Alexander Armstrong: My default setting is fear- I expect the worst of people

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before Pointless, Classic FM and comedy stardom, Alexander Armstrong was a restless kid growing up in rural Northumberland- lonely at boarding school, obsessed with music, and quietly desperate to perform. In this revealing conversation with James O’Brien, he opens up about the bruises and eccentricities of his childhood, the teachers who changed everything, and the nights at Cambridge that set him on the path to Armstrong & Miller.

They talk about the shock of failure, the seduction of success, and why he’ll always be torn between the comfort of the choir stalls and the chaos of the comedy circuit.

Find out more about Evenfall: The Golden Linnet by Alexander Armstrong here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Now time to thank our partner of this episode, RNIB, the Royal National Institute of Blind People.
0:06.8	It's hard to imagine how it would feel to suddenly lose your sight, not being able to see your family anymore,
0:12.4	navigate the world around you, or enjoy a simple pleasure such as reading a book.
0:16.5	For any of us, it would be truly devastating, which is why support from RNIB is invaluable.
0:23.2	And you can do your bit too. Throughout October, RNIB can help you make a will, free of charge, with their free will-writing services.
0:30.6	All they ask in return is for you to consider leaving them a gift, although there is no obligation to do so.
0:36.5	We all need a will, so this could be
0:38.5	the perfect time to make or update yours. To find out more about the free will writing service and
0:43.9	understand the difference a gift in your will could make to blind and partially cited people,
0:48.9	download the free will guide at rnib.org.org.uk slash lasting gift. That's rnib.org.org.com slash lasting gift.
1:00.9	It's Joanne McNally and Vogue Williams here. Our podcast, my therapist, ghosted me, celebrates the
1:05.7	special therapy that only true friends can offer, i.e. laughing with you and laughing at you.
1:11.9	Precisely. This week we're supported by married at first sight,
1:15.4	with more total strangers getting to know each other after getting married.
1:19.9	The perfect time to do that.
1:22.1	Stream the brand new series on Channel 4 and watch live on E4.
1:26.0	And listen to my therapist ghosted me on Global Player.
1:31.3	This is a Global Player original podcast.
1:40.7	Hello and welcome to full disclosure, a podcast project, and this is the spiel I normally open an episode with, designed to allow me to spend more time with interesting people than I would ever get on the radio.
1:50.8	But Alexander Armstrong, this is a bit different because I actually see you every day.
1:54.7	Every morning.
1:55.3	Most people, because they'll be listening to me on LBC between 10am and 1pm, won't be aware that you present a rival program on classic FM in exactly the same time.
	...

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