Cotswolds People

Alastair is joined by broadcaster, writer and speaker, Pipa Gordon. Pipa has spent 20 years in broadcasting, both in BBC radio and commercial television, but in this honest discussion, Pipa speaks openly about her challenging childhood and her own journey of self-discovery as she volunteered for charities in the in the middle east and north Africa, before returning to the UK. Pipa started to sing in London clubs and recorded in Abbey Road studios before her broadcasting career began...

In this episode, Alastair chats with the CEO and founder of Cotswolds Distillery, Daniel Szor. Originally from New York, Dan swapped his finance job in London after discovering the beautiful Cotswolds, and combined this with his passion for whisky by founding the distillery.  Daniel shares his story, the background to the distillery, its ethos to use only barley from the local Cotswolds area and why whisky is now a rapidly growing industry in England. 

Alastair speaks with the Principal of the internationally-acclaimed Cheltenham Ladies College, Eve Jardine-Young. In this wide ranging chat, we hear how Eve and her colleagues are adapting lessons to be predominantly delivered online, whilst catering for those pupils from around the globe in completely different time zones. And how will they manage those pupils that need to travel back to the UK from overseas, with many airlines only currently offering limited flights? We also discuss CLC's strong belief of the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) and the platforms that are in place to support those girls that wish enter what might traditionally be seen as male-dominated industries. 

Alastair speaks with MP for Cheltenham, Alex Chalk, to discuss what effect the coronavirus pandemic has had on the political landscape and how Cheltenham and the local area can emerge from it.

Alastair speaks with the CEO of English Football League Two’s Forest Green Rovers, Henry Staelens. Forest Green are unique in that they were the first club on the planet to be certified carbon neutral by the United Nations, and were described by FIFA as the greenest football club in the world. They are also the only vegan football club in the world.

Alastair speaks with serial adventurer, double world record holder and Pride of Britain winner Jamie McDonald about his incredible challenges and how he is able to use these experiences in his motivational speaking. Jamie’s adventures include Cycling 14,000 miles from Bangkok, back to his hometown in Gloucester Running 5,000 miles across Canada, without the aid of a support crew A 5,500 mile cross country run across America, including desert temperatures of 50 degrees centigrade Jamie’s two World Records are for the longest time ever spent on a static bike - 268 hours (more than 11 days), and spending 7 days on a treadmill, surviving off less than 3 hours sleep a night, running the most amount of miles humanly possible to this point in time; a record breaking distance of 524 miles.