Podcast
Full Disclosure with James O'Brien
Hosted by Global · EN
Award-winning LBC presenter and best-selling author James O’Brien hosts a series of compelling conversations with fascinating people from the worlds of politics, news and entertainment. These are thoughtful conversations with a curious and interested interviewer.
Full Disclosure with James O'Brien is a Global Production
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44episodes
Episodes
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Tom Kerridge: “Being a Chef is Nothing To Do with Food”
4d ago01:03:00Tap to summarizeFrom growing up on a Gloucester council estate to becoming one of Britain’s best-known culinary success stories, Tom Kerridge has built a career defined by resilience, risk and an enduring belief in people.Tom joins James O’Brien to discuss his unlikely path into hospitality, from washing up in country house hotels to the intensity of London’s leading kitchens and the creation of The Hand and Flowers - the UK’s first pub to hold two Michelin stars. He reflects on the energy of professional kitchens, the mentors who shaped him, and why he believes being a chef is “nothing to do with food”.They also explore his growing role as an advocate for hospitality, the pressure of running businesses and supporting hundreds of staff, and his engagement with politics and VAT reform. Tom discusses his television career, his latest series Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy, and why success means seeing the people around him thrive.Tom first appeared on Full Disclosure remotely in 2020, during the Covid period. Returning to the studio, he and James pick up the conversation for a candid, funny and deeply personal look at family, ambition, food and finding purpose through connection.Watch Tom Kerridge Cooks Italy here Full Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcribe →Ravi Singh: The man who runs towards disaster
2w ago01:01:50Tap to summarizeWhat makes someone run towards places most people are desperate to escape?Long before Ravi Singh became one of Britain’s most remarkable humanitarian figures, he was a child caught between worlds: born in Singapore, raised in a Punjabi village, and brought to Britain at 11, where he encountered racism, loss and dislocation almost as soon as he arrived. Years later, he would go on to found Khalsa Aid, the international relief organisation known for delivering aid in some of the most dangerous and devastated places on earth.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Ravi to trace the experiences that shaped his lifelong commitment to service - from a childhood marked by community, faith and hardship, to the moment he realised that compassion could become a form of action in the face of injustice.Ravi reflects on growing up in a village shared by Sikh, Muslim and Hindu families, losing his father at a young age, and arriving in Britain unable to speak English, where he was confronted almost immediately by racism and exclusion. He describes the values instilled by his mother, the discipline and belonging he found in the Air Cadets, and the personal and political awakening that followed news of atrocities in Punjab.They discuss faith, identity and activism; the Sikh principles of seva and Sarbat Da Bhala; the founding of Khalsa Aid during the Kosovo crisis; and what it means to deliver practical help in places devastated by war, displacement and disaster - from Iraq and Syria to Somerset and Slough.Passionate, reflective and deeply moving, this is a conversation about loss, service, solidarity and the moral courage required to see other people’s suffering as your own.Find out more about Khalsa Aid here Full Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcribe →Full Disclosure: back soon!
4w ago00:01:04Tap to summarizeFull Disclosure is taking a short break, but we’ll be back very soon with brand new episodes.Until then, why not dip back into the archive! There are some brilliant episodes to catch up on, including conversations with Jonathan Pryce, Billy Idol, Grace Dent, Sadiq Khan, Dawn French, Irvine Welsh, Hugh Laurie, Jon Ronson, David Harewood and Brian Cox. And that’s only scratching the surface!Full Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcribe →Baroness Beeban Kidron: “Democracy is no longer representative. It is bought.”
Jun 2601:05:19Tap to summarizeBaroness Beeban Kidron has lived several lives in one. Award winning filmmaker, Hollywood director, crossbench peer and one of the earliest and most persistent critics of Big Tech, she has spent years sounding the alarm about the digital world long before the rest of us caught up.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Beeban to trace the path from a radical North London childhood to the House of Lords, via Greenham Common, Hollywood and a career spent telling stories about power, exclusion and who gets heard. She reflects on the childhood operation that left her unable to speak, the camera that gave her purpose and the instinct that has driven everything since, from filmmaking to political campaigning.Beeban explains why the arrival of smartphones felt like a turning point, how her documentary work with teenagers exposed the hidden costs of life online and why she believes the harms caused by tech are not accidental but built into the system. She speaks about lobbying, political failure and the transfer of power, money and control from public life into private hands.It is a fiercely intelligent, deeply personal and often incendiary conversation about technology, democracy and what it will take to fight back.Find out more about Users: How Big Tech Took Control and How to Fight Back by Beeban Kidron hereFull Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/fulldisclosure Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Transcribe →Cressida Cowell: It wasn’t cool to be enthusiastic about books!
Jun 1901:06:08Tap to summarizeCressida Cowell is on of the most beloved children's authors, selling millions and millions of books worldwide, including 'How to train your dragon' which is now a global film franchise too.In this episode of Full Disclosure with James O'Brien, Cressida tells us about her loving childhood with summers spent on Little Colonsay in the Inner Hebridies - a small, inhabited island that her environmentalist dad bought. From boarding school to sixth form, she charts back through her love or reading and illustrating to the struggles, and sometimes lack of, that she faced to become a successful author.A self-proclaimed misfit at school who struggle with concentration and organisation, Cressida tells james how she felt powerless as a child and loved reading stories with strong female heroes - something she strives for in her writing.But school never held her back, and with some good fortune of meeting the right people at the right time, Cressida discusses how she got her big break, 'How To Train Your Dragon' didn't become an instant hit, but a cult one and how Hiccup came to be.Find out more about Cressida Cowell and her new book How To Train Your Dragon School: Fight of the Flamestrike here.Full Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.
Transcribe →From The Vault: Andy Burnham, MP for Makerfield and Mayor of Greater Manchester
Jun 1800:57:44Tap to summarizeAfter Andy Burnham's landslide win against Nigel Farage's Reform party in Makerfield, we thought you'd love to hear his interview with James O'Brien again, first released in 2022Dubbed 'King of the North' at the height of the pandemic, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham speaks to James about why he sees the country of his birth as containing 'two Englands'. After growing up in a catholic Labour family in Aintree, Burnham went on to study at Cambridge but did not fit in. He tells James why.
Transcribe →DJ Fat Tony: “I had one tooth left in my head - I wasn’t sane”
Jun 1201:12:21Tap to summarizeThis episode includes discussion of sensitive topics, including addiction, that some listeners may find distressing. Please take care while listening, and feel free to pause or step away if you need to.DJ Fat Tony has spent a lifetime turning chaos into charisma. Long before he became one of the most recognisable figures in British nightlife, he was a kid from Battersea learning, far too young, how to protect himself, how to perform, and how to survive. His childhood wasn’t without love or colour - he speaks warmly about his glamorous, indulgent mother, his complex but protective father, and the freedom and style that shaped him - but it was also marked by abuse, secrecy and the sense that he had to grow up far too quickly.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with DJ Fat Tony to trace the path from those early years to the centre of London’s club culture. Tony reflects on sneaking into nightlife as a teenager, finding his people on the King’s Road, and building a reputation not through technical brilliance but through instinct, energy and an unerring ear for what moved people.He speaks candidly about trauma, addiction, identity and the masks he wore to stay in control, as well as the extraordinary highs of a life lived at full volume - from the golden age of clubbing to the friendships, fame and excess that came with it. Tony opens up about recovery, honesty and the hard work of building a life that no longer depends on performance or escape.It’s a funny, moving and often startling conversation about survival, reinvention and what it means to finally feel at home in yourself.Find out more about Recover Me by DJ Fat Tony here Additional support:If you've been affected by anything you've heard in this episode, please take a moment to read the resources listed: We Are With You, Change Grow Live, Turning PointFull Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/fulldisclosure Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Transcribe →Nina Conti: The Ventriloquist Who Found Her Voice
Jun 501:02:59Tap to summarizeNina Conti has built a career out of saying the unsayable, turning ventriloquism, improvisation and audience interaction into something far stranger, deeper and more daring than anyone expected. From early struggles with shyness and self-doubt to creating a completely original form of performance, Nina’s work has always lived somewhere between chaos and control, invention and instinct.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Nina to explore the unusual path that led her from an acting dynasty and an uneasy start in the profession to becoming one of the most distinctive live performers in Britain.Nina reflects on growing up in the shadow of famous parents, her complicated relationship with acting, and the influence of the late Ken Campbell, whose mentorship helped unlock the ventriloquism that would ultimately become her artistic home. She explains how improvisation, risk and an appetite for the unexpected shaped her work, and why putting words into other people’s mouths became the key to finding her own voice.They also discuss performance, shyness, subversion, film-making and the strange alchemy of making something feel alive in the moment. Along the way, Nina reveals how a career that could easily have taken a more conventional route was instead built on accidents, instincts and a willingness to follow the more interesting door.Find out more about Nina Conti’s live shows hereFull Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/fulldisclosure Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Transcribe →Russell T Davies: Doctor Who Was There From the Very Start
May 2901:01:31Tap to summarizeRussell T Davies has spent a career changing what British television can be, moving from children’s drama to fearless queer storytelling and one of the nation’s most enduring cultural institutions, Doctor Who. Whether reinventing Saturday night television, capturing the emotional truth of the AIDS crisis in It’s a Sin, or turning the anxieties of modern Britain into gripping drama in Years and Years and his new series Tip Toe, his work has consistently shaped the conversation as well as entertained millions.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Russell to explore the childhood in Swansea that first formed him: a home full of books, teachers and respect for television, a huge comprehensive school where he learned to keep his head down, and the youth theatre that gave him both his tribe and his future.Russell reflects on the early obsession with Doctor Who, the long road into writing, and the Manchester years that changed everything, professionally and personally. He talks about finding his voice through queer characters, the shock of Queer as Folk becoming a cultural flashpoint, and why television has always felt like the natural home for the stories he wants to tell.They also discuss politics, backlash, imagination, gay identity and the darker mood shaping modern Britain. Along the way, Russell explains why storytelling is a form of witness, why no childhood is too happy to produce serious art, and how the obsessions of youth can become the work of a lifetime.Watch Tip Toe on Channel 4 from May 31st here Full Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/fulldisclosure Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee
Transcribe →Fern Britton: “I Never Wanted to Be Famous”
May 2201:03:09Tap to summarizeFern Britton spent decades in Britain’s living rooms, mastering the art of making live television feel warm, effortless and intimate, even when life behind the scenes was at times anything but. From breakfast TV and Ready Steady Cook to bestselling novels and a new chapter in Cornwall, Fern’s career has been defined by reinvention, resilience and an instinctive understanding of how to connect.In this episode of Full Disclosure, James O’Brien sits down with Fern to explore the winding path that took her from regional television to the very centre of British daytime broadcasting, and from household-name presenter to successful novelist.Fern reflects on the strange chemistry of live television, the professional confidence that grew alongside public recognition, and the moments when success came at a personal cost. She talks about the reality of working in some of TV’s biggest shows, the complicated dynamics behind the camera, and the scrutiny that followed her when private struggles became public spectacle.They also discuss friendship, ageing, writing, fame and the pull of Cornwall - a place that has long offered Fern both escape and inspiration. Along the way, she reveals how a career that often looked carefully planned was in fact built by saying yes, trusting her instincts and learning, time and again, how to begin again.Find out more about A Cornish Legacy by Fern Britton hereFull Disclosure is a Global ProductionListen or watch every Friday on Global Player, YouTube or wherever you get your podcasts.EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal -> https://nordvpn.com/fulldisclosure Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee
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