Eddie Redmayne, Darcey Bussell, Dara O'Briain, Imelda May and Jack Savoretti

Abdul-Rehman Malik, journalist and broadcaster

Chris, having spent the last five months across the Atlantic at an Ivy League college, I think I’ve learned a thing or two. One thing is that there is no quicker way to feeling old than taking a class with people who are half your age.

In the spirit of experimentation, I decided to take a creative writing course. What I didn’t realize was that it was an undergraduate class – full of 19 and 20 year-olds. When I walked into the classroom on the first day, the intelligent banter and witty repartee of my classmates quietened as they watched me find a seat. I felt like a brown, bearded unicorn that had seen better days. Kind of like Eddie’s caveman alter ego Dug, I felt a little unsure of myself in this newish world.

The professor started the class and jumped right into an evocative piece of writing by Hemingway. She read it with such passion and posed such provocative questions that I forget my awkwardness and wanted to respond right away. But I decided to give my clever young classmates the first shot. Silence. No one said a word. They looked down uncomfortably at their laptops. I felt in them a kind of fear. So I put up my hand and broke the ice. My classmates looked relieved.

A few weeks later I asked one of them why everyone had been so quiet on the first day. “At a school like this,” he said laughing. “We’re all afraid of making mistakes. It’s better to be quiet and see what happens.”

“Run from what's comfortable,” declared the sage Rumi. “Forget safety. Live where you fear to live. Destroy your reputation. Be notorious. I have tried prudent planning long enough. From now on I'll be wild.” 

In the end I decided that the creative writing was still a bit safe, so I decided to channel my inner Darcey Bussell and took a class in modern dance as well. Let’s just say that if someone had leaked a picture of me trying to do my floor-barre exercises, what little reputation I have would have been gone. Who said trying to live without fear was going to be without risk. After all, if we’re going to try to bake a new version of ourselves, we’ll end up having to break some egos.