20 Questions With

I’m Matt Stadlen and for 20 years I’ve been talking to and interviewing public figures from around the world. In this series I’ll be interviewing famous names from every walk of life and with a broad range of views, politics and perspectives. Every guest will get 20 questions, and the plan is for you to have a better sense of each of them by the end of their interview.

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Episodes

20 Questions With Dom Joly

Saturday Jun 21, 2025

Saturday Jun 21, 2025

Twenty five years since the launch of Trigger Happy TV, its star and creator, Dom Joly, reflects on a career that has taken in comedy, diplomacy in Prague, journalism, a trip to North Korea, and Twitter spats. Brought up partly in Lebanon during the civil war, Joly offers insights into how he became a household name on prime time TV, his experience of anxiety and depression, why he hates extremism, and how long it's taken him to feel comfortable on stage.
 

Tuesday Jun 17, 2025

Right-leaning comedian Geoff Norcott on stand-up, being serious, talking politics, fatherhood, career trajectory, Labour's tax rises, challenging audiences, touring the country, podcasting, ageing, weight-lifting and keeping busy. 

Monday Jun 16, 2025

Senior rugby writer at The Telegraph, Charlie Morgan, shares his insights and passion for the game. From 20 year-old superstar Henry Pollock to the recently crowned Premiership champion Max Ojomoh; from muscle mass to instinct and flair under pressure; from England's prospects to the coming Lions series; from big name interviews to micro analysis, Charlie takes us behind the scenes of rugby journalism. 

Sunday Jun 08, 2025

Author, journalist and Twitter personality Otto English on social media under Musk, the Labour government, Farage, why Brexit made him so angry, why he's known as Otto English more than his real name, Andrew Scott, the myth about Dunkirk, heroes and villains from history, fake news, and his amazing children. 

Sunday May 25, 2025

Journalist and broadcaster Mehdi Hasan reflects on Islam, rising Islamophobia, antisemitism, integration, Elon Musk, why he still uses X, the politicisation as he sees it of child sexual exploitation, British politics, the Israeli government, what he describes as the genocide in Gaza, using his voice for a living, and the setting up of his online platform, Zeteo.

Sunday May 18, 2025

Award-winning Times columnist, Times Radio presenter, author, and star of The News Quiz on the BBC, Hugo Rifkind takes us behind the scenes of his working life and beyond, assesses the challenges of taking on populism, gives us his take on immigration levels, and rates Nigel Farage's chances of making it to Number 10. 

20 Questions With Simon Heffer

Thursday May 01, 2025

Thursday May 01, 2025

Sunday Telegraph columnist and author SImon Heffer discusses some of the most contentious issues in politics today - illegal immigration, welfare, the rise of Reform, the plight of the Tory Party, and Keir Starmer's Prime Ministership - and reflects on British political figures, including Enoch Powell, whose official biography he wrote. 

Tuesday Apr 15, 2025

Award-winning newspaper columnist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown dicusses immigration, integration, belonging, loyalty and social justice, and explains why, despite her contempt for the politics of Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick, she won't be voting Labour at the next election. She also reveals that she was beaten up by her brother and her uncles in Uganda - the country of her upbringing - for playing opposite a black actor in Othello, and describes her subsequent experience as an immigrant to Britain. In this deeply personal and hugely political conversation, Alibhai-Brown doesn't hold back in the setting out of her values. 

20 Questions With Dame Prue Leith

Wednesday Mar 26, 2025

Wednesday Mar 26, 2025

Prue Leith reveals her kitchen secrets, discloses how she won her Michelin star, describes the twin disasters of pouring tea for the Queen and setting the kitchen on fire while cooking for Princess Margaret, tells the story of what happened when the Beatles ate at her restaurant, announces her favourite chef, spells out why she's not a food snob, discusses finding love again in her seventies, lets us in on the secret to her happy marriage with John (now her co-star on Prue Leith's Cotswold Kitchen), takes us behind the scenes on The Great British Bakeoff, explains her support for assisted dying, and recounts the time she had breakfast with Winston Churchill. 

20 Questions With Kevin Cummins

Wednesday Mar 26, 2025

Wednesday Mar 26, 2025

The award-winning photographer on photographing Bono, navigating the Oasis feud, creating his new book, Oasis The Masterplan, with Noel Gallagher, and watching Manchester City home and away. 

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