Meet Arwyn Pennington Bailey

Some guests arrive at The Legacy Bench with a business to pitch. Arwyn Pennington Bailey arrived with a story, and the bench was moved by it.

"The Time Lord"

Known to many as "the Time Lord", Arwyn is a photographer and videographer, and a former financial adviser. It is a career that has taken him from numbers to images.

I Had a Dad Too

Arwyn is the author of I Had a Dad Too: The Neurodiverse Adventure of a Family, a book about his family's experience of neurodiversity. On the bench he spoke openly about writing it, including writing through grief and tears, and about how a book can become a way of starting conversations that might otherwise never happen.

Getting men to talk

A theme Arwyn returned to was how hard it can be for men to open up, and why it matters that they do. He talked about how writing the book opened doors to the media, giving him a platform to talk about subjects that many people find difficult. He also shared the one piece of advice that helped him through his darkest days, a moment that prompted the rest of the bench to respond with ideas about speaking, sharing his story more widely and the possibility of building a movement around it.

Arwyn's conversation was a reminder that resilience is not about pretending everything is fine. Sometimes it is about telling the truth, writing it down and letting other people know they are not alone.

Arwyn Pennington Bailey joined us on The Legacy Bench for "Fake It Till You Make It... Or Just Lying? 4 Guests Get Brutally Honest" — watch the full conversation.

If anything in this conversation touches on something you're going through, please talk to someone. In the UK you can call Samaritans free on 116 123, any time.