This week’s guest on How To Fail with Elizabeth Day is memoirist, podcaster and journalist Dolly Alderton. Dolly, the co-host of the utterly fantastic The High Low podcast and author of the brilliant Sunday Times bestseller Everything I Know About Love, talks about being rejected from Bristol University (and still feeling resentful of anyone she meets who went there), being ‘compassionately’ fired from a job she didn’t really want and what happens when you don’t meet the love of your life, even when you think you’re going to.
Along the way, we talk about the horror of being a teenager, internalised misogyny, the pressure for women to look good (‘I try very hard to remember that I’m not disappointing anyone if I don’t look perfect,’ says Dolly), sensitivity, people-pleasing, narcissism, discomfort zones, the brilliance of female friends and why it’s sometimes good to have a thin skin.
We also discuss Made in Chelsea (Dolly used to be a story producer) and her efforts to invent a new game show, where you would win your dream home but it wouldn’t have any doors. Sounds amazing. Not sure why it never got commissioned.
Note: this episode contains the phrase ‘absolute rotters’ used in a non-ironic way.
How To Fail is hosted by Elizabeth Day and produced by Chris Sharp
How To Fail is sponsored by Moorish
Social Media:
Elizabeth Day @elizabday
Dolly Alderton @dollyalderton
The High Low @thehighlowshow
Moorish @moorishhumous
S3, Ep6 How to Fail: James O'Brien
S3, Ep 5 How to Fail: Raven Smith
S3, Ep4 How to Fail: Deborah Frances-White
S3; Ep3 How to Fail: Jonny Benjamin
S3, Ep2 How to Fail: Chris Patten
S3, Ep1 How to Fail: Lily Allen
How to Fail: End of Season Two
S2, Ep8 How to Fail: David Baddiel
S2, Ep7 How to Fail: Tara Westover
S2, Ep6 How to Fail: Farrah Storr
S2, Ep5 How to Fail: Alastair Campbell
S2, Ep4 How to Fail: Otegha Uwagba
S2, Ep3 How to Fail: James Frey
S2, Ep2 How to Fail: Mishal Husain
S2, Ep1 How to Fail: Jessie Burton
How to Fail: End of Season 1
S1, Ep8 How to Fail: Elizabeth Day
S1, Ep7 How to Fail: David Nicholls
S1, Ep6 How to Fail: Gina Miller
S1, Ep5 How to Fail: Olivia Laing
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
50 Tastes Of Gray
Dear Alice | Interior Design
Spider-Man Crawlspace Podcast
Anne of Green Gables
Black Beauty
The Magnus Archives
The Moth