Singer-songwriter and West End actor Matt Cardle — winner of The X Factor in 2010, Whatonstage Award winner for his debut role in Memphis, and a man who was tricked into his first audition by his girlfriend — joins Scott and David to share the three stories that shaped who he became.
Stories Discussed
Story 1: 1984 — George Orwell
Type: Novel. The first physical book Matt ever read cover to cover — handed to him by his partner because it was "right up his alley." He'd been a prepper since childhood, building two-storey underground bunkers in the Essex woods with his mate Rob. Orwell's vision didn't feel like fiction. It felt like confirmation.
Story 2: Perfume — Patrick Süskind
Type: Novel. Discovered through Kurt Cobain, who wrote the Nirvana song Scentless Apprentice about it. Matt listened to the audiobook and was so floored by the ending he called his mum immediately. It was the first full book he'd ever consumed — at the age of 40 — and it unlocked what storytelling could do.
Story 3: We Need to Talk About Alan — Steve Coogan
Type: Spoof autobiography.Matt's comfort blanket. He first discovered it on flights during the difficult years after X Factor — the period of fame, isolation, prescription drug dependency and eventual rehab. Hearing Alan Partridge narrate his own life in glorious, oblivious bullshit became the thing that helped him sleep, and still does.