BBC News • 15th March 2025

Young men are in crisis due to fatherlessness

Harley Watson was on a path to what he calls a "gangster" life.

The 17-year-old, from Clacton, in Essex, was a "lost and troubled kid", having grown up without a dad.

"I was behaving very badly in school and, if I'd carried on, I would almost certainly have been excluded."

BBC News • 16th February 2025

'We risked everything selling our home to travel'

A couple who "risked it all" by quitting their jobs and selling their home to travel the world with their three children said the adventure had saved them as a family. Chris and Tamira Hutchinson were "living from pay cheque to pay cheque" and barely spent any time together at home in Corby, Northamptonshire.They sold their three-bedroom house almost two years ago and drove straight to the airport to start their new life with their three daughters, Olivia, 10, Scarlett, eight, and Bella, four."As...

BBC News • 4th January 2025

'I knew if I died I'd have a million regrets'

Georgie Swallow spent her teenage years feeling insecure about her appearance.Growing up in Iver, Buckinghamshire, she says she wasted so much time trying to lose weight.At the age of 26 she was diagnosed with cancer, which went away but then came back.Now aged 32, her perspective on life has changed and she is sharing her adventures on social media.Here, in her own words, she explains why she wants people to say 'yes' to life.

Georgie Swallow spent her teenage years feeling insecure about her...

BBC News • 30th December 2024

'My autistic sons have taught me so much'

James Hunt used to spend his days commuting to London, where he ran a successful marketing firm. But his children Jude and Tommy were diagnosed as autistic when they were toddlers, and he later decided to care for them and his parents full-time.

BBC News • 28th December 2024

Trichotillomania: 'I couldn't stop pulling out my eyelashes'

Four years ago, Isobel Perl was living with friends in London and thriving. She was working for a big accountancy firm and had a busy social life. Then the pandemic hit and she lost her job. Aged 25, she had to move back in with her parents in Watford.She decided to start a skincare brand, despite knowing nothing about the industry. It was a big success until one wrong business decision, which triggered her trichotillomania.

BBC News • 27th December 2024

'My house was out of control and I felt ashamed'

Kirstie knew it was time to ask for help, but she was scared. "I was so embarrassed," she says. The mother-of-three's house in Ipswich had got out of control after a traumatic event left her bedbound.

BBC News • 22nd December 2024

'My sons used to get so many presents but not now'

Catherine seemed to have the perfect life, as a mum with two young boys and a job she loved, managing a bank. But behind closed doors, she was suffering at the hands of her partner.

BBC News • 14th July 2024

'I stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan - blind running saved my life'

Wali Noori was working as an interpreter for the British Army in Afghanistan in 2009 when he stepped on an explosive device. The blast left him completely blind at the age of 20. Growing up, he loved running in the mountains of Kabul but Wali thought he would never be able to run again. Here, in his own words, he explains how moving to the UK changed his life and his determination to never give in.

BBC News • 17th June 2024

'I started drinking aged 11 and couldn't stop'

Chloe Ward had her first drink at age 11 and alcohol dominated her life for the next decade. She was kicked out of home in Royston, Hertfordshire and ended up living in a car. Two years ago, the now 23-year-old moved to Emmaus Norfolk and Waveney, a former convent where she lives and works with 30 other people who were also previously homeless.

BBC News • 23rd April 2024

The London Marathon runners proud to be last

Fred Tomlinson says Sunday's London Marathon, his 32nd in a row, was his best one yet, despite the fact he came last and crossed the line on Monday.

BBC News • 7th April 2024

'Losing my legs changed my life for the better'

I think to myself, "you're not taking this away from me too". I channel that anger into making me run faster. He only served 13 months in prison and has never shown any real remorse, but I try not to think about him apart from that. It's a waste of energy and I try my best to stay positive.

Before the marathon, I decided to climb Snowdon and I scrambled up using my hands. When I got to the top, I had a cry and let all the emotion out. When I got to the bottom,

BBC News • 1st April 2024

'We bought a zoo and our lives turned upside down'

It hadn't stopped raining all week, it was freezing cold, and we thought people would wait for the better weather. But they didn't. They all turned up at the same time and we had 500 people queuing to get in first thing. We filled up our car park and the local roundabouts and the road that gets you to the zoo. We held up all of the buses and we upset the council and other local businesses.

BBC News • 31st March 2024

'I was mutilated at 16 but I won't let it define me'

I felt betrayed by my grandmother. She was the only person I loved and she had let this happen to me. I was made to lay down on the floor for a couple of hours for my bleeding to stop. I would have taken my own life if I had been left alone. After two days of being in that house, my grandmother took me to where she lived and I stayed there for some time, experiencing infections and multiple health concerns because of the cutting.

At the end of the

BBC News • 31st March 2024

'Finding out I was autistic saved my life'

When I was 13, I had my first panic attack on a school trip. This was the start of panic consuming me. I had been anxious for a while, but until this point, I had done a good job of hiding it. I had tried so hard to fit in, pretending to be like everyone else, but my brain couldn't do it anymore. Almost overnight I changed from a child who teachers loved having in the classroom, to a child teachers had to battle with just to sit in class.

BBC News • 8th January 2024

Izzy Judd: 'Music let my brother in a coma connect with us'

"As a child he had this extraordinary gift, and that still lives on. If there was going to be anything that would allow him to connect with us, it would be music. It is in his bones, it pours out of him and it has ever since he was a little boy."

BBC News • 1st January 2024

'I was a gambling addict who stole £1.3m and went to prison'

'I spent my way through all the money we had'

I was chasing losses which you know you shouldn't do. But when you're in that moment, you do it anyway. That was around 2007. My family then became aware of the problem. My partner and I were buying our first home but I had gambled away the deposit. My parents helped me and I promised never to gamble again. I went seven years from then without having a bet, not even buying a lottery ticket.

By now I was betting on anything that I could, from the nu

BBC News • 31st December 2023

Vogue model Ellie Goldstein: 'Doctors said I wouldn't walk or talk'

Ellie recently bought her own home with the proceeds from her modelling but we don't know if she will ever be able to live alone. We are living alongside her for now, though we have kept our family home, and we are trying to encourage her to be more independent but she is still very vulnerable.

When I did the Vogue shoot, I didn't know if my photo was going to be on the cover. My favourite teachers were there when I found out, I was at college, and I was crying and screaming. My friends said "w

BBC News • 28th December 2023

Heartstopper's Bel Priestley: 'I want to be a role model for other trans people'

'I have been bullied my whole life'

'I couldn't find anyone similar to me online'

'I want to play roles that get people talking'

Filming Heartstopper was one of the best experiences of my life. I feel so beyond lucky. I would like to have surgery one day to complete my transition, but I'm not in a rush. It is a huge operation and I am lucky in that I don't feel incredibly dysphoric - I can accept and live with my body as it is for now. For a lot of people, the surgery is the starting point fo

BBC News • 27th December 2023

Grace Millane's mother wants to 'make the world a better place'

Gillian Millane is throwing herself into charity work, five years after her daughter's murder.

BBC News • 24th December 2023

Kidney donation: 'Giving a stranger this gift has changed my life'

'I was wondering if you'd like one of my kidneys'

BBC News • 17th October 2023

'I dropped out of school but now I'm at Cambridge'

The values my mum has taught me are that you need to push yourself and just do it and she convinced me to apply to Cambridge. When I told her I had got in she cried.

BBC News • 21st September 2023

'I'm praying interest rates have peaked now'

Interest rates have been held at 5.25% by the Bank of England, after 14 consecutive rises. But they are still at their highest for 15 years. How are homeowners coping?

BBC News • 10th September 2023

How Essex found itself at the heart of the school concrete crisis

Why is Essex so badly affected by the concrete crisis?

BBC News • 23rd July 2023

Charlie Mackesy: 'I was hiding in the toilet before I won my Oscar'

"I was overwhelmed. I would get letters from school children, from prisons and from doctors and nurses who are just so brave and they said the book was helping them through the pandemic. I keep them all in a file. I still look at them at night. Book sales are not important to me, but these letters mean everything."

"I had someone come up to me and say, 'I just want you to know that I decided to stay, I'm still here today because of this book'. Someone else told me I have given people licence to