What I Wish I'd Known

Ebony Rainford-Brent MBE is a broadcaster World Cup winning cricketer and Director of Women's Cricket at Surrey CCC. She sits down with Rachel and Alice and speaks candidly about the injury that left her unable to walk for a year, the impact the murder of her brother when she was five, and how she dealt with race in cricket.

NSPCC: www.nspcc.org.uk

Lives Not Lives: www.livesnotknives.org

Show Racism the Red Card: www.theredcard.org

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jay Blades MBE is a broadcaster, furniture restorer and host of the Repair Shop. He joins Rachel and Alice to talk about how dealing with racism at school, his divorce and battling with his mental health has helped him to become the man he is today and allowed him to mentor others including Little Mix star Leigh-Anne Pinnock.

Samaritans: www.samaritans.org

Runnymede: www.runnymedetrust.org

The Black Fund: www.theblackfund.co.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sir James Dyson is a farmer, businessman and world known for vacuum cleaners and strawberries. Rachel and Alice visit him at the Dyson Institute to talk about how the death of his father when he was just nine drove him to create and to become Britain's richest man.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Winston's Wish: www.winstonswish.org

Child Bereavement UK: www.childbereavementuk.org

James Dyson Foundation: www.jamesdysonfoundation.co.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lawrence Chaney is the reigning champion of Ru Paul's Drag Race UK. They join Rachel and Alice in the studio to discuss how they overcame the violent bullying they received at school, struggling with their gender identity and how they found their true-selves through drag.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Bullies Out: www.bulliesout.com

Stonewall: www.stonewall.org.uk

Mermaids: www.mermaidsuk.org.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dr Waheed Arian is an Afghan refugee, leading radiologist and recently announced as the UK's Best Doctor at The Sun’s Who Cares Wins awards. He joined Rachel and Alice in the studio to discuss how he fled Afghanistan arriving in Britain illegally and alone at 15, self-schooled his way out of a youth detention centre and into Cambridge University to study medicine and how he set-up his own charity providing phone consultations to the sick in war zones.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Arian Teleheal: www.arianteleheal.com

Refugee Action: www.refugee-action.org.uk

British Medical Association: www.bmacharities.org.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Shirley Ballas is a ballroom dance champion who became known as 'The Queen of Latin' and is now the head judge on Strictly Come Dancing. She joins Rachel and Alice to talk about the struggles of leaving home at 15 to become a professional dancer, the impact of the sudden death of her brother, and how the bullying and abuse she feels she has suffered both in and out the industry spurred her on to succeed.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Samaritans: www.samaritans.org

Alder Hay Hospital: www.alderhey.nhs.uk

Action for Children: www.actionforchildren.org.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Angela Rayner MP is the Member or Parliament for Ashton under Lyne and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party. She sat down with Rachel and Alice to relive her childhood on a council estate in Stockport where she began caring for her mother at the age of 10 as she couldn't read or write and suffered from Bipolar disorder, became pregnant at 15 and left school a year later at 16 without any qualifications.  

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Bipolar UK: www.bipolaruk.org

Young Mums Support Network: www.ymsn.co.uk

The Honeypot Children's Charity: www.honeypot.org.uk

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Times Journalists Rachel Sylvester and Alice Thomson return to talk to even more extraordinary people about how they overcome moments in their early lives achieve great success. This series they are joined by the likes of the Ru Paul's Drag Race Champion Lawrence Chaney, Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner and Strictly Come Dancing's Shirley Ballas.

New episodes every Monday.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

This podcast has been produced in association with Speakers for Schools: www.speakersforschools.org

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Mary Portas, aka Mary Queen of Shops, is a retail consultant, broadcaster and was chosen to lead a review into the future of Britain's high streets by the then Prime Minister David Cameron. She speaks candidly to Rachel and Alice about the impact that the sudden deaths of both of her parents had on her as a teenager, and what it meant to be part of one of the first gay couples to legally marry in the UK.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Stonewall: www.stonewall.org.uk

Action for Children: www.actionforchildren.org.uk

Child Berevement UK: www.childbereavementuk.org

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eddie Marsan is one of the UK's best character actors; appearing in films such as Sherlock Holmes, Tyrannosaur and Deadpool 2. He joins Rachel and Alice from his home and opens up about a childhood surrounded by racist, homophobic and domestic violence, coming to terms with his own spirituality, and fighting an internal class war.

Get The Times free for a month: thetimes.co.uk/pastimperfect

Reclaim: www.reclaim.org.uk

Acting for Others: www.hactingforothers.co.uk

Stand Against Racism & Inequality: www.sariweb.org.uk

Producer: Ben Mitchell

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.