PODCAST: On the Marie Curie Couch with Gyles Brandreth

This month, Jason is joined by writer, broadcaster, actor and former MP Gyles Brandreth. Gyles is a star of Celebrity Gogglebox, a veteran of QI and Have I Got News For You, a reporter on The One Show, a regular on This Morning, and for many years has appeared on BBC Radio 4's Just a Minute. In this episode of On the Marie Curie Couch, Gyles talks to Jason about bereavement and grief.

"I'm a great admirer of the work of Marie Curie and have been for a number of years because in my family there's been quite a bit of cancer and I've lost family and friends over the years. Marie Curie has played a part in those stories, always a positive one. To choose a significant death [to talk about], my goodness, well, in a sense, every death is significant."

"Learning poetry by heart is good. It is, literally, good for you. It helps keep things like dementia at bay. Keeps the synapses supple. And you can go back to childhood poetry, like the Owl and the Pussycat. You know, re-learn that. It's fun. Or learn new poems. And during lockdown, I did. One of the most popular was this poem, by a man called Derek Mahon, an Irish poet born in 1941. He died, in fact, during lockdown. Not of covid, but he did die recently. It's called Everything is Going to be All Right."

The sun rises in spite of everything, and the far cities are beautiful and bright. I lie here, in a riot of sunlight, watching the day break and the clouds flying. Everything is going to be all right."

Tap the link near the top of this page to listen to Jason's chat with Gyles. Alternatively, listen to or download it via Acast, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you'd prefer, you can read a full transcript of the episode. Be sure to like and subscribe so you know when we’ve uploaded a new episode – there are more conversations coming soon.