Grace Dent: Almost Everything I’ve Done, I’ve Been Told No First

Full Disclosure with James O'Brien

Global

Society & Culture

4.6 • 3.5K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 68 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Before she was a MasterChef judge and one of Britain’s most distinctive food writers, Grace Dent was a Carlisle kid eating crispy pancakes and dreaming of life beyond beige dinners. In this episode of Full Disclosure, she joins James O’Brien to talk about blagging her way into London media, finding her voice through food, and why she still can’t believe they let her near the foie gras.

Grace reflects on growing up in a loud, loving, working-class family, and how her obsession with pop culture, Smash Hits and Paula Yates convinced her she was destined for something bigger. They talk about class, ambition, the snobbery that still haunts food writing- and why MasterChef was the job her mum would’ve loved most but never got to see.

With sharp wit, candour and zero pretence, Grace dishes up a story of rejection, reinvention and the joy of really good jam.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	What might happen if Russia attacked the UK?
0:03.2	This is clearly an enormous show of force.
0:05.1	It is definitely out of the ordinary.
0:07.0	We ran a war game with former ministers back in the hot seat.
0:11.1	Ben Wallace.
0:11.6	Amber Rudd.
0:12.3	Jack Straw.
0:13.1	It's the kind of war game that's genuinely tested inside government.
0:17.2	The Russians are signalling that there may be an attack.
0:19.7	Russia knows our weaknesses, but do you?
0:22.6	I'm Deborah Haynes from Sky News and Tortus.
0:25.4	This is The War Game.
0:26.7	Listen on Global Player or wherever you get your podcasts.
0:30.2	Check out PayPal.
0:31.4	3% cashback on my day out to the beach.
0:33.8	I got cash back on a train ticket to Brighton.
0:35.9	Ow!
0:36.3	And I use PayPal to buy this speaker. Get ready for some Brighton Rock. Last month I got cash back on the sweet portable barbecue. How do you want your burger? Medium, rare, wet? Your trusted way to pay. Now with 3% cash back all summer. Sign up in the app. Check out PayPal. Promo wins 30th of September. Activate offer in the app and select a category each month.
0:57.9	Max 15 pounds per month. T's and C's apply.
1:02.4	This is a global player original podcast.
1:20.3	Hello and welcome to full disclosure, a podcast project conceived entirely to let me spend more time with interesting people than I would ever get on the radio.
1:21.6	Grace Dent, welcome.
	...

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