How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

By Elizabeth Day

Arts Literature

What's How To Fail With Elizabeth Day about?

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is a podcast that celebrates the things that haven’t gone right. Every week, a new interviewee explores what their failures taught them about how to succeed better.

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S5, Ep4 How to Fail: France...

07.17.2019

This week, my guest is the writer Francesca Segal whose recently published memoir, Mother Ship, details the birth of her twin daughters 10 weeks prematurely. Her first failure is, in Segal's own words, her failure 'to stay pregnant' and the ...

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day episodes:

07.17.2019 S5, Ep4 How to Fail: Francesca Segal This week, my guest is the writer Francesca Segal whose recently published memoir, Mother Ship, details the birth of her twin daughters 10 weeks prematurely. Her first failure is, in Segal's own words, her failure 'to stay pregnant' and the ...
07.10.2019 S5, Ep3 How to Fail: Emeli Sandé This week, I chat to the chart-topping singer Emeli Sandé about life, love, fame...and all the nitty gritty bits in between. Emeli has sold over 19 million singles, won four Brit Awards and is about to return after a three-year ...
07.03.2019 S5, Ep2 How To Fail: FLEABAG IS BACK Yes. That's right. Phoebe Waller-Bridge is back. One year on from her debut appearance on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, my first ever guest returns to talk about the craziness of her last 12 months, during which she has ...
06.26.2019 S5, Ep1 How to Fail: Nigel Slater We’re BAAACK! As House of Pain once rapped in their immortal hit Jump Around, ‘Just like the Prodigal Son I’ve returned’. Yes, here we are for Season 5 of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day: eight sparkling new episodes featuring ...
05.22.2019 S4, Ep8 How to Fail: Jamie Laing 'And now, the end is near / And so I face the final curtain...' Yes, it's the SEASON FINALE! I know, I know: it's gone so fast hasn't it? What's that they say about time flying when you're having fun ...
05.15.2019 S4, Ep7 How to Fail: Nesrine Malik This week on the podcast, I'm delighted to welcome the brilliant Nesrine Malik, a British-Sudanese writer and newspaper columnist who has recently been longlisted for the prestigious Orwell Prize and whose forthcoming book, We Need New Stories, is a riveting ...
05.08.2019 S4, Ep6 How to Fail: Andy McNab You could say that my guest this week became famous because of failure. Andy McNab led the Bravo Two Zero SAS mission during the first Gulf War but his team was compromised soon after they were dropped into Iraq in ...
05.01.2019 S4, Ep5 How to Fail: Charly Cox I have my FIRST POET on the podcast this week - and my, what a poet. Charly Cox is not only a beautiful soul but a beautiful chronicler of what it is to be human. Her first collection, She Must ...
04.24.2019 S4, Ep4 How to Fail: Mo Gawdat Just occasionally in life, you meet someone who changes your way of thinking about the world. The shift might be subtle or it might be seismic, but afterwards, you are never quite the same again. This is what happened to ...
04.17.2019 S4, Ep3 How to Fail: Tracey Thorn My guest this week is the fantastic Tracey Thorn, who I basically grew up listening to. She was one-half of Everything But The Girl, guest vocalist on Massive Attack's phenomenal Protection album and lately has launched her own solo career ...
04.10.2019 S4, Ep2 How to Fail: John Crace My guest this week is John Crace, one of our foremost journalists and critics. Probably best known for his role at the Guardian as parliamentary sketch-writer (it was he who famously coined the term ‘Maybot’ to describe our besieged Prime ...
04.03.2019 S4, Ep1 How to Fail: Vicky McClure We’re baaaaaack! And to celebrate our fourth season, please welcome the one, the only, VICKY MCCLURE. You’re in for a treat with this one. Vicky is not only one of my favourite actresses but also one of my favourite people, ...
02.27.2019 S3, Ep9 How to Fail: Haemin Sunim Sniff. Sob. Wail and gnashing of teeth. Yes, it’s the SEASON THREE FINALE already - how did that happen? For our final episode in this series, I had the great privilege of talking to Haemin Sunim, one of the most ...
02.22.2019 S3 BONUS EPISODE How to Fail: Kristen Roupenian Ahead of next week's season finale, I offer you, my wonderful listeners, a whole new BONUS EPISODE. I know, I'm too good to you, I really am. No, but honestly, thank you so much for your continued support - for ...
02.20.2019 S3, Ep8 How to Fail: Pandora Sykes This week I get to interview one of my favourite fellow podcasters: Pandora Sykes is a journalist, co-host of The High Low and all-round woman of impeccable taste (I mean, she must be to have agreed to come on How ...
02.13.2019 S3, Ep7 How to Fail: Sharmaine Lovegrove This week on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, my guest is the brilliant Sharmaine Lovegrove. Sharmaine is a champion of stories. As a publisher, she heads up her own imprint, Dialogue Books, at Little, Brown and has been instrumental ...
02.06.2019 S3, Ep6 How to Fail: James O'Brien Today's guest is quite possibly one of the most intimidating people to interview given his own reputation as a fearsome interrogator. But fine, I'll give it a go. James O'Brien is an LBC radio presenter who hosts a daily phone-in ...
01.30.2019 S3, Ep 5 How to Fail: Raven Smith This week my guest is Raven Smith who, as well as having one of the best names dot dot dot EVER is also the funniest man on Instagram (it's true, don't @ me). Smith is a columnist for British Vogue, ...
01.23.2019 S3, Ep4 How to Fail: Deborah Frances-White My guest this week is Deborah Frances-White: an award-winning stand-up comedian, author and quite possibly the defining feminist of our generation. You'll probably know her from her hit podcast, The Guilty Feminist, or from her book of the same name ...
01.16.2019 S3; Ep3 How to Fail: Jonny Benjamin Ok, so full disclosure: I cried during this interview. You will quite possibly cry too. You will quite possibly need a box of tissues next to you as you listen. And you will quite possibly leave feeling enlightened and uplifted ...
01.09.2019 S3, Ep2 How to Fail: Chris Patten This week, my guest is the former politician Chris Patten. It's almost easier to list the high-powered offices of state he hasn't occupied than the ones he has. Patten was the 28th governor of Hong Kong, the former Chairman of ...
01.02.2019 S3, Ep1 How to Fail: Lily Allen Haaaappy New Year! We're back with a whole new season and we open with a bona fide musical superstar: Lily Allen. A singer, songwriter, the recipient of multiple awards, Lily's songs such as Smile and The Fear are observationally crafted ...
11.22.2018 How to Fail: End of Season Two So here we are at the end of SEASON TWO of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, 16 wonderful interviews (and untold numbers of pots of babaganoush) later. In order to mark this momentous occasion, I speak to the legend ...
11.21.2018 S2, Ep8 How to Fail: David Baddiel For the season two finale of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, I speak to David Baddiel: comedian, author and co-writer of the best unofficial football anthem of all time (Three Lions, people). It was an interview that almost didn't ...
11.14.2018 S2, Ep7 How to Fail: Tara Westover This week, I bring you a truly incredible woman. Her name is Tara Westover. She wrote a memoir called Educated, which is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read: profound, moving, unerringly original. It tells the ...
11.07.2018 S2, Ep6 How to Fail: Farrah Storr Farrah Storr, the award-winning editor-in-chief of Cosmopolitan, is this week's guest on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day and I'm so thrilled to have her on as have basically been stalking her on Instagram for years. In person, she does ...
10.31.2018 S2, Ep5 How to Fail: Alastair Campbell This week How To Fail With Elizabeth Day welcomes Alastair Campbell to the confessional booth. The former spin doctor to Tony Blair (and inspiration for the character of foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It) talks movingly about his ...
10.24.2018 S2, Ep4 How to Fail: Otegha Uwagba This week my guest is writer, podcaster and all-round megawatt woman, Otegha Uwagba. Otegha joins me to talk about her failures at getting a job, dealing with sexism at work, living with depression and why she just can't seem to ...
10.17.2018 S2, Ep3 How to Fail: James Frey This week on How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, we're joined by the author James Frey who also just so happens to be my first American guest (hello, USA! I heart you!). Frey has written four critically acclaimed novels, and ...
10.10.2018 S2, Ep2 How to Fail: Mishal Husain The wonderful Mishal Husain joins How To Fail With Elizabeth Day this week, which I'm very excited about because she's basically my long-time woman crush. Husain, who has been presenting Radio 4’s flagship Today programme since 2013 and is also ...
10.03.2018 S2, Ep1 How to Fail: Jessie Burton We're BACK! How To Fail With Elizabeth Day returns for a second season, and to kick this one off, I'm joined by mega-star, besteslling author Jessie Burton. Burton's 2014 debut novel, The Miniaturist, was published in 38 countries and sold ...
08.30.2018 How to Fail: End of Season 1 A thank you from Elizabeth for listening to the first season of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day and a sneak peek of the guests lined up for season two. See you in October! How To Fail is hosted by ...
08.29.2018 S1, Ep8 How to Fail: Elizabeth Day For the last episode of the first season of How To Fail With Elizabeth Day, our interviewee is…well…Elizabeth Day. Which means I’m currently writing shownotes about myself in the third person. Which is weird. Let me stop doing that. Over ...
08.22.2018 S1, Ep7 How to Fail: David Nicholls David Nicholls, bestselling novelist, critically acclaimed screenwriter, aspiring piano player and thoroughly nice man, joins How To Fail to talk about his myriad failures. You might not expect the author of One Day, which sold five million copies and was ...
08.15.2018 S1, Ep6 How to Fail: Gina Miller Political activist Gina Miller is best known for one major victory when she successfully took the government to court over the triggering of Article 50 to leave the European Union. But in this week’s How To Fail, she discusses the ...
08.08.2018 S1, Ep5 How to Fail: Olivia Laing This week on How To Fail, we’re joined by the brilliant writer Olivia Laing. Her three critically-acclaimed works of non-fiction, To The River, The Trip to Echo Spring and The Lonely City, have explored themes of alcoholism, loneliness and suicide ...
08.01.2018 S1, Ep4 How to Fail: Sathnam Sanghera This week, journalist and author Sathnam Sanghera joins How To Fail and kicks off by saying how flattered he was to be asked to contribute to a podcast on failure because he hates hearing nice things said about himself. So ...
07.25.2018 S1, Ep3 How to Fail: Dolly Alderton This week’s guest on How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is memoirist, podcaster and journalist Dolly Alderton. Dolly, the co-host of the utterly fantastic The High Low podcast and author of the brilliant Sunday Times bestseller Everything I Know About ...
07.18.2018 S1, Ep2 How to Fail: Sebastian Faulks Sebastian Faulks, bestselling novelist and author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, joins How To Fail to talk about his failure to win the Booker Prize (“the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous”), his sense of social isolation at boarding school and ...
07.13.2018 S1, Ep1 How To Fail - Phoebe Waller-Bridge Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag, writer of Killing Eve, superstar feminist and human embodiment of a Star Wars droid, joins How To Fail to talk about how she failed at her 20s (but got lots of brilliant material ...