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It's like going into an ice path with your hands as the ice.

In 2025, we were here for the entertainment.

Ellis and John.

Have you not considered just coffee, which is what I do?

Sightracked with Annie and Nick.

Stevie Wonder, welcome. I'm pleasure. Loyal Carnar is with us. Want to hear all about Glastonbury. And Celebrity Traitors Uncloaked. Welcome to Uncloaked, Alan. Oh, thanks for having me, Ed. The winner. I know, still hasn't sunk in. Get the best of 2025 with podcasts on BBC Sounds. Hello. So now many of us enjoy pottering about the kitchen,

tinkering with recipes, baking bread or shaking up a new cocktail even. But very few of us ever

turn that kind of curious experimenting into a multi-million pound business. I'm Evan Davis,

and in this episode of the decisions that made me,

the series of business interviews from the team behind the bottom line, we'll explore how a simple

hobby, mixed with a bold vision, can transform an entire market. My guest, Ben Branson, founded

Seedlib. It's a non-alcoholic spirit back in 2015. In just three and a half years, he took Seedlip from a homemade experiment, distilling herbs from his garden, to a global brand sold in 35 countries and 30 US states, before selling the business to the drinks giant Diageo. Before all that, Ben had tried

his hand at a variety of jobs, some of them quite bizarre. He's been telling me how it all began.

I'm from a farming family 320 years up in the North Lincolnshire and grew up with a great, I think, appreciation and produce.

Didn't know what I wanted to do after I left school.

You didn't want to be on the farm?

I thought I wanted to be in London, actually, which is ironic considering all I want to be

is in the countryside now and not in London.

18 years old, left school, came down, thought I might want to be a chef.

University? No, when did a cooking course, loved working with produce, flavor, ingredients.

And that certainly set the stage, I guess, for me having an old appreciation of food,

...