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Sir Richard Dearlove is one of the world’s greatest living spymasters. He joined MI6 in 1966 at the age of 21, and over nearly four decades ran agents under intense Cold War surveillance in Nairobi, Prague, Paris, Geneva and Washington, before rising in 1999 to become Chief of the Service — the role known simply as C. His five years at the top were among the most turbulent in the Service’s history: his headquarters was struck by a rocket, 9/11 remade the global security landscape, and Britain went to war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Since leaving the shadows, Sir Richard has built a second, very public life — Master of Pembroke College, Cambridge, business adviser, outspoken commentator, and co-host of the hugely successful foreign-affairs podcast One Decision.
In this conversation, Andy Coulson lifts the bonnet, as far as Sir Richard will allow, on the experiences that formed him, the decisions that defined him, and the lessons a lifetime in intelligence can offer the rest of us.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing a crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FOUR LESSONS FROM RICHARD
CHAPTERS
07:15 – What resilience really means to a spymaster
08:54 – His father: an amputee who won Olympic silver on crutches
11:50 – Boarding school at four, and the making of a tough character
13:18 – The tap on the shoulder: joining MI6 at 21
18:58 – Prague: a life lived under constant surveillance
21:07 – Running a double agent behind the Iron Curtain
24:36 – How to read who holds up under pressure – and who cracks
28:03 – Becoming C
30:22 – The rocket attack on MI6
33:36 – 9/11: a shock, but not a surprise
39:07 – Iraq, the intelligence, and his quarrel with Chilcot
42:10 – Leaving the Service
46:51 – Russia, China and the end of the rules-based order
56:25 – Bond, Le Carré, and the myth of MI6
FOLLOW THE ONE DECISION PODCAST
https://www.instagram.com/onedecisionpodcast/
LISTEN TO THE ONE DECISION PODCAST
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/one-decision/id1583753742
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Gem Hall (video)
Reverend Richard Coles has lived multiple lives — pop star, priest, broadcaster, novelist. But the greatest crisis of his life came in the form of someone he loved deeply.
Richard watched helplessly as his partner David grappled with an addiction that cost David his job, his licence from the bishop, and ultimately his life.
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Richard to discuss his Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that he turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice.
If you haven’t heard the full conversation yet — his journey from pop star to priest, the AIDS epidemic that shaped his generation, his years with David, and what he’s learned about hope in the aftermath of loss — go back and find it in the feed. It’s well worth your time.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
00:50 A Person – His circle of friends since his teenage years, now neighbours on the South Coast.
01:23 A Habit – Singing. Every Tuesday in the Brighton Festival Chorus.
01:49 A Comfort – Cooking. The whole ritual, start to finish — yes, including the washing up
02:31 A Piece of Advice – From a friend’s motto: “Be authentic and engage.” Work out who you are. Step into the world.
BUY RICHARD’S BOOK
A Carol and a Killing – https://geni.us/ACAROLANDAKILLING
FOLLOW RICHARD COLES
Instagram – www.instagram.com/revrichardcoles/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio).
Few people have lived as many lives as Richard Coles. In the 1980s he was the keyboard-playing half of the Communards, whose “Don’t Leave Me This Way” was the biggest-selling single of 1986 – taking him, almost overnight, from the dole queue to flying aboard Concorde and the full pop-star life.
Then, the gay socialist atheist who set out, in all seriousness, to bring down the government through the power of pop, became, of all things, a Church of England priest. Then a celebrated broadcaster, a best-selling novelist, a Strictly contestant, and the inspiration for the BBC sitcom Rev.
But behind the reinventions runs a thread of profound loss. As AIDS swept through his world in the 1980s, Richard watched a third of his circle die – the formative crisis, he says, of his adult life. At 17, before any of the fame, he survived a breakdown and an overdose he fully intended to be his last act. And decades later came the greatest loss of all: his partner David.
In this conversation, Andy Coulson explores a life in which crisis has repeatedly been the doorway to transformation – and what Richard has learned about loss, faith, forgiveness, and how we begin again when the life we knew is taken from us. His latest crime novella, A Carol and a Killing, is out this month.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FOUR LESSONS FROM RICHARD
CHAPTERS
05:34 – Realising he was gay in a hostile world
12:10 – Seventeen, a breakdown, and the overdose he meant to be final
15:37 – Escape to London, and the friendships that still anchor him
18:26 – Bringing down the government through the power of pop
20:50 – The socialists who were, secretly, perfect Thatcherites
21:40 – Dole queue to Concorde – and the toll fame takes
29:35 – AIDS – the formative crisis
31:29 – The lie he told, the shame he carries, and seeking forgiveness
35:02 – The atheist who walked into a church and came out a believer
38:07 – Walking away from a life he loved to train for the priesthood
45:21 – Loving an addict
50:51 – Learning to live a life around the loss, not without it
BUY RICHARD’S BOOK
A Carol and a Killing – https://geni.us/ACAROLANDAKILLING
FOLLOW RICHARD COLES
Instagram – www.instagram.com/revrichardcoles/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video), Gem Hall (video).
Jo Tutchener Sharp is the founder of fashion brand Scamp & Dude. In 2015, with two young boys at home, she suffered a brain haemorrhage and was told she needed major, life-saving surgery. Faced as she saw it with the pearly gates, she felt regret that her positive impact on the world had not been significant enough — so she made herself a promise. If she survived, she would change all that...
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Jo to discuss her Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that she turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice.
Our full conversation was recorded live at the BizFest Festival in Essex. If you haven't heard it yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
01:29 A Person – Her husband Rob, business partner and the man who literally saved her life in a hospital room
03:55 A Habit – Paddle every morning. At the club she's not Scamp & Dude Jo, she's Paddle Jo
05:10 A Comfort – A hot bubble bath with the door locked, and cold-water lake swims — being in water
05:50 A Piece of Advice – Stay positive. Good things can come from bad things, if your mind is open to it
FOLLOW JO
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/scampanddudejo/?hl=en
FOLLOW SCAMP & DUDE
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/scampanddude/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio)
Recorded live at BizFest in Essex, this is the story of how a near-death moment became a £16 million business.
Jo Tutchener Sharp had built a successful career – running the beauty division of Purple PR, leading communications at Estée Lauder, then founding her own agency, Beauty Scene, and growing it to a turnover of around £5 million. In 2015, with two young boys at home, she decided to step away. But the stress of the exit took a physical toll, and shortly afterwards she suffered a brain haemorrhage that could bleed again at any moment, with potentially fatal consequences.
Facing what she calls her "pearly gates" moment, Jo was overwhelmed not by fear but by regret – the feeling that, were she to die tomorrow, she would not have made a big enough mark on the world.
So Jo made herself a promise: if she survived, she would dedicate the rest of her life to doing good. Just eleven months after brain surgery, Scamp & Dude was born, a clothing brand with purpose stitched into its heart. Today Scamp & Dude turns over £16 million a year, has donated 4.5 million products to charitable causes, and given more than 95,000 scarves to women starting chemotherapy. For her work Jo was awarded an OBE for services to fashion and charity.
In this business episode, Andy Coulson explores how Jo turned a life-threatening crisis into a moment of opportunity, and what it really takes to build a brand where purpose, family and commercial success pull in the same direction.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FOUR LESSONS FROM JO
CHAPTERS
07:04 – Why a great job still wasn't enough
08:50 – How to de-risk backing yourself before you jump
10:11 – Walking away from a £5m business to get her life back
10:24 – Stress and the warning she ignored
13:54 – Choosing one last Christmas before brain surgery
15:30 – Waking up alive, and the promise made in a hospital bed
19:42 – Hospital bed to product in eleven months
24:34 – The Super Scarf mission, and 95,000 women starting chemo
26:54 – How to turn your hardest moment into your superpower
READ MORE ABOUT THE SUPER SCARF MISSION
https://scampanddude.com/pages/superscarvesmission
FOLLOW JO
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/scampanddudejo/?hl=en
FOLLOW SCAMP & DUDE
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/scampanddude/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
Mike Soutar is an entrepreneur, publishing titan and the forensic interviewer familiar to millions from BBC’s The Apprentice.
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, Mike shares the four points of personal navigation he relies on when life gets hard: a person, a habit, a comfort and a single piece of advice.
If you haven’t heard our full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It’s packed with hard-earned lessons about risk, resilience and leadership.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit https://www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS
00:42 A Person – His wife Bev, the rock and centre of his world
01:27 A Piece of Advice – “A great day in the office is when you lose more arguments than you win”
02:48 A Comfort – The jangly optimism of 1980s Scottish pop
04:28 A Habit – The daily wet-shaving ritual that centres him
BUY MIKE'S BOOK
Next Gen CEO: Leadership Lessons for an Uncertain World – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Gen-CEO-Lessons-Uncertain/dp/1035095726
FOLLOW MIKE SOUTAR
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mike_soutar/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-soutar/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – https://www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video).
Millions know Mike Soutar as the forensic interviewer on The Apprentice, the Scottish voice across the boardroom table for the last 15 years. But long before the television, he built one of the most remarkable careers in British media – on a deceptively simple formula of hard work, optimism and self-belief.
In this business episode, we go back to the beginning. Mike started out at 17 writing horoscopes and romantic fiction at DC Thomson in Dundee, working on hot metal presses with a pencil he wasn't allowed to replace until it was a stub. By his early 20s he was editing Smash Hits. He went on to turn FHM into the biggest-selling monthly magazine in Britain, launched some of the country's best-known titles, and sat on the board of IPC when it was sold to Time Warner for more than £1 billion.
But the biggest turning point of his career came not in a boardroom, but in a hospital bed. In 2006, at the height of his corporate success, a chicken Caesar wrap left him seriously ill, his organs beginning to fail, unsure whether he'd survive. Lying there, he asked himself whether he had ever really tested himself — and the honest answer was no. So he walked away from the security of corporate life, raised £4 million in five weeks, remortgaged his home and launched ShortList.
His new book, Next Gen CEO, is about how the next generation of leaders can navigate an age of AI and uncertainty by becoming, of all things, more human.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley. Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FOUR LESSONS FROM MIKE
CHAPTERS
06:38 – Why AI makes human leadership more valuable, not less
10:13 – Whether a self-made career is still possible in a flat economy
14:59 – How instability early on can forge the drive to control your own destiny
21:42 – Fake it till you make it: backing yourself into a job you're not ready for
24:27 – The FHM playbook: build in service of your customer, not your advertiser
28:43 – Why he left a hit at its peak – and what fear of failure does to founders
32:12 – How to stand your ground with a boss who holds all the cards
39:41 – The near-death moment that asked him: have you ever really tested yourself?
44:23 – Losing control, and what to do when you're forced out
46:27 – How he raised £4 million in five weeks – and why investors really said yes
50:16 – The launch-day disaster, and the case for protecting your team from the panic
53:22 – The £1 million opportunity he turned down – and the lesson in why
55:03 – Why success and status left him feeling hollow – and what actually fixed it
59:15 – Knowing when a job isn't worth your reputation, and walking away
01:03:27 – What 15 years on The Apprentice taught him about how to treat people
BUY MIKE'S BOOK
Next Gen CEO: Leadership Lessons for an Uncertain World – https://www.amazon.co.uk/Next-Gen-CEO-Lessons-Uncertain/dp/1035095726
FOLLOW MIKE SOUTAR
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/mike_soutar/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/mike-soutar/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
Perspective is one of the most useful tools we have in crisis – a way of taking pressure out of a difficult moment, stepping back and working out what really matters.
In this special compilation episode of Crisis What Crisis, I share the story of the five most terrifying days of my own life and revisit four extraordinary guests whose lives have been shaped, and sometimes almost undone, by the pursuit of perspective.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
00:41 The worst experience of my life
05:06 Timbaland – the bullet that's still inside him, and why he refuses to take it out
06:05 Dame Stephanie Shirley – the Kindertransport and the neighbours who kept asking, "aren't you lucky to be saved?"
12:48 James Landale – seeing death across a crowded room, and the tank of coloured poison he can still return to
14:30 Rory Stewart – the frozen body in the snow, sitting down happy to die, and the dog that saved him
19:29 The Belmarsh swear jar – how the words you use shape the size of the crisis
21:50 Four things I take from all of this
LISTEN TO THE FULL EPISODES:
Timbaland – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000634317774
Dame Stephanie Shirley – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000680629888
James Landale – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000642157416
Rory Stewart – https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000608962048
FOLLOW THE GUESTS:
Timbaland – https://www.instagram.com/timbaland/?hl=en
Rory Stewart – https://www.instagram.com/rorystewartuk/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)
In this country, one in six of us will experience significant anxiety at some point in our lives. It's an epidemic that doesn't care about class, wealth, gender, age or race – and yet, as this episode argues, anxiety isn't the enemy. It's information. A signal to be read, not a fault to be removed.
In this special compilation episode, Andy Coulson draws on his own experience of anxiety attacks and revisits six past guests – a broadcaster, a journalist, a content creator, an adventurer, a designer and a cellist – who each faced anxiety in a very different form and found their own way to live alongside it.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters, and build real resilience when the pressure is on. This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley.
Visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
FULL EPISODES:
Steve Peters: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000547878428
Christian O'Connell: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000659675816
Bryony Gordon: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000650752366
Alex Goldie: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000729186695
Mark Beaumont: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000618838895
Anya Hindmarch: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000768689727
Julian Lloyd Webber: https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/crisis-what-crisis-with-andy-coulson/id1517015748?i=1000779874143
FOLLOW THE GUESTS:
Christian O'Connell: https://www.instagram.com/mrchristianoconnell/?hl=en
Bryony Gordon: https://www.instagram.com/bryonygordon/?hl=en
Alex Goldie: https://www.instagram.com/goldiealexx/?hl=en
Mark Beaumont: https://www.instagram.com/mrmarkbeaumont/?hl=en
Anya Hindmarch: https://www.instagram.com/anyahindmarch/?hl=en
Julian Lloyd Webber: https://www.instagram.com/julian.lloydwebber/?hl=en
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Johnny Seifert (audio)
Most guests give me their Crisis Compass looking back on a crisis they've survived. Erin Baker is different. Her partner died just 12 weeks before this recording, and she is, by her own account, exhausted by the demand to keep being strong.
These four points aren't hard-won wisdom viewed from calmer shores — they're the things holding her up as we speak. That, I think, makes them rarer and more valuable than almost any compass I've been given.
In this bonus episode of Crisis What Crisis, I sit down with Erin to discuss her Crisis Compass. The four points of navigation that she turns to in order to help survive a crisis – a person, a habit, a comfort and a piece of advice.
If you haven't heard the full conversation yet, go back and find it in the feed. It's well worth your time.
POWERED BY KINGSLEY NAPLEY:
I know what it is to have the right legal support around you when facing crisis. Kingsley Napley are the kind of lawyers I wish more people knew about – there to help you make the right decisions, protect what matters and build real resilience when the pressure is on.
This episode is powered by Kingsley Napley, visit www.kingsleynapley.co.uk for more details.
CHAPTERS:
00:52 A Person – Her Frant village church community, and the stability they've offered when everything else is in flux
01:23 A Piece of Advice – A day at a time. The most hypocritical advice she could pass on — and the only one that works now
01:57 A Comfort – Writing. It's her career because it was her comfort first
02:09 A Habit – Paint by numbers. Half an hour of something absolutely mindless
FOLLOW ERIN'S WRITING
Postcards from Grief – https://erinbaker1001.substack.com/
FOLLOW ERIN BAKER
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/erinbakerauto/?hl=en
LinkedIn – https://www.linkedin.com/in/erin-baker-58901a48/
FOLLOW CRISIS WHAT CRISIS?
Instagram – www.instagram.com/crisiswhatcrisispodcast
TikTok – www.tiktok.com/@crisispod
This was a Crisis What Crisis Production – Rex Fisher (producer), Ioana Barbu (studio manager), Fred Sharp (research), Johnny Seifert (audio), Jasper Cullen (video)
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