Gyles Brandreth shares the best advice he’s learned in life

There’s no denying that Gyles Brandreth has led an interesting, emotional and colourful life – and loves nothing more than regaling a captive audience with a tale (or three!). And the legendary broadcaster was on great form as he sat down with Lorraine Kelly for the latest episode of Saga’s podcast Experience is Everything.

Dressed in one of his trademark “jolly jumpers" – this time Winnie the Pooh – Gyles, 78, was his usual chatty self as he talked about about his relationship with the royal family, being a grandfather and why marrying his wife Michèle was his greatest ever decision, even though he has regrets about the wedding day itself.

“We wanted to get married because we were going to have children and we thought we need to get married to have children,” he says. “Our idea was to do it quietly and in my head we had permission to do this. Because my parents had got married secretly so that gave us the freedom to do it.

“I feel slightly guilty now, and I think Michèle does too, that we didn’t give our parents maybe the pleasure and the satisfaction of having the wedding. We just wanted to do it for ourselves. And we didn’t tell anybody until we were going to have our first child.”

In the episode Gyles also speaks about how he recovered from losing his seat as a Conservative MP during the 1997 election and how Michele got him through that tough time.

“The first thing I did was listen to my wife,” he reveals. “Actually, those are the four most important words in the English language: listen to your wife.”

Prefer to listen?

Listen to Gyles Brandreth’s episode with Lorraine Kelly, or catch up on more episodes of Saga’s Experience is Everything podcast.

Video by: Kate Randall

Kate Randall is Saga Magazine's Digital News Editor. Kate has more than 20 years experience in print and digital journalism and specialises in news, entertainment and lifestyle.
In her spare time, she loves trying out the latest exercise trends and fitting in as many holidays as she can.

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