A conversation about Peter's life.

Peter grew up in Cardiff, Wales. He studied medicine first at Oxford University and then St Barts in London before leaving med school just weeks before graduation to pursue his long held passion - acting. After training at Guildhall drama school, he had a successful career, doing lots of television work in particular both in the UK and, after his big break in the tv show Highlander, in the US. He worked on numerous famous shows including 24 and CSI: Miami. In 2011 Peter returned to medical school in Vermont - having to do the whole course again despite having only missed the last few weeks in St Barts - and now he is Peter Wingfield, MD and Anesthesiologist in Cedar Sinai hospital in Los Angeles. He lives up in the hills near the Hollywood sign. I’m sure you’ll agree Peter has had a fascinating journey in his life and I really enjoyed hearing all about it.

Episode guide:

0.00 Intro

2.58 Childhood in Cardiff

6.38 Studying medicine in Oxford and St Barts

13.22 Decision to leave Med School weeks before graduation to become an actor, then starting at Guildhall

25.05 First acting job out of Guildhall. Starts working regularly in British TV. The employment insecurity all actors face

33.35 Big break. Methos in Highlander

44.18 Hollywood film sets. Behaviour of high status actors etc. Working on 24. Kiefer Sutherland going off at an actor for not bringing character to set. Peter's own behaviour being possibly a bit "Hollywood"

59.25 Transition out of acting and return to medicine

1.14.15 Going to Med School in Vermont. Why anesthesiology? Most memorable and profound moments since practising

1.32.34 Does he miss acting?

1.37.43 Post-script on the mysterious nature of anesthesiology and consciousness

1.42.26 Outro

Guest: Peter Wingfield

Host and producer: Donal Gallery 

Artwork by Anna Obert https://www.instagram.com/annaobertillustration/ 

Music by Donal Gallery 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PathsPodcast 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PathsPodcast 

Get in touch with stories of people who've lived unusual lives at pathspodcastpeople@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening

A conversation about Conor's life.

Conor was born and grew up in Dublin. After studying Business, Economics and Social Studies in Trinity College Dublin he went to Sandhurst to train as an officer in the British Army. He served in Helmand Province, Afghanistan in the winter of 2012/2013 - a Lieutenant and Police Advisory Commander - and later rose to the rank of Captain as he travelled the world conducting training exercises as a Forward Air Controller. He left the army in 2017 and after a tricky couple of years figuring out what he wanted to do and an MBA in Edinburgh, he has arrived in his current role as a Vendor Operations Manager at Google - running a team of about 500 people around the world who make sure the advertising mechanisms and metrics of google partners’ websites are working as they should.

We delve into a lot of fascinating subjects in this interview - with particular focus on Conor’s time in Afghanistan.

When so much of what we hear about the events unfolding there is filtered through the media, it was a privilege for me to have a conversation with someone who’d seen it with their own eyes. Obviously no one perspective can be definitive - and the most important perspective would have to be that of Afghan people themselves - but nevertheless I really enjoyed hearing Conor’s very honest take on what he saw and experienced.

Episode guide:

0.00 Intro

4.00 Decision to train as an officer in British army as an Irish guy.

12.00 Relationship with fear. Incident involving one of his men being injured in Helmand Province. Injured man's later success.

22.45 Military training - is it as elite as general populace thinks? His time at Sandhurst and a vivid story from a training exercise. Do soldiers grumble to commanding officers?

40.50 Afghanistan. The mission. What has happened lately is no surprise to anyone who served there. A medieval world. Insider threat. Good people who wanted change. Agrees with Biden's point on the original intent being anti-terrorist. Lost their way. Is it ever appropriate for Western powers to intervene elsewhere?

1.01.17 Conversations with Afghan people. Poppy fields. Don't stand down wind of burning hash fields. The women of Afghanistan. Brief mention of the darkness involving children.

1.08.22 Post-Afghanistan life in the military. Forward Air Controller. Most fun he had in military. The strange phenomenon of military operatives feeling like they're in a video game. Adventure. His awkward moment of being an Irishman in the British army. Pisstakings - Captain Potato. Thoughts on UK and Ireland.

1.24.30 Decides to leave military. Trying to figure out what to do. Brexit made up his mind to leave UK. Tries out finance, not his cup of tea. MBA in Edinburgh. Opts against a career involving Saudi weaponry that's a little too evil. Gets job at Google.

1.31.15 Describes job at Google. Did being a former army officer make him shit hot at his job? Taking a leading role in preparing his teams to work from home around the world. Company culture. His thoughts on the controversial aspects of Google. Data etc.

1.50.10 Does he miss the military? Did he fire a gun in anger?

1.58.13 Outro.

Guest: Conor O'Shea

Host and producer: Donal Gallery 

Artwork by Anna Obert https://www.instagram.com/annaobertillustration/ 

Music by Donal Gallery 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PathsPodcast 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PathsPodcast 

Get in touch with stories of people who've lived unusual lives at pathspodcastpeople@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening

A conversation about Brad's life.

Born in Boston, he worked for giant Swiss bank UBS until 2005. Following his resignation, he blew the whistle to US authorities on practices enabling US citizens to evade billions of dollars in taxes. Though his whistleblowing caused UBS to pay huge sums of money to the IRS, and triggered large-scale reform of the Swiss banking industry, Brad was the only person involved who went to jail for these practices. He served 30 months in a prison nicknamed Camp Cupcake. Whilst incarcerated he discovered that (due to a law introduced in late 2006) the IRS were going to reward him with a percentage of the money he helped them recoup. He received $104m as a first payment. Today he lives between Malta and Italy and still rails against the corruption he believes is endemic in America and the world at large.

Those are the bare bones of the story. Discover much more in our interview.

Brad's website: https://lucifersbanker.com

Episode guide:

3.27-18.40 Ubringing, education, first finance job in State Street, Boston. Beginning his behaviour of standing up against employers. Brad is fired and decides to move to Switzerland.

18.40-32.20 His time and work in Switzerland and US before blowing the whistle.

32.20-42.29 The background of Swiss banking and how it related to the US. Tax evasion. Turning point - the three-page memo. Resigning and deciding to become a whistleblower.

42.49-54.20 Motives. Noble act/Revenge/Seeking reward? Thoughts on whistleblowers in contrast to criminals and how society feels about them.

54.20-1.01.59 Back to his story. Approaching different US Authorities. Deferred prosecution for UBS. Prison for Brad.

1.01.59-1.17.14 Time in prison. Whilst there discovering he would receive $104m. Thoughts on extreme wealth. Tax avoidance vs evasion. Being single. Charitable acts.

1.17.14-1.28.05 What changed in Swiss banking as a result of his actions? How he sees his role now. Thoughts on corporate corruption. How did UBS not see his whistleblowing coming?

1.28.05-1.42.44 What would it take to stop tax evasion in the world? More thoughts on corruption. US-Swiss relationship. Does he reflect happily on his journey? Has he ever feared for his life after upsetting these powerful people? Recommending his book.

Guest: Bradley Birkenfeld

Host and producer: Donal Gallery 

Artwork by Anna Obert https://www.instagram.com/annaobertillustration/ 

Music by Donal Gallery 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PathsPodcast 

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/PathsPodcast 

Get in touch with stories of people who've lived unusual lives at pathspodcastpeople@gmail.com 

Thanks for listening