When I started How To Fail, I had a list of dream guests. Kirsty Young was on it. Not only because she’s one of the greatest interviewers of all time but also because her style of broadcasting (especially during her time on Desert Island Discs) is the standard I aspire to every week on this podcast.

Her intelligence, warmth and ability to listen - both to what is being said and what isn’t - are what mark her apart. It was an honour to be allowed to ask her the questions for a change and a delight to spend time in her company because she’s FUNNY too. Truly, the ideal woman.

We talk about her self-stated failure ‘to excite her birth father enough for him to stick around’, her failure as a quiz-show host and her failure to meditate. Along the way, we touch on her experiences interviewing the great and the good…and some who were neither. We talk about her anchoring of the late Queen’s funeral and Kirsty’s ability to sum up the mood of a nation. We discuss step-parenting, the liberation of age, clickbait, living with a chronic illness and why she wishes she’d run off with a Guatemalan tribesman (but settled for love at first sight with her husband, Nick Jones, instead).

HOW TO FAIL PRESENTED BY HAYU LIVE TOUR tickets: www.fane.co.uk/how-to-fail

Have something to share of your own? I'd love to hear from you! Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com

Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan

Studio and Mix Engineer: Matias Torres Sole and John Scott

Senior Producer: Selina Ream

Executive Producer: Carly Maile

Head of Marketing: Kieran Lancini

How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production.

Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts

To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected]

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices