18: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 16918: The Good Listening To Show with Chris Grimes - Episode 169
UK Health Radio Podcast
Chris Grimes chats with creative polymath Kevin Chewis about a careers setback that led to a five-star break, building brand legacies and mentoring the next generation. The conversation blends humour, heartfelt gratitude and practical life lessons on courage, kindness and long-term thinking.
43:28•16 May 2026
Rosettes, Gilded Gates and a Five-Star Destiny with Kevin Chewis
Episode Overview
- A dismissive careers adviser can be the spark that pushes someone towards a radically different and more fulfilling path.
- Bold action, like turning up at someone’s front gates, can create life-changing opportunities that no formal route would offer.
- Lasting creative work comes from thinking in terms of legacy, aiming for ideas that will still resonate decades later.
- Strong mentors, family support and long-term friends provide crucial grounding in high-pressure creative careers.
- Giving back to young people and staying curious keeps a career – and life – feeling meaningful and fresh.
“Without seven black people, this white one person would be nothing.”
Curious about how others navigate their sobriety journey? Here’s a curveball: this time the spotlight is on creativity, legacy and sheer bloody-minded determination, with plenty of parallels for anyone rebuilding life on new terms. The Good Listening To Show, hosted by Chris Grimes, welcomes “ultimate polymath” Kevin Chewis, a brand strategist and creative producer who sums up his work with the line: “I make brands market leaders.” From there, things get gloriously off-road.
You’ll hear how a careers computer spat out “music producer, vet or author” and a school adviser responded, “you’re just not good enough for any of them” – a comment that pushed a furious 15-year-old Kevin to hop on a train to Sunningdale and quite literally stand at the “gates” of his future. Through funny, fast-paced storytelling, Kevin recalls meeting 80s pop group Five Star at their gilded gates, blagging a photography job and later managing members of the band.
He talks about creating the famous Churchill nodding dog concept – “creating entertainment legacies for people to enjoy together” – and how he’s used data, graft and curiosity to turn ideas into long-lasting cultural moments.
Chris steers Kevin through the show’s trademark “clearing, tree and 5-4-3-2-1” structure, teasing out four shaping influences (Five Star, mentor Eddie Gordon, his parents, and long-term friends), three sources of inspiration, and a wonderfully odd fact: Kevin has been fascinated by ghosts since a teenage encounter during Die Hard. Beneath the humour sits a clear message: don’t let other people’s limits define you, keep learning, give back to young people, and stay kind while you build whatever future you’re after.
For anyone using sobriety or lifestyle change as a reset button, Kevin’s story asks a simple question: what “gates” might you be brave enough to walk up to next?
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