The Modern Mann

Olly, Alix and Ollie gather round the podcasting chimney for a festive knees-up, with musical guest Ashley Singh and entrepreneur Jules Parker. There are yuletide songs, holiday films, a ‘Christmas collab’ - and, of course, the LEGENDARY XXXMas Foxhole Christmas Quiz...

Neil 'Sam' Samworth spent 11 years as a prison officer at HMP Manchester - better known as Strangeways, one of Britain’s most notorious jails. Building rapport with the men incarcerated there, he prided himself on de-escalating violent and threatening situations; an approach becoming increasingly impossible as the prison service churns through staff...

Vanessa Potter lost her sight in just 72 hours - the result of a rare condition that doctors struggled to diagnose.  In this interview with Olly, she recalls how it felt to experience the rapid deterioration of her vision and simultaneous paralysis; why her two young children aided her recovery; and explains how the process helped pivot her career… Vanessa co-founded the ParkBathe project. Her books, Patient H69 and Finding My Right Mind are out now, and you can follow her podcast here...

Medically assisted dying is legal in Canada, where over 10,000 people end their lives through euthanasia each year, and over 80% of applications are approved. Robin Farr, from Calgary, watched as her Dad, Mike, developed a rare lung disease that limited his breathing, massively impacting his quality of life. Then he decided to make use of the MAiD (Medical Assistance in Dying) laws...

Videogames, testosterone and triage - it’s all in day’s work when you’ve got a six year old boy, as Olly explores with fellow Dads Tom Price and Stuart Goldsmith in this eighth instalment of our annual ‘How To Be A Dad’ series. Along the way, our trio consider ‘the joy’ of morning routines, how to play ‘child Carcassonne’, and the environmental ethics of party bags… To catch up on the story so far, visit modernmann.co.uk/dads...

When adults adopted as children feel lost or incomplete - even if they had a happy childhood - they often describe themselves as ‘being in the fog’. For Vicky Sandison, who was told her mother’s birth mother’s name at the age of nine, it was the internet that spurred her on to investigate who she really was...

Reggie Nelson grew up on an East London council estate to alcoholic parents. With drugs and violence all around him, he underperformed academically, and felt the only career options available to him were “music, football or crime”. Quintin Price grew up in India, with a cook, butler, and driver. His father was an international banker; his mother a committed philanthropist. After boarding school and University, he went into banking himself, and became an executive at BlackRock...

Pippa Till gave up her job as a TV edit assistant to follow her dream of selling food at festivals, in her very own food truck. But she had no food, no truck - and no business plan.  Armed with nothing more than derring-do spirit, a pile of debt and a sackful of scones, Pippa spent the next few years attempting to master her profit margin, ace her marketing, and bake the perfect cream tea. And then 2020 happened… Pippa’s business can be found at https://www.sconetomorrow...

Charlotte Henry’s brother Alex was just 20 years old when he was charged with murder, attempted murder and GBH for a gang-related incident that lasted just 47 seconds. Even though he did not know the victim, and did not issue the fatal blow that killed him, Alex had run towards the scene of the crime with his friend Cameron Ferguson, who was armed with a knife. Alex was charged under ‘joint enterprise’ laws - since overturned by the Supreme Court in instances of murder...

How did the credit card come to be invented? Who was the first man to be cryogenically frozen? And have you heard of the experimental drug club where Victor Hugo used to toke? The answers to these questions – and many hundreds more – can be found in the daily history podcast THE RETROSPECTORS, and in this special compilation for Mann-Fans, Olly introduces three brilliant episodes of the show, themed around The Modern Mann’s regular preoccupations – trends, music and sex.....