S15, BONUS EPISODE! How To Fail: Sheila Hancock on stage-fright, self-doubt and being a wartime evacuee

Explicit content warning

12/02/22 • 62 min

2 Listeners

Dame Sheila Hancock is one of our most esteemed actresses: her 1966 Broadway debut in Entertaining Mr Sloane earned her a Tony nomination and on TV, she has appeared in everything from Dr Who to Kavanagh QC, in which she starred alongside her late husband, John Thaw. She has also been a semi-regular contestant on the BBC Radio 4 panel game Just a Minute since - wait for it -1967.
The 89-year-old Dame Sheila joins me to talk about her crippling stage fright, her failure to enjoy the moment, her memories of being a wartime evacuee and her critical inner voice that means she's only ever able to remember the bad reviews while forgetting all the good ones. Enjoy!
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Old Rage by Sheila Hancock is out now: https://www.waterstones.com/book/old-rage/sheila-hancock/9781526647443
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email [email protected]
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Sheila Hancock @4SheilaHancock (Twitter) @sheilahancocknews (Instagram)

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Previous Episode

S15, BONUS EPISODE! How To Fail: Trinny Woodall on single parenthood, business failure and the empowerment of her 50s

TW: discussions around suicide, infertility and miscarriage
Trinny Woodall has been part of my life for years - even if we had never actually, well...met. Like many of you, I was riveted by the success of the makeover TV programme she presented with Susannah Constantine, What Not To Wear. Later, I would start buying Trinny London products and became mildly obsessed with their quality and efficacy (my make-up routine is now approximately 95% quicker). When she took to social media, I watched her Instagram styling videos looking for brilliant fashion tips. All in all, I felt we were friends even though she had no idea of this fact.
I'm not alone: many of you have requested Trinny as a guest and now, finally, I'm thrilled to oblige. In person, she is as frank, funny and real as you would expect. But what I didn't expect was the generous gift of her incredible honesty - we talk about how she navigated everything from business failure to addiction. We talk about her experiences with IVF and miscarriage. And she tells us about the death by suicide of her former partner and how she was left fearful of failing her daughter as a single parent. It's a BEAUTIFUL conversation and my love for Trinny has grown exponentially since (plus, we have now actually met in person and I can confirm she's wonderful).
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If you've been affected by any of the issues discussed on today's episode, contact Samaritans via phone, for free, on 116 123 or email [email protected]
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email [email protected]
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Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Trinny Woodall @trinnywoodall

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Next Episode

🎤 How To Fail LIVE: Mo Gawdat, the world-renowned happiness expert on how to manage stress, how to live with grief and how to be happy

All this week, I'll be dropping the recordings of our How To Fail live shows, held at Shoredtich Town Hall earlier this year.
To kick off, I asked back one of our most cherished guests of all time: the inimitable Mo Gawdat. As regular listeners of How To Fail know, Mo first appeared on this podcast way back in season four. His interview blew my mind and changed how I lived my life. I asked him back during the first Covid-19 lockdown to help us navigate our way through the crisis. And now, here he is again: my very special friend, on how to handle anxiety, how to cope with grief (and keep on living through unimaginable loss), how to be happy and how to lean into love.
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This episode was recorded live at Shoreditch Town Hall on 5th October 2022 and sponsored by Sweaty Betty. You have a chance to get 20% off everything until 14th December with the code HOWTOFAIL20. That’s 20% off everything until 14th December with the code HOWTOFAIL20 on sweatybetty.com
Terms and conditions apply, and can be found on sweatybetty.com
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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted and produced by Elizabeth Day. To contact us, email [email protected]
--
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
How To Fail @howtofailpod
Mo Gawdat @mo_gawdat

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