This episode of Gobsmacked features Tony Deas, a very popular fellow indeed and a proper Leamington Spa legend, known for his big personality, big energy and big presence. So much so, a snap of the dear chap himself in a pink hoodie went viral. That’s Tony.

But what happens in the quieter moments? This conversation gets into loneliness and vulnerability when you’re the strong one for everyone else, the cheer-maker, the entertainer, whether that’s hospitality, personal training or just everyday life. And then it shifts. Tony talks openly about being floored by a cancer diagnosis, what that does to your head, the fear, the recalibration when life suddenly isn’t playing by the same rules. We also get into love, and the courage it takes to stay open to it, to choose vulnerability over safety, which sounds lovely until you actually have to do it.

It’s a pacey, romping listen that moves between laughter, wisdom and real life, much like the man himself.

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There are nights in life that divide everything into two halves.

Who you were before. And who you become afterwards.

Greg Weston knows that feeling better than most.

One evening out with friends ended in a moment that changed everything. His head struck a kerbstone. What followed was catastrophic. Greg was taken to hospital and very quickly slipped into a coma. At one point he was not expected to wake up.

This episode tells the story of what happened next.

Greg’s long and stubborn climb back from the brink. From the frightening prospect of a vegetative state to the slow work of learning again. Moving again. Speaking again.

And along the way, life had another surprise in store.

Greg found love.

The woman he now shares his life with carries her own story of a life altered in a single moment, giving them a rare understanding of just how suddenly everything can change.

And at the centre of this story sits one mighty man who connects our paths. The late Matt Gallagher.

Matt faced Motor Neurone Disease with a warrior spirit that left a mark on everyone who knew him. His courage and humour brought Greg and I into each other’s orbit.

This conversation reflects on friendship, love, and the strange truth that sometimes the worst night of your life becomes the moment that reshapes everything.

Greg Weston is a man who will not stay down.

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When an interview begins with a gobsmacked moment, about needing to retreat to a “breakout room” to absorb the shocking news that your best friend is missing and her estranged husband is being arrested for murder, you know you are in for a gripping listen.

As Gobsmacked!, the podcast, celebrates its fourth year, nearly 60 episodes, and listeners in 128 countries, we bring you an episode that sits right at the heart of what this podcast is here to do.

We are proud to welcome Hetti Barkworth-Nanton.

Hetti is Co-Founder of the Joanna Simpson Foundation, Chair of Trustees at Refuge, a Pride of Britain Awards winner, and a CBE recipient for her work supporting people affected by domestic abuse and homicide. It is a formidable public record, earned in the hardest way imaginable.

She walked into the podcast studio with an extraordinary résumé. What follows is not a polished tour of achievements. It is a real conversation about as real as it gets. About what it takes to fight for justice without being absolutely destroyed in the process.

Hetti embodies what Gobsmacked! exists to amplify. She has created platforms for people who are overlooked, underrepresented, or treated unfairly by life, and she does so without platitudes, performance, or looking away. A must listen.

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