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How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

S1, Ep2 How to Fail: Sebastian Faulks

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.7 • 9.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2018

⏱️ 49 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Sebastian Faulks, bestselling novelist and author of Birdsong and Charlotte Gray, joins How To Fail to talk about his failure to win the Booker Prize (“the whole thing is absolutely ridiculous”), his sense of social isolation at boarding school and a period of depression at university he feels he has never fully recovered from. Along the way, he talks about what it really means to be a “successful” writer and whether it matters what other people think, as well as the time he failed his driving test and got bowled out having scored 98 at cricket (two separate occasions, thankfully). Then there was the painful occasion he baked a soufflé and it failed to rise, a cooking faux pas that haunts him still. And if that’s not enough to whet your appetite, feel free to download and subscribe in order to hear Elizabeth being sternly reprimanded by Sebastian for her misuse of the word “saga”. How To Fail is hosted by Elizabeth Day and produced by Chris Sharp  How To Fail is sponsored by Moorish  Social Media: Elizabeth Day @elizabdayMoorish @moorishhumousSebastian Faulks @sebastianfaulks Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0

This podcast is sponsored by Airbnb. Maybe you've stayed in an Airbnb before and thought

0:08.8

to yourself, this actually seems pretty doable. Maybe my place could be an Airbnb. It could

0:14.5

be as simple as starting with a spare room when you're away. Find out how much your place

0:19.9

is worth at Airbnb.co.uk forward slash host.

0:28.6

This episode is brought to you by Fevertree. Regular listeners will know that I am passionate

0:35.4

about a perfectly made margarita. It was my lockdown hobby. I basically perfected my margarita

0:40.4

technique. Well, I needn't have bothered because the clever people at Fevertree now make

0:46.4

these quality cocktail mixes that saves you so much bother. So finally, making fantastic

0:52.8

quality cocktails at home is just as easy as making a G&T. All you need to do is add one

0:59.5

spirit to a glass full of ice. So that's tequila for the margarita. And then you add your

1:05.0

Fevertree cocktail mixer. So the Fevertree margarita mix, they also do one for majitos.

1:11.1

Then you stir really well or you shake the margarita if you're feeling a bit adventurous

1:15.7

or want a bit more pizzazz. And then you add your garnish, a wheel of lime on the edge

1:20.7

of the glass. There is no need to squeeze copious amounts of lime or to buy initial occurrences

1:26.8

or syrups that end up being half used and gathering dust at the back of the cupboard. It is

1:32.3

a time saver and it is also a space saver. And even better, they taste absolutely delicious.

1:40.2

I should know. And it should come as no surprise given Fevertree's reputation for quality.

1:45.8

As with any alcohol, please do enjoy responsibly. Go and find these products in your nearest

1:52.0

waitros, sainsbury's or on a cardo now. Thank you so much to Fevertree.

1:59.3

Hello and welcome to How to Fail, the podcast that celebrates the things that haven't gone right,

2:18.6

hosted by author and journalist Elizabeth Day. That's me. This is a podcast about learning from

2:25.6

our mistakes and understanding that why we fail ultimately makes us stronger. Because learning

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