This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan sit down with Sir John Burn for a fascinating conversation about genetics, medicine, curiosity and a lifetime spent looking for better ways to do things. John talks about growing up in West Auckland, County Durham, in a working class family where university, let alone a career in medicine, was far from an obvious path.

After initially planning to become an engineer, a love of biology eventually led him into medicine and towards the emerging world of genetics, at a time when clinical genetics barely existed as a profession. That curiosity would go on to shape an extraordinary career.

John shares the story of helping establish genetic services in the North East, building one of the region’s first DNA laboratories and playing a key role in the creation of Newcastle’s Centre for Life. He also talks about pioneering research into inherited cancers, the potential of aspirin in cancer prevention and how advances in DNA testing could transform the way we prevent, diagnose and treat disease. But this is as much a conversation about mindset as it is medicine.

John reflects on the influence of his entrepreneurial father, his instinct for spotting opportunities and his tendency to chase the next interesting problem. He also speaks openly about the importance of surrounding himself with people who could turn those ideas into reality. The conversation explores the future of the NHS, personalised medicine, DNA testing, diet, microbiomes and the difficult ethical questions that come with knowing more and more about our genetic makeup.

Along the way there are stories involving Sting, Catherine Cookson, Anthony Gormley, an Archbishop of Canterbury, Newcastle United and why John has his own brass plaque on Newcastle Quayside.

And, naturally, we finish with the important questions: chocolate biscuits, red meat and the enduring appeal of a Greggs pasty.

A funny, thought provoking and hugely insightful conversation about discovery, DNA and destiny, and a North East life spent asking what might be possible.

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan sit down with Full Circle Brew Co founder Ben Cleary for a conversation about beer, business, community and the fine art of having a ridiculous idea and working out the consequences later.

Ben charts the journey from a career in wine and opening Pipstop to falling in love with craft beer and eventually creating Full Circle at Hoults Yard - only to release its first beers on the very day the country went into lockdown. What followed was six years of adapting.

From selling 80% of their beer into Europe during their first year to Brexit, rising costs, the impact of the war in Ukraine and the continuing pressures facing pubs, breweries and hospitality, Ben talks candidly about what it actually takes to keep an independent business moving forward when the ground beneath it keeps shifting. There’s also a fascinating conversation about how drinking culture itself is changing. Full Circle’s answer has been to think beyond the pint, building community through its Balance initiative, run clubs, sea dips, hikes and events - while exploring what a modern brewery can become as younger generations drink differently.

Ben also reveals the next chapter: Full Circle’s first city-centre venue at Fenwick, bringing together beer, fried chicken, burgers and some potentially dangerous ideas involving champagne, Yorkshire puddings and gravy. Alongside the business conversation, things wander wonderfully off course: bald heads and factor 50, foot peelings, luxury camping, travelling circuses, beer made using tights, experimental mead, the tragedy of an inaccessible tin of corned beef and a forensic examination of exactly how a burger should be constructed.

And, naturally, we finish with the question that really matters: Ben’s Greggs order. A funny, candid conversation about creativity, community and keeping an independent business moving forward - even when the original plan has long since gone out the window.

This week on the Local Heroes Podcast, Chris and Dan sit down with chef and street-food entrepreneur Ren Webb for a remarkably open conversation about food, family, resilience and starting again.

Ren talks about growing up in Slough, living with a stammer, experiencing racism and gradually finding the confidence to own every part of his story.

He shares the huge influence of his Grenadian mum and his late dad - the man who took Ren and his brothers into the kitchen as teenagers and taught them to cook so they would “never have to depend on anyone.” That lesson stuck.

From working in a butcher’s at 14 to professional kitchens, live-in chef jobs and eventually building his own Caribbean food business, Ren’s life has repeatedly found its way back to food.

He also speaks candidly about some of the hardest periods of his life: homelessness, discovering that the little girl he had raised wasn’t biologically his daughter, difficult relationships, losing his dad and the challenge of rebuilding both himself and his business. Moving to the North East offered an opportunity to start again - initially on a friend’s sofa, before finding work, a home and eventually bringing his food business to the North East too.

Alongside the more personal moments, there’s plenty of warmth and laughter as the conversation wanders through curry goat, jerk chicken, sugar sandwiches, the perils of putting pizza in a paper bag and Ren’s wonderfully questionable childhood combo of Red Leicester and strawberry jam.

There’s even a three-course last meal - despite Dan's strict two course limit! A warm, funny and deeply personal conversation about family, identity, second chances and the role food can play in carrying our memories, our culture and the people who shaped us.