Your London Legacy

Today’s brilliant guest is journalist and author, Andy Bull, who has lived in London for the best part of 40 years. Author of two books about London, on today’s podcast we talk about Andy’s book: Secret Twickenham, Whitton, Teddington, and the Hamptons. Now I’m sure all of you will have heard of the Cavern Club in Liverpool where the Beatles made their name, but chances are you’ve never heard of the Eel Pie Island in Twickenham—which in the 60’s was a favorite spot for the likes of the Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Rod Stewart to play. These parts of west London are home to many secrets and have many glorious stories to reveal, and Andy is the perfect host. Listen in as we dive into the Thames which was once full of salmon, eels, and trout—take a trip around Henry the VIII’s Hampton court palace, and wander around the film studios at Teddington, and the home of English rugby. This is Your London Legacy.   “The wonderful thing about London is anyone can be a Londoner, wherever you’re from, whatever your background, if you want to understand the values of London and respect London—you’re welcome.” 15:00   Once people started to get free time in the modern era of London, they began to spend it down by the river on the Thames. Centuries back it was a burgeoning hotspot of trade and recreation, and because of that there are a wealth of secrets and history in every bend and path along its shores. These secrets are the foundation for Andy’s book about Twickenham, Whitton, Teddington, and the Hamptons. He has curated a selection of them that he found most interesting—one of which deals with the music hotbed of Eel Pie Island. Eel Pie Island became a musical venue due to a man of the name Arthur Chisnall, a frustrated sociologist with an interest in youth subculture. He worked on creating a rundown hotel on this small spit of island in the middle of the river into a music venue. In coordinating with authorities, you needed a special Eel Pie Island passport to cross over on a rowboat and listen to the bands—something done to keep an eye on youth who might go off the rails. It was set up to encourage healthy community and creativity under the guise of being a rebel headquarters for upcoming musicians and one of the birthplaces of rock ‘n roll.   “What I aimed to do was pick out lesser known things—things which people who lived in those areas their whole lives might not know about, or aspects of those things they may not have known about.” 28:40 In the 18th and 19th century the market gardens covered about 40% of Twickenham and the Hamptons while employing around 15,000 people—essentially feeding London. The Thames back then was teeming with salmon and trout, but in time due to pollution the fish disappeared. This bothered a local angler who went on to pioneer fish farming (still a theory at this point), and in conjunction with the Thames conservancy, they released 200,000 small fish into the river after just five years. This technology was spread the help rivers all across the globe, all stemming from the Francis Fish Hatchery. These are but a few of the secrets Andy’s book holds and stand out as a testament for the rich history of London and the stories hiding in every nook and cranny. Links http://www.andybull.co.uk/ (AndyBull.co.uk) https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08HDK3WH6/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i4 (Secret Twickenham, Whitton, Teddington, and the Hamptons) New Book – https://www.amazon.co.uk/-/en/Andy-Bull/dp/1912716194 (Pilgrim Pathways)     Support this podcast

I was thrilled to have really had such an entertaining and fascinating chat with philosopher, jazz musician and renowned cheese historian, Ned Palmer. Author of the Sunday Times Book of the Year ‘’A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles’’ Ned makes it clear that every cheese tells a story. In his recent book Ned takes us on a mouth-watering journey across Britain and Ireland to uncover the histories of beloved old favourites like Cheddar and Wensleydale to exciting new innovations like the Irish Cashel Blue or the splendid Renegade Monk. Ned works with Laithwates, the Scotch Malt Whiskey Society, the British Epicurean Society and various London craft brewers to bring audiences delicious surprises and pairings, alongside eccentric, eclectic, and esoteric stories of the makers of great British cheeses, both ancient and modern. On the back of our chat, I placed a rush order for a hunk of fabulous Gorwydd Caerphilly and Colston Bassett Stilton. Delicious. Well, why let the grass grow under my feet. If you love cheese, and the history of the British Isles then this episode is quite delightful. This is Your London Legacy “You don’t every really stop being a jazz musician though, do you?” 6:15 At six years old Ned was already falling in love with jazz at a time when he could listen to records and see the whole development of the genre. He played for years, but like many musicians, had to pick up other work—and some of that work was as an affineur—someone who watches cheese and takes care of it. This most certainly kicked off Ned’s deep love of fine cheese, and in fact, he finds many similarities between jazz and cheese, and has even entertained doing a tasting that pairs cheese with different kinds of jazz chords and music.  “I want to say as a sort of public service announcement—be careful. You eat a really nice piece of cheese, you don’t know what’ll happen.” 24:15 In Ned’s book “A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles” a whole history of cheese making plays out, from Neolithic pots being scraped and analyzed to determine if cheese was made as early as thousands of years ago, to Roman times, monks churning cheese, medieval times, and pre- and post-war times, all the way to the 70’s cheese renaissance and post-modern cheese. And let me tell you, the tales are just downright fascinating. Take the Great Cheese War of 1776, a little skirmish Ned uncovered while doing research that involved armored convoys, raids, and besieged warehouses held captive by the end of gun barrels. There are tales from the WWII involving cheese being used as a weapon when rations ran thin and cheese makers going out of business, losing artisanal varieties, and the townsfolk who worked to gather money to keep others in business.  “If you don’t play with your cheese—it will play with you.” 48:30 On this episode I’ve done something I’ve never done before on the podcast—I let Ned take a look at the cheese I had in my fridge and rate my taste in cheese, and let me just say, I’m not sure I passed all the tests here. However, it was beyond lovely to chat with Ned and enjoy some of the cheese he recommended—he is beginning to delve into working on his next book which will have him touring cheese makers in France. I highly recommend his current book which can be picked up right here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Cheesemongers-History-British-Isles/dp/1788161173/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=%E2%80%99A+Cheesemonger%E2%80%99s+History+of+the+British+Isles&qid=1610419919&sr=8-1 (A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles)  Links https://www.cheesetastingco.uk/ (The Cheese Tasting Company) https://twitter.com/CheeseTastingCo (@cheesetastingco) Support this podcast

As you wander round the streets of our magnificent capital city today, you’ll probably most likely be aware of all the shops and offices, albeit deserted if we are still in lockdown. What you will not see so much of are the relics of London’s glorious industrial past, unless of course, that is you know where and what to look for. From brewing giants such as Guinness, toy manufacturers like Airfix and Lesney who made the world-famous matchbox cars, to the aircraft makers like De Haviland and Handley Page—these and many more instantly recognisable brands had major and often iconic bases in London. Urban archaeologist Mark Amies author of London’s Industrial Past understands the importance of our magnificent machine age, when London was once the powerhouse of the world. Join us as we wander the street of London in search of what once was Londoners very essence. This is Your London Legacy. “If you’re not careful—there are bits of London that you’ll never go and see.” 6:50 Mark’s love for London’s industrial past and architecture in general might trace back to car rides with his father. He would sit in the back of the car as his dad pointed out buildings and what factories they used to be, the people that worked there. There were stories hiding there, histories fading to mist, and Mark found himself yearning to dig into those histories and uncover what used to be there. These places were once social hubs, where people met and went out after work to bond and form relationships. While Mark admits not all factory work was glamorous or free of danger, the social impact of industrialization is undeniable on a social level. “Fortunately for me, they thought I was some kind of expert. I always thought myself more of an enthusiast.” 14:00 The road to Mark’s book was a long one, but started off when he was looking to do something more with his life outside of work. So, he went back to his passion for London’s history and started a blog—back when blogs were the cool thing to do. This led to him writing a few pieces for the Londonist, which can still eb found today, and ultimately led him to filling in slots for BBC Radio London on the Robert Elms program. It was on Mark to take his experience there and approach publishers directly, without an agent, to propose his book: London’s Industrial Past, which he landed by letting his enthusiasm and background shine. And the book is remarkable, not only for its written content but the images that accompany it. Some of these were holdovers from companies wanting giant, wide flyover pictures of their factory and grounds to show off in boardrooms—and the detail you can see in them is remarkable. The book covers industry from aeronautics, to biscuits, to toys—and covers a wide breadth of the history and modern day usage of the facilities—since some were located on areas that formed into their own miniature cities, with businesses and healthcare facilities built specifically for the workers there. London’s Industrial Past is a remarkable read, and guess what—Mark is working on a second, more specific and focused book about London’s past as we speak. Make sure to keep your eye on him via social media, and as he would want, keep your eye on the hidden histories of London as well. Links Mark Aimes Twitter: https://twitter.com/yesteryeartweet?lang=en (YesterYearTweets) https://twitter.com/PastLondon (PastLondon) Support this podcast

As the great Samuel Johnson once said, ‘when a man is tired of London he is tired of life’ and in my view this has never been more true. In these troubled unique times, finding the pleasure and joy in plain view is critical for us all, from a physical, mental and wellbeing perspective. In this brilliant episode I caught up with award winning Tom Jones (no, not that one), author of best-selling book Tired of London Tired of Life, One Thing a Day to do in London. When Tom found himself bored in our beautiful capital city, Tom decided to heed Johnson’s words and seek out one thing to do each day in London, one thing that would ensure he found his love with the city once more. This grew out of his popular blog he started back in 2008 and has inspired three books, including London, The Weekend Starts Here. Listen in as we discover some wonderful suggestions for this time of year, (lockdown or not) as well as Tom’s favourite places. This is Your London Legacy. “I learn way more about things by actually going there and seeing them than I ever would reading about them remotely.” 13:00 While many people can say that the people of London can be cold, making the city seem a harsh place if you move there—Tom didn’t really feel that way. He found it a wonderful place to be able to go out and enjoy himself without having to drop too much money to have a good time and enjoy a good pint while out with friends. He became found of wandering around the city after work, always finding something cool to do, and since it was the late 2000’s, he decided to write about it for a blog: Tired of London, Tired of Life. Something that turned into an everyday post which he did for over six years. 22:00 The book came about after about two years of running the blog, and Tom didn’t want it to just be his blog printed out and slapped on some pages. He went out to more places, did more research, and he made it his fulltime job to get the book to shine beyond just the blog. Through this it took form by breaking down into months and days of the year with things to do in London. What are some of these you ask? October, for example, has the deer run in Richmond Park listed. The park makes it seem as if you are fully outside the city, and it’s this time the deer go into rut, and you can see some fantastic sights of them running through the woods there every year. Of course, no book of things to do in London would be complete with the Thames, and the full path stretches 180 miles in fact. The book moves on from there to highlight an endearing sewer powered “farting” gas lamp, and onwards forward to ice skating at Summerset House. If you’re interested in Tom’s recommendations you can pick up the book or still find the blog on http://www.tiredoflondontiredoflife.com/ (TiredofLondonTiredofLife.com) Links Book: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tired-London-Life-January-Hardcover/dp/B0168SA2EQ (Tired of London, Tired of Life) Support this podcast

Today’s brilliant guest is responsible for what can probably be described as one of London’s absolute best secrets, The London Metropolitan Archive. Geoff Pick is Director of this amazing London based resource. Just imagine over 100km of archives jam packed full of amazing historical and contemporary material with over 1000 years to choose from. Well that is Geoff’s job. Geoff is an adopted Londoner from Wigan who was recently awarded an OBE for services to the management of records and archives in the capital. He joined the LMA in 1986 and became Director in 2013, having worked as a professional archivist since 1978. Under his direction, the LMA has played a pioneering role in areas such as digital archiving, engaging with the public, and promoting diversity through work with the LGBTQ+ and BAME communities. In this fascinating episode Geoff explains his love and passion for his work and takes us through some of the LMA’s outstanding archive material, from the City’s Magna Carta in 1297, the collection for John Keats, an amazing character called Cy Grant, right up to date with the digital collection of the National HIV Story Trust and work with LGBTQI communities. When lock down is over, the first thing I am going to do is get myself down to the LMA – and you should too. Meanwhile, be inspired and enjoy my chat with Geoff Pick. This is Your London Legacy. On being an archivist: “…that balance between the practical and the historical. Looking at fantastic historical material but then making it available for people to research…for an 8-year-old school girl to someone in their 90’s doing their family history.” 9:00 We all love museums. The thrill of seeing and learning something new while coming closer to history. Geoff often gets asked – well what is the difference between a museum and an archive. While they have some overlapping similarities, most patrons of the archive come for a specific research purpose. They may be working on their PHD, or be researching their family history, and they will stay from dusk till dawn. “The Hadron Collider at CERN creates enough data – if you put it on DVD’s – to go from here to the moon in just a single day.” 16:30 One topic that came up was just the sheer amount of information that gets put out into the world today. Journal articles, newspapers, online stories, blogs, reports – the list goes on and on. Geoff undoubtedly has a monumental task on his hands keeping everything organized and also making room for new entries into the archive from modern times. It is a job that is certainly worth it, as he gets to experience working with older documents and manuscripts from over 1000 years ago. He says there’s nothing quite like having the tactical and physical experience of working with those documents – like the writings of a monk from the 1400s. 24:35 The archive holds so many wonderful and important documents along its kilometres of sprawl – and we’re lucky enough to have Geoff handpick several and explain their significance to today and his own life. This includes a letter from John Hancock, a signer of America’s Declaration of Independence, to London for thanks in supporting their freedom, a stance likely taken to continue to bolster trade between the city and the New World. He also chose a letter from Keats to his fiancé that was delivered in a mailbox at the Keats house that you can actually go see – it was a letter before he went to Rome for tuberculosis treatment and died, leaving the epitaph of “Here Lies One Whose Name Was Writ in Water”. These are just a few of the gems Geoff picked – not to mention his extensive work and outreach he undertakes on behalf of the archive. You can do some research yourself and find more here at https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/london-metropolitan-archives (London Metropolitan Archives.) Support this podcast

When Hashi Mohamed arrived in London from Kenya as a 9-year-old, separated from his mother and still grieving the recent and tragic loss of his father, he couldn’t possibly have foreseen the incredible journey ahead. A journey of social mobility littered with hurdles and barriers, some clear and obvious and others much more subtle. Against all the odds it would seem, Hashi is now a prominent London based Barrister, broadcaster, and author of his new hugely successful book ‘People Like Us – What it Takes to Make it in Modern Britain’. In it Hashi discusses the many variables that make up the possibility of being successful in Britain today, such as the wealth and profession of your parents, the school you went to, the lucky breaks you get, the unwritten social rules, language, race and class, on and on. Hashi is a hugely engaging personality, with an incredible personal story and template for empowering us all for the better, wherever we are on the social spectrum. This is Your London Legacy “If you’re curious about the world that you live in…and you’re interested in the question of becoming a more equal society—this is the book for you.” 14:40 Hashi found his book “People Like Us” quite painful to write, and after listening to his story it’s not hard to imagine why. His childhood was full of uncertainty and tragedy and loss. After his father died in a car crash and among unrest Hashi came to the UK as a refugee. In writing his book, Hashi found himself reflecting on the whole series of events for the first time—how it felt to grow up in the poorer area’s of London, adapting to culture and language, and eventually what led him to feeling like he belonged as a part of British society. One pivotal moment came from a teacher, Miss Adler—who let her students paint their own classroom how they saw fit. She had a wonderful understanding of the local community and spent a lot of time with the students. Her family came to the UK as refugees as well fleeing the holocaust, so there was a mutual understanding of Hashi’s predicament that made all the difference for him back then. On Confidence: “It comes from, honestly, no epiphany or any sort of bible…it comes from a very simple place, which is that I was just not happy with the status quo.” 36:40 Hashi’s book takes a deep dive into concepts of imagination, confidence, and luck—how all these interplay with race and class and upbringing. It’s a close examination that many millionaires and billionaires tend to glance over when talking about their success—something Hashi believes sets many people up for failure. Without the chance of opportunity and seeking it out, being in the right place at the right time, success will often pass by. So you have to stay sharp and keep your eyes out, and you have to have the imagination and confidence to remember to do so. Links Twitter: @hm_hashi (mailto:@hm_hashi) HashiMohamed.com (https://www.hashimohamed.com/) People Like Us (https://www.hashimohamed.com/the-book) Support this podcast

The fear of losing your mind has to be one of the scariest things you could ever endure—and the worry that a loved one will forget who you are, or start acting in a way that is totally opposite to how they have all their lives, is too much for most to imagine. This week’s brilliant guest, Jules Montague, is a Consultant Neurologist here in London. Her clinical specialty is “young onset dementia” with patients who develop memory and behavior changes as early as their twenties—and some of her most challenging work is in the intensive care setting, where she sees patients who have suffered catastrophic brain injuries. Jules’ most recent and bestselling book “Lost and Found: Why Losing Our Memory Doesn’t Mean Losing Ourselves” is profound and deeply touching, drawing on many real life personal experiences of patients whose minds misbehave. I was fortunate enough to meet with Jules in person, the first since lock-down, at one of my favorite places in London: Kenwood House Hampstead. You or someone you know will at some point in your life suffer from memory loss, and Jules’ approach to this may well be your life saver. This is Your London Legacy. “Telling our own story, our one autobiography is crucial to who we are.” 25:00 Jules has always been interested in medical science and grew up watching Grey’s Anatomy and E.R. along with other popular shows, and she was even told that she would ask for a second vaccine after getting her first shot because she was so interested in the process. This fascination led her to studying at Trinity College in Dublin for 6 years, where she went on to practice in Ireland and get her PHD before coming to London in 2009 as a neurologist. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder—I think personality traits are as well, and their consequences.” 35:00 Jules has firsthand experience in medical environments where diagnoses need to be made off of communication rather than MRI scans and modern medical equipment. Her pull to stories not only helped her disperse medical knowledge to these communities, but properly treat those in an area where the average life span was only 38 years. This focus on stories led her to writing her book and exploring who we are when we are not ourselves and the stories behind these scenarios. For instance, when we think back on our first kiss—whether it was good or bad—we reconstruct the memory both physically through proteins and psychologically through ideas. This layers on meaning overtime, much like pulling an old book from a library and adding pages to it—which of course means that our current memory differs from the original. In this way we constantly reshape ourselves and who we are, changing and evolving, a process most drastically altered by Neuro- degenerative and other psychological disorders. Through this lens Jules hopes to broaden the idea that we should judge and treat people based on them people and not their illness. It was a true treat to talk to Jules out in the real world after such an extensive period of lock-down, and I very much look forward to her next book: 'Diagnosis Cure' which explores the flaws in current medical and psychological diagnoses and how they are viewed and abused in the world. Links Twitter: @Jules_Motague (https://twitter.com/Jules_Montague) Lost and Found (https://www.amazon.com/Lost-Found-Memory-Identity-Ourselves/dp/1473646944) Support this podcast

Did you know you have an unfair advantage in your life? Something that gives you an edge over your competition. Even if you are not aware it, today's brilliant guests Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba have devised a simple framework that allows us to find out what our unfair advantage is and how we can use it to help us succeed in life and business. Ash Ali & Hasan Kubba are start up entrepreneurs. Ash skipped Uni and was the first marketing director of Just Eat; one of the Uk’s first tech unicorn companies now worth over £5billion. Hasan built a successful start up from his bedroom with nothing more than an online course and desire to escape the corporate ‘rat race’. They have both spoken at TEDx and advised and mentored hundreds of start-ups all over the world. Their new book The Unfair Advantage – How you already have what it takes to succeed…has taken the business world by storm, so settle back and enjoy this enlightening chat with Ash Ali and Hasan Kubba. This is Your London Legacy. “It’s what we do with it afterwards that makes the difference - and some people have a lot of luck in their life but they don’t take advantage of it.” 9:00 There are different kinds of luck we encounter in our lives. Life goes up and down and luck will land somewhere in a trough or valley, but as Ash and Hasan will tell you, the more you do and more you learn and opportunities you take on, the better off you’ll be when luck comes along. But luck also plays into their concept of the unfair advantage, and is an important thing to keep in mind if you find yourself comparing your life to other, perhaps more successful personalities. Afterall, some very famous people got “very small loans” from their parents for 1 million dollars…in the 1970s. “I’ll just sit there and read a book and go, well, it’s not like this in the UK.” 23:00 After what you might call a serendipitous or “lucky” meeting—when Ash and Hasan decided to sit down and write The Unfair Advantage, they wanted to do it with the mindset that their perspective was different than the usual late-aged ex-CEO white male in the United States that you often see dominating the business world. Their book is focused more on the Uk, and more so, they didn’t want the book to be prescriptive like many in the genre are. The book is set up to the core thinking you need to use to see how your perspectives fit uniquely into market spaces to bring value and new thinking to older, run in the ground modalities. The Unfair Advantage is an incredible read and can really help you expand your entrepreneurial ideas, pursuits, and spirt. You can find the book here: The Unfair Advantage (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Unfair-Advantage-Startup-Success-Starts/dp/1788163311/ref=sr_1_1?crid=35X0D3U3Y40XT&dchild=1&keywords=the+unfair+advantage&qid=1597780595&s=books&sprefix=the+unfair+adv%2Caps%2C213&sr=1-1) Links Ash: LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashali/?originalSubdomain=uk) Uhubs.co.uk (https://www.uhubs.co.uk/) Hasan LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/startuphasan/?originalSubdomain=uk) @StartupHasan (https://twitter.com/StartupHasan?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor) Support this podcast

This week’s amazing guest is the inspirational Brenda Birungi, aka Lady Unchained. Lady Unchained is a Poet and founder of Unchained Poetry, a platform for artists with experience of the criminal justice system. In 2008, 20-year-old Brenda got into a fight in a club whilst trying to protect her sister from being attacked. Serving 11 months of her prison sentence—her life changed completely. Whilst her experience was shocking Brenda looks back on and forward to a bright future with a mission to prove there is life after prison. Through poetry she tells her own personal story and the story of those with similar lived experience, that as she says are often left untold due to shame, stigma, and negative labels. Lady Unchained has worked with several charities, hosted inspirational story telling nights, though poetry and music performed by artists who have experienced the justice system first-hand. She also co hosts for National Prison Radio’s show We are Straightline, a show about getting out and staying out of prison. Brenda’s life has been anything other than linear, but she is most definitely on the way up and making a positive impact. This is Your London Legacy. “A key is a symbol of freedom—so to give somebody a key, for me, only made me feel like they were mocking me.” 16:20 Brenda moved out at 17, a young age no doubt, with plenty to learn about herself and the world. She did have a dependable personality, as she was always being called upon to help people out with this that or the other, but this made it hard for her to reach out and ask for help herself. Perhaps this dovetailed one fateful night at a party, where her sister was attacked, and through her intervention—ended up taking a year-long probation that placed her in prison. “Everything in jail that you say, do—has an effect on when you get out. What privileges you have. Everything.” 51:10 Strangely enough, it was the poor treatment she received in jail that led her to start writing poetry. Writing notes and journaling about the different injustices she faced on a daily basis there—including not being accepted as “British”, which led to her hunger striking and eventually being transferred to another prison. But she studied English and got her A levels while in jail and continued to write upon her eventual release—a whole other adventure in itself where she had to rediscover who Brenda was through volunteering and art. Brenda came across National Prison Radio, and after her first performance on We Are Straightline, knew she had gone to jail for a reason and wanted to dedicate herself to “Lady Unchained” her moniker for her post jail self and the art she creates. While Covid in itself has brought about triggering memories just with the term “lockdown”—you can still come across her work online until venues reopen up. Brenda is a lovely soul and overly talented poet, and you’d be doing a disservice to yourself to not seek out her works and even TEDx talk online. Links Twitter: @UnchainedP (https://twitter.com/UnchainedP) UnchainedPoetry.com (https://www.unchainedpoetry.com/) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/unchainedpoetry/) Soundcloud (https://soundcloud.com/unchained-poetry) TEDx Talk (https://www.ted.com/talks/lady_unchained_proving_there_is_life_after_prison_one_poem_at_a_time) Support this podcast

Beth Gardiner is an American Journalist based in London. Her hugely important and critically acclaimed book “Choked: The age of air pollution and fight for a cleaner future’’ was one of The Guardians Best Books of 2019 and described by Arnold Schwarzenegger as ‘an urgent essential read’. Air pollution kills seven million people every year, causing heart attacks, strokes, cancer, dementia and more. In Choked, Beth Gardiner travels the world to tell the story of this modern-day plague, exposing the political decisions and economic forces that have kept so many of us breathing dirty air. In fact, Covid 19 and lockdown has brought air pollution into even sharper focus than ever before. In this fascinating chat, Beth outlines some of the issues we face locally and globally and her hopes for the future. This is Your London Legacy. ​“If anything else was killing 9,000 Londoners a year or 7 million people around the world—surely we’d be talking about it all the time.” 6:00 Beth started off writing for her high school newspaper and for her university, Yale no less. She was a large consumer of news and magazines, and liked how news let you hop around from subject to subject and read about so much all at once. Always something new to learn and explain to readers. She spent some time in Indonesia teaching English—and ended up returning to cover the horrific earthquake and tsunami that killed over 100,000 people—a shocking and large experience that perhaps solidified her need to continue to seek out global health and environmental issues that affect us every day. Indeed, the intersection of health and environment is at the core of her work on air pollution. “The air there [New York City] is much cleaner than London’s – and in general, the air in the US is significantly cleaner than the UK and Europe.” 12:00 When Beth moved to London she would find herself often getting headaches just from being around and about. There was a certain quality to the air she felt like she could taste, but didn’t think much of it. Years later, it took a 5 minute google search while reporting on the upcoming London Olympics to find out that the air quality in London was much worse than where she’d lived previously. This shock had lasting effects and eventually coalesced into a heap of research that turned into her book, Choked. The book is a wonderful read—if not shocking, with chapter titles like 9416, which is the number of people that died in London in year from air pollution. Globally it’s 7 million. Locally in Europe, a part of this is due to diesel cars—and an event called Diesel Gate, where companies like Volkswagen were lying about how much nitrogen dioxide was being emitted by their vehicles. They were caught in the US and fined billions of dollars and forced to recall cars—but we haven’t had the same teeth to enforce regulations here in the UK. Beth believes that if the people demand it, we will hold companies responsible for the environmental impact. But it does have to be demanded. Now with a respiratory virus pandemic—air pollution is being highlighted as the two intersect and feed off of each other. Beth hopes that people will become more aware of how our environment impacts us on a daily basis—and even may have another work in progress touching on another major pollutant: plastics. You can pick up Choked at your local bookstore or over on Amazon, and I highly recommend you give the stories inside a solid read.   Links Choked (https://bookshop.org/books/choked-life-and-breath-in-the-age-of-air-pollution/9780226495859) Friends of the Parkland Walk (https://www.parkland-walk.org.uk/) BethGardiner.com (https://www.bethgardiner.com/) @Gardiner_Beth (https://twitter.com/Gardiner_Beth) Support this podcast

London cabbies are a wonderful, rich and varied bunch and Mark Monroe is no exception. Born in Plymouth Mark moved to London as a young man and studied Musical Theatre at the Arts Ed school in Chiswick, after which he was a jobbing theatre actor to the age of 33. Realising the instability of the acting world Mark took the ‘The Knowledge’ absorbing very facet of his new home London. Marks love of London extended beyond the standout historical icons such as Buckingham Palace and the London eye. It was the quirky, bizarre, and unusual that excites him. So much so that in May 2019, as complete novice in film making, presenting and social media, mark created Secret London, his very own You Tube Chanel where he shares a side of London, very view people are aware of, or indeed ever get to see. When social distancing is over, I’m going to ask Mark to take to me to some of the fabulous places he talks about, but for now, we can all enjoy his wonderful Secret London story from the comfort of our own homes, wherever in the world we may be. This is Your London Legacy. “I’m always asking people to tell me something about London that I don’t know.” 9:40 Mark’s first role came around 16 when he joined a youth theatre with a friend, essentially to try and meet girls. Well after singing he ended up landing the role of Tony in a Westside Story—and ended up playing Riff, leader of the Jets in the opposite gang. So it’s unsurprising that Mark went into theatre and the arts, and finished his A levels around 20 and scored a grant to come to London and study at drama school—the Arts School at Chiswick. 3 years later he came out the other side with a performance diploma. He went on the be in productions of Aladdin, Wind in the Willows, and Peter Pan. However, as many in the arts are to find out, especially in acting, work isn’t always steady and income can be hard to come by. “You’re then assigned your first appearance—there not called exams. There called ‘appearances’. How incredible is that? It makes you feel even more nervous.” 30:00 Mark decided to join the cabbie life and start down the, literally, long road toward passing “The Knowledge”. He studied part time while working, spending his weekends on a moped with maps in front of him as he memorized and took stock of street names and just as importantly—points of interest. 17,000 or so at that. And after passing his “appearances” and test where he was given a blank map of London and asked to put down street names, he finally got his badge—3 years down the line. “I want to share something a little bit more hidden—under the surface of London, and unique. And what that is what the channel is all about.” 40:00 Mark now runs a YouTube channel: Secret London (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7W2nvuM1ObIBI5jW0TWYhw). A channel borne out of his love for London’s points of interests and even his love for performance and expressing his personality. He started off with just a regular old iPhone, going around and showing some of London’s most hidden gems—one of which he shares with us, a place he calls a Secret Garden. But he learned the ins and outs of film making with minimal equipment, while on the go, and it’s allowed him to showcase the hidden and obscure corners of our wonderful city—which I wholeheartedly hope you delve deeper into and explore. Links Secret London Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7W2nvuM1ObIBI5jW0TWYhw) Secret London Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/secretlondonpics/) Support this podcast

As a kid, James Cook grew up with his grandparents on the streets of Jamaica, until his parents brought him to London as a 9 year old and his whole world changed. James grew up on the notorious North Peckham Housing Estate and went on to become British and European super – middleweight champion, in an era of classy boxers. But James always loved working with and helping the youth, and when he retired he went on to become a successful trainer before saving from closure and then running the famous Pedro Youth Club in Hackney. In 2007 James was deservedly awarded the MBE by the Queen, and his life ethos is knowing how to share, how to give and how to love, lessons his granny taught him as a young boy. You can read James story in his wonderful autobiography written with his good friend Melanie Lloyd, but in the meantime why not listen to this really engaging charming chat with James right here. This is Your London Legacy “When I came to London, and I look around, the first thing I said to myself was—damn, I’m gonna starve.” 6:00 James thought London was some cold, perpetually rainy and snowy city as far removed as possible from the sunny shores of Jamaica where he was born. He was in a close knit community, met his future wife in grade school there, and was able to run and pick food clean from trees. So the move to London offered a fair amount of culture shock, not just in the city itself (and lack of fruit trees), but also the school system, which was much looser and larger than he was used to. “I used to walk down the street with my gloves around my neck…to say you know, I’m a boxer. Don’t play with me.” 18:00 James’ boxing career started early and was a sport he easily fell into and loved. Including the training aspect, which can turn many boxers off due to the amount of running and cardio involved, but this was something James was already quite accustomed to. As you can imagine, boxing comes with some hurt and scars—he broke his hand twice, the first time just after the first punch of a match. He moved up though and got titles under his belt, fighting a whole host of characters and experiencing the wins, losses, knockouts, and eventual transition over to coach and trainer. He’s seen the sport evolve and wonders if it hasn’t moved backwards some with the way promotion and paying for opponents doesn’t help boxers learn as much about boxing with the focus shifted. “I didn’t just want to write about boxing and fighting, I wanted a bit of everything in there.” 53:00 Giving back is something born into James DNA and manifests today as the Pedro Youth Club—where youths and their families are encouraged to come participate in a wide array of activities including pool. Table tennis, cinema activities, music rentals and recording sites and you guessed it, boxing as well. In fact, all the proceeds from James’ life story written his biography “Guardian of the Streets: James Cook MBE, My Story” (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardian-Streets-James-Cook-Story/dp/1785314912) go directly to the Pedro Youth Club. It’s a lovely book that I can’t recommend enough, so go check it out after tuning into our wonderful and lively chat. Links Pedro Youth Club (http://pedroclub.com/) Guardian of the Streets (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Guardian-Streets-James-Cook-Story/dp/1785314912) Support this podcast

Without doubt—one topic that I find more fascinating than virtually any other, is the field of neuroscience. And this week, I was excited to be joined by Kris De Meyer, Neuroscientist and Research Fellow at King’s College London. One of Kris’s interests lies in the area of belief. By that he means, how our brain decides that certain ideas are ‘true’ while rejecting others as 'false'. Kris also studies how entrenched belief systems invariably lead to polarisation in society, from such crucial topics and Climate Change & Brexit. Kris is also a documentary maker and co-produced with Sheila Marshall the film ‘Right Between Your Ears’ a study of Harold Camping and his followers whose interpretation of the Bible led them to the certainty the world would end on May 21 2011. I loved this conversation and think you will too. This is Your London Legacy “One of the things that interests me most is studying and looking at how people form beliefs and how we come to think our view of the world is the right view, and other people’s view is wrong.” 5:00 Kris came from an electrical engineering background initially, definitely not poking around in brains to start off. However, the brain is an electrical organ and the tools used to study the brain rely on clever physics and high-functioning electronics. Neuroscience takes engineers, psychologist, and biologists—and none of them fully understood each other when Kris started out. His studies coupled with seeing how people started sharing and arguing their opinions at the advent of the internet helped push him headlong into the neuroscience field. 11:20 On one hand, Kris is interested in the mechanisms people use to formulate and defend their beliefs, and his study and research helps him divorce himself from those issues. On the other hand, he is still human. He has opinions about climate change, society, Brexit (he is originally from Belgium) and so he has to wear two hats at once in his studies. “The only messages that go viral are the ones that fit with your group, the beliefs of your group—or the ones that outrage your group.” 12:30 Kris’s documentary started out in 2011 and is called “Right Between Your Ears” and follows a guy who head of a radio station that believed the world would end on a specific date: 21st of May 2011. Kris took this to be an interesting case study of a polarizing belief, with followers, that would have to face the consequences of being wrong and how the belief evolves. He learned through this that you could never find a killer argument to sway someone from one side to the other. In fact, in his own research, he finds that both sides of an argument or belief use the same language to describe the other side while making their argument and finding rational points of debate. His program The Justice Syndicate is set as a playable theatre that puts its “players” or audience into a jury role with a tablet and they have to vote and form opinions that highlight preconceptions, power, privilege, and how being a part of a group affects the whole experience. This was such a fascinating conversation, and one I help hope you identify what “pyramids” of belief and opinion you stand on, and where you stand upon them. I hope along with Kris that further study into our beliefs help us to come to find more common ground where we are able to have discussions about society and life at large to help foster a safe and prosperous life for all, regardless of some opinions and ideologies. You can find more of Kris’s work with this helpful intro of a TEDX talk he gave that is titled “How Not to Be Ignorant About the World”. (http://tedxlondon.com/attend/beyondborders2019/speakers/KrisDeMeyer) Links KrisDeMeyer.com (https://www.krisdemeyer.com/) Twitter: @kris8dm (https://twitter.com/kris8dm) Support this podcast

Shoreditch in the East End of London has an incredibly rich and varied history. From theatre and Shakespeare in Elizabethan times, to the wealthy traders and French Huguenot silk weavers of the 17th Century to the decline of the furniture industry in the late 19th century when the area was one of the worst slums in London. The illustrated London News in 1863 described the terrible living conditions in the 'Old Nichol' as ‘one painful and monotonous round of vice, filth and poverty, huddled in dark cellars…teeming with disease and death’’. Today, Shoreditch must be one of the trendiest and most fashionable places in London and this is the location of today’ guest excellent recent book ‘The Last Director of Shoreditch’. Huw Jones day job is Europe Regulation Correspondent at Thomson Reuters and he’s never known such fascinating times with the advent of Brexit and Covid 19 back to back. But as lover of London and social historian, Huw’s fast-paced novel spins between the Postie gang of Shoreditch in the 1950’s and what he calls the modern day siliconeaster, latte sipping tech start up millennials. Enjoy this fascinating insight into one of the jewels of London past and present. This is Your London Legacy. “You’re just like 2 degrees removed from history wherever you go here. It’s amazing.” 21:25 Huw’s book follows a group along two parallel timelines: the 1950’s when one of the characters, Frank who was the fixer for the Postie group—and the timeline now after the property empire has risen and they get a bit bored and try and ditch what they worked for. Many of the details in the book were based off of the reality of Shoreditch. For instance, in the 50’s and 60’s Shoreditch was an epicentre of furniture production—and the Director uses the industry there for their deeds, after all, old warehouses are indeed a good place to start your criminal fraternity. 26:16 Shoreditch was likely the first municipality in Britain to have a “dust destructor” which is essentially a facility to burn rubbish to create electricity. The facility in Shoreditch is now the National Arts Centre for Circus, interestingly enough. But again, what better place to “fix” a problem than a facility meant to incinerate—again as Huw says, you don’t even have to make it up.  “You realize it’s not going to get written until you sit down and do it.” 30:45 I’m always fascinated by the creative type and how books come to be. Huw’s style is interesting, as he didn’t quite write the chapters in order – and he felt his character Frank took over the story. But it is a push and requires sacrificing perfection. But it is an all-consuming task and one you must embrace when it wakes you up in the early morning with some sliver of idea you have to jot down. The concept of siliconeaster too is inspired by going out in Shoreditch and seeing the hip young millennial tech startupers with their lattes and how they’ve influenced the area in modern day. While a book is most certainly written in a chair, the ideas often come from going out and exploring the world—and what better locale to influence you than London and the wonderful, never ending microcosms within. Links Book on Amazon: The Last Director of Shoreditch (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Last-Director-Shoreditch-Huw-Jones-ebook/dp/B01G0JL314/ref=sr_1_7?dchild=1&keywords=Huw+Jones&qid=1594923680&sr=8-7) Shoreditchnovel.com (https://www.shoreditchnovel.com/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/ShoreditchNovel) Support this podcast

I’ve never really thought of myself as a creative type. From my days studying law, to my career as an Insurance Loss Assessor with my head in policy wordings, the arc of my story has somehow seemed rather dry. That is of course until I discovered my love of podcasting whilst flat on my back in a hospital bed some three years ago. As it was in that London hospital bed where my first create seed was germinated. Today, some people tell me I’m a creative. That I’ve actually come up with an idea, something from nothing, and had the audacity to put it out there. As Brene Brown says, ''there’s a deep connection between finding meaning in one’s life and creativity.'' This week’s guest is a natural creative. Chrissy Levett, London Based Creative Director, who’s studied graphic design and communications at the Royal College of Art here in London. She’s won a number of industry awards for branding, is a TEDx speaker, newly published author believing creative thinking is vital for us to solve the world’s greatest challenges. Now Founder & CEO for Creative Conscience a global movement set up to encourage, reward, train and support creative thinkers, to use their talents for social & environmental impact. I love this conversation and being around creative people. It just makes me feel uplifted and inspired and wherever you are on your life journey, it’s never too late to start writing your creative story. This Your London Legacy. “All of us—every person on the planet is creative. I think if you’ve ever had an idea you’re creative. It’s just our education system isn’t set up to understand the value of creative thinking.” 06:00 Chrissy has seen first hand the failures of our education system in fostering creativity in the youth. A problem that has trickled into society itself, a society that isn’t working for most people. People are miserable, over prescribed, and forced to believe their value in society is only in the context of a system that doesn’t value or reward personal creativity and the happiness it can bring. The community it can bring. “Fear stops us from being great.” 25:40 Chrissy is the Founder and CEO of Creative Conscience which sets out to correct the failures of the education system and society and push creatives into action to, in some cases, quite literally save the planet. These projects range from societal while addressing topics such as bullying and teenage suicide—to Danish students making ice posters that melted around towns to highlight the lack of climate change debate amongst their politicians during an election cycle. Creative Conscience helps youth overcome the anxiety and fear that surrounds putting work out into the world, an issue any creative faces, even myself, even Chrissy. To put work out into the world makes you vulnerable, and it is something I feel everytime I sit down with a new guest. I’m thankful for the work Chrissy does in helping to push people to find their purpose and express it in caring communities that help build lifelong careers and happiness to change the world from the inside out. Links Creative-conscience.org.uk (https://www.creative-conscience.org.uk/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/ccchangemakers) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/ccchangemakers/) Chrissy Levett LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/chrissy-levett-61307620/?originalSubdomain=uk) Support this podcast

If you were looking back over a hundred years of your life what would you change? This is the conundrum Richard Lumsden posed his wonderfully drawn lead character, in his beautiful, yet melancholy recent novel ‘’The Six Loves of Billy Binns’’. Richard is an English actor, composer, and musician, having performed in such diverse TV shows including Foggy in First of the Summer Wine, Henry in Sugar Rush and Martin in The Catherine Tate Show, as well as EastEnders. His film credits include the classic Ang Lee’s Sense & Sensibility and Gordon in James Rouse’s Downhill. But its Billy Binns that really resonated with me. A poignant heartfelt uplifting novel that reminds us what it is like to love and be loved in all its different forms. Join us as we chat through Richard's love of London, his writing process (a labour of love over many years), and what motivated him to write such magical book. This is Your London Legacy. “You always need something else to come in – and I’ve always described as having7 plates spinning, six of which will always come crashing down. You just don’t know which is the one that will stay up.” 12:00 Richard was around 30 when the idea for The Six Loves of Billy Binns started rattled about in his mind. In musing over old photographs in the library—a story began to come to him about a elderly man trying to recall the six major loves of his life, telling his life story through each relationship. However, the research involved surrounding World War I was too daunting, so after he had finished the first part with Billy as a young man Richard put the writing on pause. For 16 years.  “I would hope that every time—if you are lucky enough to experience love with somebody—that that love is very different from the previous times you’ve experienced it.” 26:26 As you could imagine, spending so many years pondering love and relationships and the roller coaster passage of life—Richard has quite wonderful points of view on love, relationships, and writing. From a story point of view he wanted Billy to have a different kind of love and experience in each of his relationships. This undoubtedly forms some twists, a key point of writing for Richard and plot points we all encounter at some point along our lives. While some writers pour ink onto the page without any idea of where things are going, Richard takes a different approach—plotting out the main story beats, with room for characters to veer off path for a while, so long as they end up where he’s guiding them. How interesting things would be if we could do that for ourselves. Billy is filled with a wondrous sense of humour (likely coming from Richard himself) and like everyone else, he isn’t perfect. I found myself hoping the best for Billy even when he makes mistakes, big and little, as we all must learn how to forgive others and ourselves for doing the same. The Six Loves of Billy Binns was one of my favourite reads as of late, and absolutely loved talking in depth with Richard about the book, life, and of course—London. You can find the book right over here at Amazon: RichardLumsden.com (http://richardlumsden.com/) Support this podcast

Abigail Barnes is an award-winning entrepreneur, author, and speaker on personal productivity – a topic that is very close to my heart. She is also a qualified coach and creator of the renowned 888 Formula & Founder of Success by Design Training. A few years back Abigail had a life changing moment which she now uses as a wakeup call to inspire and motivate audiences, leaving them excited to take action. Since I first read Stephen Covey’s masterful Seven Habits of Highly Effective People many years ago, the genre of time management, self-improvement and productivity have always fascinated me. Now more than ever we must seek mastery over ourselves and how we spend our precious time. Listening and acting on the lessons in this episode will surely be time well spent. This is Your London Legacy. “So, I’m on this work business trip and 24 hours after I arrive—I find myself being woken up by a doctor in a hospital being told I’ve had a stroke.” 7:30 Abigail grew up aspiring to be a hard worker, living a good life of pounding the pavement early in the morning to run, going to work a nice job, and moving forward and up with accomplishments as she went. She had to re-evaluate her hardworking life though after experiencing a stroke in on a trip to the States, and managing the anxiety, stress, and her perception of how her co-workers would see her. She thought they would think she was faking it. But in time she came to realize that after such shocking wake up calls, all that matters is your health; and she has made her life’s work since then health and happiness oriented around a common theme—managing time. That finite and fleeting thing we all tread upon. “What happens to you happens for you. And that’s a real bitter pill for some people to swallow.” 40:00 Abigail’s 888 formula allows her to have conversations with people that take them up in a “possibility helicopter” and imagine a different life for themselves. This is especially pertinent during the current Corona virus epidemic where many people have been gifted an abundance of time, but might still say—oh, I don’t have enough time still to do what I want. Abigail aims to help find the drive people need to arrange their time, whether it seems abundant or not, and use it to do the things they need to do to get where they really want to be. Comfort is the “kiss of death” as Abigail puts it. Life is ever evolving and being able to outgrow your comfort zone to expand into new places is the only way to get to your imagined life, turning it from idea into reality. You can find her work at @abarnesauthor (https://twitter.com/abarnesauthor?lang=en) . Support this podcast

Marketing ain’t what it used to be. Whether you are CEO of a large corporation, Director of an SME, or solopreneur—getting your marketing message out has never been more important than it is today when we are all so distracted. Lock-down may mean that we have far more time on our hands than ever before, but we also have way more things prodding and grabbing at our attention every second of the day—oops, there goes another notification. Today’s guest Barnaby Wynter is a leading marketing expert, keynote speaker, Founder of The Brand Bucket Co, Author and Serial Entrepreneur. He’s also a huge Chelsea fan, but I wont hold that against him—and Founding Freeman for The Guild of Entrepreneurs. Barnaby has been around long enough to have experienced the winds of change across the marketing industry and as Marketing guru Seth Godin says, he understands that powerful marketing is based on empathy, generosity, emotional labour and giving value. Listen in as Barnaby drops some real value nuggets of his own in this wide-ranging conversation, as well as his two favourite London places of course. This is Your London Legacy. “Marketing is about creating the experiences which enable people to form a relationship with a product or a service.” 6:30 Barnaby has been knee deep in the advertising world for most of his life and stationed in London for 35 years working at some of the worlds largest advertising firms, no doubt working for some of the largest brands in the world. But come 1995 the advertising world started to take a sudden turn at the advent of the internet—followed up by one of the world’s most shocking events with September 11th 2001 in the United States. So, in 2002 they set to reconfigure marketing as none of the old ways were working anymore as broadcasting, direct mail, and email wasn’t working well. It’s this shift that ended up having Barnaby with a cloud-based agency.  “There is a fallacy called work life balance—there is no such thing work life balance, that’s a conspiracy of the business owners that they perpetuate amongst society.” 30:00  Barnaby has a plethora of insights into what marketing is, how its not stories that work in marketing—but showing a consumer what you can do for them, relating to consumers so they buy from brands that seem composed of people like themselves, and how the internet has changed the direction and purpose in which consumers contact a company for a product or service—a little tip: differentiating yourself from other competitors by stating a few percentage points isn’t emotionally engaging either. Barnaby’s insights don’t stop there, however. With all this talk of a “New Normal” amidst the Covid pandemic, many are talking about a major shift to remote work. A major and permanent shift at that. But Barnaby isn’t as convinced, as he sees that work provides on purpose in life and “home” provides another more emotional purpose. With these two intermixing he believes there will be many pushing back from having their work woes brought into the house, and a need for human connection will eventually prevail as people yearn to crawl back to their water coolers and go out after work for a few pints. While Barnaby believes he’s such a good marketer that you could find him with a simple Google search—we’ll do you one better and post to his website here: BarnabyWynter.com (https://www.barnabywynter.com/) Support this podcast

Pearly Queen Diane Gould follows in the rich tradition of Pearly royalty. Born in North London into a family of Costermongers (street market traders) her Father Alf Dole was grandson of the very first Pearly King of St Pancras, having put on his first suit as the Pearly Prince aged 7. As Diane says, The Costermongers worked hard and played hard, always ready for a sing song and knees up in the local battle cruiser (boozer). The Costermongers were a resilient bunch with a Stoic outlook on life. If you fall on hard times- well, you just pick yourself up and get on with it. And boy did they have hard times going back three and four generations, but they were often carefree happy times too. Playing out in the streets of London, spending long hot summers hopping down in Kent. Underpinning much of what the Pearlies have always been about is charity, and today Diane and her fellow Pearlies , share their rich history through education programmes, community projects, social engagement and of course fund raising for wonderful causes including the world renowned, Great Ormond Street Hospital and Rippledown Environmental Education Centre, giving kids from Inner London a rare chance to engage with the natural word. The tradition of Pearly Kings and Queens started in 19th Century Victorian London, and their reason d’etre of spreading good will and cockney spirit is as important today as ever. In this episode Pearly Queen Diane takes us back in time to recount some of the wonderful stories from her inspiring heritage. This Your London Legacy. Note! Regular listeners to the podcast will know that at the end of each interview we ask our guests to tell us one or two of their favourite places in London, that is personal to them and perhaps not everyone knows about. Well I’ve now compiled for you 60 of my guests favourite places in London and you can get this unique brochure 100% free. (www.yourlondonlegacy.com ) Alongside each guest recommendation is a brief quote explaining why they love the place, a lovely picture of the place, plus links to the venue and the podcast episode itself so you can check it out for yourself. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did creating it for you. “You got to live and let live if you want to get by. It’s only a matter time if you live or if you die. What difference does it make if you’re rich or if you’re broke—in 100 years from now it’ll all be a joke.” 7:20 Diane gives us a rundown of the Costermongers in a tradition that runs back hundreds of years. In each of London’s 28 boroughs a Coster King and Coster Queen was decided to watch over the corresponding street market. They looked after the interests of the markets and interact with them, and the Coster Queens and Kings would talk and entertain and listen to keep them coming back to their market—and if one of the Coster traders went on hard times they would go to their Coster King or Queen for help—thus starting the tradition and heritage of charity among the Pearlies. So how did Pearlies come about? Diane’s Great Grandad—as legend has it—appeared in a top hat in dress suit completely covered in peals and wanted to go out and help the poor people at markets, as Costermongers weren’t exactly sharp dressed. The pearls are said to have been found in the Thames and her Great Grandad went about fashioning them to his suit. “We’re connected through story, aren’t we? We’re connected through story—in many ways. In story and song.” 18:10 The Pearly Prince of St Pancras is a book written by Diane’s father Alf Dole, who sadly passed before the collection of his stories was published—but I can tell you first hand that they are absolutely phenomenal, one of which features him at the ripe age of 7 in charge of getting all his siblings on a train. They are stories that expose depths of poverty and hilarity alike, like being wrapped in a rug and shoved into the overhead luggage rack on a train. Diane carries on the Support this podcast

There simply can be no topic of more significance today than how food shapes our lives and is an integral part of who we are….indeed we are literally what we eat and we live in world moulded and dominated by food. Who can forget in the early days of Covid 19 lockdown—the pathetic sight of people scrambling for the last bag of pasta, and the aisles of empty shelves where once was your favourite fruit and vegetable? Carolyn Steel is a leading thinker on food and cities and her first book Hungry City received international acclaim, establishing her as an influential voice in academia, industry, and the arts. Her Ted Talk ‘How Food Shapes Our Cities’ and has been downloaded 1.25 million times. We first spoke to Carolyn in her London flat nearly a year ago, and today I am delighted to welcome her back, to chat about her stunning new book ‘Sitopia’ – How food can save the world. Carolyn asks possibly the biggest question of all: ’’What makes a good life?’’ A question most of us would say, we haven’t had time to answer. That is of course until now, when time for many is pretty much all we have. Sitopia is Greek for food place and in her deeply researched and wide ranging book, Carolyn assesses why we fail to value food which in turn has led to ‘’climate change, mass extinction, deforestation, soil erosion, water depletion, declining fish stocks, pollution, anti-biotic resistance, diet related disease’ and dare I say it—Covid 19. If there ever was a time to build a fairer more resilient society, now is probably the best time to start, so that we can all lead happier healthier lives. This is Your London Legacy. “I often say to people the food you eat is the future you.” 6:30 Carolyn admits that she is not some serial book writer churning out pages for the sake of cash—her book Hungry City took 7 years for her to write. This attests to her dedication to the thought and research she puts into each line she pens. And on the surface—feeding cities and people seems like an easy thing, fast food is cheap after all, isn’t it? Carolyn argues adamantly that no food is cheap, it simply has the illusion of being monetarily cheap while it is actually eroding the planet and the way we view life, work, and the systems that govern them all.  “What would the world look like if we internalized the true cost of food—if we actually valued food again. And it’s revolutionary—it’s a revolutionary idea.” 35:20 Carolyn was one of those people who refused to use Skype before Covid—but she’s adjusted and learned, and it has opened her eye to the opportunity Covid has opened up. Time. Time to think and value things again like baking, pickling, making healthy food yourself. Time to contemplate what food is: food is living things we kill so we can live. It’s a shocking way of looking at, but completely true. Time to contemplate the bonds between where we live in cities and where food comes from the country, and our access to that country to understand our food. This could be one of our last chances to lean into the truth about our survival and the planet's survival. Understanding our economic systems and what work really means in a capitalist society (trying to reduce the labour cost to zero) we have to look to what is actually going to sustain us; relationships, connection, and the planet itself and that which comes from it. I applaud Carolyn for her bold critical thought about some of the most basic necessities civilization needs and how to progress our society coming out of crisis. Links Sitopia (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Sitopia-How-Food-Save-World/dp/0701188715/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Sitopia&qid=1590939139&sr=8-1) Hungry City (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hungry-City-Food-Shapes-Lives/dp/0099584476/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&keywords=Sitopia&qid=1590939139&sr=8-2) Carolyn on Twitter (https://twitter.com/carolynsteel?lang=en) Support this podcast

**************************************************************************************************************** March 2020 will for many be seen as watershed in their lives. There was before and there is after. Covid 19 raises many fascinating questions. Its has caused most of us to re evaluate our lives. Are we happy with the direction our life has been taken? Are we content in our job, our relationship, our values, the way we use or abuse our time, and of course if we are not happy what can we do about it. Back in June 2018 I met up with my old friend Michele Attias to chat about her book 'Look Inside...stop seeking, start living'. Never has this refrain been more relevant so here is the interview again in full. So many valuable takeaways here, its well worth a reprise. **************************************************************************************************************** I’ve known Michele Attias for several years now—she was born in Gibraltar, lived in Israel for a while, but eventually settled in London. She qualified as a therapist and clinical supervisor in mental health services with responsibility for some of the poorest and abused children in London. After undergoing significant changes in her own personal life, Michele reinvented herself and became a certified coach with a range of clients from lawyers, bankers, to entrepreneurs and business leaders. On top of being a mom of two, she also finds time for public speaking, writing articles for blogs, and most recently—publishing her first book, Look Inside: Stop Seeking Start Living. Michele and I share a passion for personal growth and lifelong learning, and in our conversation we discuss Michele’s transition from working in the city to coaching, as well as diving into her book to see what some of the key issues are that are holding us back today—and how we can overcome them. This is Your London Legacy.   “I hated finance, I hated that whole sector—but I absolutely loved speaking to people.”   2:54 Michele started off in therapy around 15 years ago, wanting to get into personal development to escape the corporate banking world—a world she entered after moving to London and landed the work, in part, due to being able to speak three languages. However, it was here that people started coming to Michele with their problems while she was in the filing room. This filing room became renamed by the employees as “Michele’s Therapy Room”. But to step into becoming a psychotherapist was a whole different ball game. She found that she loved the academic aspect of it, learning different theories and practices to better help others. This also helped her personally overcome her feeling about being divorced, and as she attended personal development workshops she found herself helping others.    “People go through life like that, but they end up in their forties or fifties—they wake up one morning and they think, well I have the house, the marriage, the kids, the job—but I’m not happy. I don’t have any meaning.”   38:38 Fear is always powered by thought. The thoughts don’t come out of a vacuum—they’re always powered from a conscious effort within. She talks to her clients about possibility, of who they would be if they didn’t invite their negative thoughts in. This goes to show that fear is so much worse than the reality often is, which helps cast it aside. Attaching to fearful thoughts will paralyze you—imagine if fear was a friend, an annoying neighbor you converse with. This takes some of the power away from those feelings. Now don’t get Michele wrong, of course you are going to be scared at times, doubt your career path, worry over major or not so major life decisions, but at the end of the day your thoughts control how you feel about all of those external things.   “Sometimes we need to get over ourselves. Sometimes when the love we have for what we’re about to create... Support this podcast

In these bizarre and unsettling times, many of the things we took for granted have been severely curtailed—and in some cases restricted all together. As you know, I have always loved the fact that I get to meet all the guests on the podcast in person, be it at their place of work, their home, or at a location that is specific to them; on the diving platform at Highgate Mens Bathing Pond, on the lifeboat with the crew at RNLI Chiswick, over a cappuccino in Little Italy Soho, or at the top of The Monument in The City of London. But lockdown in London has stopped all that, at least for the time being, and so I am having to reflect and rethink. With over 80 episodes in the bag we have a decent back catalogue, and so we’ve been re releasing some of the older popular episodes for new listeners to find and enjoy, and older fans of the show to revisit. I may start to record new episodes over the internet but it is nothing like meeting the guest in person. Face to face. Eye to eye. Sharing a chat and a joke and building that all-important rapport. It was not what I envisaged nor what I want to do, so we will see how this pans out. With any luck the lock down will end soon and I can get back to doing what I love most, and what I know brings you the best possible experience, meeting the wonderful London personalities that make up our incredible capital city. This week, however, I thought I would take advantage of the lockdown in London, and chat once more to Soli Lazarus…my wife. In this episode recorded at home, we chat over the ups and downs, successes and failures that make up the emotional roller coaster of lockdown in one of the greatest cities on earth. It’s quite personal in many respects, but I hope it gives you a flavour of how we have been coping and managing our days. I hope you get something out of it and would love to hear how you have been getting on too. This is Your London Legacy. “I just think, how on earth can we think this is lovely—I mean there’s been nearly 31000 people who have died…It’s all so bizarre.” 7:30 Soli and I, gratefully, have taken the time allotted to us to spend more time with our son and go on long walks through the woods. We recognize that we are in a fortunate position where we haven’t lost anyone in our immediate family to the virus, and so there is a strange split feeling about having time to spend with one another. This too doesn’t come without its own difficulties at home—being locked in close proximity to anyone can cause issues, but we’ve managed to work through them and take the time to discover new things about ourselves, our surroundings, and how to better grow moving forward. 13:20 Our daily walks have provided wonderful insights and peace in our life—and this walk has taken on new light thanks to reading “On Looking” by Alexandra Horowitz (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Looking-Eleven-Walks-Expert-Eyes/dp/1439191255) which has pushed us to view our walk and surroundings form different perspectives; that of the trees themselves, ants, and each other—we even went on and did the whole trek in silence to better listen to the nature and city buzzing all around. 20:35 Soli and I both have been working from home and have been incredibly busy. Soli works with parents of children who have ADHD—and this time has proved to put her services in high demand. She’s stayed positive though and found ways to encourage parents to help their children learn and grow outside of the overwhelming demands the school system has tried to place on the students and their families. Soli has even devised a form for parents to use and highlight how their children have best been learning during lockdown, in hopes that upon returning to classes that their teachers can correct and help them better learn in school. 45:00 In the trend of focusing on the positive—Soli has won her first contract for a traditionally published children’s book she has written, due out in Support this podcast

As many of us struggle on through the Covid 19 London lock down, it's a good time to pause, and reflect and truly see that good can come out of bad. I've chosen to re publish one of my earliest interviews with the inspiring and Jonny Benjamin. This is his very dramatic personal story from the depths of despair to being awarded MBE ( service for mental health). I hope you find this amazing yet true life story of 'The Stranger on The Bridge' a motivation that things will get better soon. Just keep believing. **************************************************************************************************************** On a bitter cold winter morning, you’re walking across Waterloo Bridge—on your way to work. As you reach the midway point over the grey, fast flowing Thames, something unusual catches your eye. You notice the figure of what appears to be a young man holding onto the railings…on the wrong side. Hundreds of busy commuters pretend not to see what’s right in front of their eyes. Some know what is going on, but don’t know what to do, or internally question whether to get involved or not. One man stops to see to see if he can help. This is the story of “Stranger on The Bridge”—of how two totally unconnected worlds collided and changed both forever. This is Your London Legacy.   “Looking back it’s strange, I almost believed it was –it didn’t feel like me that was causing this disruption. It felt like it was this toy that was in control, but again I guess at that age I couldn’t articulate what was going on.”   Jonny first went to a psychologist at the age of 5. While hard to express his emotions and reasoning at that age, he was acting out and being destructive. He was irritable, couldn’t sleep, and becoming violent. What he couldn’t express was that he was seeing things that weren’t there. This theme of shielding his family and friends from what was tormenting him ran through his early years all the way through uni. Jonny constant felt like something was off and bore into his studies as an escape—finding a particular interest in drama.   10:34 Things started to come to a head when Jonny was 17. He’d given into a delusion that he was in a “Truman Show” type situation where he was being watched all the time. Coincidences seemed preordained, planned, and he liked it—if he was being watched then it must mean that everyone liked him. But after a friend vocalized concern he went to see a doctor and was put on a waiting list for a specialist. After time though, Jonny gave up waiting and headed off to uni where he hoped his problems would solve themselves.   18:00 While his studies in drama continued to be a godsend and escape, outside of his studies his life was crumbling. It started with self-harm and abusing alcohol and getting into a minor car accident that threw him into a temporary psychosis. Jonny was scared, and to complicate things further he was beginning to struggle with his sexuality as well. He ended up going to group therapy and finally his secret was out, his family was clued into his mental struggles. Jonny felt like he’d betrayed them.   “This might sound awful, but there was a kind of relief in making that decision—because I thought finally, there’s a way out.” 26:40 It is at this point that we arrive at the poem Jonny reads at the beginning of our interview. On a freezing cold day in January, he ran to the Waterloo bridge—as he’d planned the night before, deciding to end his life. He’d been in the hospital for a month where his family visited every day, and he felt like this was doing them a favor, taking the burden of himself off their shoulders. But it was on the bridge the stranger came. Calm, empathetic, and very, very human compared to the sterile clipboard environment of the hospital. This stranger was invested in Jonny when he didn’t have to be, and it ended up saving Jonny’s life.   37:52 Support this podcast

The guests on my show never fail to amaze and inspire me, and Heidi Herkes is no exception. She is right up there with the very best of them. As a young woman, she travelled extensively around the world running her own high end bridal and make up company—from Sydney to Dubai, Berlin and the US. She worked at incredible venues making her clients look and feel amazing, until one day, she suffered an unimaginable life changing event that meant Heidi was forced to rethink everything she ever knew. After falling down a flight of stairs, Heidi broke her neck and became paralyzed from the chest down. From what Heidi calls her ‘ground zero’, she has rebuilt her life and career and launched her own unique consultancy, helping women from all different backgrounds, shapes and sizes to discover who they really are, though embracing individuality and diversity. I met Heidi in her beautiful home in Finchley North London where her ever present smile filled the room. “You realize when you wake up in a hospital bed and you’re having to be turned and everyone’s doing everything for you because you can’t physically lift your hands or your arms to your mouth—that’s when the horror starts to all unravel.” [6:45]Heidi looks at her fall as a before and after situation. She looks back on her life and is proud of where she got to, but she feels now that she’s hit a milestone. She needed a certain amount of resilience to fight the obstacles she needed to overcome—and she had built that resilience up through her whole life. She couldn’t handle the thought of not doing anything, so she’s found creative outlets to look forward.   “You can look good, but you also need a bit of a personality to go with it. I just don’t understand why people take themselves so seriously—it’s really not necessary, just have fun with it…these people spend hours in front of the mirror to look good and have all these apps and filters, but then they won’t leave their house.” [21:40]When in the hospital, Heidi realized that she wanted to still look good as well as feel better. Using hair and makeup as a measurement for that for most women, and a practice close to her own heart, she found that using her hair and makeup skills to help people retain or find their identity. She’s set up a styling company and is helping people from all walks of life look and feel how they should. She’s pushing the importance of fashion for disability through YouTube now, using it to inspire and motivate with a series of videos that highlight survivors of trauma and how they’ve moved on through style. Keep your eye on her channel because she will be adding to it while working with different brands, including Dove and an interior designer, Sera of London. Heidi meets in person for styling sessions or over Skype, and then she’ll go personal shopping and check your wardrobe for edits and updates.   Links YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEv4T3XRIS-Bi161ndjZ_WA) Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/heidiherkes/?hl=en)   Support this podcast

I’m recording this in the midst of the Covid 19 lockdown here in London, which is an event that I guess will go down in history along with others that affected the world psyche. But I’m also recording this on Holocaust Remembrance Day; another period in our relatively recent past that continues to leave indelible marks in our collective memory for so many of us. This year the restrictions imposed on all of us have meant that this special commemoration will be marked digitally. And so, it is with sublime timing, (not intended I assure you), that I digitally introduce you to today’s wonderful guest. Her name is Ruth Posner. She was born in Warsaw Poland and was ten years old when World War II started. Her parents perished in Treblinka and she survived the war with her aunt under an assumed name, later coming to England after the war as a refugee—unable to speak English. She married early in life and enjoyed a career as a dancer, teacher, and choreographer. As an actress she worked in six different countries. It would be fair to say Ruth, ( now in her nineties ) and looking as sprightly as a woman half her age, has led an incredible life, full of joyous moments as well as tragedy, including the awful loss of her young son. Ruth was the last guest I was able to meet in person before the Covid restrictions were fully enforced, and I feel blessed to have had the chance to sit with her in her lovely London flat so that she could share her story with you. This is Your London Legacy. “I will begin by saying that I never really wanted to talk about it. I did not want to talk about my background or story—I found it very painful, but I didn’t want to be a victim.” 8:45 Ruth’s incredible story starts at a very young age in a suburb of Warsaw Poland. She remembers those days quite vividly and holds dearly onto words spoken by her parents. Wisdom about how choice can’t be made without knowledge and things that shaped her early on all the way to this day. Unfortunately those memories also come with the dark side of the advent of the second World War—her mother being hit in her home, and her family being removed to a ghetto. Miraculously Ruth’s father was able to get her another identity and through a harrowing sequence of events and trials she was able to escape with her aunt. “[My aunt] said to me one day when I told her I became an actress, she said: Well your Oscar winning performance was when you had to learn that you were somebody else. My name became Irene…I had a whole story that was like a text.”  30:50 As Ruth tells her story she is still in awe of the coincidences and miracles that lined up for her to eventually escape the war and immigrate to England. She says it feels like a fairy tale and indeed it sounds like just the stuff modern day war movies are made of. In fact, as Ruth came into theatre and dancing and acting she has had roles in plays that are written about her and her experiences. She has though taken a backseat to acting in recent years and instead does work for the Holocaust Educational Trust—speaking to youths about her experiences and how hate gets politicized and can change history. Ruth is enthralled and amazed by the response she gets from her story—and it’s a task she is deeply connected to through the loss of her own son to addiction. a story that you can find in two of her memoirs that I can’t recommend highly enough: Thoughts and Reflections of an Ageing Actress (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Thoughts-Reflections-Ageing-Actress-Posner/dp/1848978669/ref=pd_lpo_14_t_1/262-7245453-6049102?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1848978669&pd_rd_r=72e01aff-7f9e-4eec-860c-c00b122f2af1&pd_rd_w=LNzPq&pd_rd_wg=0JX5j&pf_rd_p=7b8e3b03-1439-4489-abd4-4a138cf4eca6&pf_rd_r=YVJ8XZ5HBSE3RFK8SKBP&psc=1&refRID=YVJ8XZ5HBSE3RFK8SKBP) . I can’t thank Ruth for sitting down with me to tell her amazing story and if you would like to reach out to her you can at... Support this podcast

UPDATE: During Covid 19 Lockdown Im re publishing some of the most popular episodes. Good friend of the show Phil Ryan is a top man and as he cant tour right now he has taken his live music into the street where he lives to entertain the locals who are loving it. Check out this chat we had a while back before all the madness started to find out what makes Phil tick..... Phil Ryan has been a passionate campaigner – from helping the homeless to be self-sufficient, to saving his beloved Denmark Street from the voracious appetite of London’s property owning developers. His astonishing musical career has sent Phil across the world over the last forty years—a highlight being when he fronted the Animals in Moscow’s Red Square in front of 100,000 fans. He’s a singer-song writer as well as an entrepreneur who is never afraid to try something bold and new. This could be anything from setting up London’s iconic 12 Bar Club, to the numerous novels he’s written, and scoring the stage version of Silas Marner. Over a Victoria sponge cake at Region’s Park Café, he shared his passionate views with me over some tea for you to eavesdrop on.  “So having a mad father who used to jump out of windows on fire for a living means your childhood is going to be pretty unusual, and it was.”  2:15 As you might gather from the above quote, Phil had a very interesting father, and perhaps more importantly, a father that pushed him headlong into a creative life. Phil had many books impressed upon him and became a voracious reader at an early age. This upbringing would push him to become a writer in his later years. But first came music. Phil’s first instrument was the ukulele, which he then graduated from to a banjo—and then around the age of 12 (when girls started to become more appealing to him) he moved on to the guitar.  6:10 Phil’s musical career advanced quickly, catching a few breaks here and there, managing to share the stage with Johnny Cash as just an 18 year-old with a 12 string guitar. There is a song that Phil will play from time to time that will choke him up—it has a line in it that goes “In five minutes your whole life can change”. This sums up his entire life, one filled with bizarre encounters and chance meetings that have taken him down roads he never knew were there.   “I talk about my life as a ‘Portfolio Career,’ which is actually immaturity masquerading as sense of purpose and plan.”  12:14  John Bird and Phil came together to start The Big Issue, where they tackled starting a magazine with a purpose. They both took on as many hats as they could to get the magazine up and running, and Phil is proud to say the rules he originally set in place are still used in the Big Issue. The magazine is a social enterprise—not a charity. It urges people to get up, take action, and start taking steps towards financial security and a sustainable lifestyle with The Big Issue’s help. As of now, The Big Issue is in 72 countries and has impacted millions of lives. 21:16 The Big Issue has spawned Big Invest –they managed to get millions and supporting hundreds of social enterprise business, things that directly influence the communities they service. And Phil is all about preserving communities and the beauty that holds them together, which for him is the magic of music—an art that he wishes London embraced more by supporting its local musicians.  Links www.philryanmusic.co.uk www.aswegrowold.com (http://www.aswegrowold.com) ---- Phil's beautiful new song and video www.silasmarner.co.uk (http://www.silasmarner.co.uk)    ---- Full stage musical pitch for Silas Marner Spotify: https://spoti.fi/2GLk0Cm (https://spoti.fi/2GLk0Cm) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrTuJlDWR64 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrTuJlDWR64%0d) PhilRyanMusic.co.uk (http://www.philryanmusic.co.uk/) Support this podcast

Your London Legacy Lock Down Special. This Easter and for the weeks ahead, why not take advantage of your down time or as Ryan Holiday/Robert Green call it 'Alive Time' and enjoy one of our my very first guest on the podcast Lal Hardy, one of the greatest tattoo artists of his generation in London, and certainly one of the nicest gents Ive met on my travels. Its one of my first recordings so may be a bit tentative, but the response was and still is amazing and has been downloaded more than any other so far. Kick back and enjoy.................................... Surrounded by books and machinery, art, the electric hum of machines that pump ink through needles into skin—I was a bit intimidated visiting Lal Hardy’s studio New Wave Tattoo. Lal has been tattooed by Yakuza in Japan, the jungle of Borneo, Tahiti and has just as many stories as he has tattoos of his own. He shares his views on how culture in and out of the tattoo scene has flowed through London over the past few decades, and the amazing stories of the people that pop into his studio—then leave forever changed.   “Years and years ago there was a certain element of tattooing that was a journey into the unknown…the shops having their windows blacked out. When you stepped across the threshold of that building—you didn’t know what character you were gonna meet behind the door.”   6:52 Lal’s path to becoming a tattoo artist is a layered one. He had family that’d been in the army and navy—all with tattoos of ships they’d been on, places they’d been like Egypt, and it filled Lal’s imagination with a sense of wonder as a young boy. In 1975 he picked up a book Skin Deep: Art, Sex, and Symbol and it was a book of mainly sailors’ tattoos. This coincided with a major resurgence of rock and roll in England, and Lal was at a different venue and show every night—surrounding himself with a crowd covered in tattoos. Art culture, and keeping the company of others that society might see as a bit different has kept Lal firmly rooted in the world of tattoos.   26:40 Lal made a name for himself during the punk era. A flipped a switch for him, surrounded by all the leather jackets, bright colored hair, fan zines, record covers—he saw that there was a market there in tattoos for that scene which put off most of the old timers. Lal frequented shops in rough and tumble parts of town, where violence, prostitution and drugs could be found mixed in the streets. However, these shops had character that goes almost beyond description. Old buildings with toilets in basements like dungeons, sometimes with unfortunate derelicts who had passed away in their hidden recesses. These spots are where legends where made.   “I’ve been in TV programs, adverts, met famous people…things like that that are just amazing. But you know, sometimes just sitting and being able to figuratively put your arm around someone and give them something that, maybe, just makes them feel a little bit better in a time of great sadness—that’s more rewarding than the other things that happen.”   32:25 London is a city constantly in motion and undergoing change. Lal has seen this in the types of people that come get tattooed, the designs they choose, and the world culture that influences it all. As a loner, Lal feels that London is both a wonderful and isolating locale. It can be frightening to some and seem inhospitable, then turn around and invigorate you with absolute vibrancy. It is a city with stories plastered in its streets, museums, but as Lal would certainly agree—the very skin of its citizens as well.   Links (@lalhardy) Lal Hardy Ink (www.lalhardyink.co.uk) Tattoo and Illustrated Miscellany (https://www.amazon.com/Tattoo-Illustrated-Miscellany-Lal-Hardy/dp/1472136926) NewWaveTattoo.co.uk (http://newwavetattoo.co.uk/) Support this podcast

I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when Andy McNab agreed to be a guest on the podcast. From the day Andy was found in a carrier bag on the steps of Guy’s Hospital in London, he has led a quite extraordinary life. From teenage delinquent, to a young soldier he waged war against the IRA in the streets and fields of South Armagh. As a member of 22 SAS he was at the centre of covert operations for nine years – on five continents. During the Gulf War he commanded Bravo Two Zero, a patrol that, in the words of his commanding officer, 'will remain in regimental history for ever'. Awarded both the Distinguished Conduct Medal (DCM) and Military Medal (MM) during his military career, McNab was the British Army's most highly decorated serving soldier when he finally left the SAS. Since then Andy McNab has become one of the world’s best-selling writers, drawing on his insider knowledge and experience. As well as several non-fiction bestsellers including Bravo Two Zero, the biggest selling British work of military history, he is the author of the best-selling Nick Stone and Tom Buckingham thrillers. He has also written a number of books for children. Besides his writing work, he lectures to security and intelligence agencies in both the USA and UK, works in the film industry advising Hollywood on everything from covert procedure to training civilian actors to act like soldiers. He continues to be a spokesperson and fundraiser for both military and literacy charities. In this brilliant and wide-ranging conversation, Andy and I chat through a whole host of topics, not least his Good Psychopath personality. I think you’ll get a lot from this great conversation so kick back, relax and enjoy. This is Your London Legacy. “In fact, the Infantry then would take soldier with a written age of six, of a six-year-old.” 21:00 Andy fondly remembers being drafted into the Infantry; his journey into the military is an interesting one, as he was born an orphan and grew up with a certain anger towards people seemed to have it all—an effect he thinks may be more prominent with social media showing off luxurious lifestyles, whether faked or not. But his attitude and education took a major turn after meeting a Regiment Sergeant Major who stood in front of their classroom and committed to bringing up everyone’s ability to read, write and learn up to the level of those who were looking down on them. “Ultimately, no matter what’s going on around you—the only thing you’ve got control of is yourself.” 34:40 One of Andy’s many books, “The Good Psychopath’s Path to Success” shows how some traits found in diagnosed psychopaths can actually be beneficial. Many of these traits are what has enabled Andy to survive a gruelling military career, including being undercover for two years in Northern Ireland—as well as captured and tortured in Iraq. But they are some of the same parts of his personality that has led him to writing over twenty books of fiction and nonfiction. The book looks at learned behaviours that allow people on the psychopath spectrum to be more social and driven through learned behaviours and logic. Links Penguin Books (https://www.penguin.co.uk/authors/1026520/andy-mcnab.html) Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AndyMcNabOfficial/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/the_real_mcnab?lang=en) Support this podcast

The timing of my conversation with today's guest could hardly be more relevant given the lock down scenario we now all find ourselves in due to the shocking effects of Corona Virus. Indeed, the whole premise of Your London Legacy podcast, is for me to physically go out and about into our beautiful capital city, meet up with its most wonderful, fascinating and colourful characters, in their space, whether at home, work or on location and bring them straight to your device. It was never my intention to interview guests merely over the wires, on Skype or Zoom or whatever other online app exists and unless Covid 19 locks me down for weeks to come, I will do all I can to continue this way. This week’s guest is genuinely affable and ebullient Howard Lewis—Founder and host of Offline. What exactly is Offline? Well it’s a gathering of around 35, engaging, interesting people that meet every month in person over dinner in the charming intimate setting of the famous Saville Club in the heart of Mayfair London. Attendees straddle every conceivable area of life, from finance, to fashion, politics to fine arts. I’ll let Howard explain how it works. Plus, Howard is also Director of The Schorr Collection, a privately owned art collection principally focused on Old Masters. Howard writes on art, travel and football and is a newspaper junkie too. I for one can’t wait till the lock down is lifted and I can get along to my first Offline dinner. This is Your London Legacy. “You’re talking about serendipity and randomness—which are two of the key components of Offline. The fact is in the vast majority of cases—wherever you go, people find there’s far more that connects them than separates them.” 12:50 Howard has made it a point to bring people together, away from their phones and everything they entail, to sit down for dinner and conversation. This isn’t a networking event, coming in with expectations for an outcome are highly discouraged. It’s about being present and curious, not how snazzy you can look or what knowledge you can use to impress people. The curation of the event is meant to capitalize on many intersecting lives, randomness, and serendipity so that everyone there can feed off each other and have a genuine, sometimes vulnerable experience of opening up and being heard.  “The problem today is that there is an unrelenting pace to life. I don’t think people allow themselves enough time to simply absorb, reflect, and possibly even change their minds.” 20:00 Howard likens offline to walking on an unfamiliar sidewalk on your way to work—it’s an event to make you see things differently and gain a different perspective, often about things you know very well. Social media has an immediacy to it, where once you click and start scrolling that time is lost. It can foster immediate responses where there is no time to think about what to say. Howard likes to push for an honesty in offline, where you’re encouraged to ask to understand things better, and not try to pretend to just tag along with conversation.  “One thing I’ve learned about offline—is that once you give people permission to be vulnerable, suddenly they can’t quite stop. It’s just getting past the first base with most people that’s the problem.” 40:35 Offline breaks down the hidden set of metrics that people find themselves using to compare themselves to others be it in real life or online. Fostering a natural curiosity about the people right around you and learning are cornerstones of Howard’s meetups, and he plans on connecting people far into the future through his events. If you’d like to contact Howard you can reach him at HSL15@icloud.com (mailto:HSL15@icloud.com) or via phone at 07976933549.   Links OfflineLondon.com (https://offlineandon.com/)   Support this podcast

  London is a city world-renowned for its architecture; from old to new, traditional to contemporary, art deco to gothic, and many styles in between—there are hundreds of great buildings in the capital. This week’s fascinating guest, Lee Hallman, is currently Head of Design at Qatari Diar Europe, based in the heart of Mayfair. Previously Head of Design at Candy & Candy and Senior Partner at Foster & Partners, Lee has played pivotal design roles in a wide array of London based projects, which recently include the 13 acre Chelsea Barrack development in Belgravia, plus the transformation of the former US Embassy on Grosvenor Square into a five star Rosewood Hotel. Lee is also involved with the expansion of the former 2012 Olympic Village into a new residential quarter and the development of Southbank Place opposite the Houses of Parliament on the Thames. Building development and architecture never sits still in London, and Lee is at the forefront of how our beautiful city will feel and look for generations to come “California virtually didn’t exist on written form, on map form at the same time as this building.” 10:14 Lee is very much clued into the overlap of architectural design and human psychology, as considering what spaces feel like and how they affect people is crucial to the success of a development plan. He works with designers that help create textures and emotions in spaces that hone in on certain feelings while he admits that not every architect is overly concerned with the human psychological component. In one of his designs Lee wanted people in two towers to have to pass and interact with people that were in totally different buildings, so the design combined the shared spaces for over 500 apartments at a middle roof terrace level. Lee’s favorite part of the design process is the assemblage of something new and combing the stories and histories of the buildings carried on as they are redesigned so they can be referenced for the generations to come. “The structural engineer for the US Embassy project—he said the test of a good project is, at the end of it, if you want to show it to your grandchildren.” 1:05:50 Lee finds that London is able to have its wonderful complexity due to constraints – constraints of having to tie in the history of older buildings and having certain areas well considered into zones that help distinguish areas. This allows a rich tapestry of architecture and master planning to be laid out. Lee knows that design affects people not just in the moment of passing by a building, but in the day to day interactions with it as well. You can take in both London and Lee’s legacy by simply walking around London – or even think about moving to QatariDiar.com (https://www.qataridiar.com/English/Pages/default.aspx) Support this podcast

In 1999 Former Conservative MP and Cabinet Minister Jonathan Aitken was convicted of perjury at The Old Bailey in a famous and widely reported case. His political career in ruins, he received an 18-month prison sentence starting at the high security HMP Belmarsh. Jonathan’s story is quite unique—and at the time, he was one of the most vilified personalities of his generation. As a journalist he spent some seven years on Fleet Street and as an author has written some 17 books including acclaimed biographies on Nixon and Thatcher. These days he is a London based Priest serving as Prison Chaplain in HMP Pentonville in East London and Assistant Minister in St Matthew’s Westminster Church. Our fascinating conversation took place in his London home. Listen in as we chat over the past, present and future of a life fully lived. This is Your London Legacy  “I was playing in the sandpit in my aunt’s garden—suddenly there came over in the sky a sound of a noisy engine. And this was a doodlebug, a flying bomb that came over.” 16:10 One of Jonathan’s earliest memories is of a flying bomb chugging its engine overhead while he played in a sandbox—an object and event of historical intrigue no doubt, and an interesting starting place for a future politician. But before Jonathan fully entered the political life he was a journalist, and as he says, a young journalist goes to where the news is. This meant he traveled all over the world—Vietnam, the Middle East, Africa, and covering Nixon’s election in the states. But he always felt like a spectator looking in, and longed for the political life of being in the center of the events he was covering.   “I’ve often asked myself the same—because it wasn’t really worth doing, covering it up. I think it was a combination of pride—and fear.” 30:40 Jonathan went on to become a Defense Minister – and on a trip to Paris stayed at a hotel that would bring about the fall of his career by accepting to have his room paid for by someone else. A hospitality he didn’t know would change his life – by eventually trying to cover up this small courtesy. The media upon finding out that this bill was footed by a figure from a foreign government went after him – and after a single comment in trial, a false one, Jonathan was prosecuted for perjury and sentenced to 18 months in prison.   “I was, I think – ruined, but not totally heartbroken.” 39:10 While undoubtedly a moment where his whole life unraveled, Jonathan didn’t see going to prison as a death sentence. There was a feeling that life would go on and something new would happen—as indeed it did, through a chance prison encounter with an inmate and refusing a certain collection of dirty magazines, no less. Jonathan had turned to faith to help guide him through his sentence and it slowly accumulated during and after his incarceration until he found himself studying at an Anglican theological college. Since he had seen how prison was the great equalizer where no one behind bars is more important than anyone else, he felt compelled to continue practicing his faith among those he had once called his brothers. As a prison chaplain, Jonathan now raises awareness about the quality of prisons today and the dangers that lay within, and also beyond the cells once inmates are released. He has seen how people end up right back behind bars and is working towards practical and societal changes to help reintroduce people to the working world, life at large, and the faith behind it all.   Links JonathanAitken.org (https://www.jonathanaitken.org/) Support this podcast

In a world full of negative news compounded and inflated by politicians, the media, and online trolls—we all need to slow down, stop, and just be from time to time. To reconnect and yes, be happy. This week’s guest Shamash Alidina is that ray of light, that beacon of hope. Author of Mindfulness for Dummies and Relaxation for Dummies,Shamash has many years’ experience as a mindfulness teacher, trainer, coach, and worldwide speaker—having trained with Jon Kabbat Zinn, Thich Nhat Hanh, and Mattieu Ricard. In this wonderful and joyous episode Shamash talks of Kindfulness, the discovery and cultivation of kindness towards your own self and the difference it has on your life, and The Museum Of Happiness that he co-founded with Vicky Johnson to help everyone find deep happiness through experiential adventure. This may well be the most important podcast you ever listen to. This is Your London Legacy.  “The idea is to help social enterprises and other businesses remember that values come first. Yeah, you do need to make a profit but if that becomes too much of the focus then you kind of lose your way.” 7:00 Shamash had a bit of a revelation his first summer while attending university. He was excited to be working as an engineer and making money, actual money he could spend on things and be happy. Then the moment came when he went shopping in Oxford Street, and there was just a sense of emptiness, no fulfillment at all. Funnily enough, he saw a poster on the tube with a quote from Socrates and decided to jump into a philosophy class—and Shamash has never looked back, and now tries not to stare too far into the future either. He practices mindfulness and living in the moment.  “Right now is the highest spread of wealth in the world, lowest chance of dying of disease when young—violence on the planet is at the lowest level it’s ever been…however, the worst time to be born for mental health challenges is right now.” 20:30 While visiting his brother in NYC, Shamash came about googling books on mindfulness and didn’t find hardly any at all. After a quick fill in contact form with the “Dummies” series of information books, he quickly found himself contracted to write Mindfulness for Dummies. This launched a point where he switched to teaching and writing about mindfulness for a living – a journey that started on a one-on-one basis all the way to his “pop up” Museum of Happiness going viral on Facebook and kicking off a whole series of events focused on happiness.  Shamash is focused on spreading his teachings of mindfulness and Kindfulness—a concept that focuses on discovering and cultivating kindness towards yourself and the difference it has on your life. There are a wealth of resources on Shamash’s website such as ebooks and trainings, and I highly encourage you to head over to Twitter (https://twitter.com/London_Podcast) and you’ll be entered to grab a copy!  Links Mindfulness for Dummies (https://www.shamashalidina.com/books) ACT Training (https://www.shamashalidina.com/act) Support this podcast

I don’t really know where to start with today’s guest—as he has done and achieved so much in his life. Malcolm Knight served in the Metropolitan Police Force for nearly 30 years, and among his varied roles he served as a uniformed Sergeant, in the Diplomatic Protection Service, and Territorial Support Group to instructor National Public Order Training Centre. He’s been script advisor to the long running TV series The Bill and instructor in Personal Safety to various Airlines. But his true passion is when he is on the water and The Thames is his second home. Not only has Malcolm achieved five world record for middle distance rowing (three on the Thames) he also went on to organize events for others to enjoy. Malcolm is Director of Thames Alive, the catalyst and umbrella organization harnessing and promoting The River Thames. This unique organization that draws together the hundreds of public and private bodies that use the river have put on several historic events, including the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant and the Olympic Torch Relay 2012. Later this year they are organizing a stunning programme called ‘To Be A Pilgrim’ as part of the Mayflower 400 celebrations. Not to be missed. Until recently he was also the Events Manager for The Queens Royal Row Barge ‘Gloriana’ for seven years. And that just scratches the surface, as he also recently appeared on the Channel5 series The Thames, Britain’s Great River with Tony Robinson. Sit back as Malcolm and I chat over the past present and future of the glorious Thames overlooking the glorious Hampton Court. “London’s where it is because back in the day it was the first point in which people could actually get across the river.” 16:00 Malcolm’s love for the Thames was really manifested more or less after his career with the Metropolitan Police Force. He had signed up for one canoe race—which he missed out on, but on a leisurely canoe in 1985 he learned what a “skiffer” was, went to a derelict cottage and boathouse and fell in love with the Victorian style watercraft. He learned how to scull and the rest is history. It’s as simple as that. “In ’99 we put a squad together of 15 of us rotating 3 hours on – 3 hours off—and rowed to Paris in just over 4 days.” 25:30 Malcom went off to set a slew of world records. This started off on what’s called a “Meander” just a simple 3 day row down the Thames, of course—and he realized if they kept their pace they would beat the world record, which they set out and did by 24hrs. He also set one on a 4 day row to Paris, and he still holds the world record for single scull down the Thames—a feat accomplished at the ripe age of 53. Malcolm has put his own personal oars aside on the world record front, but coaches others and is a huge organizer for events on the Thames. This includes being the Ambassador for The Queen’s Row Barge with The Gloriana Trust where he organized and planned all boat movements and rowing crews. He’s organized more as the Director of Thames Alive, coordinating events to celebrate King Henry VIII, the Magna Carta’s 800th birthday, carrying the Olympic flame, and coming this year—the Mayflower 400 event which will take a congratulatory velum scroll down the Thames in a long journey to America. You can follow along with all the Thames events at ThamesAlive.org.uk (http://www.thamesalive.org.uk/events.asp) and take part in watching London take to the river that has fueled our city for centuries, and for generations to come.   Links Malcolm Knight (https://www.linkedin.com/in/malcolm-knight-254b847/?originalSubdomain=uk) Thames Alive (https://twitter.com/thames_alive) Support this podcast

The award-winning and brilliant London-based fine artist and cartographer, Adam Dant, has been described as the ‘Hogarth for our times’. From his studio above the oldest Ashkenazi synagogue in Spitalfields in the East End, Adam surveys the past present and future of our ever changing city. His astonishing maps are beautiful and ‘subversive’ at the same time. His stunning book ‘Maps of London and Beyond’ comprise fabulous characters from Dickens and Shakespeare to Barbara Windsor, as well as shipwrecks on the Thames and starry skies over Soho. In 2015, Adam was selected as the official artist by the House of Commons to document Britain going to the polls. This took him on a tour of the realm where after 1000’s of miles he turned the election campaign into a huge pen and ink drawing which now hangs in Parliament. Adam’s work has an eye for detail that we all see every day in London, but probably dismiss as we rush around in a blur. It has humour, sincerity, and historic value and I absolutely love it. Adam was kind enough to invite us to his working studio and chat about what inspires him and his love for our fascinating metropolis. This is Your London Legacy.  “I’m not alone in being described as being Hogarthian—it’s jus the perennial concerns of artists who observe, and I do a lot of observation.” 8:00 Adam was quite inspired by museums and has always been interested in art and studied at Cambridge before going to Liverpool to see “more action”. He had a wonderful animation professor and before he knew it he was in an exchange program and ended up in Vadodara India, he thought to study graphic design. It ended up being a print making course, and after coming back to Liverpool and transitioning to the Royal Academy of Art he exclusively used their print shops.  “There’s an aspect to being an artist which is, like you have no choice. You cant imagine do anything else.” 18:00 Adam’s love for maps has evolved over the course of his career and he has definitely pushed the boundaries of the art form and what they can contain and represent. He’s just finished an Argonautica map that overlays London with a map of the ancient world and is an episodic journey of Jason and the Argonauts stopping at places in London that coincide with the classical adventure.  “A map presents a whole picture, but within a map its objective presumably—but it’s subjective, we all use a map in a different way.” 32:30 Adam followed around the parliamentary elections and by the end of the race, donated 2,000 sketchbooks to the Parliamentary Collection. The goal is to combine these images into a single pictorial space, and not in a mocking caricature that most people, politicians included, may think of when they think about political art. His innovative maps don’t stop their either—another innovative map chronicles the dreams of residents in Shoreditch, and yet another of Shipwrecks along the Thames (which the port authority wouldn’t quite divulge all the locations to him). Adam has a rare and fascinating artistic mind that will sure to be roaming London’s streets in order to continue to display them in the unique fashions they deserve.  Links Adam Dant ArtNet (http://www.artnet.com/artists/adam-dant/) Adam Dant Wikipeida (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_Dant) Support this podcast

Of all the guests I’ve had on the podcast over the last 18 months or so, perhaps Flavio Affinito will be leaving the greatest legacy of them all. Did you know that fashion industry is one of the most polluting in the world, and that every year hundreds of millions of pairs of flip flops are produced, many of which contribute significantly to ocean plastic pollution?  Well Flavio has come up with a remarkable 100% sustainable solution with flip flops made entirely from ocean plastics. In this fascinating episode you will be introduced to a young man who along with his colleagues at NuOceans is dedicating his life to cleaning the ocean and our beaches, one pair at a time. Plus, Flavio will be giving away 10 pairs of their amazing cool recycled flip flops. Listen to the end to find out how to be among the very first to claim your own pair. It’s dead easy. This is Your London Legacy   “The overarching goal is exactly what you mentioned—saving the planet. But there’s only so much one person can actually be responsible for.” 6:00 Flavio’s has taken on a subset of responsibility with maintaining a vibrant and healthy planet – namely ocean plastics, and a specific type of plastic at that. The end goal is for humanity to have a thriving planet, and his business NuOceans is definitely doing its part. It’s aim; flip flops. Over 3 billion pairs of flipflops are made every year, nearly one pair for half the world’s population. While in London we may not be wearing this style of footwear year round, but many countries are consistently warm and flipflops are just a staple of fashion. They aren’t designed to be recyclable or last very long—leading to a crisis where 30% of ocean cleanup is mainly crocs, flipflops, and shoe soles.   “There was a news article about these scientists that went to a completely abandoned island in the Indian Ocean, there was no one there, had never been anyone there…they found 30,000 pieces of plastic—and out of that 30,000, 11,000 were flipflops.” 16:00 Flavio’s love of the ocean started at an early age and can be said to still be the focal point of his life and career. The idea for NuOceans is to eventually spread to much more than recycling flipflops, but that process in itself had its own hurdles and challenges, some of which are still ongoing. Flipflops made by large companies have been constructed using chemical processes to drop costs, but this last makes them very hard to recycle. Flavio and the NuOceans team spent a lot of time in figuring out which kind of flip flops can be recycled and how to pulp them to use them for different parts of the footwear. They’ve arrived at a flipflop that is made from 100% recycled plastics, from the mid sole, top sole, with some parts even being made out of a bioplastic engineered from invasive algae species in Spain! It is a truly wonderful endeavor, and one that NuOceans hope doesn’t end back up in the ocean after you’re done wearing the flip flops. You can return them to NuOceans so they can repurpose them while giving you a discount on your next pair.    “We have about 7 tons in Thailand right now…and with 7 tons we can make about 14,000 pairs of flip flops.” Currently Flavio and NuOceans are finishing developing the flip flop itself before going to market—they are still looking for additional funds to help launch their footwear, and once it takes off I see NuOceans spreading far and wide. Stay tuned to the end of the episode to find a way to help spread their message—and possibly win 1 of 10 prototype flip flops for yourself before summer comes into full swing.   Links @NuOceansLTD (https://www.instagram.com/nuoceansltd/) (Instagram) Website (https://nuoceans.com/) Flavioaffinito@nuoceans.com (mailto:Flavioaffinito@nuoceans.com) LinkedIn... Support this podcast

Simon Targett’s latest book , New World Inc, which he co – authored with John Butman is a masterful examination of how 16th Century England found itself in a precarious position, politically, socially and economically—and the desire and need that grew from these problems to expand its influence across the globe. It’s the incredibly crazy story of the birth of modern America. With such colourful characters as Sir Francis Drake, Sir Walter Raleigh, Elizabeth 1st and Pocahontas, the book has been described as ‘part history, part swashbuckling adventurers’ tale….a fascinating read’. Not only is Simon an author, and historian, he also held several senior positions at the Financial Times, as well as the first global Editor in Chief of The Boston Consulting Group and now is founder and Director of Thinking Cap Communications, a PR consultancy here in London. As you listen to our conversation, you will find some themes that resonate across the centuries, from fractious relations with our European neighbours, pursuing new trade relations with America, and even climate change. So, settle down and strap yourself in for a wonderfully crazy journey. Oh, and by the way, Simon will be giving away a signed copy of his book. All you have to do is go to Twitter and post to me at Your London Legacy (https://twitter.com/London_Podcast) that you heard the episode with Simon Targett and #NewWorldinc. This is Your London Legacy.  “Sir Walter Raleigh – he did a lot of his planning of his future colony here, pretty much where we are sitting now.” 3:45 In America the voyage of the Pilgrims on the Mayflower is almost like a creation story –and it was that really that prompted Simon and his co-author John Butman to investigate it further. Partly due to how the Pilgrims were very religion centered, but America is now known more for its entrepreneurial spirit—Silicone Valley and Elon Musk heading to Mars and the like. Simon’s love for history was nurtured at an early age while visiting exhibits and museums as a kid – a love that carried him through a degree at Sussex and into the three years of research and writing that went into New World Inc. 19:30 The idea of America now can be traced back to the 1550’s with merchants and who Simon has named the Forgotten Founders. It’s their view that these founders should be put in the same bracket as the Pilgrims with their lasting impact and culture and economics in the New World.  “Jamestown – they were the first people to really live the American dream. The idea that you can start with nothing but through hard work and diligence earn the fruits of your labor.” 35:40 The tale of the New World is nothing short of a swashbuckling adventure complete with silk trade, pirates, ship wrecks on Bermuda and abandoned pigs, silver, tobacco, and a mystery that persists to this day of the vanished colony of Roanoke. It extends further to Pocahontas and the Pilgrims – trade and wars and even a changing climate, for without the ice blocking the passage to China trade may have never flourished in America at all. It is a fascinating story that Simon and John have re contextualized after swimming through onsite archives and the web, and it’s astounding how much of the dynamics of this tale are echoing today. I can’t recommend the read enough – and again, please post to me on Twitter @London_Podcast (https://twitter.com/London_Podcast) to win a generously donated and signed copy by Simon himself.   Links New World Inc (https://www.amazon.co.uk/New-World-Inc-Successful-Start-Up/dp/178649549X/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=New+World+Inc&qid=1580883354&sr=8-1) Simon Targett Website (http://www.simontargett.com/about.html) Simon Targett Twitter (https://twitter.com/simontargett05)   Support this podcast

Dubbed ‘The Man Whisperer’ by Newsweek, Kenny Mammarella – D’Cruz understands what makes men tick at the deepest and most personal level. As he says, “people often find him at a crossroads in their lives, lacking adequate tools, community or awareness to deal with it like a man.” Kenny came from dramatic beginning; being told ‘’we’re coming to kill you tonight’’ as a 7-year-old in Uganda, as his father was on Idi Amin’s death list. Fortunately, Kenny fled just in time—and having travelled the world and worked with the likes of Mother Teresa in Calcutta, he moved to London and became a ‘high flying adrenaline junkie’. Carrying numerous ailments and mental health issues—Kenny realized that for most of his life he’d been a little boy pretending to be a man. Now a highly successful Personal Development Consultant, Kenny designed and created the MenSpeak men’s group, where men from all walks of life can laugh, listen, and grow together becoming their authentic selves. Over 16 years later, the MenSpeak concept is growing fast—changing and saving lives every day. Today Kenny considers himself a true Londoner. Its where he fits in and where he can do his life’s mission. This Your London Legacy.   “Here I am, ex refugee—green behind the ears, member of the IOD, knowing the secret cubby hole—knowing the secret cubby hole we’re in.” 2:30 I interviewed Kenny inside a bunker-like, tucked away room in the Institute of Directors, a place Kenny calls a “proper posh place.” He loves nooks and crannies in London and this is one of his favorites—the location has even been in James Bond films. His journey to becoming a Londoner actually started in Uganda, where he became a refugee with his family after their lives were threatened and they were separated from their father for months. They went from being well off too having nothing at all and moving to the UK. 9:00 “Rather than finding out who I am – it’s more letting go of who I no longer need to be, or who or what is simply not true.” Kenny left London in ’93 on somewhat of a spiritual quest to let life take him wherever it pushed and pulled. He spent time in Fiji, Australia, Calcutta, was “somewhat” kidnapped in Delhi, and even bungee jumped in New Zealand. He got in a fair amount of sunshine, something he felt he’d been missing since moving to the UK—and when he returned in ’98 he was a much different man than when he left, a man who could see that his friends were in great distress with their own lives on deeply personal and masculine levels. 33:30 “For me, the difference between a man and a boy is a man includes the feminine side – listening, responding, receiving – rather than competing and reacting and surviving. It’s not about competition.” Kenny has hijacked the “man up phrase” and added “man up and talk about it”. He started his first men’s group 20 years ago and has helped countless people open up and discuss their pain and trauma’s so they don’t continue cycles of abuse, or follow through on suicidal thoughts. Men of all scenarios, races, and classes can find actionable tools and advice through meeting in groups or one on one and Kenny finds are able to start moving on relatively quickly. He whole heartedly loves London is set on turning around the ideas of masculinity so that its affects ripple out and bolster the city at large. He created these programs to save his own life and I’m overjoyed to share his story to any and all that may need the same.   Links Mensgroups.co.uk (https://www.mensgroups.co.uk/) Themanwhisperer.co.uk (https://www.kennydcruz.com/) Support this podcast

So you think you understand homelessness. After you listen to this week’s guest you may want to think again. Paul Atherton was born in Cardiff in 1968 and has been homeless this time round for over 10 years, but his story will probably surprise, confound, and inspire you. You see—at three months old Paul was abandoned in a tent at a disused airfield in Cardiff. Today Paul is a director and TV/film producer in London. His work has been praised for the use of art as a social commentary, dealing with tough issues from racism, sexism, domestic violence, and homelessness—all the while suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and fighting every step of the way with Government institutions for what is rightfully his. This frank discussion will open your eyes to a side of London that is little known and understood by us, but lived each day by Paul and hundreds like him. This is Your London Legacy.  “Just cause I’m living on the streets doesn’t mean anything other than – society has failed me. I haven’t failed within society.” 3:30 Paul was left in a tent by his 19 year old mother after social services refused to take him in, holding onto the belief that it was better for a child to be with its mother…even if that mother was living in a tent city. Starting off from the very lowest of circumstances, Paul has had an incredible journey that saw him fighting prejudice for the color of his skin all the way to the right to live and have residence. 12:00 Paul was 15 when he went into a children’s home and went to a family unit home from there – and after bouncing around from home and school, he ended up at university at 22. He’d worked everything from pubs to dressing up as Santa Clause and ended up studying business which led to him opening several of his own. He found that his nature of survival is what spurred his entrepreneurial spirit not money or fame.   “18 months later – the Information Commissioner’s Office sent me a letter saying, Dear Mr. Atherton – we apologize for the delay in getting back to you. That 18 months took my life away.” 20:20 Do to a credit mess up through no fault of his own—Paul was unable to keep his flat, maintain a credit card, and it was an event that started an issue with health benefits and employment that has rippled through his life. He suffers from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome which can leave him completely immobile for long periods of time—including the hospital for a total of 3 months. 44:36 Having seen the ins and outs of how the system can fail its citizens, Paul has set out to change the public’s perception of what being homeless encompasses—the full spectrum of it so to speak. His first project started off as a documentary based off real life domestic violence and was released to raise awareness and funds for domestic abuse. His other films deal with living in a car and one of his current projects is called “Displaced” to dispel myths about homelessness in London and features objects from Paul’s life that he’s held onto. What’s driving him right now is a play he’s written called “50 Years of Trying” which Paul call’s Kafka’s “The Trial” but for real and about his life. It’s being tested before a live audience on March 16th and will be a condensed version of what the whole play may look like. He’s also working on a photographic exhibition titled “Paul Atherton’s Greatest Londoners” and showcases 12 London citizens who have shown Paul unending support and respect throughout his life.   You can follow Paul @ALondonersLondon (https://www.instagram.com/alondonerslondon_/) on Instagram.   Support this podcast

Hello all you London Legacy Lovers, wherever in the world you are listening. Today I’ve got a real treat for you. At the end of this week’s brilliant episode I’ll be giving you the chance to win a pair of tickets to one of the most iconic landmarks in the City of London-The Monument. All you have to do is listen to the show and then follow the simple instructions that I’ll be giving—and one lucky pair will be following in the exact footsteps of Sir Christopher Wren. The tickets have been donated to Your London Legacy on behalf of The Monument and naturally we would like to give them a massive shout out right here. The Monument to the Great Fire of London is best known simply as The Monument and situated near the northern end of London Bridge. In this week’s fascinating episode, I had the pleasure of being taken around and up to the top of this stunning 62-meter column by the excellent friendly and accommodating City of London Guide & Welcome Host Richard Smith. Not only did we get our very own private tour, but we were also taken to a ‘secret’ part of The Monument, not normally open to the public, so we feel really very privileged indeed. So—settle down and follow us as we wander around a true piece of London history, and don’t forget to listen to the end to win yourself a free pair of tickets, so you too can experience this this true London gem. This Your London Legacy.  “The Monument is 202 feet, 61 and a half meters tall – and the reason for that is that’s the exact distance from where the fires started.” 4:00 The Monument is built on the site of the first church that burned during the fire—one of many details that all stack together to make this a stunning feat of art and architecture. After you enter you’ll see font from the original church – and there are also names inscribed on the front door, six Lord Mayors of London who presided during the Monument’s construction. But also Sir Robert Viner—the King’s goldsmith who recreated the crown jewels, funded the monarchy, and also had some strange keepsakes you may hear about. “The city was compacted—and it was only one year after the great plague where about one third of the population died.” 15:40 After 311 steps you’ll find yourself with a full view of the city—a breathtaking site. The urn at the very top is gilded with gold leaf to represent the flames that burnt the city, but the Monument itself also served as a scientific instrument. Robert Hook, a 'criminally' unknown scientist and one of the founding members of the Royal Society,put in for the Monument to be a scientific instrument—being able to do pressure and pendulum experiments inside it, and it was also used as a telescope. Hook would lay down in the basement and watch through lenses all the way up the chamber. 30:20 The basement itself is actually a secret laboratory—and I had the privilege of going down a trap door to enter it. There are lots of Roman terracotta bricks that were used to construct its dome after the fire as they were plentiful in the rubble. It’s not open to the public but is certainly one of the great hidden places of London with a view all the way up to stars.   Competition at End of Show   Ok so I hope you really enjoyed today's episode as we went back in time to a period just after the great fire of London and walked in the footsteps of the legendary Sir Christopher Wren. If you want to take in the breathtaking views of London from the top of this stunning piece of classic London architecture, then all you have to do is go to www.yourlondonlegacy.com (http://www.yourlondonlegacy.com) and scroll down to the bottom. Simply add your name and email address, and one luck winner, will win a pair of tickets to The Monument. The tickets are open ended without an expiry date, so you have plenty of time to book in your visit. The winner will be drawn at random by me one month after the date this episode... Support this podcast

What a privilege and a pleasure it was to be given the opportunity to sit down with His Excellency Mr.LiborSecka,Ambassador of the Czech Republic in London at their fascinating Embassy building. The Czech Republic may be a modern state, but it grew from the ashes of the collapsed Austro – Hungarian Empire and its recent modern history has been quite tumultuous. Libor took up his position as Ambassador on 5th January 2016, having been posted in similar roles in such diverse countries as Mexico, Spain and most recently China. There are very close links between the people of the Czech Republic and the UK, especially right here in London and its quite clear that Libor and his family have a love and passion for our great city. It’s not every day that we get to hear the personal stories from the people who represent significant cultures that make our capital city so wonderful, so pour yourself a coffee, pull up a chair and listen in as Libor opens up on his time in London. This is Your London Legacy.  “This was the real change – the moment of absolute change of our society.” 4:00 Libor has been celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Velvet Revolution – something that started as a peaceful demonstration by students in Czechoslovakia in November 1989 and ended up changing the entire system of government—a new parliament and president. Libor wasn’t demonstrating at the time but saw how the revolution changed the country for the better. The first visit to London was in March 1990 – and so to commemorate the event, Libor will be celebrating with the Queen with a lunch on the same day in March 2020. 10:16 Czechoslovakia was established in 1918, and the first interactions with England weren’t perhaps the best. International interactions are always complex, Libor is quick to state, but during Word War II many Czech pilots flew missions based out of London, and about 350 military graves are marked around the UK including London. Libor is currently making a precise count for an initiative that will take a rose to each gravesite to show respect and gratitude.  “We say – my home, my castle.” 19:30 Now the number of Czech immigrants living in London is about 10-15,000. With the Czech Republic being situated more at the center of Europe they see many travelling through – and while Libor says many citizens do go out and travel, there is definitely a longing for home; a call back to the familiarity of one’s garden and way of life that keeps many from permanently immigrating elsewhere.  36:40 Libor is definitely of the more adventurous sort, however. He was stationed in China before coming to London – and he warned me that he could talk for hours about his experiences there. Politics aside, he found the people and culture to be an absolute journey of discovery, and one that welcomed him with open arms. He also speaks Russian, Italian, and has even got a little German under his belt. He’s a stunning example of an ambassador – and points out that as an Ambassador, he has a lot of structured work to be done – but goes well out of his own way to create stunning events and commemorations that further bond people and cultures separated by lines drawn on a map. He’s whole heartedly dedicated to foster and improve political communication between ministries and departments regardless of what way elections and laws sway.   Links Ambassador Page (https://www.mzv.cz/london/en/about_us/ambassador/index.html) Czech MFA Twitter (https://twitter.com/czechmfa?lang=fi) Support this podcast

Yes, King George is his real name. How cool is that? I can now say I’ve met royalty. Only this King George’s life is polls apart from his various namesakes of generations past. This King was born and raised in North London—Tottenham to be precise, and apart from its stunning new Tottenham Hotspur football stadium (home to my beloved Spurs), Tottenham is probably better known, for its poverty, riots and recent spike in knife crime. Yet while the violence is a real and a daily challenge for some, its certainly not what defines this enigmatic 22-year-old—as it could have done, as his face was smashed open in an unprovoked attack when he was younger. Son of first-generation immigrants, King is throwing off the perceived shackles of his background, struggling with cultural differences with his family, whilst seeking love and security in world where its hard to fit in. This is the story of a young black gay man working out his place in London and in life.  “In regards to will I say I’m a gay rights activist—I’d love to be and I don’t want to use my age as an excuse but I’m still finding myself…hopefully that’s a part of my journey.”    6:00 Like most of us, King has mixed feelings about his home in Tottenham—as he’s had both bad and good memories all stem from there. Growing up King found himself in a larger family and with a pro wrestler for a Dad on top of it. He was trained with his brothers in wrestling from a young age—something he grew to rebel against. 25:40 As he continued to grow up King experienced growing into his sexuality through all matters of encounter, some unfortunately not very pleasant—including being tricked around a corner where a group of boys attacked him for a conversation he’d had with someone else. The result was a split chin, but an appreciation for who he was as a person, as someone who doesn’t go out to try and seek harm on others. King knows he was raised right in this regard and is grateful for who he is.  “I’m not the type of person to gang up and beat them up with a group of people…I’m only gonna defend myself because that’s what I’ve been taught.” 31:20 King hasn’t had it easy and still has struggles ahead—whether it be having distance put between him and certain members of his family after coming out, or dealing with unsavory roommates and their activities. Still—King has been on a BBC3 documentary which has pushed him to take himself as a personality worthy of the entertainment industry. He’s gone on to rack up a healthy following on Instagram and Youtube with his show “What are you waiting for?” He wants to push this into a magazine type show with challenges and interviews with other hosts and art attacks—a show with young and fun cohosts, so he’s set on making it happen again.   King would be delighted for you to follow him along in his “Kingdom” on Instagram Twitter (https://twitter.com/IAMKINGALORE) as well. Support this podcast

One of my favourite sayings is ‘’Yesterday is history, tomorrow’s a mystery but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.’’ I love this saying as it really focuses my mind on the here and now. The ancient Stoics called it somewhat differently with their version ‘Memento Mori’, which basically means ‘’you could leave life right now’’. Not at all in a negative way, but as a reminder that life is finite, so take advantage of every moment as you never know what awaits around the corner. And as we speed toward 2020, not one of us knows what lies in store in the coming days. So, I wanted to take this opportunity to allow myself an indulgent moment to cast my mind back over the last 12 months. I’ve met some incredible people on my travels with Your London Legacy from all walks of life, many cultures and background, and ages, and I’m incredibly grateful to each of them for sharing their valuable time with me. The one thing that draws them all together, is their innate inspirational quality to contribute, to add their own colour and flavour to our beautiful ever-changing city. There’s no way I could ever choose a favaourite, but in light of the second recent London Bridge terror attack I thought I’d just select my chat with Ellen and Justin as here we had two young Londoners putting themselves in harms way for all our benefit, without a moment’s thought for their own safety. Courage that was replicated a few weeks ago once again in virtually the same spot. As we move from Christmas festivities to welcoming another year, take a quiet moment to consider all the wonderful people in your life and wider community who make life the wonderful kaleidoscope it is today. I aim to bring you more inspirational guests in 2020. It may even be you.   I’m Steve Lazarus and this is Your London Legacy. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I want you to imagine for a minute that you are taking a stroll across London Bridge on a beautiful balmy summers evening with the love of your life by your side. Across the road, you suddenly notice what appears to be a fight taking place. In fact, you soon realize that there are three men dressed in black viciously attacking a police officer. You run over to try and help—when one of the assailants lunges at you with a large kitchen knife. This is not a made-up story. This is real life. This is what happened to Justin Jones and his partner Ellen Gauntlett on 3rd June 2017. Little did they know, they had stumbled straight into the middle of a terrorist attack that went on to claim the lives of 8 innocent victims while injuring and changing the lives of dozens more. Justin and Ellen are two remarkable young people whose exceptional bravery no doubt saved lives, for which they have received several special awards. This is the story of two ordinary but very special Londoners—and this is Your London Legacy. “There were just people lying on the pavement…where they’d obviously just run past and stabbed people.” 7:08 Ellen and Justin typically relax on weekends by taking walks or rehearsing for musicals—as they both love to sing. Back in June of 2017 they had just finished a run of a musical and were going out to celebrate Justin’s upcoming birthday. After going to a Lego exhibition on the South bank, and failing to find a restaurant they wanted to eat at, they came back across London Bridge. Not finding that restaurant would forever change their lives—as Justin noticed three men in all black assaulting a police officer on the bridge. Without hesitating he crossed the road to help, and that’s when one of the attackers turned a pink kitchen knife on Justin. The terrorist lunged at Justin, missing by only a foot—and then the three men ran off. It was then Ellen came over and found the bodies on the ground with Justin. Charlie, an off duty police officer who had come... Support this podcast

In this fourth and final part of our mini-series designed to be part of the wonderful Mayflower 400 commemorations—we shine a light, literally and metaphorically, on the historic Rotherhithe on the banks of The Thames. This fascinating and sometimes overlooked London gem has a stunning history that dates back many centuries. Christopher Jones—the Master and part owner of the Mayflower, lived and died in Rotherhithe, and it is thought to be its final resting place before being broken up. In keeping with the theme of this week’s conversation, we met up with three special ladies at The Ship Pub in Rotherhithe. Clare Armstrong, Pauline Adenwaller and Michele Page-Jones are driving forward a community led holistic lighting scheme called Rotherhithe Illuminated, with the intention of enhancing nighttime views of some of the areas most and historic sites—from St Mary’s Church, Thames Tunnel Mills, Brunel’s Engine House, as well as the Mayflower Public House and the figurines on The Old School House. The project will deliver a permanent Mayflower legacy for Rotherhithe, which perfectly compliments the wonderfully inspiring voyage taken 400 years ago. This your London Legacy  “I think some people having twice set out and having to come back lost their resolve. You squeezed more people on one ship than should have been.” 4:20 Rotherhithe was the home of Captain, or Master Christopher Jones. He was an exporter of wool and imported wine—his last cargo before sailing for the new world was all wine. His three children were baptized in the church in Rotherhithe and when he set out on the Mayflower the ship was full of other traders looking to find better life and better trade—specifically beaver pelts, a hot commodity back in the 1600s. 12:50 The Mayflower met up with the Speedwell in August of 1620, but that ship was felled by leaks and eventually the passengers all packed onto the Mayflower. This kicked off a perilous journey that we know of from a journal kept by William Bradford. This includes a famous story of John Hammond falling overboard, but barely managing to hold onto a rope and pull himself up in the terrible seas the ship was subject to—a tale called The Boy Who Fell Overboard. 14:50 Upon returning in 1621, with an empty ship, the Mayflower was left to rot on the foreshore—and Captain Jones died only a year later in 1622 and buried in St. Mary’s church. A sad end to a harrowing tale that has gone on to affect the lives of millions and change the geopolitical landscape across the globe.  “It will make people feel proud…and what used to be called civic pride about the area they live in.” However, Michele,Clare, and Pauline are set on making sure this tale gets commemorated not only during the Mayflower 400 celebrations, but for years to come. Their lighting project “Illuminate Rotherhithe” sets out to accentuate architecture and monuments in such a way that the features that played a part in this tale stand out at night to be seen by all. It is a celebration of Rotherhithe’s maritime history that includes educational components for children to help tell the story that many in the city still aren’t familiar with.   The trio are still fundraising for the project and I’d highly encourage you to visit the program’s website to find out how you can take part and see this wonderful project and celebration come to life and you can make a donation here at www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated (https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated)   Links SE16.RI@gmail.com (mailto:SE16.RI@gmail.com) https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated (https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/rotherhithe-illuminated)   Support this podcast

In part three of this special miniseries focusing on the historic sailing of the Mayflower from our shores to America 400 years ago, we focus on the heart-warming story, known in every American home to this day – as Thanksgiving. After a grueling 66-day journey at sea the Mayflower and its passengers finally reached the New World November 21, 1620. They suffered terribly from sickness and by the end of the first winter 50 of the 102 passengers lost their lives. However, the settlers soon built a strong relationship with the native Indian Wampanoag tribe who taught them to hunt and grow crops. In the autumn of 1621, a bumper harvest was achieved, and a three-day feast was celebrated, which to this day is known as the first Thanksgiving. Just before Thanksgiving a few weeks ago I met up with two American Chefs Jerome Grant and Justin Walker. Chef Jerome is Executive Chef at Sweet Home Café at the National Museum of African American History & Culture, and Chef Justin Executive Chef at Walkers Maine. Both flew over as part of the Thanksgiving Culinary Diplomacy programme, in partnership with the US Embassy in London, and began their tour in Rotherhithe where we met up. Later that afternoon after a Sunday roast at the Mayflower Pub, I caught up with them to find out what Thanksgiving means to them today. This is Your London Legacy.   Justin Walker: “I was sort of born into it—my grandfather was a cook in the US Army during WWII, and when I was a kid I would spend every Thanksgiving preparing food.” 4:00 Justin grew up in Lake Placid New York and attended college in Vermont, interestingly enough with a focus on competitive skiing. He jokes that they don’t have ski teams at culinary school, but once he settled that he wasn’t going to race professionally he settled into expanding his cooking abilities. After moving to Main he met his wife in 2000 and at the time she was a waitress in the restraint he worked at. History is an important part of their family, as his wife can trace her lineage back to Devon England, and her family came over to the United States in 1627.  Justin finds that tradition lies at the heart of Thanksgiving, and each family has their own—with his own making octopus for their son on Christmas eve. Justin and his wife now have their own restraint where the close down on Thanksgiving to volunteer and give back to the community—a true embodiment of the holiday if there ever was one. He’s excited to share traditions and pick up on new ones while travelling around our lovely city. Jerome Grant: “It all started off with my mother and my grandmother. The backbones of our family—always watching them cook, always enjoying a meal with them.” 26:00 Jerome started off flipping burgers and making pizzas – learning the ins and out of the kitchens in his teens, going to culinary school, and eventually jumping on a flight to St. Croix to work on a beach resort. He soon became the chef there at the age of 21 and pulled a lot of long days and weeks as he dove headfirst into the culinary world. Jerome sees cooking as a constant giving—it’s not about cooking to the best of his ability for himself, but it’s to create a snapshot for someone else, becoming a part of someone else’s memory. Over the last ten years he has delved into museum dining with a large focus on cultural dishes. Figuring out how to showcase those cultures in edible exhibits makes Jerome a perfect chef to come to our city to learn more of our styles of cooking and share them back in the United States.   Links Walker’s Maine Restaurant (http://walkersmaine.com/about/) Jerome Grant (https://twitter.com/chefjeromegrant)   Support this podcast

In the second part of this special miniseries designed to celebrate 400 years since the Mayflower set sail from our shores for America, I was honoured to have been invited to chat with Mark Wheatley at the stunning Guildhall in The City of London. Since 2013 Mark has represented the Ward of Dowgate within the City of London Corporation. Amongst his many roles Mark has been heavily involved in coordinating the Mayflower 400 celebrations from a London perspective. In this episode Mark not only recounts the incredible story of the Mayflower and what it means today 400 years on, but also outlines some of the wonderful themed events that will be taking place over the course of the next year. From local initiatives such as Illuminate Rotherhithe, to arranging groups of disadvantaged kids to set sail themselves to the States. Poetry, lectures, music and art and historic trails all designed to reflect endeavor, character, adventure and social mobility. As it says on the Mayflower 400 website ‘’this is the world’s biggest family reunion – and you’re invited’. “Sailing from London via Plymouth to America, they meant to get to Virginia—they didn’t make it. They ended up in New England. So it seems like one of those slightly strange stories in terms of its origination.” 3:48 The Mayflower journey’s historical importance couldn’t have been known at the time 400 years ago. It’s a story of settlers, indigenous peoples, and the men and women who launched the expedition in the first place. The celebrations Mark is planning around this stunning adventure encompass all aspects of this historical event. It is no lie that tens of millions of people in American and beyond can trace their lineage back to the families on the ship.   “One of the Voyagers wrote a record, On Plantation – and he talked about lighting a candle. That’s been, if you can forgive the metaphor, a spark to a lot of the activity.” 11:30 Many of what Mark plans to be 400 different events of celebration, will be themed around illumination and light. There will be 400 people walking through town centres with torches and lights, as well as all means of poetry and entertainment focusing on different aspects of the Mayflower's voyage. There will be a half marathon that includes Mayflower elements on top of other lectures and meetups—all with lights and illumination being set up around the historic sights to highlight the very locations that helped launch the expedition, its captain and crew. My favorite of these has to be outlining the shape of the Mayflower itself with light and fixtures so you can see just how small a vessel it was.  28:45 The national program started in November this year and runs through late next year. September 2020 will features the big focus on Plymouth, with Royal Navy vessels in Plymouth sound and choirs and senior political figures there to speak. London hosts may events including the half marathon in March framed with live music, and also smaller scale activities. You can find a list of events at website (https://www.mayflower400uk.org/about/) to figure out how you can get involved locally, or if visiting, what events to place on your itinerary.  Links Mayflower 400 (https://www.mayflower400uk.org/about/) Twitter (https://twitter.com/mayflower400uk)     Support this podcast

When I first met Jason Sandy way back in Jan 2018, he offered one day to take me down to the Thames foreshore to go Mudlarking with him. Having seen Jason’s incredible collection of ancient artifacts he’d collected over the years, I knew this was something I would really love to you. Finally, the opportunity arose and on Sunday 3rd November I met Jason by the river at Rotherhithe for what turned out to be a truly wonderful day. This episode was recorded live as we walked and talked on the foreshore, and as we merrily mudlarked uncovering London’s incredible past, piece by piece. Jason’s knowledge of the best places to go mudlarking, and of London’s history and artifacts, were beautifully enhanced by the sun shining through clear blue skies. You will hear the wash as it rushes onto the foreshore from passing boats, and the sound of gulls as they fly past. You will also hear Jason providing a beautiful mini tour of the ancient surrounding area of Rotherhithe. July next year will be 400 years since the Mayflower set sail on the Thames in Rotherhithe on its voyage to the New World and so it was only fitting that we ended our day with lunch at the Mayflower pub dating back to 1550 &, literally overhanging the Thames. Join me on this fascinating & important historical journey. This is Your London Legacy.  “The original London Mudlarks, the Victorian Mudlarks—they were looking for coal.” 4:50 With about two hours of search time, Jason and I begin looking at what the original Mudlarks were searching for: black coal. Victorian Mudlarks would gather coal and sell it immediately on the streets. They were looking for things that could easily be turned around for quick profit, and with the Thames being a working river at the time, worker’s tools were a hot commodity. They would gather lost tools and then sell them back to workers who had just lost them. 8:20 Our next stop is Execution Dock—that’s right, the gallows for river pirates in the 1800s. The River Police was the first organized police force in the world, and they would capture thieves and smugglers, parade them to Turks Head Pub for a final pint of ail, and then hang them for three tides where they either strangled, or drowned.  “There were so many boats in this one area that you could walk from one side of the Thames to the other without getting your feet wet.” 22:30 Jason shows me a brick wall that shows clear signs of trauma from the London Blitz in WWII. The patched bricks are a reminder of the 40,000 Londoners that lost their lives between 1941 and 1944. There’s no telling how much history was lost and displaced into the river from those attacks, but by sifting through the tide, we can reclaim some of their fragments to remember. 30:00 + There’s no end to the history and treasure to be found in the Thames. Mysterious garnets that may have been stowed away by thieves; whale bones and skeletons used to reinforce docks and brought in by whalers from Greenland; metal pins used specifically on gunpowder cargo ships as to not cause a spark; and coins, pottery, and relics from the untold thousands of citizens who’ve strolled the banks over the centuries—all the way back to the day of the Mayflower. We end our romp in the mud at Mayflower Pub with plaques honoring the ship and it’s captain—Captain Christopher Jones, of the Mayflower who set out in 1620 to discover the New World. Stay tuned for the rest of our series exploring and celebrating the voyage of the Mayflower and all that its inspired.   Links @jasonmudlark (https://www.instagram.com/jasonmudlark/?hl=en)  www.mayflower400uk.org (https://www.mayflower400uk.org) www.mayflowerpub.co.uk (http://mayflowerpub.co.uk)   Support this podcast

Tessa trained and worked as an architect until 1989 when she joined forces with Emma Biggs at the recently founded Mosaic Workshop in Holloway London. The workshop undertook a range of commissions for public and private clients, including Terence Conran, Baby Spice, the Sultan of Oman, and Aston Villa football club. Tessa has worked on a series of high-profile commissions at Westminster Cathedral and London Zoo and has together with Emma written books about the art of mosaic making. Significantly, Tessa also teaches at Mosaic Workshop an organization in Westminster that helps people recovering from mental health problems to participate in the craft. Tessa has shown that it is possible to produce mosaics of the highest quality, all while contributing to the well being of the group of young adults. Just as mosaics are made up of thousands of pieces of different shapes and colours so too can they be assembled by many hands and many individuals each leaving their own mark. In 2011, Tessa set up her own project in Hackney working with people recovering from addiction and mental health problems. This has been so successful and has produced wonderful public works in Hackney and beyond. Mosaics have been leaving legacies for thousands of years, and Tessa through her wonderful work is leaving hers too. This is Your London Legacy  “I suppose I’m of a generation that started working by hand and then computers came in—and I have a sort of hybrid way of working. “ 4:40 There is little info on how ancient mosaics were made—Romans and the Byzantines didn’t write down and record how their mosaics were made. What we do know is that mosaics were commissioned by the wealthy and often stood as a symbol of power, but some were also made of scrap material and a little less royal in nature.  “Colour was what I missed most.” 9:15 Tessa started off in architecture—but quickly found all the straight lines and lack of color as a drain on her creativity. One of her friends was starting a business making mosaics and Tessa joined her. This was 30 years ago, and since then Tessa has been commissioned to work on all manner of mosaics for all sorts of people and institutions, including the Roman Catholic Church. Her personal favorites are large mosaics—site specific works that blend into a setting and doesn’t fight against anything else. In other words, mosaics harmonious with their environment. “The National Gallery has some of the most fantastic mosaics on the floor—everyone goes to the National Gallery to look at the paintings, but I highly recommend looking at the floors. They are the best mosaics in London.” 23:00 Tessa also started the Hackney Mosaic Project—something that has taken over her life. It started off as a six-month project in 2011 that reached out to those suffering and recovering from mental health problems. Tessa instructs and leads people in recovery to use the time they have as an asset and contribute to public works of art. She isn’t setting out to cure people—but give them a moment in time that can stand for years to come and help give them the satisfaction of making something that lasts. The Hackney Mosaic Project is ongoing and fosters a productive and healthy community—I highly encourage you to dive further into Tessa and the project’s mission at Hackney-Mosaic.co.uk (http://www.hackney-mosaic.co.uk/)   Links Hackney Mosaic Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/hackneymosaicproject/) Tessa Hunkin.com (http://www.tessahunkin.com/) Tessa Hunkin.co.uk (https://www.tessahunkin.co.uk/) Support this podcast

Multiple world record holder and international gold medal para swimmer—Brock Whiston is taking her sport to new heights. 22-year-old Brock was born with Hemiplegia, although this was not diagnosed till she was 17. Hemiplegia causes weakness down one side of her body, but she never let this get her down and indeed proved a talented swimmer amongst non-disabled competitors when she was younger. When she became aware she was eligible for para swimming she tore up the record books in her breakthrough years of 2018 & 2019. Brock is an incredible sporting talent and a wonderful young lady too. Not only is she training hard with her eyes firmly set on the success at the summer Paralympics next year in Tokyo, but she spends much of her time giving back—teaching children with additional needs to swim and going into schools to inspire the next generation to be the best possible version of themselves. I for one will be cheering Brock on next year as I’m sure she is destined for glory.  “I said to everybody – I don’t want to be treated differently. I’m the same person. I worked hard to where I am today, it wasn’t just luck. It was hard work and commitment.” 4:42 Para swimming has a wide variety of classifications – S1 to S10 – they range from very disabled and limited movements, and then S10 is least disabled. S11 to S13 is visually impaired athletes, and S14 is learning difficulties. Brock is S8 which means two limbs of her body are affected. Brock wasn’t diagnosed until she was sixteen years old. She was called lazy by her teachers and doctors – she didn’t get help in school. Hemiplegia not only affects her body but also her ability to take in information, reading in particular.   “I think sometimes where disabilities get mixed up—just because you’ve got a disability doesn’t mean you’re not able to do things—you just do everything a different way.” 17:51 Brock started swimming when she was just six years old and was instantly enamored with it not only as a recreation, but a sport. She continued to swim while in school as it was something she knew she could do without asking help and without her teachers looking down at her. She had a wonderful coach who ended up chatting with an Olympic para swimmer, who went on to encourage Brock to go and get a full diagnosis. Finally after being diagnosed, she buckled down into para swimming qualified for the World Para Swimming Series in Berlin—the site where she would go on to break her first world record. 33:20 Brock has gone on to break more records at the World Para Swimming Championships in London this September and take home six gold medals. Next on her list is to qualify for the Tokyo Paralympics where she undoubtedly has her sights set on more gold and world records. Brock is participating in the IDDP Project where any disabled persons can come to the pool for free and get instruction and swim. While she is still in the middle of her career, Brock sees herself continuing in the sport for the rest of her life through coaching and teaching swimming to others who are just like her, and very much just like you as well.   Links Brock Whiston Profile Twitter Support this podcast

I just love improbable stories that make you sit up and think, wow how amazing—I wish I could do that. And that is precisely what this week’s guests are all about. Back in 2018, a group of middle-aged overweight, unfit, unhealthy London Black Cab drivers answered a tweet that ultimately would lead a few brave men to take a chance that would change their lives and help many more. After a year of a harsh military training regime, a change in diet and mindset, three intrepid cabbies set off on an adventure of lifetime – to climb Kilimanjaro. Not only did the ‘fat cabbies’ (their words not mine), reach the summit, but they shed a ton of weight and raised around £20,000 for the Taxi Charity for Military Veterans. Oh, and by the way, they have been made Ambassadors for Tanzania. This then is the story of Daren Par and John Dillane aka Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro. This Is Your London Legacy.  “If you conjured up the classic silhouette for a cabbie—it would be a flat cap and a beer belly.”  7:15 Cabbies Do Kilimanjaro started out as a very simple twitter post. Most drivers stay connected on Twitter to stay alert to road closures, speed traps and the like—and this post sort of laughingly asked if any cabbies wanted to lose some weight and hike up to the top of one of the planet’s most iconic mountainscapes. As it turns out a few did. Darren himself had gone to Uganda and Venezuela to climb mountains before on a large adventure that took him across deserts and peaks alike. John felt instantly drawn as well, and before anyone could blink, ten drivers had all committed to getting in shape to take on the challenge.   “The reason why it’s good to go and do stuff like that is because there’s no hiding—when you got to walk up a steep hill, when it’s absolutely hammering down with rain and its windy, there’s no hiding.” 16:00 The challenge was set to inspire and motivate those with sedentary jobs that you can get up and accomplish seemingly impossible goals. So, about ten drivers started their training—in the gym and with free aid from Be Military Fit headed by Bear Grylls. They boys started taking to the peaks on the weekends to practice their hikes, and it was about this point that some started to fall off. The hikes and climbing are very strenuous in the peak district, and actually made it into the Yorkshire 3 Peak Club—a feat that must be accomplished in 12 hours and the group just was manage to join in their training.  “When we get to the top, I thought I’d be saying something poignant—that’s one small step for man, one giant leap for cabbies…all I could muster up was, I am battered. I am battered like I’ve never been battered before.” 31:00 Their trip is the stuff that makes memories for a lifetime and ripples out to affect the cultures visited and people back home. It’s an adventure that spans more than just a single harrowing climb, and John and Darren have no plans on stopping pursuing and pushing adventures on others. Next year Mount Meru is on the map in Tanzania, and they are hoping to not just take Black Cab drivers, but others too. For all you know, I may end up on the summit—no promises though. As ambassadors for Tanzania and adventure at large, John and Darren are continuing their work and training—all while driving our lovely citizens and visitors across our wonderful city.  Links CabbiesdoKilimanjaro.com Twitter  cabbies_do_kilimajaro   Support this podcast

Sometimes you simply can’t pigeon hole someone because the breadth of their skills, compassion, and understanding is just too varied. Magdalene Adenaike is one such person. Founder and CEO of Music Relief Foundation, Magdalene is an award-winning entrepreneur, musician, inspirational speaker, business mentor and fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. Music Relief was born out her own personal experience as a teenage mum. Shunned from the very community she loved, and blocked from participating in the music that made her feel alive, Magdalene has had the desire, drive and determination to ensure that the disadvantaged kids in South London have their own platform—where they can share their stories, be engaged and encouraged through mentoring, music and workshops, to attain life skills and leadership roles not found through conventional routes. Knife crime is a scourge of our beautiful city right now, and though facilitated workshops and intervention programmes, Magdalene’s is leaving her very own a wonderful legacy. This is Your London Legacy   “The pastor’s wife at the church we were attending at that time saw it fit to come to me as this teenager who was going through these motions, and obviously got these pregnancy hormones going up and down already—to tell me that I was a disgrace.” 5:30 Magdalene found herself pregnant as a teen mum after moving from Nigeria, and as an African with pastor parents, she openly says that it seemed she had everything going against her—including being called a “disgrace” by their pastor’s wife. It was Magdalene’s decision to keep the child, even after two appointments at a clinic to terminate her pregnancy—a decision that left her feeling isolated as she wasn’t allowed to sing in the church’s choir publicly as she was “shaming the altar”. 17:44 With time, her mother moved on from the idea that Magdalene was disgracing the family after something similar happened to their friend’s who were pastors as well. All of these formative experiences led her to the road of setting up the Music Relief Foundation, and no surprise, began with her desire to help other teen mums.   “It’s now down to the individual learning to say—this is what I’ve learned, how am I going to ensure that learning becomes a part of me and I don’t go down that route.” 37:00 The Music Relief Foundation now encompasses a large breadth of programmes to ensure kids 11 years and older can connect with their communities and have a well balanced life. This includes support for pregnant Mums, of course, but also programs such as More than Able—which launched through Parliament in 2017 to help stymie knife crime. These programmes use music as a form of learning, inspiration, and self-expression that gives individuals the tools to succeed moving forward in their lives—while also encouraging students to become ambassadors of the program to help spread awareness.   You can find the wide variety programs Magdalene heads at Music-Relief.com and see how the foundation has become the leading voice on youth training and arts support in the UK.   Links @MusicReliefUK Instagram Facebook LinkedIn   Support this podcast

There can hardly be a greater London Legacy than that of saving lives of Londoners every day on the River Thames. For centuries the Thames has been the iconic lifeblood of our glorious city. But there is also a darker side to this ancient tidal river. This is the calling and passion of many supremely dedicated men and women who work for the amazing Royal National Lifeboat Institution or RNLI. Chiswick RNLI lifeboat station is one of four on the Thames and is the second busiest in the UK and Ireland. Since its launch in 2002, Chiswick has attended over 3500 incidents and rescued over 1730 people. Unlike other stations, Chiswick operates around the clock crew, ready to launch within 90 seconds. Full time crew work alongside volunteers from all sections of society, who all give up their time to help save lives on the Thames. This is the story of Mark Turrell and James Anthony who have dedicated their lives for very good personal reasons to the RNLI.“The Lifeboats were put on the Thames due to one incident back in 1989 – which was the collision between the Marchioness and the Bowbelle.” 4:00 The Thames didn’t have a dedicated rescue service until 1989 after a dredger, the Bowbelle collided with a party boat named the Marchioness, taking 50 lives as the boat sank in about 30 seconds. It stands as one of the greatest tragedies the river and city has ever seen.There was no investigation, and the victims’ families had to press charges and prosecute—although no one individual was ever found to be at fault. But after the disaster it became clear that a service was needed to standby on the Thames and the Royal National Lifeboat Institution was born.  7:50 The RNLI has 9 full time staff members and more volunteers that standby. Around the coast the RNLI is solely volunteer base, but with traffic and London’s busy nature—you’d never make it to the boat in time to make a difference. They run a tight 90 second deadline to respond and hit the water—every station has this so that they can overlap and be on scene in 15 minutes or under. “I’ve slept in this room more than my own bedroom the last two years.'' 17:00 Mark and James have seen everything on the Thames. They respond to hundreds of calls a year that range in seriousness from loss of life—to company directors naked and stranded from being dared to swim across the river. The Thames is a serious body of water that takes 8 hours for the tide to go out, but only 4 for it to rush back in.As such, the RNLI is a highly trained group with a very serious position in keeping Londoner’s safe with the river that has been the lifeblood of the city for centuries. Thankfully the volunteers and staff get assistance for the gravest of incidents, and the full time staff make sure that the volunteers are ready before exposing them to the more extreme cases of rescue, and sadly, recovery as well. Marks on reasons for joining the service are quite personal, as are many others, and the crew do their job with the upmost respect for those on the river—whether that’s a bunch of party goers on swan floats and a bouncy castle floating the wrong way, dogs washed away with the current, and all matter of accidents and dangers. You can follow the RNLI and the amazing work they do at their website Twitter and Facebook pages. Mark also successfully crowdfunded to start a program teaching how to gives dogs CPR, something he just put into practice saving his own dog’s life. Mark and James were kind enough to take me out on the river, and although the recording was too muffled to use, I can attest to their skill and professionalism from seeing it firsthand, and I can’t encourage you enough to support them as they continue to protect London and its waters.   Support this podcast