Our guest today is the screenwriter, director and campaigner Richard Curtis CBE, known for film and television classics including 'Four Weddings and a Funeral', 'Notting Hill', 'Love Actually', 'Bridget Jones’ Diary', 'Blackadder', 'The Vicar of Dibley', and many more. But he has also been described by The Times as a “relentless humanitarian activist” and with good reason; having co-founded the charities Comic Relief and Make Poverty History, as well as the 2005 Live 8 concerts alongside Sir Bob Geldof. From re-inventing the romcom, to re-writing history, to even re-imagining how to make your money matter, this is the story of a creator and a campaigner for whom change is the destination we all need to reach and love the path we must take.
Richard Curtis is a film writer and director, responsible for some of Britain's best-loved romantic comedy films, such as Four Weddings and a Funeral, Notting Hill, Bridget Jones’ Diary, Love Actually, About Time and Yesterday. He is also known for the drama War Horse and as co-writer of the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr Bean and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image. In 2007, he was awarded the BAFTA Academy Fellowship. In the other half of Richard’s life he is co-founder of the charities Make Poverty History and Comic Relief. He created the fundraising event Red Nose Day, in which he co-produced 16 live nights for the BBC since 1988. The charity has raised over £1.3 Billion for projects in the UK and internationally during that time. In 2015, he helped to bring Red Nose Day to the United States. In 2015 he helped found Project Everyone to work to make the Global Goals famous and effective – and is now a UN Advocate for the SDGs. He was also co-founder of the 2005 Live 8 concerts, which pressurised G8 leaders to provide more overseas aid to end poverty in Africa. His most recent campaigning role is as co-founder of Make My Money Matter, a people-powered campaign fighting for a world where we all know where our pension money goes, and where we can demand it’s invested to build a better future.
