Sir Mark Rylance is a renowned actor on both stage and screen; from the BBC’s Adaptation of Wolf Hall, to Dunkirk, the BFG and what’s been described as the most acclaimed play of the century - Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem.He also played an eccentric billionaire in the environmental satire Don’t Look Up, starring Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo Di Caprio – a project attuned to Mark’s own environmental activism off-stage.

I sat down with Mark last week, on the final day of COP27, to discuss his latest project as an Ambassador for the Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust charity. 

We spoke about their ‘blue recovery plan’ which aims to restore wetlands across the UK, which have declined by 90 per cent Since Roman times and are powerful natural ways to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

We spoke about everything from local climate activism, why he doesn't think the government should lock up Just Stop Oil protesters and how he balances being a Hollywood actor, often flying to projects, with being an eager environmentalist…

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In the eighties, Maurice Saatchi and Josephine Hart were one of London’s most illustrious power couples. She was a beloved writer and poet, and he was a world renowned advertising mogul instrumental in bringing his heroine, Margaret Thatcher, to power.

For several decades they enjoyed a blissful marriage until a routine GP appointment led to Josephine’s cancer diagnosis. She died fourteen months later.

Since her death, Maurice has battled with his grief, building a library of her favourite books, and for a time, eating a breakfast of grapefruit segments at her tomb.

In his latest book Do Not Resuscitate: The Life and Afterlife of Maurice Saatchi, he imagines that he has died and is at the gates of heaven (topically turned into a border control and immigration centre). Does he deserve a spot? Can his sins be forgiven?

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What’s the power in telling a good story, and telling it well? Neil Gaiman is the man to ask.

A leading purveyor of fantasy across comics, novels, TV and cinema, he is above all a storyteller. Whether he’s turning death and dream into flesh-and-blood characters, as with his 1989 genre-busting comic book “The Sandman”, which has just been adapted by Netflix…Or his fiction bestsellers like “American Gods” and “Anansi Boys' ' which populate the modern world with figures from ancient myth, and children’s literature such as Coraline.

It makes sense then that Neil Gaiman works with The Moth team. Described as a ‘storytelling movement’, The Moth, helps people to uncover and craft their own unique tales, drawing on real life experiences, before delivering them to packed-out audiences around the world – in a popular radio show and podcast that is downloaded over 90 million times a year. We talked about their new book, cancel culture and walking into lamp-posts while he read as a boy.

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The trope of the Italian "nonna", spending hours in the kitchen perfecting her own secret ragu recipe might seem like the stuff of stereotypes, but for chef and restaurateur Gino D’Acampo, it could not be more real. Gino grew up in southern Italy in a house full of women, intent on bringing their best home cooking to the centre of family life. His new book and TV series, Gino’s Italy: Like Mamma Used To Make is a love letter to the women in his family, and across Italy, who inspired and taught him to cook. 

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Life sometimes feels relentlessly busy. After the stress of a long day, cooking a nice meal can feel like the last thing you have the energy to do.

Michelin Star Chef Tom Kerridge new cookbook “Real life recipes” aims to fit into our busy days – so meals are ‘one less thing to stress about’.

Tom knows a thing or two about being busy…. Running the world’s first two star Michelin pub – the Hand & Flowers – and expanding to own restaurants in London and Manchester, an events company AND keeping up his work as a food activist fighting child hunger in the UK, with Marcus Rashford. 

He also has a new television series, Tom Kerridge’s Sunday Lunch.

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Belinda Carlisle gained worldwide fame as the lead singer of the band The Go-go’s, one of the most successful all female bands in history.

Incredibly, they are still the only female band who write their own music and play their own instruments to have reached the top of the US album charts. 

Belinda went on to have a prolific career as a solo artist, selling millions of albums all over the world.

It wasn’t without its challenges: her career in the limelight saw Belinda overcoming addiction and grappling with the media’s obsession with her weight. 

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The photo of a teenage girl lying nearly naked on a bed of red rose petals was an iconic shot in the cult classic, Oscar-winning film American Beauty. It was a cultural watershed: a witty takedown of the American dream; a male midlife crisis and as one critic has put it a “suburban burlesque”. MENA SUVARI was only 19 when she was cast as the angelic looking cheerleader in American Beauty and also American Pie. For the next two decades she appeared to be America’s sweetheart, with a glamorous life to envy.  But her recently released memoir A Great Peace shows us there is always more to a person and their story.

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My next guest is one of the great economic brains in this country. 

Minouche Shafik’s career has spanned policy and politics, and she has worked at some of the best known national and international institutions.

She was the youngest ever Vice President of the World Bank, and has served as Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund and Deputy Governor of the Bank of England. 

Now she works as the director of the London School of Economics, and her book “What We Owe Each Other” sets out a new social contract fit for the 21st century. 

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Jo Malone is one of the biggest names in fragrance. And it all started at her kitchen table. 

By the time she was in her 20's, Jo was running her own skin care and cosmetics business, which eventually grew to include bath oils, scented candles, and fragrances under the brand Jo Malone London. 

She sold the brand to Estée Lauder in 1999, yet her passion and drive for scent didn’t end there - she launched her new company Jo Loves, in 2011 - for which she creates all kinds of brilliant scents - from Thai Lime to White Rose and Lemon leaves.

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Christina Lamb is no stranger to conflict and chaos.

She’s been trapped in trenches by Russian tanks with the Mujaideen, ambushed by the Taliban in Heland and present on the bus where the 2007 Karsaz suicide bomb attack took place on former Pakistani Prime minister Benazir Bhutto, during the 35 years she’s worked as a foreign correspondent.

Her work telling those vital stories of vulnerable people caught in the crossfire has not gone unnoticed - she’s won over 16 major awards, been appointed an OBE for her services to journalism and written ten books including the bestselling 'The Africa House' and 'I Am Malala', co-written with Malala Yousafzai.

Her most recent book is centred on that unprecedented year in our global history - the Coronavirus pandemic in 2020 - which saw populations across the world go into lockdown.

The chief foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times found herself moving into The Prince Rupert Hotel in Shrewsbury - a 4* star hotel which chose to house 33 rough sleepers, transforming the lives of both its temporary guests and the hotel’s staff. 

She tells all in her book The Prince Rupert Hotel For The Homeless 

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