Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation
# Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation was a BBC Radio 4 series of comedy lectures hosted by Jeremy Hardy, first broadcast in September 1993. The tenth and final series aired in 2014.

The lectures were on topics like "How to have a baby", "How to be truly loved", and often included Hardy's personal views on current affairs.

There were a series of sketches and mock interviews carried out with his two guests. Gordon Kennedy and Debbie Isitt were the two main guests, while other guests included Meera Syal, Rebecca Front, Alison Steadman, Stephen Frost, Miranda Richardson and Harriet Walter.

## Episode guide

| Series | Episode | Title | First broadcast | Guests |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | 1 | How to Stay Alive for as Long as You Possibly Can | 30 Sep 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 1 | 2 | How to Be Truly Free | 7 Oct 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 1 | 3 | How to Earn Your Place in Heaven | 14 Oct 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 1 | 4 | How to Be an Adult | 21 Oct 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 1 | 5 | How to Have Sex | 28 Oct 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 1 | 6 | How to Know Your Place | 4 Nov 1993 | Debbie Isitt, Stephen Frost |
| 2 | 1 | How to Be a Popular Figure Around Town | 6 Oct 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 2 | 2 | How to Have a Baby | 13 Oct 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 2 | 3 | How to Be a Leader of Men | 20 Oct 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 2 | 4 | How to Be a Father (1) | 27 Oct 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy, Ben Keaton |
| 2 | 5 | How to Be a Father (2) | 3 Nov 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 2 | 6 | How to Meet the Challenge of the 21st Century | 10 Nov 1994 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 1 | How to Be a Man | 6 Feb 1997 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 2 | How to Bear Up Under the Strain | 13 Feb 1997 | Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 3 | How to Make Your Presence Felt | 20 Feb 1997 | Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 4 | How to Improve Your Mind | 27 Feb 1997 | Meera Syal, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 5 | How to Keep Abreast of Developments | 6 Mar 1997 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 3 | 6 | How to Be Happy | 13 Mar 1997 | Caroline Leddy, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 1 | How to Fight Fire with Fire | 6 Sep 2001 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 2 | How to Live | 20 Sep 2001 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 3 | How to Work | 27 Sep 2001 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 4 | How to See Through Others' Eyes | 4 Oct 2001 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 5 | How to Hand the World on to the Next Generation | 11 Oct 2001 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 4 | 6 | When Jeremy Hardy Spoke to the Nation | 18 Oct 2001 | Graeme Garden, Debbie Isitt |
| 5 | 1 | How to Be Yourself | 8 Jan 2003 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 5 | 2 | How to Belong | 15 Jan 2003 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 5 | 3 | How to Maximise Your Leisure | 22 Jan 2003 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 5 | 4 | How to Be Young | 29 Jan 2003 | Debbie Isitt, Gordon Kennedy |
| 6 | 1 | How to Be Afraid | 9 Sep 2004 | Rebecca Front, Gordon Kennedy |
| 6 | 2 | How to Argue Your Position | 16 Sep 2004 | Gordon Kennedy, Alison Steadman |
| 6 | 3 | How to Choose | 23 Sep 2004 | Gordon Kennedy, Pauline McLynn |
| 6 | 4 | How to Live Life to the Full | 30 Sep 2004 | Juliet Stevenson, Gordon Kennedy |
| Special | - | Jeremy Hardy's New Year Cavalcade | 31 Dec 2004 | Jack Dee, Armando Iannucci, John Oliver |
| 7 | 1 | How to Feel | 3 Apr 2007 | Gordon Kennedy, Miranda Richardson |
| 7 | 2 | How to Believe | 10 Apr 2007 | Alison Steadman, Ewan Bailey |
| 7 | 3 | How to Die | 17 Apr 2007 | Pauline McLynn, Paul B Davies |
| 7 | 4 | How to Look | 24 Apr 2007 | Juliet Stevenson, Paul B Davies |
| 8 | 1 | How to Grow Up | 30 Jun 2010 | Gordon Kennedy, Rebecca Front |
| 8 | 2 | How To Confront The Vexed Issue Of British Identity Without Getting In The Most Fearful Bate About The Whole Thing | 7 Jul 2010 | Gordon Kennedy, Shappi Khorsandi |
| 8 | 3 | How to Have Faith | 14 Jul 2010 | Paul B Davies, Pauline McLynn |
| 8 | 4 | How to Communicate Without Showing Off | 21 Jul 2010 | Paul B Davies, Morwenna Banks |
| 9 | 1 | How to Exercise Power | 28 Feb 2013 | Gordon Kennedy, Katy Brand |
| 9 | 2 | How To Be a Woman in the 21st Century | 7 Mar 2013 | Gordon Kennedy, Sara Pascoe |
| 9 | 3 | How To Be a Man in the 21st Century | 14 Mar 2013 | Paul Bassett Davies, Sue Perkins |
| 9 | 4 | How to Speak | 21 Mar 2013 | Pauline McLynn, Paul B Davies |
| 10 | 1 | How to Eat Food | 17 Sept 2014 | Paul Bassett Davies, Vicki Pepperdine |
| 10 | 2 | How to Define Oneself in Terms of Regional, Cultural and Geopolitical Identity Without Tears | 24 Sept 2014 | Susan Murray, Moray Hunter |
| 10 | 3 | How to Be a Good Citizen | 01 Oct 2014 | Gordon Kennedy and Carla Mendonça |
| 10 | 4 | How To Be Better Theologically, Socially, Nationally and in Terms of One's Own Personal Development, Responsibility and Interaction with the Fellow Humans with Whom we Share this Fragile Planet, and Ting | 08 Oct 2014 | Paul Bassett Davies and Carla Mendonça |

## Audio Books

Jeremy Hardy Speaks to the Nation currently has four audio books on sale.

* How To Be Happy and other shows - Released on 19 July 2004.
* How To Be Young and other shows - Released on 19 July 2004.
* How To Be Afraid and other shows - Released on 15 November 2004.
* How To Live and other shows - Released on 15 November 2004.

In addition the first series was adapted as a book, ISBN 0-413-69250-7, published by Methuen in 1993.

## Awards

The show was nominated in 2004 for the Sony Comedy award.

