Rosebud with Gyles Brandreth

Our guest today is Sir Lenny Henry, the pioneering comedian, entertainer, actor and campaigner, who tells Gyles his story, and it's an impressive one: from the streets of Dudley in the West Midlands, to winning New Faces at only 16 years old, to an acclaimed run as Othello at the West Yorkshire Playhouse. Lenny brings his childhood home to life - his mother, a gifted preacher who came to the UK from Jamaica, and whose formidable personality was a huge influence on Lenny. His dads - Winston and Uncle Albert. The "tall food". The park. The mood board on his bedroom wall. This is an evocative, fascinating and very funny edition of Rosebud.

This episode was recorded at Riverside Studios in Hammersmith in London, in front of a live audience, as part of Riverside's 50th birthday celebrations.

Lenny Henry is on tour nationwide, tickets are available here.

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Rosebud has been on its first international road trip, to New York City. In this episode, Gyles and Harriet chat about their trip... about how they gossiped for 15 hours straight on the flight over, about being guests of the Queen at the New York Public Library and seeing Pooh Bear, Kanga, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet and the new Roo, and about Anna Wintour giving Gyles an unexpected compliment. In the second half of the show, Gyles talks to Josh Ellis, one of Broadway's most distinguished Press Agents, who worked on productions such as 42nd Street, Into the Woods, The King and I, The Elephant Man and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He tells Gyles insider tales about some of the stars he worked with during his long career, including Yul Brynner, Rex Harrison, Katharine Hepburn, Eartha Kitt, Cher, David Bowie and Ethel Merman. It's fascinating, and gives a real flavour of life at the heart New York's theatre land.

Our thanks for Josh Ellis for this fun and fascinating conversation. Our thanks to New York City for being fabulous. And our thanks to you for listening. Enjoy this.
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Jeremy Corbyn MP is our guest on this May Day morning. Now an independent MP and the leader of Your Party, Jeremy has been in Westminster for 43 years - for 41 of those as a Labour MP. He was leader of Labour Party from 2015 to 2020, and fought two general elections in 2017 and 2019. He talks about this to Gyles in this episode, and about the bitter divisions and recriminations that followed the final defeat. He also talks about his childhood, growing up in Wiltshire and Shropshire, with free-thinking parents who encouraged him to make things and gave him a lot of freedom. He talks about being an academic under-achiever, his formative experiences with VSO in Jamaica as a teenager, and travelling in revolutionary South America. He talks about being awkward, his love of reading, and his continuing commitment to making the world a better place. Whatever your politics, we hope you find this an inspiring, interesting and illuminating listen with one of the longest-standing and most committed of our politicians.

With our thanks to Jeremy Corbyn for his time, energy and conversation.

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An action-packed edition of Gyles's diaries, from 1974 and 75. Gyles masquerades - very convincingly - as the European Monopoly Champion, and wows the crowds in New York City. He tosses the world's smallest pancake live on television. Margaret Thatcher is elected Leader of the Conservative Party, and on the domestic front, Gyles and Michele become parents for the first time. It's a momentous year, and it's why the Rosebud Family love tuning in on Tuesdays for Gyles's diaries! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the second of our guests this week with a royal connection: India Hicks. India is the granddaughter of Lord Mountbatten - the last Viceroy of India who oversaw the transition to independence, and his fascinating wife, Edwina Mountbatten, who was rumoured to have had a love affair with Nehru, India's first Prime Minister. India tells Gyles about this, and about her experiences of the day Mountbatten was assassinated in 1979. India is the daughter of Lady Pamela Hicks, a close friend of Queen Elizabeth II, who was actually with Princess Elizabeth in Kenya on the day she heard that her father had died and that she was to be Queen. India tells Gyles about this. India is also the goddaughter of King Charles, and they discuss his thoughtfulness, and her experiences of being a bridesmaid at his wedding to Princess Diana in 1981. All in all, this is a fascinating episode, full of stories of royalty, but also wisdom about life, duty and the importance of good manners.

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