How To Fail With Elizabeth Day
Episodes
S9, Ep2 How to Fail: Mohsin Zaidi
02 Sep 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Mohsin Zaidi's memoir, A Dutiful Boy, is one of the most powerful and emotive books I've read this year. It tells the story of his upbringing in a poo...
S9, Ep1 How to Fail: Adam Buxton
26 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
IT'S SEASON NINE AND I FEEL FINE, BABY! And we open with a humdinger - the podcasting king, comedy legend and all-round thoroughly decent bloke that i...
S8, BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Gloria Steinem
05 Aug 2020
Contributed by Lukas
GLORIA STEINEM. Gloria ACTUAL Steinem. For this very special bonus episode, I had the absolute honour of interviewing one of my all-time heroes, the ...
S8, Ep8 How to Fail: Bernardine Evaristo
22 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
It is the SEASON FINALE, BABY! I know, I know - it goes so quickly doesn't it? But here we are, two months after we started season eight, with a truly...
S8, Ep7 How to Fail: Siena Castellon
15 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Siena Castellon is my youngest ever guest. She's a 17-year-old activist and mentor. She is autistic, has dyslexia and dyspraxia and Attention Deficit ...
S8, Ep6 How to Fail: Glennon Doyle
08 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I bring you the utterly sensational Glennon Doyle. She is the author of three books, the latest of which, Untamed, is a memoir that defies ...
S8, Ep5 How to Fail: Julia Samuel
01 Jul 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest is someone I fell in platonic love with by reading her work. Julia Samuel is one of the country's leading psychotherapists but she is al...
S8, Ep4 How to Fail: Scarlett Moffatt
24 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Scarlett Moffatt was working at the checkout in Asda when she and he family got the chance to be on Channel 4's Gogglebox. She rapidly became the sho...
S8, Ep3 How to Fail: Matthew Syed
17 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Matthew Syed is an acclaimed author, newspaper columnist and broadcaster. He is also, in many ways, is the father of failure. I mean that as a complim...
S8, Ep2 How to Fail: Samantha Irby
10 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
*This episode was recorded before recent tragic events in America. There are links to useful Black Lives Matter resources and ways to help below*You k...
S8, Ep1 How to Fail: Jessie Ware
03 Jun 2020
Contributed by Lukas
*This episode was recorded before recent tragic events in America. There are links to useful Black Lives Matter resources and ways to help below*WE'RE...
SPECIAL EPISODE! How to Fail: Daisy Edgar-Jones on being the star of Normal People, the lockdown television hit everyone is talking about
20 May 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Ok, so I said I was done with the special lockdown episodes but, forgive me, I CHANGED MY MIND. The reason for this is that I watched Normal People an...
SPECIAL EPISODE! How to Fail: Henry Holland on business failure in the time of Covid-19
22 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the last of four special episodes specifically designed to help you through lockdown and Covid-19 anxiety, I welcome the fashion designer Henry Hol...
SPECIAL EPISODE! How To Fail: Listeners share their Coronavirus stories
15 Apr 2020
Contributed by Lukas
For this extra-special listener episode, I asked you to get in touch with your stories. And you did not let me down. I received so many responses that...
SPECIAL EPISODE! How To Fail: Alain De Botton on embracing vulnerability in the age of Coronavirus
31 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
In the second of two special episodes, the renowned philosopher Alain de Botton, returns to How To Fail With Elizabeth Day to talk about how to be hum...
SPECIAL EPISODE! How to Fail: Mo Gawdat on how to cope with anxiety in a time of Coronavirus
23 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Hello. I hope you're all doing ok out there. Bit of a strange time isn't it? It can feel overwhelming to be living through a global pandemic, but ther...
S7, BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Deliciously Ella
04 Mar 2020
Contributed by Lukas
SURPRISE! Here I am, clogging up your podcast feed again. Yes, I know I said that Frankie Bridge was the last episode in season 7, but I might have sl...
S7, Ep8 How to Fail: Frankie Bridge
18 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Frankie Bridge is probably best known as a member of one of the UK's most successful girl bands of all time, The Saturdays. But, more recently, it's a...
S7, Ep7 How to Fail: Adam Pearson
12 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
So. This podcast episode almost didn't happen because I'd forgotten to put it into my iCal (I find any diary that isn't paper so confusing, don't you?...
S7, Ep6 How to Fail: Marian Keyes
05 Feb 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Marian Keyes is one of those people who you think can't POSSIBLY be as lovely and talented and nice as everyone says she is. She must have a hidden da...
S7, Ep5 How to Fail: Eniola Aluko
29 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
Eniola Aluko is a former footballer who bears the notable distinction of being one of only 11 women to play for England over 100 times and the first...
S7, Ep4 How to Fail: Tom Kerridge
22 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
This week, the podcast welcomes its first ever Michelin-starred chef. Yes...it's Tom Kerridge! And what a chef he is. He failed at school, but found h...
S7, Ep3 How to Fail: Mabel
15 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
My guest today has the middle name Alabama-Pearl, which is pretty cool but NOT QUITE AS COOL as the fact that she's a chart-topping pop-star who has r...
S7, Ep2 How to Fail: Malcolm Gladwell
08 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
**TW: contains references to police brutality against Black people**My guest this week is Malcolm Gladwell, a man who has challenged and changed the w...
S7, Ep1 How to Fail: Andrew Scott
01 Jan 2020
Contributed by Lukas
HAPPPPPY NEW YEAAARRRR! I hope you've woken up with a sense of rejuvenating freshness about the year ahead, but if you haven't - if you're hungover or...
S6, Ep 8 How to Fail: Jane Garvey
20 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
*SEASON FINALE KLAXON* I mean...where does the time go? A minute ago it was summer and now here I am posting the final episode of Season Six and it's ...
S6, BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Lemn Sissay
12 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For this extra-special bonus episode, I'm delighted to welcome Lemn Sissay to the podcast. Lemn is a poet, author and broadcaster whose memoir, My Nam...
S6, Ep7 How to Fail: Fearne Cotton
06 Nov 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Fearne Cotton blazed the trail for podcasts like mine. When she launched Happy Place in March 2018, it went straight to the top of the iTunes chart an...
S6, Ep6 How to Fail: George Alagiah
30 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
For 15 years, George Alagiah has been a familiar face on our television screens as the presenter of the BBC's Six O'Clock News. Before that, he was on...
S6, Ep5 How to Fail: Shirlie Kemp
23 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Today, I welcome Shirlie Kemp to the podcast. She was an 80s icon: a backing dancer for Wham! who ACTUALLY APPEARED IN THE MUSIC VIDEO FOR 'LAST CHRIS...
S6, Ep4 How to Fail: Lisa Taddeo
16 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Lisa Taddeo is a phenomenon. Although she is too humble to recognise that description of herself. But this is a journalist and author who spent eight ...
S6, Ep3 How to Fail: Cush Jumbo
09 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
[TW: suicide]If you're a fan of The Good Wife or The Good Fight (and if not, why not?) you will know Cush Jumbo as Lucca Quinn, the whip-smart, ambiti...
S6, Ep2 How to Fail: Alain De Botton
02 Oct 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on How To Fail, we are doing something slightly different. I know, I know, we don't like change, but sometimes IT'S GOOD FOR US. It's especi...
S6, Ep1 How to Fail: Camilla Thurlow
25 Sep 2019
Contributed by Lukas
We're back! Did you miss us? Go on...say you did. I'm really very, very needy.It's such a treat for me to be opening season six with a truly fantastic...
S5 BONUS EPISODE! How to Fail: Philippa Perry and Sadie Jones
21 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
A live recording of a one-off How To Fail With Elizabeth Day special with authors Philippa Perry (The Book You Wish Your Parents Had Read) and Sadie J...
S5, Ep8 How to Fail: Jess Phillips
14 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Well, old friend, here we are again. The end of another season. Where does the time go?I saved this guest for the finale because she's bloody spectacu...
S5, Ep7 How to Fail: Meera Syal
07 Aug 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, I welcome the multi-talented Meera Syal to the podcast: actor, comedian, playwright, novelist, producer and, most notably, sister-of-my-fri...
S5, Ep6 How to Fail: Samin Nosrat
31 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
Oh, Samin Nosrat! Where do I start? With her ebullient personality and wildly infectious laugh? With her four-part Netflix show, Salt, Fat, Acid, Heat...
S5, Ep5 How to Fail: Dame Kelly Holmes
24 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
I'm so delighted to welcome my first ever OLYMPIC ATHLETE onto the podcast this week. And not just any Olympic athlete, but double-gold medal winner, ...
S5, Ep4 How to Fail: Francesca Segal
17 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week, my guest is the writer Francesca Segal whose recently published memoir, Mother Ship, details the birth of her twin daughters 10 weeks prema...
S5, Ep3 How to Fail: Emeli Sandé
10 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 m...
S5, Ep2 How To Fail: FLEABAG IS BACK
03 Jul 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 t...
S5, Ep1 How to Fail: Nigel Slater
26 Jun 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S4, Ep8 How to Fail: Jamie Laing
22 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
'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 t...
S4, Ep7 How to Fail: Nesrine Malik
15 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
This week on the podcast, I'm delighted to welcome the brilliant Nesrine Malik, a British-Sudanese writer and newspaper columnist who has recently bee...
S4, Ep6 How to Fail: Andy McNab
08 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 h...
S4, Ep5 How to Fail: Charly Cox
01 May 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S4, Ep4 How to Fail: Mo Gawdat
24 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 af...
S4, Ep3 How to Fail: Tracey Thorn
17 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S4, Ep2 How to Fail: John Crace
10 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 sketc...
S4, Ep1 How to Fail: Vicky McClure
03 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S3, Ep9 How to Fail: Haemin Sunim
27 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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...
S3 BONUS EPISODE How to Fail: Kristen Roupenian
22 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 ho...
S3, Ep8 How to Fail: Pandora Sykes
20 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 im...
S3, Ep7 How to Fail: Sharmaine Lovegrove
13 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 he...
S3, Ep6 How to Fail: James O'Brien
06 Feb 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 g...
S3, Ep 5 How to Fail: Raven Smith
30 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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, do...
S3, Ep4 How to Fail: Deborah Frances-White
23 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
My guest this week is Deborah Frances-White: an award-winning stand-up comedian, author and quite possibly the defining feminist of our generation. Y...
S3; Ep3 How to Fail: Jonny Benjamin
16 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 y...
S3, Ep2 How to Fail: Chris Patten
09 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 on...
S3, Ep1 How to Fail: Lily Allen
02 Jan 2019
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
How to Fail: End of Season Two
22 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
S2, Ep8 How to Fail: David Baddiel
21 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S2, Ep7 How to Fail: Tara Westover
14 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
S2, Ep6 How to Fail: Farrah Storr
07 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 he...
S2, Ep5 How to Fail: Alastair Campbell
31 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week How To Fail With Elizabeth Day welcomes Alastair Campbell to the confessional booth. The former spin doctor to Tony Blair (and inspiration f...
S2, Ep4 How to Fail: Otegha Uwagba
24 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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, deal...
S2, Ep3 How to Fail: James Frey
17 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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!...
S2, Ep2 How to Fail: Mishal Husain
10 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 cr...
S2, Ep1 How to Fail: Jessie Burton
03 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 B...
How to Fail: End of Season 1
30 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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....
S1, Ep8 How to Fail: Elizabeth Day
29 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 wri...
S1, Ep7 How to Fail: David Nicholls
22 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
David Nicholls, bestselling novelist, critically acclaimed screenwriter, aspiring piano player and thoroughly nice man, joins How To Fail to talk abou...
S1, Ep6 How to Fail: Gina Miller
15 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Political activist Gina Miller is best known for one major victory when she successfully took the government to court over the triggering of Article...
S1, Ep5 How to Fail: Olivia Laing
08 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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, T...
S1, Ep4 How to Fail: Sathnam Sanghera
01 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 po...
S1, Ep3 How to Fail: Dolly Alderton
25 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
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 fantast...
S1, Ep2 How to Fail: Sebastian Faulks
18 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Sebastian Faulks, bestselling novelist and author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, joins How To Fail to talk about his failure to win the Booker Pri...
S1, Ep1 How To Fail - Phoebe Waller-Bridge
13 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, creator and star of Fleabag, writer of Killing Eve, superstar feminist and human embodiment of a Star Wars droid, joins How T...