Summary
Aged 19, Dan Simmonds turned down a university place and instead became an oil trader in the City of London. It was an exciting and ruthless environment driven by big risks and even greater rewards but also ultimately challenged Dan’s values and filled him with a desire to seek something new. Over a decade later whilst jogging around Regent’s Park Dan made a discovery that would change his life and career.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Before you listen to this BBC podcast, I want to tell you why I love podcasting. |
| 0:04.7 | Hi, my name's Tommy Dixon, and I make podcasts for the BBC. |
| 0:08.4 | I'm a big fan of stories, always loved a good book. |
| 0:11.4 | But when I started commuting for my first job, I discovered podcasts. |
| 0:15.4 | I was blown away by how a creative idea and the right mixture of sounds could take you into |
| 0:19.2 | a whole new world full of incredible stories. You know, the type that make you go, wow. And that kind of inspired me to |
| 0:25.2 | give it a go myself, which to cut a long story short led to a BBC training scheme and a whole |
| 0:30.0 | new career giving other people that exact same feeling. So if you want to hear amazing stories |
| 0:34.2 | that make you go wow like I did, they're just a tap or click away on BBC |
| 0:38.1 | Sounds. |
| 0:40.8 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:44.8 | Hello and welcome to the series that hears from people who've had experiences that |
| 0:48.8 | transform their lives and change their perspectives forever. That can be a sudden moment, forced upon them, |
| 0:55.9 | or something different that comes from within, |
| 0:59.0 | something quieter, incremental, |
| 1:01.8 | perhaps just a whisper of a thought that life could be radically different. |
| 1:06.3 | That's what happened to Dan Simmons. |
| 1:08.8 | Let's meet him. |
| 1:09.6 | Hello, Dan. |
| 1:10.3 | Hi, nice to meet you. And you too. We're going to start with that time in all our lives when we have to think about what we're going to do when we leave school. So you're 18. You've just got your A-level results. Where are you heading? Having left school at 18, I was offered a university place at Nottingham University to study business and French. |
| 1:33.2 | I was offered it. I was lucky. My parents very generously put me through private education. So when I told my parents that I didn't want to accept the offer, they weren't particularly pleased. |
| 1:46.5 | They were equally, they were very supportive, but I did need to have a plan B. |
... |
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