The weather in Bath has been preposterously good, with the Royal Crescent glowing in a soft, lemony light. I’m here for my How to Fail live podcast tour. I launched the podcast back in 2018, which, by podcasting standards, makes me practically geriatric. At the time, I felt like a failure (divorce, infertility, that kind of thing) and I wanted to know how others coped. So I started asking them. I could never have imagined that How to Fail would, ironically, become the most successful thing I have done. Nor could I have anticipated the growth in podcasting as an industry. An intimate audio medium has turned into a cultural behemoth, spawning books, tours and branded merchandise. Podcasters are now being encouraged to film everything. It appears we have simply reverse-engineered what used to be known as ‘television’.
The How to Fail tour has consisted of eight dates across the UK and Ireland. I interview a guest about three occasions when they have failed and what – if anything – it has taught them. In Bath, it was the turn of Charlotte Church, who was a delight. She spoke about becoming famous as a 12-year-old with the ‘Voice of an Angel’ and the trauma that came with it. At the height of her celebrity, the tabloids hacked the phone of everyone she knew, including her family priest. She was encouraged by her then management to perform for free at Rupert Murdoch’s wedding to Wendi Deng in exchange for favourable press coverage, which never materialised. She also revealed that Murdoch’s private jet has gold taps and that the kindest celebrity she ever met was Tom Cruise.
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