Captain Sir Tom Moore launches podcast to tackle loneliness

After receiving a knighthood for his charity work, releasing a chart-topping single, having a feature film based on his life and publishing two books, Captain Sir Tom Moore is now set to become the UK’s oldest podcaster.

Capt. Sir Tom Moore is set to launch the first series of ‘The Originals’ podcast this week as part of a national campaign to tackle loneliness among older people. The issue of loneliness has worsened during the coronavirus pandemic with many older people being advised to shield themselves.

The launch of the podcast is the next stage of a campaign by chocolate brand Cadbury and charity Age UK that is aiming to inspire people to ‘donate your words’ and have a meaningful conversation with an older person.

There are many older people who need a stair lift and suffer from mobility problems who have not been able to get out as much during the pandemic, while others have been advised to shield. This has seen many people suffer from loneliness and this podcast is aiming to help people who are feeling isolated.

According to Age UK, 225,000 older people will go for a week without speaking to anyone and more than six million older people say that a conversation lasting just a few minutes makes a difference to them.

Speaking to The Guardian, Captain Sir Tom Moore, said: “My mission is simple but important.

“I hope The Originals podcast will help encourage everyone to start a proper conversation with an older person. We truly are the originals and we have more in common than you may think – we have hundreds of amazing tales just waiting to be told.”

On the first episode, the war veteran will be interviewing writer Rose Knox-Peebles AKA Mary Telford and Winston Garvey, who is an 83-year-old bodybuilder. Future episodes will feature other interesting interviewees such as Geoffrey Lean, a 73-year-old investigative journalist who has been writing about climate change.

In each episode of the podcast, the interviewees will be asked about what they did when they were younger and if there are any life lessons that they would pass on to their grandchildren.

You can listen to the first two episodes of The Originals podcast now on Spotify.