The Giant Pod with Andy Wrintmore

The Giant Pod is back!To kick off season 4 we have a very exciting guest, none other than presenting royalty James Threlfall MBE! Andy & James have a wide ranging conversation, covering how James got his MBE, his radio work for the BBC, skateboarding, formula 1, the Ultimate Party Podcast, and more. TGP will be going back to its weekly schedule for the next 20 weeks, so subscribe, tell your friends, and get in touch if you feel so inclined.

The Giant Pod Season 4 is coming very soon, but before it does, here's a special christmas episode to keep you and your family entertained in this most festive period. Former TGP guests Chris Bailey, Eleanor Talbot, James Porter and Sarah Wingrove join Andy at The Loft Bar on 23 Bath Street for some delicious Lilley's cider, quality street, and great great chat. The gang recap the events of 2022, discuss favourite holiday films, worst christmas clangers, best gifts and all that good jazz.

Join us for another Giant Pod Special!Andy caught up with Dom Palmer from Burrito Boi in Frome to get the story on the humble, homemade, DIY lockdown beginnings, to their hugely successful restaurant and beyond! Join Andy and Dom in the kitchen talking business, food, stepping out of your comfort zone, franchises, branding, social media hype and watch (or listen) as the boys try and tackle constructing a giant burrito! Will it all go south or will they change the game?BURRITO BOI INSTAGRAM

Joining Andy on the podcast this week is Martin Barstow; Professor of Astrophysics and Space Science at the university of Leicester, former President of the Royal Astronomical Society, chair of the UK Space Agency Science Programme Advisory Committee AND Space Telescope Institute Council. We discuss his involvement in the historic construction and launch of the James Webb Space Telescope which will succeed the legendary Hubble telescope and capture images from deeper within our universe than ever before. We talk about a range of subjects aside from this including alien life, colonising Mars, space junk and debris, the billionaire space race, Einsteins two theories of relativity, dark energy, quasars and more.JWST ArticleMartin Barstow BBC Sputnik Segment

Joining Andy this week is behavioural coach Jayne Lewis. After sharing a producer in Harry Williams for the past year with their respective podcasts Jayne and Andy finally sit down to discuss ‘Leadership Behaviours Unpacked’, Jayne's popular business-oriented podcast. They talk about Jayne's background in various corporate environments - both good and bad - and talk about the psychological tools and ideas behind behavioural coaching and all the different philosophies or schools of thought you can apply. A fascinating conversation awaits, the energy and enthusiasm brought to the table in this by Jayne is certainly matched by Andy here.

This week Andy is joined by prize winning writer and novelist Nikki Copleston, author of “The Price Of Silence” “A Saintly Grave Disturbed” “The Shame Of Innocence” and “The Promise Of Salvation” - Four volumes chronicling the grizzly career of Detective Inspector Jeff Lincoln, a somewhat mysterious character with tragedy and heartbreak in his past. A great conversation all round with the stories of two real life murders that inspired her first book, the importance of geography in the narrative, life as a librarian, delusions of grandeur and more. A fine podcast with a boundlessly interesting and articulate guest

THIS EPISODE IS AVAILABLE IN VIDEO ON YOUTUBE Joining Andy this week is hiker, wild swimmer, and outdoor adventurer Alice Keegan. Andy and Alice track her origin story from climbing the greasy pole in London in both advertising and as a graphic designer in the music industry, before her dissatisfaction with that life led her out of the city and connected to the great outdoors. Since then, Alice has developed a large instagram following sharing both photos and practical advice to encourage others to get out and do more in nature. A great conversation, and not a podcast to be missed.

Joining Andy this week is Richard Churchyard, owner of Raves From The Grave - one of the UK’s longest running independent record stores - in this episode Andy finds out the origins of the Raves store, its history of various sister stores and how the business has weathered the decline in popularity of physical music and film media and its resurgence due to the ‘Vinyl revival’. Richard also talks about his new found love of amateur dramatics, mammoth charity walks and also shares how he doesn’t find himself bringing half of the gargantuan Raves stock room home. Andy also shares a not a story about a not so pleasant encounter with Tom Robinson. An all round great chat centred around the love of all things music and record collecting.

Joing Andy this week is Emily Howis who details her story of motherhood to the inspirational Clover. Clover was born with a rare form of epilepsy and other neurological conditions that have proved extremely troubling during her life. With the help of cannabis products, Clovers quality of life has improved drastically. In this pod Andy and Emily dive into some of the science behind this and explore Clover’s conditions, how therapy allowed Emily to connect to Clover on a deeper maternal level, fighting for medication at 10 Downing Street and much more. Some trigger warnings apply.CANNABIS BASED TREATMENTSCLOVER BEAR AND HER MAGIC BRAIN RACING FOR CLOVER 2022 FUNDRAISER SOCIALS:Andy's Instagram: @andy_tgpPodcast Instagram: @thegiantpod