Movers and Shakers - a Parkinson’s podcast

Like many an idea, good or bad, it was born in a pub. Over the last 18 months a group of us with Parkinson’s have been meeting in the Ladbroke Arms in London’s Notting Hill Gate and now we are launching a podcast. It is called Movers and Shakers and in those familiar words it is available wherever you get your podcasts.

The Movers and Shakers

Five out of the six cast members have a media background but it is the sixth, a High Court judge, who has been the driving force behind this venture. I met Sir Nick Mostyn after the BBC broadcaster Ed Stourton called me up and asked me to have a chat with his oldest friend who had just been diagnosed with Parkinson’s.

After a few meetings the judge, an ebullient character who seems to know everyone (as Britain’s top divorce lawyer he represented Sir Paul McCartney), asked whether he could bring along Jeremy Paxman. Soon after, the Vicar of Dibley writer Paul Mayhew-Archer joined us, followed by the former BBC radio presenter Mark Mardell and last but very much not least, Gillian Lacey-Solymar.

I worked with Gillian nearly thirty years ago on an excellent programme called Working Lunch and as well as reporting for the BBC, she has been a management consultant and now runs a successful events business. She’s also the youngest of us and probably the worst affected, having been diagnosed with Parkinson’s at the age of 48.

From quite early on at the monthly meetings of what we refer to as our support bubble, His Eminence Judge Mostyn (I think I’ve got that right) started banging on about us doing a podcast. Many of us were dubious - Jeremy at first treated Nick’s suggestion like some fearfully stupid answer from a University Challenge contestant - but by sheer force of personality he won us round.

And not just us - the Lord Chief Justice had to give permission for a serving judge (he retires in the summer) to appear in a podcast.

We are recording the series in the pub, trying to recapture the spirit of our conversations - plenty of jokes, plenty of moans and a lot of shared information about Parkinson’s and how it’s affecting us and those who care for us. Each episode will cover a different theme - how we coped with the diagnosis, the world of work and how easy it is to tell your employer you have a degenerative condition, the research into potential cures, the role exercise and diet can play in helping cope with Parkinson’s.

We recognise that we are a very privileged group, with the resources and the sharp elbows to make sure we get good treatment. So we will invite guests onto the show to give broader perspectives and to help us understand the state of research into potential cures or the viewpoint of people with young onset Parkinson’s.

It will at times be a combative discussion. Jeremy acts as chief gloomster - “the drugs don’t work!”- whereas Paul is relentlessly optimistic, telling us that Parkinson’s has given him the confidence to take to the stage again, after years behind the scenes.

The aim of the podcast is to educate and inform but most of all to entertain. There are an estimated 145,000 people with Parkinson’s in the UK and we hope to reach not just them but their relatives and carers, and anyone who wants to hear five grumpy old men and one wise woman reflect on what they have learned from confronting illness.

So please subscribe to the podcast, follow our Twitter account @moversand6 and email us with any ideas or comments at feedback@moversandshakerspodcast.com.