Life Changing
BBC Radio 4
In this series Dr Sian Williams talks to people who have lived through extraordinary events that have set their lives on an entirely different course.
This podcast is all about the human experience, how people deal with obstacles that turn their lives upside down. The journeys are not always straightforward and there are often some remarkable discoveries along the way.
Would you like to appear on the podcast? Do you have an extraordinary story to tell? We'd love to hear from you: [email protected]
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Top 10 Life Changing Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Life Changing episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Life Changing for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Life Changing episode by adding your comments to the episode page.
It started as a perfect wedding day
Life Changing
10/11/23 • 28 min
It’s the summer of 2008 and a bride and groom have just stepped out of a carriage drawn by two white horses. The sun is out, the bridesmaids are wearing beautiful dresses, everyone has drinks in hands. The day's gone smoothly for the wedding party and for Emily King who is sitting at the front of the carriage in control of the horses; it's her business and it’s thriving. But then events take a terrifying turn.
The psychological impact of that summer day has been deeply scarring but has also given Emily what her son calls ‘superpowers’.
Details of support with mental health issues are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline.
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Vitiligo turned all of my brown skin white
Life Changing
05/12/21 • 29 min
Sheetal Surti was born in to a British South Asian family in a small town in the East Midlands. Aged seven Sheetal noticed a white patch behind her ear. She didn’t think much of it but soon more patches appeared and started to spread.
She was diagnosed with vitiligo – a skin condition where unpigmented patches appear on different parts of the body. And so the treatments began. Some were medically advised, some were recommended by friends. Most of them were unpleasant, one in particular was horribly painful. But most importantly, for Sheetal, they didn’t work.
It was a lot for a girl going through puberty to handle and Sheetal’s answer was to slap on a smile and ignore it. While she couldn’t cover her patches, she became a master of covering up her feelings. Because of her appearance some people would ask if she had leprosy or skin cancer, others would tell her that she’d never get married or have a family.
By 22 all of her skin had turned white. She no longer resembled the rest of her family. People would look at her quizzically when she told them her Indian name. After a while she would explain by telling them she was born in the 70s and her parents had gone through a hippie phase. She’d never talk openly about her vitiligo.
Then, aged 35, Sheetal was watching a TV programme where people with vitiligo were talking about their condition. It was a turning point for her and the day she finally started to address her questions about belonging, her lost identity and the shame she’d buried for so many years.
If you would like more information on vitiligo please visit www.nhs.uk
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Overheard
Life Changing
05/03/23 • 28 min
Hazel Ellis-Saxon was brought up in a busy household with four siblings in the village of Tiptree in Essex in the 1960s. She struggled with her school work and was often finishing assignments when the other children were enjoying playtime. One day in a quiet classroom Hazel overheard her form teacher describe her to a colleague as ‘mentally retarded’. These two words had a profound effect — leading her to believe that she must be a huge disappointment to her parents and would never enjoy a full life.
Dr Sian Williams hears how this label shaped Hazel’s decisions for decades and what it took for her to throw it off.
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Hurting the one you love
Life Changing
11/22/23 • 33 min
Growing up in Newport with his mum and younger brother, Connor Allen struggled with his identity as a mixed race kid. He bottled up his feelings and as the anger and frustration built up, couldn’t find the words to express his emotions. When his rage erupts into violence against his Mum, she ends up doing the unthinkable and calling the police. Connor is left facing a prison sentence, his future at a crossroads.
This episode was recorded in front of a live audience at the Hay Festival in May 2023.
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Speechless
Life Changing
05/10/23 • 28 min
Being a TV news anchor was everything to Polly Evans until she was forced to re-evaulate her identity. Her turning point happened in the spotlight – in front of an audience of hundreds of thousands – when she felt deeply exposed and humiliated. It was caused by a physical condition called Adductor Spasmodic Dysphonia, but Polly’s journey since then has been one of self-knowledge and finding fulfilment in other ways, including a new career.
She braves the studio for the first time to tell this story to Dr Sian Williams.
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The phone call that changed everything
Life Changing
10/20/21 • 28 min
Jemma Bere had an unusual childhood. Her mum was a primary school teacher who chose to homeschool her so they could move around a lot. They lived on a boat in Turkey, travelled to Thailand, Bali and across Europe. In her teens they finally settled in Wales after her mum met a new partner. He was a big drinker and home life became a bit chaotic but they muddled along.
Jemma’s mum and stepdad moved to Spain in her second year of A-levels. By now the couple had two kids: Alex and Billie. Then, just as Jemma was doing her exams, her mum died, she’d been hit by a car. The children were looked after by their dad and an amazing nanny who kept everything together while he continued to drink. Jemma would visit all the time; by now she had started university, but the situation wasn’t brilliant and when the nanny had to leave to look after her sick mother everything fell apart.
At the age of 23, fresh out of university with no home of her own and no job, Jemma made a life-changing split-second decision. Many of her friends and some of her family thought she was crazy but Jemma was stubborn and stuck to her guns. She tells her story to Jane Garvey.
If you have a story you would like to share you can contact the programme at [email protected]
I’m held together by 17 titanium plates
Life Changing
10/27/21 • 28 min
Pip Peacock lives in Bakewell in the Peak District, a perfect spot for walking the family dog, Buster. He’d been with them for 11 years. He was originally a present for her youngest son when he was a teenager but when he found out just how much was involved in dog ownership the title of chief dog walker soon fell to Pip.
Thankfully she likes walking. This year she set herself a challenge of completing 1000 miles on foot. She finished the last mile this October, raising money for the air ambulance who had come to her rescue when she was seriously injured on another country walk with Buster back in 2019. She tells Jane Garvey how that moment left her fighting for her life.
If you’d like to get in touch with the programme you can email us: [email protected]
See here for more detail on how to keep safe whilst walking near livestock: www.ramblers.org.uk/advice/safety/walking-near-livestock.aspx
04/14/21 • 28 min
Jane Garvey talks to Tony O’Reilly about the time he was forced to confront his spiralling addiction.
Tony O’Reilly is from County Carlow in the Republic of Ireland. He placed his first bet at the age of 24. It was 1998 and like many, he was watching the World Cup. He and a mate put a pound on Kluivert to score the first goal in the Netherlands - Argentina quarter final and a final result of 2-1. He won. And so began his relationship with gambling.
It started as a bit of fun at the weekend but years later, once he’d got an online account, the betting escalated rapidly and soon turned in to a full-on addiction.
On his wedding day, Tony believed he’d lost all the money that was to pay for the event. He was saved when a horse he’d backed came from nowhere to win at the Epsom Derby. And so his addiction remained a secret. Now, with mounting debts and a baby on the way, Tony started to steal from his employer in a desperate attempt to try and win and pay everything back. By the end he had stolen 1.75 million Euros. On the day the auditors arrived to check the accounts Tony went on the run.
He ended up in prison, his marriage fell apart and he lost his home but he never placed another bet. Now, a decade on, Tony is a full-time gambling addiction counsellor with Extern Problem Gambling and gives talks at secondary schools about the dangers of betting.
Details of organisations offering information and support with addiction are available at bbc.co.uk/actionline, or you can call for free, at any time to hear recorded information on 08000 155 947
Do you have an extraordinary story that you’d like to share? You can contact the programme at [email protected]
Image credit: @Photocall Ireland
The near-death experience that made me a musician
Life Changing
05/18/21 • 28 min
Tony Kofi is the fifth of seven brothers and was raised by his Ghanaian parents in Nottingham in the late 1960s.
At secondary school Tony was turned down for the music course he wanted to do, told he wasn’t focused enough, and directed to do woodwork instead. He stuck with woodwork as he was really good at it, and left school at the age of 16 to become a carpentry apprentice. A few months in, working on a house construction, he fell from the roof arch to the ground floor where he landed on his head. Tony says he experienced the fall in slow motion and he had clear visions of unknown faces and places and saw images of himself playing an instrument. During his recovery it was that image which kept coming back to him. Tony made the decision to quit his apprenticeship and announced his intention to become a musician. He bought a saxophone and taught himself how to play by ear, before earning a full scholarship to the prestigious Berklee College of Music in the US.
Scroll forward many years, Tony is now a highly-acclaimed jazz saxophonist and credits the fall with turning his whole life around.
We said we’d never talk about it again
Life Changing
11/03/21 • 28 min
On the evening of Friday 29 November 2013, Michael Byrne was having a drink with a friend in a bar in Glasgow. They'd gone to see a band and had only been there for about an hour when suddenly it felt like everything had been shaken up – as if they were in snowglobe. Amid the chaos of falling debris Michael’s actions helping others were heroic, and afterwards to his wife and colleagues he seemed to be just fine. In the aftermath of this disaster he and his friend had agreed not to speak about what they’d been through in a misguided effort to ‘protect’ themselves. But Michael was struggling to cope and the more time that passed without talking about it, the worse things got for him.
Confronting the experience would bring back traumatic memories from his early life and push him to a place where he contemplated suicide. He was stopped by a chance event – and then began seriously to address his mental health.
Now Michael has founded an organisation called Lived Experience Trauma Support to provide mental health training and support services to businesses.
The tragedy in 2013 was caused by a police helicopter that crashed into the roof of the Clutha Vaults in Glasgow. It claimed the lives of the pilot, his two crew members and seven customers in the pub that night.
If you are looking for details of organisations offering information and support with mental health you can find them at bbc.co.uk/actionline. To get in touch with the programme, or to share your personal story, you can email us at: [email protected]
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FAQ
How many episodes does Life Changing have?
Life Changing currently has 55 episodes available.
What topics does Life Changing cover?
The podcast is about Society & Culture, Personal Journals and Podcasts.
What is the most popular episode on Life Changing?
The episode title 'Overheard' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Life Changing?
The average episode length on Life Changing is 27 minutes.
How often are episodes of Life Changing released?
Episodes of Life Changing are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Life Changing?
The first episode of Life Changing was released on Apr 1, 2021.
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