16. Gloria Steinem

10/29/24 • 36 min

Kirsty Young asks the activist and writer Gloria Steinem what advice she would give her younger self.

Through the last seven decades, Steinem has been a singular voice and influential thinker for the causes of feminism and equality in the USA. She discusses her breakthrough as a young journalist going undercover as a Playboy Bunny, founding the hugely successful feminist magazine Ms., and her personal stake in the fight for the legalisation of abortion. She also reflects on her unconventional childhood with a father who never wore a hat or had a job and a mother whom she became a carer of at a young age.

A BBC Studios Audio production.

Kirsty Young asks the activist and writer Gloria Steinem what advice she would give her younger self.

A BBC Studios Audio production.

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15. Miranda Hart

Kirsty Young asks comedian and actor Miranda Hart what advice she would give her younger self.

A decade ago Hart was starring in her own hit BBC sitcom, Miranda, and selling out stadium tours. But then she suffered a collapse and was forced into a career break. She discusses how years of low level illness built up to a major health crisis, and how an overdue diagnosis and writing her new book helped on her journey back towards fitness. She also reveals the perils of fame, the joy of playing the same venue as Beyoncé, and why her book had an unexpected happy ending.

A BBC Studios Audio production.

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17. Irvine Welsh

Kirsty Young asks the author Irvine Welsh what advice he would give his younger self.

Welsh became a literary sensation when his first novel, Trainspotting, was published in 1993. The film adaptation that followed made him a star. But before that he'd gone from being a punk in London to a turn into administrative work for his local council, via a brush with heroin addiction. He looks back at his childhood in Edinburgh, his parents' romance and a first arrest at just eight years old.

A BBC Studios Audio production.