death festival

[Audio] OneTrackMinds: the song that made me write a book about death

How honoured was I when filmmaker Kristian Brodie, one of the geniuses behind Next Goal Wins, asked me to perform in the very first OneTrackMinds? Very, that's how.

OneTrackMinds is one of those nights that should, and hopefully will, become a London institution. Six guests - writers, comedians, musicians - get up and talk about the song that changed their life, and then we listen to the track. It took place at the stunning East London venue, Wilton's Music Hall (it's incredible – if you haven't been, you must go. Seriously, go and listen to someone read the ingredients on a pack of biscuits if it's showing there.) 

I stole this image from the OTM website because it was too pretty not to, Your Honour.

I stole this image from the OTM website because it was too pretty not to, Your Honour.

I spoke about how a song helped me move from being a bereaved agoraphobe to someone who is travelling the world attending death festivals, writing a book and presenting a documentary.

Enjoy the terror in my voice in the moment I realise I'm attempting to tell hundreds of strangers a funny story about a dead body.

With Halloween right around the corner, journalist Erica Buist shares a story about how a particular song helped her come to terms with the unexpected and sudden loss of her father-in-law.

Death On the Fringe - Dr Phil Hammond: "We're all slowly returning to room temperature"

Death On the Fringe - Dr Phil Hammond: "We're all slowly returning to room temperature"

"If we don’t kill ourselves, generally we are going to die of cancer, heart disease or stroke. Those are the normal ways of dying." Well, I guess we're all friends here now - so which would Dr Phil go for, given the choice?