Professional dancer Raquel Meseguer had back surgery at the age of thirty, to treat chronic neuropathic pain. But, it didn’t alleviate her symptoms.

In this insightful interview with Olly, she explains how this bombshell has impacted upon the daily practicalities of her life, why she doesn’t feel welcome in our ‘vertical culture’, and how well-meaning members of the public have repeatedly shamed her for committing the cardinal sin of... lying down.

This episode first aired in April 2018 under the title, Cloudspotting. Now remastered and with a 2026 update from Raquel, we've paired this with our most recent interview: Trapped In The Rubble

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An earthquake of 6.9 magnitude rocked Morocco’s Atlas Mountains in September 2023, causing around 3,000 fatalities.

For six hours, British tourist Robbie Greatrex was trapped in the rubble; unable to feel his legs, unsure he would emerge alive. Locals clubbed together in the rescue effort, improvising tools from what came to hand. The prognosis was not  good.

In this compelling conversation with Olly, Robbie recounts his agonising rescue, his complex surgeries and his long road to recovery. He explains why his experience  left him shaken but not angry; how he got himself through the hardest moments in the disaster’s aftermath; and why you should *always* buy travel insurance…

—-------

Meanwhile, in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart tries his hand at ‘vibe coding’. With a carefully-crafted series of AI prompts, can he create a functional web app from scratch?

And, if he can, what does that say for the future of web design and computer coding? Ollie has a warning for the currently complacent…

—-------

Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox, fresh from discovering exciting news about her future prospects, is on-hand for a listener whose sex life is troubled by his wife's UTI.

How can you get back to bedroom fun when a urinary tract infection is interfering between the sheets? Can UTIs be passed on to your partner? And what new tests and techniques are there to diagnose and treat this common, yet sometimes devastating, complaint?

—-------

Finally, music comes from Japanese singer-songwriter Joji, and his melancholic new single, ‘Love You Less’. Yum!

—-------

We'll be back with a brand new episode on March 10th.

In the meantime, please do tell your friends about our independent show: review us on this here podcast platform, and, if you can afford to, donate to the production by clicking ‘beer money’ at modernmann.co.uk 

Thanks!

❤️Olly

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Robbie Greatrex, Alix Fox, Ollie Peart, Joji. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: ‘Skies Over Cairo’ by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2026.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There are more billionaires than ever. Rockstars. Oil tycoons. Internet entrepreneurs.

And all of them - all of them - employ private staff. The age of Jeeves and Wooster may be over, but the demand for a dependable butler remains.

Lawrence McKenna has been serving the super-rich for three decades, including stints in private suites in London's poshest hotels and the Royal Enclosure at Ascot. In this interview with Olly, he reveals how to remain invisible yet available; poised to deliver whatever a ‘principal’ desires, from obscure coffee beans to a mid-coital cuppa. He explains how to carry a plate, when to say ‘yes’ and when to simply say ‘it can be done’, and how to prepare *just chilled* mineral water to the taste of a Saudi trillionaire...

This episode first aired in 2017 - we're playing it again to compliament Alok Sama's interview this month: The Banker, The Billionaire, and the Big Lie.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alok Sama was a high-flying CFO who fraternized with the world’s richest men. 

But he wasn’t immune from intimidation. Anonymous letters sent to his boss, Softbank’s Masayoshi Son, accused him of corruption. Suddenly, shadowy “shareholders” emerged from nowhere, and a whisper campaign quietly derailed his career.

Then - as he recounts to Olly in this compelling conversation - Alok discovered his family was under surveillance. Desperate, he met men claiming ties to Mossad. And ultimately walked away, with first-hand experience of the corporate espionage that lurks in the shadows of Britain’s biggest companies.

Alok’s book, The Money Trap, is out now.

_____________

Meanwhile, in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart - fresh from veritably leaping into his forties - tests out the viral wellness trend for ‘sleepmaxxing’. 

Can grounding sheets, a bone-conducting pillow-speaker, or light therapy help him get his forty winks? With the aid of the National Sleep Helpline, he delivers hacks and tips for anyone looking to improve their sleep in 2026.

… Got a trend you’d like to challenge Ollie to test out on a future edition of the show? Fill out the Feedback form on our website, or join our Discord.   

_____________

Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox is contemplating the surprising side-effects of ketamine, and discovering the demand for ‘creature cock’ sex toys such as Lovehoney’s ‘Swamp Monster’. 

How did this kink for fantasy dildos - kickstarted by niche brands like Bad Dragon and Gang Bankster - evolve into a mainstream, sold-out product category? 

Is it linked to zoophilia, ‘romatasy’ books on TikTok, liberation from masturbatory stigma… or all of the above? As always, Alix has some (eye-opening) answers...

_____________

Finally, in music corner, our Record of the Month brings a welcome return to the show for Cavetown, whose new single, "Sailboat (feat. chloe moriondo)", is out now.

_____________

We’ll be back with our Playback edition on 30th Jan, and something new on 10th February. 

In the meantime, thanks for your help supporting the show into 2026 with your beer money and/or reviews. Mwah!

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Alok Sama, Alix Fox, Ollie Peart, Cavetown. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: ‘Skies Over Cairo’ by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2026.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What are the perfect ingredients for a stress-free Christmas? How do you render the Arctic in song? And what does it sound like when we drink from each other’s teats? 

… Just three of the hot topics being debated in our annual festive knees-up! Joining Olly Mann, Alix Fox and Ollie Peart this year, we welcome back family mediator Nick Coffer - who confronts the strains of a post-divorce Christmas with compassionate advice - and we enjoy extraordinary live music from cellist and poet Sarah Smout. 

Plus, fresh updates from some of our favourite guests of 2026: Rebecca Dowdeswell, the woman who took on L’Oreal; Armin Samii, who created distance-monitoring app UberCheats; and wildland firefighter Nathan Bell.   

Until our next episode on January 10th, have a fantastic Christmas, a very Happy New Year, and - if you can afford to - remember to support our independent podcast to fund another great year of the show.

x

Olly, Alix, Ollie and Producer Matt

P.S. Alix is running the London Marathon for Positive East. Support her here. 

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Ollie Peart, Alix Fox, Nick Coffer, Sarah Smout, Nathan Bell, Rebecca Dowdeswell, Armin Samii. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: 'Skies Over Cairo' by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2025.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Guy Babcock is not paedophile. He is not a sociopath, or a racist, or a ‘deadbeat’. He has not served time in prison.

And yet, if you search his name online, you get a very different impression: hundreds of posts, smearing his reputation, all over the internet.

In this interview with Olly, Guy explains why - despite a court ruling against the person ruining his reputation - these posts live on.

He recalls the terrifying day he realised his name was being dragged through the mud, and explains how he came to understand that a vengeful ex-employee was behind the damaging slurs…

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jimmy Donny Cosgrove co-wrote one of the decade’s biggest comedy flops: BBC 1 sitcom ‘Warren’, starring Martin Clunes. Lambasted on social media and derided by critics, the Daily Telegraph claimed it was ‘the final nail in the coffin for British sitcom’.  

Jimmy’s agent dumped him. He received death threats. And he hasn’t had a show on TV since.

In this frank and funny conversation with Olly, Jimmy recounts how he blagged his way on to a comedy course at University; how his heart sank when his show was scheduled in a double-bill with the long-anticipated return of Alan Partridge; and explains why his experiences of the TV sausage-factory, with its endless rewrites and creative compromises, left him bruised and disillusioned…

Nowadays, Jimmy hosts a live game show experience. Find out more at showtimelondon.co.uk.

_____________

Meanwhile, in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart, freshly delighted to furnish the world with a Captain Spronk playlist, learns the latest trends in First Aid. 

What’s the current advice for performing CPR?  How do you apply for a free defibrillator? And how many heart attacks per year happen outside a hospital environment? Equipped with a ‘mini-Ann’ and the Revivr app from the British Heart Foundation, Ollie has the answers…

_____________

Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox assists a listener who wants to know how to help his other half as she prepares for the menopause.

Explaining how the menopause’s three stages (perimenopause, menopause, and post-menopause) comprise a profound physical and emotional transition, Alix reveals the hormonal shifts that can cause brain fog, anxiety, mood swings, sleep disruption, and changes in libido. 

Along the way, Alix speaks to clinical sexologist Dr Angela Wright, and recommends the books Burning Up, Frozen Out by Joe Warner and Rob Kemp; The Little Book of HRT by Dr Ellie Cannon and Menowars by Fiona Clark.

_____________

Finally, our record of the month is ‘Dead and Gone’,  the new single from Leigh-Anne’s debut album, Because My Ego Told Me To.

_____________

Olly, Alix, Ollie and special musical guests will return with our annual, chaotic Christmas special on 10th December. 

In the meantime, you can help support the show into 2026 by donating beer money and/or leaving us a review. Thanks!

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Jimmy Donny Cosgrove, Alix Fox, Ollie Peart, Leigh-Anne. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: ‘Skies Over Cairo’ by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2025

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

To celebrate our tenth anniversary, we're replaying Producer Matt's favourite interview from our extensive back catalogue.

Jo and Steve Peck suffered not one, not two, but recurrent miscarriages over the course of four years, before seeking private treatment.
In this searingly honest, compelling interview with Olly, they reveal the toll this took on their marriage, their work and their mental health - as they watched their friends begin families - gradually realising it may never happen for them.

If you’ve been affected by miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy or molar pregnancy, the Miscarriage Association offers support and a pregnancy loss helpline: miscarriageassociation.org.uk

This episode first aired in July 2018. Now remastered and with an update from Steve and Jo in 2025, we're replaying this interview as part of our tenth birthday celebrations.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Drink-driving one night, Matthew Cordle caused a head-on collision that killed 61-year-old Vincent Canzani. 

His confession on YouTube - ‘I Killed A Man’ - became one of the most controversial viral videos of its era, amassing millions of views and sparking debate about accountability, remorse, and the nature of public confession.

Twelve years later, Cordle tells Olly his story, in unflinching detail that goes far beyond the sensational three-minute video. From his descent into alcoholism from the age of eleven, to his complex relationship with the attention his actions brought him, and the journey of accountability he undertook during his six-year prison sentence, this is a tale of remorse, notoriety, and what it means to take responsibility.

Matthew works with the charities Save Your Victim and Because I Said I Would. 

---------------------

Meanwhile, in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart is on-hand to organise a tenth birthday party for our podcast 🥳

With a sprinkling of superb magic from The Magician’s Table, he suggests a potent mix of immersive theatre, bespoke cocktails from Holy Water, and, of course, VR. There is also a celebratory song from his musical alter-ego Captain Spronk, because why wouldn’t there be? 

---------------------

Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox has been rummaging for antiques at her local car boot sale, and looking into the UK government’s new controls on digital pornography.

Has the implementation of age verification helped prevent minors from accessing online porn? Are the likes of Quittr effective at assisting users to ‘quit porn forever’? And, if they are, is that healthy? Alix, as always, has a view…

Love the Foxhole? Then you may enjoy How To Get Wet When You’re Dry - a new show about sex and sobriety, produced by Ollie Peart.

---------------------

Finally, our record of the month comes from Art School Girlfriend, and her track L.Y.A.T.T. (Love You All The Time) ❤️

---------------------

A 10TH BIRTHDAY NOTE FROM OLLY

Mann-Fans, thanks so much for listening to and supporting our podcast! It is because of you that we continue making the show. If you can afford to, please please send us beer money - every penny helps fund our journalism. 

If you can’t spare any cash, then why not leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or just tell your friends. That’s free. 

Here’s to the next ten years! 

… and we’ll see you with something new on 10th November. x

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Matthew Cordle, Alix Fox, Ollie Peart, Art School Girlfriend, Captain Spronk. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: ‘Skies Over Cairo’ by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2025

(01:34) Your Letters

(06:33) The Zeitgeist: How To Have A Very Modern Party

(29:23) Interview: Matthew Cordle

(75:51) The Foxhole: Porn Ban Aftermath

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In his 20s, yet running a $50billion book, Kweku Adoboli had worked his way up the trading floor at the very point the market crashed.

His actions wiped £2.7bn from the UBS share price, prompted the resignation of their chief executive - and got him a seven-year jail sentence for fraud.

In this remarkable interview with Olly, he reveals a corporate culture of ‘wilful blindness’, explains how he fell foul of the UK’s hostile environment policy for migrants - and re-lives the moment he realised that, having taken responsibility for his actions, he would forever be known as Britain’s biggest ‘rogue trader’...

This episode first aired in February 2018. Now remastered and with an update from Olly, we've paired this episode with Priscilla Coleman's interview on Drawn To Justice, released this month. Listen now!

Image Credit Priscilla Coleman/MB Media

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

From Gary Glitter to Rose West; Prince Harry to Harold Shipman… courtroom artist Priscilla Coleman has sketched them all, over five decades documenting Britain’s biggest criminal trials.

In UK courts, artists can’t sketch inside, so she begins by writing what she sees, combining shorthand notes with a photographic memory technique. Under tight deadlines - and often without even a table - she rushes outside to turn those notes into the courtroom images we recognise from the nightly news.

In this broad interview with Olly, Priscilla recalls watching the Wagatha Christie trial; considers what she’s learned from such diverse case studies as Ian Huntley and Jeffrey Archer; and explains why she thinks the legal system needs to change…

Image credit:  Priscilla Coleman/MB Media 

—-----------------------

Meanwhile, in the Zeitgeist, Ollie Peart joins Olly at the Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace, surrounded by cars worth millions of pounds, to investigate the trend for younger people getting into classic car restoration.

Is it a way of avoiding ULEZ charges? Do the tax breaks justify abandoning newer cars altogether? And, assuming you can’t afford a Ferrari or a Bentley, what are the upcoming marques to invest in? The answers may surprise you… 

—-----------------------

Elsewhere, down the Foxhole, Alix Fox - fresh from discovering a kindred spirit in a bondage-themed hair salon - tackles a listener’s anxiety about contracting HIV from a non-consensual encounter. 

Twenty-five tests, taken over fifteen years, are telling her she doesn’t have HIV… is there any chance they could be wrong?

—-----------------------

Finally, music this month comes from Ipswich-born rapper Piers James, and his new single 'F.O.E'.

—-----------------------

NOW…

🎧 LISTEN TO OLLY guesting on Mann-fan Darren Hill’s podcast, The Story Pilgrim - if two middle-aged men walking around Letchworth is your idea of an hour well spent: https://pod.fo/e/328330

🍻 BUY US A BEER. We are only able to make this show thanks to your donations. If you can afford to, pretty PLEASE support our independent podcast here. 

✉️ SEND US YOUR FEEDBACK. If you have a challenge for Ollie, a question for Alix, a letter for Olly, or you’d like to share your story on a future edition of the show - fill out our Feedback form here. 

—-----------------------

… and we’ll see you with our tenth birthday episode on 10th October. x

Presenter: Olly Mann. Contributors: Priscilla Coleman, Alix Fox, Ollie Peart, Piers James. Producer: Matt Hill. Theme Music: ‘Skies Over Cairo’ by Django Django. Artwork: Podcast Discovery. Copyright: Olly Mann / Rethink Audio 2025

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices