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His features are instantly recognisable from his iconic TV and film roles including Star Trek: Next Generation and X-Men. His voice is rich and robust and his stagecraft is admired by theatre-goers and critics.

But there�鶹APP�s another side to actor Sir Patrick Stewart. He�鶹APP�s a passionate campaigner on social justice, domestic violence and war veterans�鶹APP� mental health issues.

In a special 45-minute episode of her Better Angels podcast series, �鶹APP President Sarah Brown talks to Sir Patrick about his career and the causes that are very personal for him, including the British charities and .

�鶹APP�I like to think that the feelings that I have when I talk about Refuge or Combat Stress play a quite strong role in how much I can affect people and get them to support the campaigns,�鶹APP� he says.

He tells Sarah how his father�鶹APP�s drinking and violence towards his mother when he was young led him to become a patron of Refuge, which supports domestic abuse victims �鶹APP� most of them women and children.

Sir Patrick adds: �鶹APP�I do this activism for my mother because I couldn�鶹APP�t do it for her there.�鶹APP�

The actor said his father had �鶹APP�a very bad press from me over the years�鶹APP�.

Then two years ago �鶹APP� while featuring on the BBC TV genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are? �鶹APP� he discovered something startling about his dad. He had returned from action in the Second World War suffering from severe shell shock.

�鶹APP�I had absolutely no idea,�鶹APP� says Sir Patrick. �鶹APP�Nobody in my family ever mentioned it, he never talked about it and we now know what shell shock meant. It meant Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

�鶹APP�When I talk to experts about this and describe my father and his behaviour, they said without doubt, these are classic symptoms of someone suffering severely all their lives.�鶹APP�

This led Sir Patrick to become an ambassador for Combat Stress, the mental health charity that helps military veterans.

�鶹APP�It campaigns for more care to be taken care of ex-military men and there�鶹APP�s so, so many of them,�鶹APP� he says. �鶹APP�It�鶹APP�s even worse in the United States.

�鶹APP�I have an emotional connection to both of these organisations.�鶹APP�

Sir Patrick talks about his childhood and how the conditions he experienced helped to shape his views on the world.

�鶹APP�I knew that we were quite poor,�鶹APP� he says. �鶹APP�We had one room downstairs and one room upstairs and there was a partitioned-off corner where my brother and I slept and a stone step and a door that opened on to a yard and that was it. No hot water, no bathroom.

�鶹APP�I came very early on to understand about the inequalities of life and the unfairness of it. It was elements like that, which actually still mean just as much to me today.�鶹APP�

In a , Sir Patrick was one of several interviewees who talked about the art of speaking in public.

In this more in-depth chat, he covers a variety of subjects �鶹APP� including his first ever stage role at school, his support for various social issues, which public speakers he admires �鶹APP� and how he met Nelson Mandela in an elevator.

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Sarah talks to politicians, entertainers, activists and world leaders about their inspiration, their hopes and their dreams at a time of enormous international upheaval.

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