Jonathan Hale
Jonathan grew up in Nottingham and started a small advertising agency in two rooms above an ironmonger's in London. His daughter in New York asked for his portrait. It runs to eight chapters, with his family's memories set beside his own and a note on the world at the time wherever it helps.
Jonathan and his family are fictional. Every portrait we make is private to the family.
I went to the bank first. For a business loan. And they said what banks said in 1992, which was no, more or less.1
And then she said, “Can you do it?” And I said I thought so. And she said, “That's not what I asked.” And I said yes. And she said, “Right then.” And she went upstairs to check on Oliver.
The night he told me about the remortgage. We were in the kitchen in Walthamstow and Oliver had just gone down.
A few more remarkable lives
A chapter from each, to give you a taste of what yours might look like.
An engineer and a headteacher, still arguing about the same story
A baker's daughter who became the pharmacist everyone asked first
A steelworker who taught nervous drivers to pass
A saleswoman who drove the Dakotas in a skirt suit
A lawyer who rebuilt a wooden boat he found in a field
A postman who knocked when the mail was still in the boxEveryone shown here is fictional. Portraits are private.
Heard as well as read
Short recordings sit beside the chapters, so a story can be heard the way it is always told, pauses and all.
…he looked at my application and he said, now Carol, are you planning to start a family? And I said, I'm planning to sell catheters, Mr. Lindqvist. And the other two laughed…
From Carol's sample portraitHow your portrait is made
First, we listen
Before anyone talks, we learn about the person, the family and the stories everyone hopes to hear. You can involve as many or as few people as you like.
Then we talk
Four unhurried conversations of 45 minutes over two weeks, by video call or phone, with the same experienced interviewer each time.
We write your story
We choose the stories that matter most and shape them into chapters, keeping every line in the words it was told. You receive a beautiful, interactive, life portrait.
Read first, then shared
The person whose story it is reads it first and talks it through with us. Then the family receives a private portrait to keep.
Shared only with who you want
The person whose story it is reads everything first, and has full editing control. A line can be changed, a story added or taken out. Nothing reaches the family until it is perfect.
Every portrait is password-protected. It is not listed anywhere or found by search engines, and the recordings are used only to make the portrait.
Every conversation, the same person
I'm Alastair. I lead every conversation myself, and I write every portrait. I started Remarkable Lives when my own children began asking about their grandparents, and I realised how much I didn't know.
I am an experienced researcher and interviewer, and in another life built one of the most popular English-learning podcasts in the world.
Give a portrait
A portrait suits a milestone birthday, an anniversary, Christmas or Mother's and Father's Day. We send you a card to give, and the conversations can begin whenever is convenient.
Requests by 23 December can be given for Christmas.
Start with a short conversation
Tell us a little about who the portrait is for. We will arrange a short call to answer your questions, and begin whenever is convenient.
Questions worth asking
Questions to ask your parents about their life
The questions that start a story, by stage of life, with the follow-ups that keep it going.
When a parent says there’s nothing interesting about their life
Three ways in that tend to work: an object, a place, a price.
How to record your parents’ life story: a podcaster’s guide
A quiet room, a phone, a small microphone, and letting the silences run.