Creative Forces Podcast with Guy Kilty

Dave Fishwick is a self-made millionaire and the star of Channel 4’s Bank of Dave. After growing up in Nelson, Lancashire, and leaving school at 16 with no qualifications, Dave started his entrepreneurial journey selling used cars. More than two decades later his eponymous company has grown into the biggest supplier of new and used minibuses and wheelchair-accessible vehicles in the UK. Alongside his successful career in business, Dave has also become an extremely recognisable face on TV. When the financial crisis hit in 2008, Dave started lending money to customers and small businesses who were being denied credit by the banks, which led to him setting up Burnley Savings and Loans. That process became the subject of the Channel 4 series Bank Of Dave and he has gone on to star in two more Channel 4 series, How To Get Rich Quick and The Shopper’s Guide to Saving Money. In this fascinating interview, hear why Dave’s story really is one of rags to riches, why he’s determined to get a licence so Burnley Savings and Loans can become a fully regulated bank, and find out his four rules for starting out in business.

Dr Felice Gersh is a multi-award-winning obstetrician and gynecologist and the founder of the Integrative Medical Group of Irvine. After completing her medical training at the University of Southern California Medical School she spent many years working as a doctor of obstetrics and gynaecology where she developed a unique take on women’s healthcare and began to explore an interest in holistic approaches to healing. She later graduated from the two-year Fellowship in Integrative Medicine at the University of Arizona and now lectures at universities and speaks at conferences around the world about the subject. She also campaigns to help increase understanding of Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), the most common cause of female infertility worldwide, and recently appeared in a documentary about the benefits of fasting. She has been awarded the Orange County Medical Association’s Physician of the Year Award for 13 years running, and has received Southern California’s Super Doctor Award on several occasions. In this fascinating and moving interview, hear Felice explain what it was like being one of the first female undergraduate students at Princeton University, why she feels she benefited from her parents convincing her that she should pursue one of three possible careers, and why she plans to write a book every year.

Dr Sue Black left home and school at 16, got married at the age of 20 and was a single mother of three at 25. After completing a degree in computing and then a PhD in software engineering she’s now a technology evangelist and digital skills expert, a UK government advisor, Honorary Professor of Computer Science at UCL, social entrepreneur, writer and public speaker, and was awarded an OBE for services to technology in 2016. Her current social enterprise #techmums teaches mums technology skills and helps builds their confidence by encouraging them into education, entreprenership and employment. Sue also led the successful campaign to save Bletchley Park from 2008-2011 and wrote an Amazon UK bestseller about it, Saving Bletchley Park, How #socialmedia saved the home of the WWII codebreakers. In this fascinating interview, hear Sue explain how she “dramatically changed her life” by forcing herself to overcome her shyness, how she ended up being the most retweeted person in the world during the Save Bletchley Park campaign, and why she dyes her hair bright red.

Photo credit: Ali Tollervey

Musician, record label manager and photographer Simon Allen is a founding member of funk and soul outfit The New Mastersounds and runs the band’s label, One Note Records. Born in Warwickshire, Simon moved to Leeds at the age of 18 where he met guitarist Eddie Roberts and started a musical relationship that is still going strong today. In this insightful and funny interview, Simon explains why hearing one particular song when he was working in Discovery Records in Leamington Spa at the age of 14 changed everything for him musically, why his administrative skills have proved just as useful as his drumming skills in developing One Note Records, and why being paid in cash on tour can often prove costly.

In a special podcast looking back at some of the highlights from Creative Forces episodes six to ten, DJ and author Dave Haslam explains why he chose “Sonic Youth Slept on My Floor” as the title of his memoir, food waste entrepreneur Tessa Cook talks about the moment she came up with the idea for her smartphone app OLIO, writer and director Keith Farrell discusses his early career in sports journalism, family-friendly festival creators Rowan Hoban and Sarah Bird explain the difference that working outdoors has made to their creativity levels, and public relations guru Andrew Bloch talks about the early days of the company he co-founded, Frank PR.

In a special podcast looking back at some of the highlights from Creative Forces episodes one to five, new media visionary Ajaz Ahmed explains whether he knew what he wanted to be when he was school, dating industry expert Charly Lester explain why she loves taking on challenges, author Nick Royle outlines where his ideas come from, health food entrepreneur Juliane Ponan talks about her fears over appearing on the BBC TV programme Dragon’s Den, and illustrator Stan Chow explains how he’s able to capture the incredible likenesses of the rich and famous in his iconic portraits.

After joining CBS as a trainee tape operator at the age of 17, Grammy and Brit award-winning record producer Steve Levine has gone on to enjoy a hugely successful career in the music business, working with artists like The Clash and The Beach Boys and producing the first three Culture Club albums. A pioneer of digital recording techniques, he’s also been named BPI Producer of the Year and Top Singles Producer by Musicweek, and runs his own label, Hubris Records. Steve has also appeared on many radio and TV programs and is a regular guest on BBC Radio 6 Music, and his radio production company has produced several shows, including the documentary series The Record Producers, which featured interviews with some of the biggest name in record production including Trevor Horn, Nile Rodgers & Tony Visconti. In this interview hear how Steve got his big break in the music industry, what it was like for him and the band when Culture Club’s Do You Really Want to Hurt Me became a huge hit, and which record changed everything for him as a producer.

Jason Wingard is a multi-award winning filmmaker, writer and director. His latest film, the critically-acclaimed comedy Eaten By Lions starring Jack Carroll, Antonio Aakeel & Johnny Vegas, premiered at the 2018 Edinburgh Film Festival and won the Audience Award for Best Film at the Bagri London Indian Film Festival. His short film In Another Life, which tells the story of a young man’s journey to the UK through Europe as a refugee and was shot in the Calais Jungle, won Best UK Feature at the Raindance Film Festival. Two of his short films, Bus Baby and 2:20, have won at the Virgin Media Short Awards. In this interview hear how Jason started out as a professional footballer before moving into stand-up comedy, how he made his first short films on a very tight budget, and why seeing Johnny Vegas perform live made him decide to quit stand-up.

Paul Blanchard is a PR guru, author, media commentator and creator of the hugely successful Media Masters podcast. As well as his two decades working in the media industry, Paul has created and sold an IT business, served as a local councillor and stood for parliament. In this episode hear how he started the Media Masters podcast and how its format has evolved, how he’s bounced back from setbacks in his career, and why an incident with a lobster in France changed his diet forever.

Keith Farrell is a writer and director. After several years working on period drama documentaries, including the multiple-award winning A Terrible Beauty, the story of the the 1916 Easter Rising in his native Dublin, Keith has most recently moved into writing and directing contemporary drama. His 2017 short film, Rabbit Punch, about a young refugee in Manchester struggling to cope with life at home and school who finds salvation in boxing, has been hugely successful, winning Best Short Film at the Omaha Film Festival and enjoying screenings at fourteen film festivals around the world. In this interview, hear how Keith moved from sports journalism into film-making, why dealing with rejection is a vital skill for a filmmaker, and how he uses running to refine his scripts.