Louisa Young is a novelist, biographer and songwriter who has been nominated for the Orange Prize for Fiction, the Costa Novel Award and the Carnegie Medal as well as winning Audiobook of the Year at the National Book Awards.

She has written several children’s books with her daughter as well as a biography of her grandmother, Kathleen Scott, widow of Captain Robert Scott. Previously, she worked as a journalist for titles such as Tatler & Marie-Claire as well as The Guardian and The Sunday Times.

Louisa is currently writing the next three instalments in the Cazalet Chronicles, the cult series written by her late aunt, Elizabeth Jane Howard.

Her eclectic choices take us from 1950s Scotland and London to New York in the 1980s and even to Dolly Parton’s Tennessee. Her love of character, quirks and nostalgia are no surprise given she is a writer and her enthusiasm for each is infectious.

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Zachary Hart is an actor who graduated from the Academy of Live & Recorded Arts in 2017 and headed straight to the Bridge Theatre in London to perform in legendary director Nic Hytner’s Julius Caesar. And he’s just kept going ever since.

He has appeared in many of the biggest shows on TV since his career rocketed into action: from Peaky Blinders on BBC One and The Witcher on Netflix to Masters of the Air and Slow Horses on Apple TV, Zachary’s been there.

Our discussion was as wide-ranging as his title choices but often came back to the importance of family and Zach’s laser-like focus on the craft of storytelling, be that through the written word or on-screen. We talked about what he called “The Perfect Film” as well as a TV show he rewatches all the time and a book that showed him a love he hankered after himself.

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In this episode of Like This Love This, we are joined by Alison Balsom, a classical trumpet player, music producer and educator, who started playing the trumpet at age seven and went on to graduate top of her class from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

She has since won Young Artist of the Year and later Female Artist of the Year at the Classical BRIT awards and Artist of the Year at the Gramophone Classical Music Awards.

This year, she is playing at the Last Night of the Proms in the Royal Albert Hall for the second time.

Alison’s story choices are as wide and varied as they are interesting and even include an anecdote about Quentin Tarantino being on her first date with her husband - theatre and film director, Sir Sam Mendes.

From creativity and innovation across the cultural landscape to new ways of thinking about things: passion and dedication are always at the heart of the stories that appeal to her.

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