Crushed by Margaret Cabourn-Smith

This week's guest is the amazing Elizabeth Day (How To Fail podcast and author of Friendaholic) who joins me in poring over her many and varied crushes - from a teenage Peter Phillips to Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables - as well as the time she brought a dead bat into school. It was such a funny chat - I loved spending an hour in her company and know that you will too!

As always, if you want to find out more, we are crushedbymcs.substack.com – you can join as a member for an ad free version of the show if that’s your bag, or, just come and hang out.

thanks for listening!

MCS xx

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It's a glorious one this week from Cuddle Club's own Lou Sanders! Pin back your ears for tales of chasing boys down in parks, hosting parties to impress boys, and why she'd give it all up for the romantic allure of a cosy retirement with Keanu Reeves. 

One. Not. To. Miss. 

As always, if you want to find us, we are crushedbymcs.substack.com - you can sign up there for an ad free version of the show if that's your thing, or just come and hang out. 

And if you're going to be in Machynlleth for the Comedy Festival in May, get your tickets for our live show. I literally can't wait. 

thanks for listening.

Love ya!

Margaret xxx

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Now, I'm not a fan of the most romantic day of the year TM. In fact I like it so little that I banned celebrating it when I got together with my now husband and 21 years later, we have yet to eat an overpriced meal in mid-February.

So, for a treat this week Isy Suttie and I sat down to discuss V-Day - the highs, the lows, and why it might have been most enjoyable in our primary school years.

Hope you like it, whether you listen today with a rose and a glass of fizz, or at your leisure (have the fizz anyway - why not!?)

love

Margaret xx

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I think you are going to enjoy this episode. My guest is the wonderful Sarah Hadland (who you'll probably know from Miranda, and The Job Lot and Quantum of Solace). She is wonderfully indiscreet about her early crushes/kidnapping attempts (depending on what side of the curtain you were on); and about briefly meeting some of her more famous crushes through work. Her Brandon Flowers story really tickled me.

Hope you like it!

As always, if you want to find us, we are crushedbymcs.substack.com - you can sign up there for an ad free version of the show if that's your bag, or, just come and hang out. We are hopefully going to announce a new live date soon, and we'll do that there first.

thanks for listening!

Love ya,

Margaret xx

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Just squeezing in to January, it's our Best Bits 2023. It was such a blast listening back to the interviews we've had over the last year. It honestly made me want to go back and revisit all of these conversations again in full. So, I hope you enjoy this short dip back into the past.

From Alison Spittle, explaining the huge part Morrissey played in her early Crush-life (before he let us all down), to Juliet Cowan sharing my passion for Union Leader Mick Lynch, via Rosie Jones talking about using stand up to help her talk about her sexuality honestly for the first time, and Sali Hughes and Caitlin Moran talking about the love that dare not speak it's name (could you have sexual feelings for a sash window?). And of course my favourite bit from the special anniversary episode with husband of the podcast, Dan Tetsell. A patient, patient, man.

We've got some lovely episodes coming up in 2024 - Lou Sanders, Elizabeth Day and Sarah Hadland in the next few weeks, and a special Valentine's Day episode with Isy Suttie for V-Day itself.

Stay tuned! (Can you tune a podcast?) And come and join the Substack if you haven't. Even just the free bit, as it means we can send you the occasional email when something super exciting happens. You can also join us there for the subscriber-only ad-free version of the show, if ads aren't your thing.

Thanks for listening in 2023. Please keep listening in 2024.

Love you!

Margaret xxx

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My guest this week is the easily embarrassed Athena Kugblenu, talking about her teen crushes. We dredge our memories for long forgotten 90s boy bands, ponder when an older man is too old and decide whether our allegiance was to George Clooney or Goran Višnjić in the great E.R. Crush Wars of 1999.

It's a fantastic episode - not least because Athena seems genuinely embarrassed, and that's always very funny.

You can hear more of her in BBC Sounds' DMs are Open which is out now.

And more of us next week (or dip into the back catalogue if you haven't for a while!?)

As always, you can find us (ad free) on Substack, if that floats your boat. For a little less than $5 a month you can support the show, and stop hearing ads. Or carry on here for a free show, and some ads. It's all good!

If you like the show do rate and review it - it's the cheapest way to show your love ;)

We have more FANTASTIC guests coming up in the next few weeks. Sneaky peek on Substack soon.

Lots of crushy love,

Margaret xxx

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Happy New Year Crushos!

This episode is a great one to kick us off - in fact it might be my favourite ever episode. Is that disloyal to all the other episodes? I don't know. It's how I feel now. It features the glorious Kerry Howard on starting slow, and ending up a female incel - taking in scenic stops at how best an 8 year old can compliment a girl in his class, and when Jimmy Carr lost his virginity.

It's a hoot.

By the way, if you hear what sounds like a lot of heavy breathing, it's not, the producer's husband was using a steam iron in the next room, and we didn't realise it was being picked up. Sorry about that!

Come and say hello on Substack if you haven't already - you can also subscribe there to get the episodes ad free if you prefer no ads. Or stick right here if you love 'em!

https://crushedbymcs.substack.com

lots of Crushy hugs,

Margaret xx

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Hi all,

this week's show features someone I have known for more than 20 years - writer and performer Barunka O'Shaughnessy, as I think you'll be able to tell from the level of giggling. Barunka has a list of credits as long as your arm, including Motherland, Up the Women and Hunderby. But by the end of this episode you'll know her best as a woman with a fine set of childhood crushes - including indie goth legend Robert Smith.

Hope you enjoy it.

We'll be back the other side of Christmas with a chat with Kerry Howard about her crushes. We met up a couple of weeks ago, and it was absolutely bonkers, so I'm looking forward to sharing that!

If you're subscribing on Substack, there will be a festive Christmas Day episode for subscribers in which Julia Raeside and I do the maths for pretty much everyone in Love Actually. I wanted to find a way to say a BIG thank you for supporting the show this year. I really, truly, appreciate it. And you! So, dip in and find that if you're on Substack.

And if not - see you on the other side of the turkey.

Lots of love and Christmas hugs,

Margaret xx

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My guest this week is actor and Penny Dreadful - David Reed. I love his attitude to crushes - and indeed, his attitude to this conversation. He said afterwards "sorry if I didn't answer all your questions, I had a lot of things I wanted to get off my chest", and I think this is one of those episodes that really digs in to the the loneliness and longing of early unrequited crushes.

It's still a funny episode - don't panic. He's very funny and very charming, otherwise, this would just be therapy. David started out as one of two boys at an all-girls school, so has an unusual take on primary school crushes, and a lot of great anecdotes about the embarrassment and heartbreak of crushing as a teen and young adult.

I think you're going to love it.

If you're not already subscribing, you can join us at crushedbymcs.substack.com, where you can get new episodes ad-free for around $4 a month. There will be a bonus Christmas minisode dropping there for subscribers on 24th December because I really do want to say thank you for the support. It's an enormous boost - and I don't even mean financially.

love to you all,

Margaret xx

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Holly Burn is my wonderful guest this week, and it's one of my giggliest episodes. You may not know Holly - but she's one of my favourite people. Really open and honest, and this conversation is honestly incredible. We mainly talk about one of her earliest crushes on her friend's brother, and it all gets a bit deep and therapeutic. And very, very funny. Thank you Holly for sharing your inner turmoil so generously.

If this wets your appetite for more madness, Holly is appearing in Harry Hill's new film, The Last Caveman, which is out this week. Check it out!

Do also check out our Substack if you haven't already. It's building up a stash of articles, extra content from the show, and the occasional candid thing we don't want to put out more widely. It's also the place to go if you'd like to support the podcast in return for ad-free episodes, early access to live shows and subscriber-only content like my Ryan Reynolds story, and a special Christmas episode. I really, really appreciate the support.

And if you can't support the podcast financially - tell a friend about it, or leave us a nice review. I love that too.

That's it from the blurb this week - til next time,

lots of love

Margaret xx

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