"I shouldn’t be mayor of Bristol. I grew up poor, there was some domestic violence, I’m the first in my family to go to university, I shouldn’t be sitting in the United Nations building… I shouldn’t be addressing the US conference of mayors, I shouldn’t be walking into Downing Street. That’s not my background. I’m at the same table as this person and I started 100 metres behind the start line."

Mayor of Bristol Marvin Rees describes growing up as a mixed race child, his life defined as a struggle, before finding self-belief through the encouragement of the adults who believed in him and becoming a force for positive change in Bristol and in the lives of its young people.

For more information about the City Leadership Programme, look at the link:

https://www.bristol.gov.uk/mayor/city-leadership-programme

See below for Marvin's favourite:

Place: Spitsbergen, Norway

Piece of music: What's going on by Marvin Gaye

Book: 'A time to break the silence' - Speech by Martin Luther King, 4th April 1967