Things I Forgot Were Good For Me

Emma Gilleece is an architectural historian, activist and writer. She is currently working on a series '100 Buildings of Mid-20th Century Architecture' for the RTÉ Culture website.

Benji Davies is an award-winning illustrator and author. Creator of the bestselling, acclaimed The Storm Whale, Grandad's Island and The Grotlyn, Benji's books have been co-editioned in over thirty-five languages and countries, gaining recognition worldwide.

Leah Boleto is a presenter and news journalist. She worked in radio before starting to present on the small screen working on some fab shows like BBC Breakfast, BBC Sport, Stargazing Live and Newsround. She now works for sky news as an anchor.

Spencer lodge is an entrepreneur, a business strategist, award winning podcast host of ‘Unscripted’ and in the top 100 most influential people in Dubai.

Karen Guggenheim is a pioneer in the global happiness movement, a leader in promoting the science behind well-being to an international audience, and a motivational speaker inspiring people about how to grow post-trauma and rebuild a life focused on meaning, purpose, and happiness. She is the producer of the World Happiness Summit(R), the leading well-being conference promoting the benefits of an evidence-based approach to increasing happiness in all areas of life. Her new book ‘Cultivating Happiness’ is out now.

5 July 2023 marks 75 years of the National Health Service Treating over one million people a day in England, the NHS touches all our lives. As part of the celebrations, NHSE has partnered with Things I Forgot Were Good For Me to create an episode dedicated to the NHS 75th Birthday and celebrates the incredible role that volunteers have played and continue to play within the NHS We are joined by Emma Easton is NHS England’s Deputy Director of Voluntary Partnerships, supporting partnership working with the voluntary sector and sharing and scaling volunteering within the NHS, Karen Weites is a volunteer since August 2019, at North Tyneside General Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne and Sumia Mohamed is a St John Ambulance NHS cadet based in Bristol

Born in London to professional, touring musicians, our musical director and founder Jane Reeves has always had music in her life. She started learning the piano when she was seven years old and by the time she reached 14 she was studying at Grade 7. She also reached a respectable standard playing the clarinet, French horn and cello and later gained accreditation as a registered ABRSM piano teacher. At 16 she was performing in professional musicals, as well as penning her own soul, jazz and dance music, and gigging UK clubs and venues. Drawn to the bright lights of the big city, as a young woman she moved to central London and served time with various professional bands and a capella groups, an apprenticeship which furnished her with a solid grounding in musicianship and professional practice.

Naomi is a television presenter, a dancer and a complete superstar. She has been working non-stop in children’s television since 1999. You will know her from CBBC. She is a panto star and always finding ways to educate and entertain in a fun way.

Stuart Heritage is a feature writer and columnist for The Guardian, The Times, Air Mail and Men's Health. In addition to this, he has written for a range of publications and television programmes, and founded and edited award-winning blogs. For two years running he was named as one of the 50 most influential emerging figures in the British media by The Independent. Stuart’s first book, a biography of his brother called DON’T BE A DICK, PETE, was published by Square Peg (Random House) in 2017. His second, BEDTIME STORIES FOR WORRIED LIBERALS, was published by Profile in 2019. His first picture book JONATHAN THE MAGIC PONY (illustrated by Nicola Slater) was published by Puffin in 2020.

In this week’s special episode of @forgotpod, we are teaming up with Sharon, a former health care worker who has gone on to use her many years of industry experience to inspire the next generation of learners by teaching in further education. No matter what stage you’re at in your life, whether you are nearing retirement or looking for a career change, making the move to further education is a great opportunity to try something new whilst passing on your invaluable expertise. There are a wide range of subjects that can be taught part-time alongside your current career. Whether that’s teaching health & social care, law, agriculture and much more. Whatever your background, explore teaching in further education and #ShareYourSkills. @getintoteaching #TeachinFE #Ad video sponsored by Teach in Further Education https://www.teach-in-further-education.campaign.gov.uk/?utm_source=Podcast&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=PR_Mar23_Dr_Radha_Health-&-Social

Lisa is a journalist specialising in travel. She also makes and presents podcasts including the UK number 1 Big Travel Pod. You will recognise her voice from TV and Radio with the latest comments on all things travel.

Baking Nanna Aka Jackie is the one half of the famous twitter bake along and the Great British Bake Off Twitter Bake Along. She inspires people to try baking and founded her community on socials to encourage people to come together to reduce isolation, find joy and to feel like they can bake anything!

Nick Newman is the CEO of National Careers Week, a fantastic celebration of all things careers guidance, which aims to support young people leaving education and moving on to employment. He came up with the idea for National Careers Week in 2010, after a conversation about how to help students make effective choices about their future career. The first NCW was born the following year with just a handful of schools and has grown into a big annual event that is run every year.

In this episode we talk to Baron Richard Layard live at Kindfest 2022. Richard Layard, is a British labour economist, currently working as programme director of the Centre for Economic Performance at the London School of Economics. He is also one of the first economists to work on happiness, and his main current interest is how better mental health could improve our social and economic life. He is the founder-director of LSE's Centre for Economic Performance and is co-director of the Centre's programme on Community Wellbeing

In this week's episode we are joined by the magical Tim Lichfield. Time is a professional magician and member of the Magic Circle bringing wonder wherever he goes. He has appeared on live tv on Channel 4's Steph's Packed Lunch, and is a radio broadcaster as well as being a hypnotherapist. In this episode, Time talks to us about how we have forgotten about the joy of wonder, just how good that is for us, and the gift of not knowing, as well as about his journey into magic.

Bijal Shah is a book curator and bibliotherapist, a freelance journalist, an author and a poet. After a decade-plus career in investment banking, Bijal was really keen to pursue her passion for literature, writing and psychology having successfully published a non-fiction book titled 'The Happiness Mindset' having written the book post-completion of a diploma in psychodynamic counselling and psychotherapy. She now curates books for clients for personal interest and mental well-being. In this episode, Bijal talks all about how literature and reading can help us stay well and understand ourselves and life more, and how we can bring books back into our day to day lives.

Herb Baker recently retired from NASA after 42 years of service after spending his career at the Johnson Space Center supporting the Space Shuttle, Space Station, and Orion Programs and at the Kennedy Space Center and NASA Headquarters. In 2010, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and he is currently on the Board of Directors of the NASA Alumni League. In this episode of the podcast he talks about the importance of teamwork in reaching goals and how every single person’s contribution, however seemingly small, is vital to humankind reaching new heights.

Mita Mistry practices Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and Acupuncture helping people from all walks of life. She delivers mental health and trauma education to hospitals, doctors, schools workplaces and survivors of domestic abuse. Her book, How to Understand and Deal with Social Anxiety: Everything You Need to Know to Manage Social Anxiety is a practical, supportive and easy-to-read guide to help you understand and overcome social anxiety, filled with helpful tips and actionable advice In this episode, Mita talks all about the causes of social anxiety, how it can impact us and how taking small steps can help us manage it, as well as the importance of meaningful connection to ourselves and others.

Action Jackson is the UK Ambassador for happiness. An award-winning motivational speakers and author, television talk show host and mentor. His philosophy is ‘Success is not by make, it’s by Work’. In this episode he talks all about the importance of motivation, how we can motivate ourselves and others as well as finding our purpose in life.

Lauren Silver is an award-winning actor, theatremaker and jolly-anxious clown. Her work has played in national and international venues including London’s Vaudeville Theatre, Sydney Opera House, Liverpool Everyman/Playhouse, Edinburgh Fringe and the Hong Kong Academy of Performing Arts. She is the founder of PlayWell and works with local communities and global companies to promote positive health and wellbeing through playful and engaging programmes. In this episode Lauren talks about why play is so important for us to tap into as adults for our wellbeing, the history of clowning and what life is like performing.