How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Danny O’Donoghue is best known as the lead singer of The Script and a former  coach on singing talent show The Voice. But the last year of his life has been overshadowed by personal tragedy: the death of his bandmate and best friend Mark Sheehan at the age of 46.  In his first full-length interview since Mark’s death, Danny opens up about how he navigated grief, how he spiralled into alcohol abuse and how he managed to find a way to survive through therapy and faith.  It’s an extraordinary story, movingly told with great profundity.  Danny’s failures include failing music in school and dropping out (he was finally diagnosed with Dyslexia earlier this year), the failure of his first record deal and failing to look after himself physically and spiritually as an adult.  Thank you, Danny, for being so open and for your willingness to show a vulnerability that I know will help many others who are struggling with loss. As always, I’m desperate to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.  Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com  Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly   Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this first episode of How to Write a Book, Elizabeth Day’s new podclass series, hosts Sara Collins, Sharmaine Lovegrove and Nelle Andrew discuss coming up with ideas. Just where do ideas for books come from? How do you know if they’re any good, or even if they’re right for you to pursue? Our expert podclass provides answers to all of this - and even a lesson in how to know when your idea might be ready to send to an agent. And we could not have a more experienced bunch to guide you on this journey. Sara Collins is the bestselling novelist and screenwriter currently serving as a judge for the 2024 Booker Prize. Her debut novel, The Confessions of Frannie Langton, won the Costa book awards in 2019 and she later wrote the TV screenplay. Nelle Andrew is a literary agent and former Agent of the Year at the British Book Awards, and Sharmaine Lovegrove is the co-founder and managing director of Dialogue Books, an inclusive imprint at a major publishing house. Each of them is an expert in one stage of the publishing journey…. and all are literary nerds (in the best possible way). Together, Sara, Sharmaine and Nelle are your on-hand writing community giving you the push you need to get started on that novel, memoir, or piece of non fiction you've always dreamed of writing. We hope you enjoy our part 1 & part 2 on IDEA. If you don’t want to wait for next week’s episode, you can subscribe now and binge them all at once by tapping ‘subscribe’. You’ll get to listen to all episodes ad-free and get exclusive subscriber access to How To Fail and Failing With Friends. Books discussed in these episodes include: •The Confessions of Frannie Langton by Sara Collins •The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett •Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden •Sacred Hunger by Barry Unsworth •The Color Purple by Alice Walker •Scissors, Paper, Stone by Elizabeth Day •Paradise City by Elizabeth Day •Magpie by Elizabeth Day We also talk about Christopher Booker, Kit de Waal, The Seven Basic Plots and Michael Crichton’ Executive produced by Elizabeth Day for Daylight Productions and Carly Maile for Sony Music Entertainment. Produced by Imogen Serwotka. Please do get in touch with us, your writing community, with thoughts, feedback and more at: howtowriteabook.daylight@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Sara Cox is a broadcaster and author. You might have grown up with her on Radio 1’s iconic Breakfast Show. You might remember her being one of the first so-called ‘ladettes’ (and if you do, we talk about how much she hates this word in the episode). You might have read one of her bestselling books - she wrote a memoir in 2019, followed by two novels, the most recent of which, Way Back, was published in March. She’s now the host of the most listened to radio show in Europe: BBC Radio 2’s tea time, as well as being on our screens at the helm of the hugely successful TV books show, Between the Covers. But her upbringing was far removed from media luvviedom: she comes from a Lancashire farming family and spent her childhood shuttling between her divorced parents - her father’s farm and her mother’s pub. We talk about how these early experiences affected her and what she learned from her parents’ break-up. We also discuss her failure to farm, her failure to believe she’s ACTUALLY an author and an early career failure  to control Sacha Baron Cohen when he was a live guest on Radio 1 (and the media’s misogynistic treatment of Cox in the aftermath). As always, I’m desperate to hear about your failures. Every week, my guest and I choose a selection to read out and answer on our special subscription offering, Failing with Friends. We’ll endeavour to give you advice, wisdom, some laughs and much, much more.  Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com  Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly   Studio and Mix Engineer: Gulliver Tickell and Josh Gibbs Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.   Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

From Elizabeth Day, the creator and host of How To Fail, comes a brand new podcast: How To Write A Book. Hosted by bestselling author Sara Collins, powerhouse publisher Sharmaine Lovegrove and superagent Nelle Andrew, WE are your on-hand writing community. You’ll learn how to develop ideas, experiment with your voice and get your finished manuscript out there. It’s also the place to come if you just love reading and want a glimpse behind the scenes of how great books, films and TV dramas get written. It’s a masterclass in podcast form - a podclass, in fact! Follow us now to make sure you never miss a single episode. And if you want to binge all 12 episodes at once and listen entirely ad-free, hit subscribe now. Launching on 22nd July. Executive produced by Elizabeth Day for Daylight Productions and Carly Maile for Sony Music Entertainment. Produced by Imogen Serwotka. Please do get in touch with us, your writing community, with thoughts, feedback and more at: howtowriteabook.daylight@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We bonded over swearing. And, although I’m not one to brag: Danny Dyer said it suits me. DANNY F***ING DYER! I mean. I know this is a podcast about failure, but surely that’s a major life achievement? Anyway, I digress… Today’s guest was born in East London and had a challenging childhood - his parents split when he was nine after his mother discovered Danny’s father had a secret family. Acting was, in many ways, his escape from everyday life. He started in his teens, and was soon acting alongside luminaries such as Helen Mirren, Mark Rylance, Daniel Craig and Derek Jacobi. In his 20s, his mentor was the playwright Harold Pinter - someone Danny considers a father figure in his life, and who he has as the screensaver on his phone. We talk about what he learned from his drug addiction and his subsequent rehab, including one panic-inducing story about being on stage and forgetting his lines after spending the night before smoking crack in New York. It’s an extraordinary tale of resilience and self-growth and I really appreciate Danny’s honesty in telling it. We also talk about what psychics say to him, his concerns over his daughter becoming famous, his royal heritage and why he might have got the wrong dog. Danny’s show Mr Bigstuff is out on Sky - Wednesday 17th July How to Fail is going on a live tour in Spring 2025, presented by Hayu! Tickets are on sale now at www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Manager: Lily Hambly Studio and Mix Engineer: Josh Gibbs Senior Producer: Selina Ream Executive Producer: Carly Maile Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email podcastadsales@sonymusic.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices