Stories of Distinction & Genius Chris Grimes - Facilitator. Coach. Motivational Comedian

Delighted to welcome the wonderfully wise and enigmatic Iain Thackrah to the 'Clearing' for a special 'Founder Story' Episode of the show, in which we uncover together the story of "who-the-what-the-how-the-why" of why you do what you do!

Iain is a creative mentor to creative entrepreneurs. Writer, speaker, creative. Creative generalist. Creative specialist. Jack of all trades, master of some.

https://www.iainthackrah.co.uk/

Also recorded as a LinkedIn LIVE:

https://www.linkedin.com/video/live/urn:li:ugcPost:7054740938635517952/

Iain Thackrah’s extraordinary commercial life really did begin at 40. He started his ordinary life as a child on his father’s farm in Yorkshire, with a pig for a pet and a bike to take him to the nearest town, 13 miles away for a McDonald’s.

It was idyllic until it wasn’t. His father lost all his sheep, lost all his cows, lost all his cash and eventually also lost the farm itself. Perhaps in response to this, Iain prolonged his student days right up until the age of 27, picking up a small clutch of degrees in the process, before teaching Philosophy and Psychology for the next 10 years. 

In time, he became a clock-watcher, seeing himself in older colleagues in the Staff room - and not liking what he saw. When he’d had all he could take of such a secure career choice, Iain joined a startup Newco, on a six figure salary - until it folded beneath him. Iain was back at Square Zero! 

On the credit side, he had an awesome wife and two beautiful daughters. He also had his health and his house. But on the debit side, he was very light on any other material assets and his prospects were, at best, unpredictable. Fortunately Iain thrives on challenges like this. He has no ambition to be like ‘most people’ or to behave like ‘most people’ do. Iain’s ethos revolves around achieving lots and lots of ‘small wins’ and accumulating them consistently, on a daily basis. 

Iain talks about the compound interest created by this series of ‘small wins’. These produce compound interest that in time adds up to a different kind of ‘Big Win’. 
“By the inch, it’s a cinch. By the yard, it’s hard” 

Iain is committed to helping Creative Entrepreneurs grow the commercial side of their businesses. His coaching company only wants a maximum of 30 clients at any one time. Iain is the complete opposite of the ‘never mind the quality, see the width’ school of thought. 

His publishing company is not interested in producing potboiler best-sellers. Brilliant limited editions appeal more to Iain’s unusual mind. 

Once it was “Iain against the world”. Iain’s significant psychic change means that he is now ‘internally focused.’ He simply wants to be better and to make a difference to the people he coaches and the businesses they run. Iain is still a teacher at heart. A good one. A different one. A great guy to have on your side. Because, as you will hear here, there is only one Iai
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
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Delighted to welcome legendary Event Producer & Creative Director Dan Tsu to 'The Clearing'. Dan was passed the "Golden Baton" to be here in the 'Clearing' by Performance Poet Toby Thompson.
Dan is an Event Producer, Live Promoter, International Facilitator & Teacher of Event Management. 

Co-founder of  the infamous Glastonbury Festival venue "Rum Shack", he has being hosting innovative and independent live shows for the last 15 years.  Dan  holds a reputation for championing and collaborating with young talent, working closely with the likes of Ed Sheeran, Akala & Kate Tempest, to name but some of many many more.
Dan is also founder & director of the Live Events & Education company Lyrix Organix: A design consultancy for groundbreaking programmes, working collaboratively with major youth organisations and charities.  

Lyrix Organix uses rap, poetry, music & and cross-disciplinary approaches to amplify social action.

When Dan Tsu describes himself as a ‘Jack of all Trades’ he does not begin to do himself justice. As his name may suggest, Dan is mixed heritage: Anglo-Chinese, Singapore British, Hong Kong Chinese. 

At school Dan began to hone a particular skill in being able to be both an 'outlier' and an 'inlier', able to get the best from relationships around him.  He made friends easily, with an ability to be able to move freely between a variety of different ethnic and religious groups, who all tended to sit in different corners of the classroom and not necessarily mix with each other in the playground.  Dan was a free spirit, without an obvious ego, therefore able to weave his way into all kinds of diverse and interesting circles. 

He has always been inspired by words, poetry and by music like hip-hop and rap. His signature venue "Rum Shack" at the Glastonbury Festival is particularly important to him, as is Glastonbury implicitly for its unique authenticity & ‘irreplaceable and indescribable’ spirit.

Dan created early opportunities for the now superstar singer-songwriter Ed Sheeran and the rising star performance-poet, Toby Thompson, as well as scores of others.  

Dan does not speak Chinese but he is still inspired by the iconic Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei. Dan’s personal goal is to ‘change the world in small ways.’

As a facilitator, educator, events producer and creative director, Dan Tsu is creating his own dynamic legacy, on a daily basis. He is delighted when people acknowledge the difference he has made to their lives - which people regularly do now, in random encounters, on average now once or twice a week!

Dan sees himself as a Londoner.  Happy both in the darkest corner of a lively nightclub or in the solitude of ancient woodland in Dulwich.

An extraordinary & distinctive story indeed.

Enjoy!
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
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Delighted to welcome prolific Children's Author & Editor Steve Cole to The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing' for his story of Distinction & Genius.

With over 150 titles and book series to his name including the hugely successful UK Children's Books Top 10 list  "Astrosaurs" and also "Young Bond", as the natural successor to Charlie Higson as invited by the Ian Fleming Foundation to continue the series: "The name's Cole - Steve Cole" (see what I'm doing there?!) 

With lovely Oliver Postgate (Narrator of "Bagpuss" & "The Clangers") vocal tones to match.  Despite having 150 titles to his name, hear how "prevarication is still his super power!" in hitting the housework hard as deadline's approach "like Doodlebugs humming overhead!" 

A very enjoyable conversation indeed!

More about Steve Cole:

Steve Cole is a fascinating, multifaceted, deadline-driven character: a slow worker but a fast talker! The author of literally dozens of different books, who claims that “procrastination is part of the process.”

He is someone who turns to Salsa to unlock his Writer’s Block and plays in a 30 years’ old band called ‘Faces Fall’ to express another aspect of his bubbling creativity.  A self-confessed pedant who has been ‘riddled with hernias’ most of his life and the occasional attack of repetitive strain injury. (Is there any psychosomatic connection there one has to wonder?)

Steve Cole is someone with a lively mind and a truly encyclopaedic knowledge of Dr Who, who attributes his story-telling success to his English teacher, Mr Hall and a lot of his professional success to the Dr Who legend, Terence Dicks - who honoured him with a dedication!

Also in Steve’s inspirational trio is Charles M. Schultz, creator of one of the world’s most popular and longest running cartoon strips - Peanuts. (Good grief, what a talent!) 
Marvel comics and the Incredible Hulk also come in for honourable mentions.

“We are all stories in the end. Make it a good one” - these are Steve’s choice of words to live by. 

Now he tells good stories for the Ian Fleming Foundation and entertains children in schools in interactive communication sessions. The Young Bond is now created by an old pro - if that doesn’t sound too Ageist?

One, two, three, one, two - over to you, maestro!

Reg Starkey Editor, UK Health Triangle Magazine
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
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Delighted to be welcoming the very talented Ghost writer & Biographer James Hogg to The Good Listening To Show: Stories of Distinction & Genius 
I first came across James via his wonderful Twitter feed @JamesAHogg2 

James Hogg is a biographer, ghostwriter and collaborator who specialises in sport and entertainment.
Born in the Yorkshire Dales, he began his writing career whilst working for the Yorkshire County Cricket Club where he spent several years masquerading as the club’s Commercial Manager. In between failed attempts at securing sponsors and smoking with Brian Close, James wrote two acclaimed biographies whilst at Headingley. The first, ‘What’s the Bleeding Time?’ discloses the life and times of the actor and naturalist James Robertson Justice and features a foreword by H.R.H The Duke of Edinburgh. The second, ‘Little Ern: The Authorised Biography of Ernie Wise’, was a collaboration with the writer of Hellraisers, Robert Sellers, as was James’s next book, ‘Hello Darlings! The Authorised Biography of Kenny Everett’. James left Headingley in 2012, after which the club began to flourish both on and off the pitch.
James lives in Yorkshire with his wife and two children. 

More about James Hogg: 

James Hogg is an extraordinary man. He does not attract conventional labels. He says he is someone who writes. But he does not see himself as a Writer! And he is not a Reader, either. He does not have a Social Media Presence, apart from a tiny corner on Twitter.

He does not have a slick website selling his significant skills as a wordsmith and original ideas man. He has absolutely no ambition to write a single word of fiction. Instead he applies his considerable imagination to facts and helps others to tell their stories in a voice that sounds like theirs, not his. 

He is a contrary but not confrontational North Yorkshireman, who is good at making enough money to sustain his unconventional lifestyle. This includes regular trips to Brazil and Gran Canaria to get his words down against the deadline.

James Hogg was born in Coverdale. His parents were involved in horses and horse racing. It did not appeal to him. He left school at 15, with no academic qualifications. He left home at 17, borrowing £30 to cover the coach to London and still have a few quid spare for emergencies. 

He immediately got a job as a Bell Boy at the Cumberland Hotel, doubling his basic wages with freelance services in support of visitors from the Middle East. When a career in the hotel business held no more appeal to him, he moved to the Theatre under the guidance of the legendary William Ingrey. Then he tried Sales. Then Cricket.

Sooner or later, his indiscreet sense of humour tended to get him fired. Now, at last, he feels at home, working entirely for himself, on behalf of his wife and two teenage sons. James Hogg still fears
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
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Please welcome to 'The Clearing' Performance Poet Toby Thompson. Toby was passed the 'Golden Baton' to be my Guest by Egg Theatre Director Kate Cross MBE, who I interviewed recently for "The Good Listening To Show" LIVE at the Theatre Royal Bath.

Toby is a thoughtful, thought-provoking & enigmatic 'observer' of life, with a unique cadence and a silky tone.  His poetry displays his delight in life's uncertainties & ambiguities.  His uniquely rhythmic and musical style is lyrical, beguiling, playful & poignant. Toby also performs 2 of his wonderful poems as part of this interview: "Spinning Plates" & "Tears".

You can find out more about Toby at https://tobythompson.net/
And you Watch/Listen to Toby's interview here: https://vimeo.com/806790863


BEAUTIFUL INSPIRING WORDSMITHERY
Toby Thompson is a writer and performer of thoughts and feelings.  Not just his own, but somehow yours too.  His poetry displays his delight in life’s uncertainties and absurdities and his uniquely rhythmic and musical style is lyrical, beguiling, playful and poignant.

"...a wonderful gift for language, a deep sensibility and a penetrating sense of perspective."

Sir Ken Robinson.  Renowned Educationalist and Creativity Expert


More about Toby Thompson: Toby Thompson is the indirect descendant of the 19th Century Liberal Prime Minister, Wiliam Ewart Gladstone.

Today Toby himself is a truly extraordinary contemporary creative talent. A distinguished performance poet by profession, with a love of music on the side - an articulate and passionately vocal wordsmith whose distinctive voice expresses the brilliant words that his complicated brain has put together in unique new sequences and surprising new rhymes and rhythms.

Even traditionally written poetry benefits from being lifted from the black type on the white page and read aloud by someone, who understands what the poet originally had in mind. That’s true whether you’re talking about the plays of William Shakespeare or the popular poetry of Roger McGough.

With Toby Thompson, he rehearses his own original poems repeatedly in his head, until he’s happy with them, then remembers them and only when satisfied, will he express them directly and distinctively to a live audience in a theatre - or alternatively record them on a video for posterity.

In his primary school, the teachers called young Toby ‘the observer’. To this day he finds inspiration in strange places, everywhere, in conversations, in audio recordings, in football commentaries, as well as in contemplating impermanence and vastness. He acknowledges the wisdom of Jung: “That which you most need will be found where you least want to look.”

Now the mature Toby escapes the solitary challenge of slow creative ‘writing’ by substituting the solitary challenge of creative cooking.

The mature nomadic Toby Thompson is into Breathing, Qi Gong, Meditation, Music, Silence and Yoga.

He was recommended and passed the 'Golden Baton' by Kate Cross MBE, Director & Curator of the Egg Theatre in Bath. This turned out to be a total
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
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Layer upon layer, story upon story. Seldom has so much been packed into a conversation as is packed into this one here with Robin Ince. 

Occasionally it unravels briefly but mostly it is an exhilarating roller coaster ride of ideas and opinions and tributes to people, who may be famous or otherwise. What they have in common is the individual impression they have made on the impressionable mind of Robin Ince. 

He is an ‘open book’, who confesses to having had a ‘noisy head’ all his life. Only in the last three years, since he accepted a diagnosis of ADHD, has the anxiety become more understandable and therefore more acceptable. 

Robin’s public persona, as a comedian and as a writer, provides him with permission to express his frequently weird thoughts whenever he wants. He feels under less pressure nowadays to normalise his behaviour than say if he were a civil servant. 

He can accept his ‘haywire mind’. He accepts his lack of physical dexterity. He knows he is not ‘socially adept’. He suggests that ‘unbearable social values’ may be the root cause of many people’s feelings of nervousness, insecurity and anxiety. 

In days gone by, Robin could be stopped in his tracks by the critical voices in his head and the melancholy they brought with them. Now he recognises them for what they are, he feels safer. He has more energy to appreciate each passing moment. 

Robin is shaped and inspired by famous names like Alexei Sayle, Kurt Vonnegut, Barry Crimmins and Paula Rego. But also by people totally unknown to the general public, like Jamie ‘the autistic stranger’ or the 24 year old, who cried at a book-signing but found comfort in what he had to say…

Robin is characterised by curiosity and compassion. His odd-couple relationship with Professor Brian Cox in ‘The Infinite Monkey Cage’, is grounded in mutual respect for their differences in expertise and style, while being held together by their sense of wonder at everything which surrounds them. 

Robin admits to being silent when seeing a therapist whose training discouraged her from prompting him. Naturally, he feels he probably talks too fast and too much. He knows he goes off on too many tangents. Robin is hypersensitive as well as hyperactive! He means you no harm. 

He just wants you to share his enthusiasm and be glad you crossed each other’s path.
Love and kindness, courtesy and compassion. Joie de vivre! 

As Kurt Vonnegut himself once put it, in one of his novels: “Godammit, you’ve got to be kind!”

Then the road to personal peace really can be paved with good intentions.
Tune in next week for more stories of 'Distinction & Genius' from The Good Listening To Show 'Clearing'
You can email me about the Show: chris@secondcurve.uk Twitter thatchrisgrimes LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/chris-grimes-actor-broadcaster-facilitator-coach/ FaceBook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/842056403204860 Don't forget to SUBSCRIBE & REVIEW wherever you get your Podcasts :)
Thanks for listening!