbringing and had her second baby when she was 47 years old (she thought the pregnancy symptoms were signs of perimenopause). 
Then in 2008, Dame Arlene was unceremoniously dropped as a judge from Strictly Come Dancing amid accusations of ageism. She only found out when it was reported on the next day’s radio news. We talk frankly about how this affected her - and how she’s never had an apology from the BBC. We also discuss Dame Arlene’s failure to become a ballerina and how this made her feel about her body, her fear of flying and her past inability to stand up for herself.
WHAT. A. WOMAN.


As always, I’d LOVE to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more. 
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


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

BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Tanya Reynolds

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