Various bits of writing on the interweb

My interview with Paul Smith

Here’s my interview with fashion designer Paul Smith. Paul fell into fashion by accident, when he was knocked off his bicycle. During his long recovery he befriended some fashion students, fell in love with their teacher and with fashion itself. He’s never looked back. I love his shoes and always wear them to give me added confidence when I speak at big events. (Luckily he’s the same size as me!)

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Too mean to pay to hear me talk? Here’s some free speech.

One of my most popular talks is ‘Putting the U in Humour’. It’s aimed at business people who want to get their message across more effectively by keeping their audience entertained. Its a 30 minute keynote or a 60 minute interactive workshop. The main message is to forget telling old jokes and concentrate on using amusing stories from your own real life. It also deals with the way humor varies

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Here’s some speakers that I recommend for your event

I have links with lots of fellow speakers. Here’s a few UK speakers that I can recommend heartily. Please mention that I suggested them. Maybe they’ll give me a small percentage of their fee should you book them. Or more likely they will buy me a drink when they next see me. Or not. Alan Stevens is a terrific speaker on all aspects of dealing with the media. We’ve worked

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Ten Ambitions for 2010

When I was a little boy growing up in East London, I remember Mr Carter, the headmaster, talking to us one day in assembly.  He said we could achieve anything we wanted in life, as long as we wanted it enough. He reminded us that Noel Edmonds had been a pupil at our school, and he was now the breakfast presenter on Radio One. At the time I thought that

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My name on a bus

So it’s a new decade, the noughties are over, and whatever this decade is called is underway. I’m going to give myself a list of ten things I’d like to achieve in the next ten years of the tensies or teenies or whatever. First up is to have my name on the side of a bus. Right that’s done.  Now I just need to list the other nine and gradually

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Alvin Law interview- part 1

Here’s part one of an interview with brilliant Canadian speaker Alvin Law. [ti_audio media=”620″ autoplay=”1″] Alvin was born with no arms, a victim of the thalidomide drug.  I was inspired by this amazing man, who plays the keyboard with his toes. He’s a natural storyteller and I’ve seen few who are better at holding an audience’s attention. I  have no hesitation in recommending Alvin for your event, if you are

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Phillip Van Hooser interview

[ti_audio media=”444″ autoplay=”1″] Picture courtesy www.vanhooser.com It was a great to meet the National Speakers Association President Phillip Van Hooser. I interviewed Phil at the Professional Speakers Association convention in November 2009 in the UK. He was the only American at my talk ‘Putting the ‘U’ in Humour’. Afterwards I was worried that I might have picked on him a bit during my workshop session to illustrate how humour varies

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Tim Gard with me

[ti_audio media=”428″ autoplay=”1″] Picture courtesy of www.timgard.com Here’s my interview with Tim Gard, the brilliant American speaker.  He’d just come off stage at the PSA 2009 convention in Marlow. His after dinner set was hilarious.  For me it was extra special because it was my birthday, and Tim invited eight fellow speakers onto the stage and they played Happy Birthday for me on nose whistles! It wasn’t the most tuneful

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