Gentleman's Journal Meets...

Our guest on today's episode is the brilliant Tobias Menzies — the actor perhaps best known for playing Prince Philip in the latest seasons of The Crown.  In this episode, Tobias talks about his bohemian upbringing; about how Diana’s story resembles a true Greek tragedy; about the danger of becoming a parody of yourself; and about Prince Philip's mid-life crisis.

Aloe Blacc is an American soul singer, activist and philanthropist. You'll know him for his joyous, soaring succession of hits: I Need a Dollar, The Man, and Wake Me Up. (He's also got a brilliant new album out: All Love Everything.) Aloe is a fascinating man — a psychological linguistics graduate who approaches his music and his career with an academic, strategic eye; a level-headed activist who radiates good advice in every sentence. And, of course, a beautiful singer, songwriter and performer.  In this episode, Aloe talks about how he wrote I Need a Dollar after he lost his job at Ernst and Young; about how the music industry has forgotten its political role; and about his five year plan to become a billionaire. Enjoy.

Kygo is the Norwegian super producer, hitmaker-in-chief, and pioneer of tropical house. In this episode, recorded from his home in Bergen, Norway, we spoke to Kygo about his new found love of tennis, his time at university in Edinburgh, his new respect for the slower pace of life, the songs that put him where he is today, and the potential for an upcoming collaboration with The Weeknd. 

The charming Max Irons (Condor, The Riot Club) speaks to us about politics, conspiracy theories, his obsession with cycling (and what it can teach you about a man's character), the best flavour of Calippo, how his father — some chap called Jeremy Irons — cried halfway through his first ever performance, why he dislikes social media, how David Beckham might fare in the role of James Bond, and about whether or not planet earth is currently residing on the back of some giant cosmic dinosaur. Enjoy. 

This episode features Antoni Porowski, the food and wine expert on the hit show Queer Eye. If you haven’t seen it yet, the premise is beautifully simple: five experts transform the lives of ordinary people through their good taste, good humour and good advice — and Antoni’s role in that usually begins in the kitchen. This man loves food. The new season of Queer Eye has just kicked off on Netflix, and so I spoke to Antoni about the making of the show, the oddness of the audition process, the perfect way to cook scrambled eggs (it involves water), and the best way to disarm people when you meet them for the first time. Enjoy. This interview took place prior to the historic events and peaceful protests that have occurred over the past several weeks

Our guest today is actor Himesh Patel. You'll know Himesh as the leading man in Yesterday, that wonderful Richard Curtis and Danny Boyle film all about the songs of The Beatles (or the lack of them.) But he’s also in a great new show called The Luminaries that will be coming out on BBC Two in early summer. It’s all about gold prospectors in NZ in the nineteenth century, and it’s pretty bloody good fun. In a deeply pleasant conversation, Himesh and I spoke about his upbringing in rural Cambridgeshire; the reasons why he had a paper round until a late age; his new love of baking; and why an interaction with a busker on the New York subway will always stay with him. Enjoy.  

Henry Lloyd-Hughes is an actor, designer and thoroughly nice chap. He’s also the first guest on Gentleman’s Journal Meets…, our new podcast series where we celebrate the most fascinating people we’ve met at Gentleman’s Journal towers this month. We recorded this episode in late February, and Henry was in the middle of filming The Irregulars, a new Netflix series in which he stars as none other than Sherlock Holmes. But you’ll probably know him as the psychopathic tech founder Aaron Peel in Killing Eve, or as Alfred Lyttleton in The English Game — or even as the ruffian Mark Donovan in The Inbetweeners. It’s a fascinating conversation, not least because Henry is so candid and honest about the gory details of the acting game. In it, we talk about NE Blake, the style brand that was inspired by Henry’s great-grandfather; how he was largely cut from the Harry Potter series; why acting is just like cricket; and how his first ever role ended in him vomiting all over a caravan. Enjoy.