The Watchword Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Adam Hugill spent 18 months riding his bike 20,000km through Asia and North America having been in the Army before that. When he returned he found it difficult to re-adjust to normal life and starting out on a new career. In this episode he talks us through how how he made that adjustment, the role cold water has played for him, the importance of finding a community you relate to and the five key lessons from his bike trip around the world.

Krishna Thapa grew up in mountains of Nepal, he applied to join the British Army's Royal Gurkha Rifles as a teenager and was successful. He spent 7 years in the Gurkhas before attempting SAS selection, becoming one of the first two Gurkhas to ever join the Regiment. Krishna spent 17 years in the SAS, deploying overseas 12 times. During one of his first deployments a team mate was killed right in front of him, a moment which he admits led to some dark times. He found sanctury in the Buddhist teachings of his childhood. He is now a mountaineer who has climed Everest several times and recently helped the first double above the knee amputee to summit the mountain. We talk about his journey and spiritual outlook, with the assistance of Magnus the dog.

Scott started life as a talented all round sportsman without a particular plan. He followed his passion and studied Sports & Sports Science in great detail, eventually gaining a PHD and a PGCE.

As Scott explains, he didn’t have a plan, he kept studying because he was passionate about sport and performance.

People often say that we should follow our passions in life, whilst this is certainly true, it can be difficult to achieve when real life or pragmatism gets in the way, or perhaps you’ve never been told to follow your passion. As Scott says, he was lucky, the beginning of his career coincided with a revolution in UK Sport investment and development, he went on to spend 10 years with UK Sport working on the Olympic programme, two years at the English Rugby Football Union, three years at team Sky Cycling Performance Hub and he is now two years into his tenure as Director of Sport at Millfield School.

You can now listen to this episode and all other episodes of the podcast via our website which is https://thewatchword.co.uk, we are pleased with it, I made it with the assistance of my friend and guest number two on the podcast Paul Mather. We will be building it out further with more content over time, but for now it has every episode, a short biography of each guest and information on how and why the podcast started. So you can now listen to every episode via the website https://thewatchword.co.uk – all the links to Apple podcasts, Spotify, Google podcasts and Anchor are there already.  Send us a message through the site if you have any feedback or ideas.

Marianna is an anthropologist who started her career in Marketing, she has forged a unique path combining the two disciplines leading her to her current role with Rainmaking Venture Studio.

So why anthropology? Well it’s largely because I came across Marianna's work which puts a modern spin on something that we automatically think of as ancient or traditional. The world of work fascinates me, the people, the environment, the dynamics, we are going through the latest iteration of human evolution and doing so through the internet, market trends, capitalism and COVID.

The dictionary defines anthropology as:

the study of human societies and cultures and their development.

And/or the study of human biological and physiological characteristics and their evolution.

Rainmaking Venture Studio partners with corporations to build startups to meet evolving consumer demands. It is a fascinating organisation and in Mariannas own words, she had no idea that the job she is doing now would exist two years ago.

It was great to talk to Mariannia, you can find her on LinkedIn and please do follow the podcast on Instagram, Facebook or LinkedIn.

Sean changed tack from having a normal job to breaking endurance world records and writing books for a living. In this episode he tells us how.

When he was young Sean had an ambition to travel the world working as a photographer, he didn’t quite achieve his aim, and after 10 years and reaching the age of 30, he was working in the UK and specialising in school portraits. Whilst he was doing well professionally, there was something missing.

Sean made a huge career change, whilst trying to work out how to fund a life of travel, he decided he needed to break world records in order to get sponsored.

He set his sights on achieving a world’s first, worlds furthest and world’s fastest in various disciplines.

Worlds first – swam the length of Britain, World’s furthest – longest triathlon, world’s fastest – cycling across Europe from Portugal’s most westerly point in Portugal to the most easterly point in Russia.

This is a fantastic story about pursuing passion.

You can find out more about Sean via his website www.seanconway.com or via Instagram -https://www.instagram.com/seanconwayadventure

Please also do follow the podcast on Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/WatchwordPodcast

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/watchwordpodcast

or LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/65261174

Look out for the Watchword website which is coming soon!

* This episode contains detailed explanations of improvised explosive device detonation and the associated impact. 

Kim joined the Army aged 16, he became an Ammunition Technician and then Bomb Disposal Operator.

He completed 10 operational tours during his career including three tours of Afghanistan. During his first tour of Afghanistan he neutralised 119 IEDs in six months and was awarded the George Cross for his actions on a particular day in Sangin. His actions that day were described as "the single most outstanding act of explosive ordnance disposal ever recorded in Afghanistan."

Kim left the Army just over a week ago and now runs Threat Reduction Limited, which provides a number of services but at the moment, during COVID, he has been producing bespoke carpentry in his workshop, you can see more at https://www.instagram.com/threat_reduction_ltd

Kim has written several books, the first of which was his autobiography ‘Painting in the Sand’ which is available on Amazon and other good bookstores. Look out for his other upcoming books Operation BLACK KEY and Operation CERTAIN DEATH.

You can find us on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/watchwordpodcast & LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/showcase/65261174

Kev spent most of his career working on the River Thames in a job with 400 years of history behind it. Watermen used to row the passengers to and from tall ships moored up in London and whilst the role has evolved the traditional skills of rope work, boat handling, navigation and knowing the tides are still required. Kev’s passion for the outdoors led to an encounter with one of the best-known adventurers in the UK and Skyrise Productions was born. The following years have included trips all over the world filming adventures, including Sean Conway’s world record speed cycling trip from Europe’s most westerly mainland point in Portugal to the most easterly in Russia.

This is a story about pursuing passion, perseverance and creativity.

You can keep up with Skyrise Productions at skyrise_ productions on Instagram or at their website skyriseproductions.co.uk
You can also find the Watchword Podcast on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook.

Lulu is the sole founder of Clothes Doctor, a business she started in 2016 having made the leap from a successful career in the city of London.

We talk about the learning curve involved in starting a new business from scratch, the challenges of being a sole founder, fund raising via crowd funding platforms, how she plans on reinventing clothing repairs, the impact fast fashion is having on the planet and how she has had to pivot the business in 2020. A true start up story.

You can keep up with Lulu and her business via their website www.clothes-doctor.com or find them on Instagram.

Nick is the Director and Head Chef of The Patricia, the restaurant he founded in 2016 having worked at the Michelin starred River Café in London before that.

Nick talks us through how he became a chef, running his first pub and subsequent experience at top restaurants in London.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story for a number of reasons, but ultimately because it is one driven by Nick’s urge to start his own venture, his willingness to take risk when he was lacking the finances and his desire to follow his passion. Finally, it is a great story because it was enabled by his grandmother, Patricia, who he named the restaurant after.

Nick and his team have had to evolve to thrive during the COVID pandemic, a testament to the team and Nick’s ability as an entrepreneur.

You can find the The Patrica on Instagram, Facebook and at www.the-patrica.com

Also please do give the Watchword podcast a review!

Danny is the technology correspondent for The Sunday Times newspaper. He has worked at the paper since 2008 and launched his podcast 'Danny in the Valley in 2017', it is one of the best podcasts out there, highly recommend it if you are interested in technology, the world of silicon valley and even the future of humanity, because sometimes it gets pretty deep, as Danny explains.

In this episode we talk about how he got into journalism, the current situation with Tik Tok vs the US government, the impact social media is having on society, politics and children, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musks' shared objective of colonising outer space and Mark Zuckerberg announcing his plan to eradicate all disease.

Hope you enjoy the podcast and as ever find us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram @ The Watchword Podcast.