My guest Felix Riley could be described as something of an enigma. A comedy writer, novelist, and entrepreneur, Felix, by his admission, was "angry from a young age with the injustices in the world".
Perhaps influenced by his modest working-class upbringing and an alcoholic, abusive mother who was "booted out" the family home when Felix was aged seven years old, he continues to be driven by a strong desire for fairness in society.
Writing for comedians like Rory Bremner might have seemed on the surface a great career, but it was famine and feast, and for Felix, it wasn't giving him "his mojo." So the offer of helping set up a copper mine in Zambia and negotiating with the infamous President Banda (subsequently accused of abuse of authority, corruption and the misappropriation of oil revenue) seemed like an obvious move!
Subsequently, Felix went on to build a financial betting company that he sold, fortuitously on the eve of the financial crisis. A few years later, he went on to write an acclaimed novel called The Set-Up, a high-octane thriller set against the backdrop of the US Secret Service and the £500 million bailouts of the UK banks in the banking crisis of 2008. The plot is inspired by what Felix saw as a terrible injustice.
Mixed with all that was the experience of being on life support and being told by doctors to say goodbye to his family due to a condition called muscular myopathy. Thankfully Felix survived, but it did cement an optimistic and positive attitude to life and a belief that family and close friends are the only things that matter in life.
The interview with Felix is wide-ranging as you might imagine, and in the podcast, we discuss the importance of kindness, the characteristics of determination, and persistence and how childhood fundamentally informs who we become. Finally, Felix offers some compelling advice to people who are facing challenges in their life.
Listen and share your thoughts and observations with the Turning the Tables Community on Facebook.
Episode credits;
Editor and sound engineer: Tim White email: showupnow@gmail.com
Music: Broken Elegance -Unconditionally
GhostDrifter Official - Morning Routine, The Beginning, and Above the Clouds.
