Here’s a great clip from YouTube with Michelle Pfeiffer explaining how she got the most important role in her life- Elvira, in ‘Scarface’ with Al Pacino- It reminded me that- Acting is a very tough business. Constant rejection, sometimes hundreds of auditions without success and often with no feedback on why you didn’t get the…
As a bloke who has built a few businesses up from nothing to sale, starting with no brand, no clients, no capital, no support and often, no idea how hard it is, there are just a few things I have learned that are worth knowing. There are also many that aren’t, such as- Coventry (in…
You’ve got to love Vladimir Putin haven’t you? OK, Probably not. And maybe have some sympathy with him? OK, definitely not. But you have to admit that he is bloody funny. Asked to comment, in a generally testy press-conference, on China’s huffy fit about Liu Xiaobo receiving the Nobel Prize for Peace, (well he won’t actually receive it,…
I first read his book, ‘Our masters’ voices‘ when I was 22. If I’m honest, lots of it was beyond me then. But like great poetry, that you like the sound of, but don’t really ‘get’, I persevered, and learned more at each reading; as I matured and gained experience. At 22 years old, I…
I went to a speechwriter’s conference last year- The UK Speechwriter’s Guild event, in Bournemouth, and I saw Charles Crawford speak. I didn’t know of him and was intrigued and interested to find out that he’s a very experienced diplomat of the first rank. (Does one ever become an ex-diplomat?) His subject was fresh, full…
I got it for Christmas. From my wife. She loves me. I was indifferent, to him. For an Englishman, Lord Sugar of Clapton, as he is now, is unmissable, ubiquitous and often unintelligible. He’s the ‘Donald Trump’ of our little island and he’s become the (grumpy and sometimes curmudgeonly) face of the ‘self-made-man’ in the…
I was working with Dystin Johnson, a British actor and screenwriter the other day, and in our discussions when trying to help a client run an effective training session for salespeople for a really exciting new product- we got into a discussion about ‘the story’. I was thinking that the story is the thing that…
England was humiliated yesterday. Not by its football (soccer) team, or football ‘fans’, for once, but at the FIFA held unveiling of the countries chosen to host the football world cups for 2018 and 2022. England pulled out all of the ‘big guns’ to help. The shiny new Prime Minister, a squeaky clean sporting royal in the perfect…
My name is James, it’s what my mother called me, it’s what my 2 sisters, my twin brother and my creaky old dad do too. I prefer James, but almost nobody asks before they call me Jim. I gave up trying to put people right years ago, but I do notice when someone bothers to…