The Goldster Inside Story Podcast

Goldster Inside Story gives you a story of love, spies and parenting with a rare double-act interview and a ground-breaking book for frazzled families — License to Parent: How My Career as a Spy Helped Me Raise Resourceful, Self-Sufficient Kids. Christina and Ryan Hillsberg both spied for America’s Central Intelligence Agency before Christina turned her skills to becoming a stay-at-home-mom sharing fresh, ingenious and fascinating secrets on child-rearing, and putting an insightful and entertaining spin on some of the most challenging years of our lives.  In conversation with Humphrey Hawksley, the Hillsbergs will explain their CIA day jobs. As a covert operative, Ryan recruited spies and stole secrets around the world, collecting crucial information on terrorism, security and the many threats to our everyday lives. Christine did similar work, often in Africa, while also writing analytical assessments for the President and senior policy makers. How exactly do those skills – torn straight from the scenes of an action-packed spy movie – transfer to the hum drum day-to-day world of good parenting. The aim, say the Hillsbergs, is to raise children who are confident, reassured and know how to stay safe. And, we will learn, James Bond, was an absolutely terrible spy.  “If  a spy has to pull out his gun or someone is chasing him, he’s done something very wrong!” And don’t even get her started on the Bond girls!  To watch the recording of this episode then please click here

Gregg Hurwitz is the New York Times bestselling author and creator of the Orphan X series  — Evan Smoak is a man with a dangerous past who has skills, resources, and a personal mission to help those with nowhere else to turn. Gregg has also published poetry, academic, political, and cultural articles, screenplays and is a bestselling comic book writer. In short, Gregg is a non-stop creative machine and even helped write the opening ceremony of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He has a reputation for dogged research leading to action-packed adventures, including sneaking onto demolition ranges with Navy SEALS, swimming with sharks, and going undercover into mind control cults. Even his recreational pursuits seem bigger than life: wrestling with his Rhodesian ridgebacks, doing hot yoga, and drinking bourbon. He is also a political activist, working hard to lessen the current polarization in politics and culture. To that end, he's produced several hundred commercials which have had more than a hundred million views on digital and television platforms and won multiple American Advertising Awards. His editorial pieces have appeared in The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and others.  All of that said, Gregg describes his day-to-day life as hum drum. “I wake up, have coffee, go into my office, and write all day.”  His new Orphan X thriller The Last Orphan is out in February 2023.  Live at Riverstone Cinema, Fulham at 12pm on February 9th 2023. To watch the original video click here

Animal-lover Gillian Carrick is the author health guides for pets which includes tips for their healthy ageing.  Gillian’s early career took her far away from her passion. With a degree in politics, she became a researcher in the House of Commons and a feature writer on the House magazine. She then moved to BBC Radio with stints as a producer/presenter of travel programmes for Radio Four and Five Live, before heading off to be a television producer. Gillian’s first books were Hidden Suffolk and The Essential Guide to Arthritis.  She was then commissioned to write a series of animal-health guides, including: My Dog Has Arthritis but lives life to the full; My Cat Has Arthritis but lives to the full and My Dog Has Epilepsy but lives life to the full – clearly there’s a theme developing here.  Gillian spends as much time as she can in the company of gorgeous dogs and cats, not necessarily her own. She describes herself as a pert-butler of sorts and has learned a very important lesson: Our four-legged friends are definitely our masters.  Her latest project is to explore the idea of releasing our ‘inner cat’. What exactly is that? 

What do Erotica and Sherlock Holmes have in common?  Find out in Goldster’s amazing end of year Inside Story with the legendary Maxim Jakubowski, the mastermind of The Mammoth Book of Erotica, the creator of The Return of Sherlock Holmes, the compiler of numerous anthologies and currently chair of the Crime Writers’ Association with its Red Herrings magazine and array of Dagger awards. And that is far from all in Maxim Jakubowski’s incredible career. For many years he was a top book publishing editor dealing with titles by authors as diverse as William Golding, Peter Ustinov and Sophie Grigson.  He also owned the Murder One Bookshop for twenty years, ran the Crime Scene film and literary festival, edited Sex in the City, has been a columnist for Time Out and the Guardian and next year will be the executive producer on the TV series Factory based on the novels of his late friend Derek Raymond.  To watch the original recording, click here 

Professor Sir Muir Gray is reframing the public conversation about getting old.  He is the co-author of two hilarious but insightful books aptly named Sod 60 and Sod 70, both subtitled, The Guide to Living Well. .  His other books include Midlife: Look Younger, Live Longer, Feel Better, Antidote to Ageing and  Sod Sitting, Get Moving!: Getting Active in Your 60s, 70s and Beyond.  No spring chicken himself, Sir Muir identified elements of the ageing process way back in 1985 when, as a younger man, he wrote his perceptive book Prevention of Disease in Old Age. Whether dealing with dementia, apathy or physical frailty, Sir Muir’s initial prescription is good diet, mental stimulation and exercise. This is also the mantra underpinning everything Goldster stands for. How is it, Sir Muir asks, that we know ‘old’ sixty-year-olds and ‘spritely’ 80-year-olds?  He has a Seventies Manifesto as a Call to Arms. Become more active, mentally and physically, get more involved; help other people more and you will succeed in gaining better health. And get ‘attitude’ which means, not only are you positive, but also you know what you want and people shouldn’t mess with you. Sir Muir guarantees to bring us a fun and challenging Goldster Inside Story. Question him, comment on his thoughts, share your own experiences with Sir Muir Gray and your Goldster host Humphrey Hawksley at noon on 22nd December. To watch the video of this recording please click here

Join Humphrey Hawksley to hear Leonid Volkov’s story in his own words and ask him how he thinks he can create a new Russia.  Born into Soviet Jewish intelligentsia, leading Russian opposition figure, Leonid Volkov, is now in exile in Lithuania. Through lawyers, he liaises with his jailed friend Alexei Navalny who is serving nine years in a maximum-security Russian prison. Both became Internet bloggers with massive followings, Leonid was Navalny’s chief-of-staff for his Moscow mayoral campaign in 2013 and his presidential campaign against Vladimir Putin in 2018. From exile and prison, the two friends and others are preparing for Putin’s fall and the creation of a modern, more peaceful Russia.    “I do strongly believe that one day Russia will become a free and democratic country, a part of European family, where it belongs by its whole culture and history,” he says.    In a rare and very special Goldster Purpose, Passion and Grit, Leonid will tell Humphrey Hawksley about his childhood at a time when Russia was warming toward the West. His parents are in academia in western Russia.  Leonid will recount how he used the Internet to muster political support in the tens of millions, then how the iron fist of Russian state smashed down arresting Alexei Navalny and forcing him into exile. It is an incredible story, not yet ended, of how one man musters the purpose, passion, grit and courage to keep struggling for what he believes in.  

Dr Parag Khanna is a bestselling author of books that explain where our world is heading and why. Parag, who has been named by Esquire magazine as one of the 75 Most Influential People of the 21st Century, will be talking to Humphrey about his latest book Move: The Forces Uprooting Us. It’s a thought-provoking eye-opener that cuts through the clutter and predicts what lies ahead for our children and grandchildren. In short, as climate change tips toward full-blown crisis, economies collapse, governments destabilize, and technology disrupts, we’re entering a new age of mass migrations – one that will scatter both the dispossessed and the well-off. Which areas will people abandon and where will they resettle? Which countries will accept or reject them? As today’s world population, which includes four billion restless youths, votes with its feet, what map of human geography will emerge? Parag is a total man of the world. He was born in India and grew up in the United Arab Emirates, the United States of America and Germany. He earned his doctorate at the London School of Economics and his degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., which is where his love of maps and the changing world really took root. His previous books include How to Run the World (2011), Connectography (2016), and The Future is Asian (2019). Join Humphrey with Parag at 12.00 UK time on November 18th for a fascinating insight into our future. To watch the recording of the show click here

Join Humphrey Hawksley with Maggy Piggot on this uplifting Goldster Inside Story Maggy Pigott is the vice-chair of Open Age, Life’s Just Begun and has published the critically-acclaimed How to Age Joyfully,  Eight Steps to a Happier, Fuller Life. Dame Judi Dench commends the book to everyone of all ages and Giles Brandreth describes it as ‘full of wit, wisdom – and hope’.  Here are Maggy’s nub thoughts.  We’re living longer – let’s live better!  Getting older should be something to enjoy and celebrate. And it can be. Research shows that we can make a big difference to how well we age. From staying active to connecting with others, Maggy shares the secrets to ageing well in eight steps, to help keep you healthy and happy. Each step has easy-to-follow tips, alongside inspiring words both ancient and modern… and more! The guidance includes keeping physically active, eating well, having purpose and being positive.  There are stunning quotes such as from Theodore Roosevelt – ‘Old age is like everything else… to make a success of it, you’ve got to start young’ to Mahatma Gandhi ‘The future depends on what you do today.’   Maggy also cites peer group leaders such as Sir David Attenborough travelling the world making natural history films in his nineties Dame Judi Dench and David Hockney both still working in their eighties, and of course Her Majesty the Queen. Whether you choose to follow some of the advice or all, this is the perfect guide for living a more fulfilled, healthy and joyful life. To watch the filming of the recording, please click here