S2, Ep6 How to Fail: Farrah Storr
11/07/18 • 44 min
We talk about the curse of perfectionism, the notion of having-it-all (ish) and Farrah's decision to be a child-free woman. We also cover her failures as a child carol singer (and why she still can't face doing karaoke because of it), being rejected from the university of her dreams, disordered eating, failing at a job she'd wanted for ages and failing at a blind date with the man who later became her husband. Plus, we discuss her new book, The Discomfort Zone, and explore how doing what scares you can sometimes be the pathway to success. And we talk about Farrah growing up in Manchester, the half-Pakistani daughter of the local green-grocer who was desperate to 'blend in' and her creepy habit of shaving the heads of her Barbie dolls when she was a girl.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Chris Sharp and sponsored by 4th Estate Books
Farrah's book, The Discomfort Zone, is out now published by Piatkus
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
Farrah Storr @Farrah_Storr
Chris Sharp @chrissharpaudio
4th Estate Books @4thEstateBooks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
We talk about the curse of perfectionism, the notion of having-it-all (ish) and Farrah's decision to be a child-free woman. We also cover her failures as a child carol singer (and why she still can't face doing karaoke because of it), being rejected from the university of her dreams, disordered eating, failing at a job she'd wanted for ages and failing at a blind date with the man who later became her husband. Plus, we discuss her new book, The Discomfort Zone, and explore how doing what scares you can sometimes be the pathway to success. And we talk about Farrah growing up in Manchester, the half-Pakistani daughter of the local green-grocer who was desperate to 'blend in' and her creepy habit of shaving the heads of her Barbie dolls when she was a girl.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Chris Sharp and sponsored by 4th Estate Books
Farrah's book, The Discomfort Zone, is out now published by Piatkus
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
Farrah Storr @Farrah_Storr
Chris Sharp @chrissharpaudio
4th Estate Books @4thEstateBooks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Previous Episode
S2, Ep5 How to Fail: Alastair Campbell
This week How To Fail With Elizabeth Day welcomes Alastair Campbell to the confessional booth. The former spin doctor to Tony Blair (and inspiration for the character of foul-mouthed Malcolm Tucker in The Thick Of It) talks movingly about his mental health breakdown in 1986, and how that changed the course of his life. He also discusses living with depression, admitting to an alcohol problem, almost crying on live TV and playing the bagpipes (not all at the same time). Along the way, we talk about Brexit, Iraq, the dodgy dossier, the impact his workaholism has had on his personal life and whether he thinks New Labour was a failure or not.
Campbell is a beautifully open interviewee with some deeply candid and helpful things to say about coming back from failure and operating at the highest level of politics. It was a privilege to interview him, and somewhat surreal that he came to my flat and drank tea from my mug while I did so.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Chris Sharp and sponsored by 4th Estate Books
The latest volume of Alastair Campbell's diaries, From Crash To Defeat, is out now published by Biteback Publishing.
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
Alastair Campbell @campbellclaret
Chris Sharp @chrissharpaudio
4th Estate Books @4thEstateBooks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Next Episode
S2, Ep7 How to Fail: Tara Westover
This week, I bring you a truly incredible woman. Her name is Tara Westover. She wrote a memoir called Educated, which is quite simply one of the best books I have ever read: profound, moving, unerringly original. It tells the story of Westover's upbringing, born the seventh child of Mormon survivalist parents who didn't believe in public schooling or mainstream medicine. It wasn't until she was 17 that Westover decided to educate herself - with astonishing results.
We talk about what it's like to love your family but to be estranged from them, and how the two ideas can co-exist. We also discuss how on earth someone teaches themselves algebra ('Yeah,' says Westover, 'that wasn't fun') and what it was like to refuse any pain medication despite having a dental abscess. Her failures include flunking tests, finding it difficult to make friends, her failure to believe in her family's religion even though she wanted to and her failure to make her relationship with her parents work. She also quotes John Stuart Mill on feminism and it's completely brilliant.
This was one of those very special interviews where I felt my mind expanding just from the privilege of listening to her speak. I hope you enjoy it too.
How To Fail With Elizabeth Day is hosted by Elizabeth Day, produced by Chris Sharp and sponsored by 4th Estate Books
Educated by Tara Westover is out now published by Penguin
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
Tara Westover @tarawestover
Chris Sharp @chrissharpaudio
4th Estate Books @4thEstateBooks
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
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