And. There. They. Go!
The 1% Club Podcast is now officially live!
You can hear all our episodes so far here, or in the players at the bottom of the blog.
You can also watch all the video clips from our shows here
If you know nothing about it, here’s a very quick low-down.
It’s hosted by Neil Fachie MBE and John Mellis (DJ!)
The aim of the podcast is to chat with a number of high achieving individuals from all walks of life, and after those chats, attempt to identify similar characteristics, habits, techniques or behaviours in our interviewees which we then hope to group together as being pivotal in their success.
When we distill those down, we plan to be able to present the ultimate toolbox we can all try to use and implement in our own lives, bringing us all collectively closer to that elite level.
There’s a secondary aspect to our podcast too. We want to find out if our guests believe their success is entirely of their own making or if they think they were born lucky, or got a break. Something that intervened in their journey which catapulted them to where they are now, that in essence was nothing at all to do with their application and by any other terms would be identified simply as good fortune or destiny.
In Season 1 we meet six guests in total, all from largely different worlds.
Episodes 1, 2 and 3 were released simultaneously, yesterday, and you can listen or watch any time you like.
Episode 1, starred Neil Fachie (before he swaps roles for life on the other side of the desk and starts asking the questions of our guests).
Neil takes us from his earliest memory of sport, through his younger years as a sprinter, to the Beijing Paralympics in 2008 where he finished 9th in both his heats for the 100 and 200 metres.
That did nothing to diminish his falling hopelessly in love with the entire Games experience and vibrancy of his time there mixing with para-athletes from all over the globe.
Neil returned home determined to improve upon the form which had got him to Beijing as essentially ‘the last man on the plane’, in order to make sure he was there again for London 2012. Then this happened.
The real story is how Neil bounced back from that, changed sport and went on to have the career he enjoys now, where he’s about to race for Gold in the Tokyo Paralympics in the Men’s B 1000m Time Trial Final in the early hours of Saturday morning, our time. (If on schedule, sometime between 2 and 5 am!)
Yikes! Well, he’s been training for 4 years. I suppose we owe him an early morning. Whether we’re there or not, he’s feeling pretty confident about it.
Here’s the full running order for Neil’s Episode.
4:55Neil Fachie On……His Earliest Memory Of Sport
6:42Neil Fachie On……His Eyesight
14:09Neil Fachie On……The University Of Aberdeen Years
16:10Neil Fachie On……Being Selected For The Beijing Paralympics In 2008
19:32Neil Fachie On……The Crushing Disappointment On Returning Home From The Beijing Paralympics
24:44Neil Fachie On……Trying Out As A Cyclist
29:43Neil Fachie On……His Cycling Partners
31:55Neil Fachie On……The Revolution Which Has Taken Place In British Cycling
34:50Neil Fachie On……The Devastation Of Winning Silver In Rio.
38:12Neil Fachie On……How He Battles The Monotony Of Training
41:23Neil Fachie On……Enjoying His Cycling More Again Now.
43:31Neil Fachie On……His Current Form Heading Into The Tokyo Paralympics
44:59Neil Fachie On……Whether Or Not He Knows If He’s Breaking World Records In Training Sessions
47:23Neil Fachie On……Tricking His Mind Into A Winning Mentality, And How He Feels On The Starting Line.
49:40Neil Fachie About……His Wife Lora
53:14Neil Fachie On……His Business
56:18Neil Fachie On……The Prospect Of Retirement
59:09Neil Fachie On……What Future Success For Him Would Look Like
1:00:40Neil Fachie On……His Toolbox For Success
1:02:21Neil Fachie Poses A Question For……Our Next Guest, Dame Evelyn Glennie
In Episode 2, Neil got his chance to ask the questions of our ‘first guest proper’, Dame Evelyn Glennie.
Evelyn took us all the way back to the idyllic setting of her life on a farm near Methlick, where she picked up the value and understanding of hard work from an early age.
Upon reaching secondary school, and now profoundly deaf, Evelyn was fortunate at the time to be mainstream educated, after campaigning very strongly for that to be the case. When she arrived at Ellon Academy, her music teacher worked with her to adapt to a new world of sound.
An incredibly driven person, Evelyn left school at the age of 16 to study music full time in London, and in the player at the bottom of the blog, you can hear her full story in Episode 2 of The 1% Club Podcast.
Something else we introduced in Episode 2 was the idea of our guest being asked a question by the previous guest, and, in turn leaving a question for the following person in the hot seat. In Evelyn’s instance, that question was posed by Neil.
And Evelyn left a question for our next guest, Grant Stott, which you can hear in either Evelyn’s story or Grant’s full episode. Both are at the bottom of the blog.
2:51Evelyn Glennie On……The Big Debate. Is High Achievement Down To Hard Work, Or Destiny?
6:29Evelyn Glennie On……Working Hard From A Young Age
9:42Evelyn Glennie On……The Encouragement Of Her Parents
12:29Evelyn Glennie On……Losing Her Hearing
15:57Evelyn Glennie On……The Importance Of Her Mainstream Education
19:08Evelyn Glennie On……Learning To Interpret Sound Differently
23:26Evelyn Glennie On……Moving To London, Aged 16, To Study Music
28:01Evelyn Glennie On……Her Lifelong Love Of Learning
31:33Evelyn Glennie On……Creating The Role Of Solo Percussionist
35:40Evelyn Glennie On……Transitioning From Solo Percussionist To Performing With An Orchestra
38:55Evelyn Glennie On……Her Purpose
44:14Evelyn Glennie On……Her Drive
48:33Evelyn Glennie On……Whether The Way She Listens Means She Can Identify Accents
50:14Evelyn Glennie On……Reviews
52:55Evelyn Glennie On……Choosing The Music For Her Podcast
55:06Evelyn Glennie On……Her Toolbox For Success
58:11Evelyn Glennie Answers ……Our Previous Guest, Neil Fachie’s Question – Do You Think There Are Any Skills You’ve Learned As A Result Of Your Disability?
1:01:00Evelyn Glennie Asks……A Question Of Our Next Guest, Grant Stott
Grant is a radio and television presenter, panto regular and now, finally, realising the dream he had all along of becoming an actor. But no journey is complete without a few bumps in the road.
For as long as I live, and blog, I will try to find a halfway decent reason for including this photo in every one I write.
Eventually, Grant got into DJing on Radio Forth, and then TV, and panto at the King’s Theatre in Glasgow, and then Edinburgh where he settled into regular festive appearances alongside Allan Stewart and the man who was to become his great pal, Andy Gray.
The two forged a friendship relished by each which took them onto starring in plays at the Fringe and around Scotland.
When Andy received his cancer diagnosis the pair were on the eve of a run for a new play at The Fringe which in the end never saw the light of day.
Andy missed panto that year too as he battled his condition, and although emerging victorious from that, contracted Covid not long after, and passed away earlier this year.
Now, as the curtain rises again for Sleeping Beauty at the King’s Edinburgh, Grant says, they’ll simply find a way for the show to go on…..not that it’ll be easy.
But listen, if you know Grant at all, you’ll understand his podcast episode is packed with laughs despite the few tears, and again, the full episode is available now on Apple, or wherever you get your podcasts. You can even click on the episode in the player below.
Here’s the full running order for Grant’s Episode.
4:24Grant Stott On……High Achievement – Nature V Nurture
6:16Grant Stott On……His Showbiz Background
9:03Grant Stott On……The Start Of His Showbiz Journey
11:31Grant Stott On……His 4 Year Police Career
12:12Grant Stott On……His Preferred Job Now
15:12Grant Stott On……Getting His Game Face On
22:29Grant Stott On……His First Paid Acting Gig
28:41Grant Stott On……Nerves
32:19Grant Stott On……His Great Panto Influences
38:26Grant Stott On……Andy Gray
45:58Grant Stott On……Panto This Year……Without Andy
52:58Grant Stott On……THAT SONG!
1:01:34Grant Stott On……Whether He Could Follow Up THAT SONG
1:03:28Grant Stott On……If He’d Be Successful If He Was Starting Out Now
1:06:42Grant Stott On……Grant Stott – The Book
1:09:30Grant Stott On……What Motivates Him
1:13:24Grant Stott On……What’s In His Toolbox For Success
1:15:49Grant Stott Answers Dame Evelyn Glennie’s Question
1:19:20Grant Stott Poses A Question For Our Next Guest, Daniel Priestley
So now Episodes 1, 2 and 3 are out, we thought we’d let you binge on those for the majority of the week, before hopefully cheering Neil onto victory this weekend, and before the week is out, I’ll tell you more about our next guest too.
Get ready for Daniel Priestley.
The 1% Club Podcast 