Artistes of the Month

Also featured: Barrie Segal, Martin Cross

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Brian Blessed

The son of a South Yorkshire coal miner, Brian Blessed was born in 1936 in Mexborough and grew up in the mining village of Goldthorpe. He trained at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School before beginning a distinguished and varied career, which has encompassed all media. Brian is now one of this country's best known and most highly respected actors.

Brian created the role of Old Deuteronomy in Andrew Lloyd Webber's highly successful musical, 'CATS', for which he received a SWET nomination. He also starred as John Freeman in the West End musical 'METROPOLIS'. Whilst a member of the Royal Shakespeare Company he played Claudius in 'HAMLET', Exeter in 'HENRY V' and Hastings in 'RICHARD III'. At the Royal National Theatre he created Maxim Gorky in Robert Bolt's 'STATE OF REVOLUTION'. He also played Henry II in 'THE LION IN WINTER' at Basingstoke.

Countless television roles include: Augustus Caesar in 'I CLAUDIUS' for which he received the New York Critics Award; PC Fancy Smith in 'Z CARS'; Porthos in 'THE THREE MUSKETEERS'; Pepone in 'THE LITTLE WORLD OF DON CAMILLO'; Spiro in 'MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS'; the title role in 'THE JOY OF BACH'; Richard IV in 'BLACK ADDER' and the larger than life Squire Western in the BBC's classic drama series 'TOM JONES'

On Film, Brian played Talthybius in 'TROJAN WOMEN' in which he was thrilled to co-star with Katherine Hepburn, Irene Papas and Vanessa Redgrave. He played Vultan in the ever popular 'FLASH GORDON'; Pedro in 'MAN OF LA MANCHA'; Long John Silver in 'RETURN TO TREASURE ISLAND'; General Zukov in 'WAR AND REMEMBRANCE' and Lord Locksley in 'ROBIN HOOD - PRINCE OF THIEVES' with Kevin Costner and Alan Rickman. In Kenneth Branagh's 'HENRY V' he played Exeter; in 'MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING' he played Antonio and in 'HAMLET' he played Hamlet's Father and the Ghost.

Brian has worked with some of this country's great orchestras. At the Royal Festival Hall he appeared with The London Symphony Orchestra and massed choirs performing Arthur Bliss' 'MORNING HEROES'. He followed this with the inevitable 'PETER AND THE WOLF' with the Bolshoi Symphony Orchestra in Birmingham, Prokofiev's 'IVAN THE TERRIBLE' with the Royal National Scottish Orchestra in Glasgow and he has recorded 'A YOUNG PERSONS GUIDE TO THE ORCHESTRA'.

Brian has a thriving career as a best-selling author. He has written five books: 'THE TURQUOISE MOUNTAIN', 'THE DYNAMITE KID', 'NOTHING'S IMPOSSIBLE' and 'BLESSED EVEREST', an inspiring abbreviated history of Everest, which includes many magnificent photographs. His fifth book, entitled 'QUEST TO THE LOST WORLD' was published in 1999. Brian loves writing and would write a great deal more if he could find the time!

Since the late sixties Brian has had a great love of mountaineering and a great desire to stand on 'the top of the world'. He has been on three expeditions to Mount Everest. The first to make the film 'GALAHAD OF EVEREST', a tribute to George Leigh Mallory. In 1993 he returned to Everest, this time to climb the Southern side where he reached a height of 28,000 feet - the highest a man of his age has achieved without oxygen. He returned to the Northern side in 1996 when the climb was filmed by a Channel 4 Television team as part of the 'ENCOUNTERS' series. Brian has also completed a trek to the North Pole resulting in him currently being the oldest man to reach the pole, and an expedition to The Lost World in Venezuela - the subject of his last book.

He has also completed several a highly successful UK Tours with his one-man show 'AN EVENING WITH BRIAN BLESSED' and is sought after on the corporate market, either as an entertaining raconteur, or sharing his inspiring story of ascending Everest.

Brian lives in Surrey with his wife, the actress Hildegard Neil. They share their home with numerous dogs, ponies, fish, cats, ducks and fish !! They have one daughter, Rosalind, who is also an actress.

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Barrie Segal

He has a regular phone-in programme on TalkSport Radio and is a regular contributor to numerous TV shows and radio programmes, including BBC TV's BBC London News, Real Story, BBC3 TV News, Radio 5.and LBC Radio

Barrie has also appeared on ITV's Tonight with Trevor McDonald, London Tonight, Richard Hammond's 5 O' Clock Show and The London Programme.

He has been featured in all the major British newspapers and internationally featured in The New York Times, The International Herald Tribune and many more.

Barrie assisted Which? Magazine's latest report on parking tickets which received the largest number of letters on any subject the magazine has ever received.

He has also given technical advice to many TV programmes on parking tickets, including the BBC's Whistleblowers series.

In 2003, he founded the Crazy Parking Ticket Awards to highlight the absurd way our parking ticket laws are enforced by local authorities. The first year's winner was a rabbit which had a parking ticket slapped on its hutch.

He has also been in the forefront of viral advertising on the Internet, having commissioned three viral adverts for his AppealNow.com website. Two of those adverts won Gold Awards at the Cannes International Advertising Awards Festival late last year and one of his viral adverts, Kicking, has been seen by an estimated 5 million people on the Internet.

Barrie has submitted evidence on parking matters to both the London Assembly and the Parliamentary Transport Committee on Parking. He also regularly represents clients before the Parking Adjudicator

He believes that one way to help people fight incorrect parking tickets is to use humour to highlight the lengths to which councils go to issue parking tickets. His files contain thousands of stories and anecdotes on parking tickets, clamping and tow-aways, as well as the congestion charge. He has found that the subject pf parking tickets is of universal interest to motorists in Britain, few of whom have been lucky enough to escape the scourge of the parking attendant.

In his "other" life, Barrie is a Chartered Accountant who specialises in company turnarounds, financial advice and IT systems for business. In the mid-80s he was Managing Director in charge of U.S. Operations for the Hard Rock Café and for many years was Senior Tax Partner at a well-known firm of Chartered Accountants. He has also lectured extensively on international tax.

Barrie is 58, married and has two children. He is a former member of the Magic Circle and a devotee of Tai Chi. He is "a born communicator" with a keen sense of the funny side of any situation.

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Martin Cross

Martin Cross is one of Britain’s most successful ever rowers. In a glittering international career spanning over 20 years, he won Olympic Gold & Bronze medals. Since then

Martin has combined a career in broadcasting, writing and education with his expertise and is a sought after inspirational speaker and motivational expert.

Martin’s work has been featured extensively on television. Most recently appearing in 2004 as the star of BBC TV’s reality TV show: ‘The Other Boat Race’. He has worked for BBC Grandstand, covering the three year build up to Steve Redgrave’s 5th Olympic Gold in Sydney. Working as BBC Radio 5 Live’s roving sports reporter, he covered Britain’s build up to the 2004 Olympics, interviewing personalities from Amir Khan to Matthew Pinsent and was part of 5 Live’s acclaimed commentary team during the Olympic regatta in Athens.

As a Trainer, Coach and Facilitator, Martin works in leadership development, team building, executive coaching & motivational presentations. He runs and creates challenging training programmes, specialising in building and developing relationships. Martin has worked in a broad range of companies both in private, public and voluntary sectors to secure personal and organisational change at all levels.

The broad range of Martin’s talents are apparent by the way he has build his skills while carrying out the demanding role of a Senior Manager in a leading independent school. Currently Martin is a regular contributor to the Guardian newspaper. Martin’s autobiography ‘Olympic Obsession’ was published to critical acclaim in 2001.

Since then Martin has worked with a range of clients such as Coca Cola Enterprises, Honda, Ernst & Young, Accenture, Department of Health and the Money Advice Trust.

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Further Information

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