Ben Brooks-Dutton: Man Alive

Ben Brooks Dutton is the Sunday Times Best selling author of Its Not Raining Daddy It's Happy, award winning blogger of Life As A Widower and chair of the Life Matters Task force for bereaved families in the UK. 


Ben’s story is one which ignited the hearts of this nation back November 2012, when his exquisite wife Desreen, mother to their 2 year old son, was killed by a speeding car whilst they were walking home together from a perfect, blissfully happy Saturday afternoon with best friends. It was an event of such inexplicable tragedy, that it could feel hard to come to terms with a world in which something so randomly obliterative could happen.   


Ben’s story is one which pushes the vessel of our human capacity to hold and endure the shock, agony, acceptance and recovery from loss to its limits- consequently, what his story reveals, is one of the most courageous stories of grief I have been privileged to hear. His story is not only one of his own courage to “live fiercely” alongside his grief, but his story, also leads us to that of his gorgeous, brilliant son Jackson, who lost the person he loved most before had the language to express it. 


Within a couple of months of Desreens passing, Ben got to work, putting his story to the service of others through his hugely popular blog which was followed and read by millions of people all over the world. As we are in conversation, it is almost 8 years to the day that Desreen was killed. In Ben's words, in these more recent times, he has had to ‘start turning away from death, and back towards life’. So, if the world is feeling like a dark or difficult place, join us, and let your heart be ignited by the fire of the human spirit. 



Created and hosted by Jess Mills

Creative co-production by Bonny Tydeman

Produced by Joel Porter - Dot Dot Dot Productions


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