Having recently made another expedition to Antarctica, this time following in the wake of Sir Earnest Shackleton from South Georgia to the Weddell Sea, Elephant Island and South Georgia on his famous Endurance Expedition - an incredible story of survival, leadership,  and erm, endurance.

Neil Hanson is a successful author with 70 published books to his name. As well as his own, much-acclaimed work, he’s also a “ghost writer”. His clients include household names - an American showbiz legend, England’s most legendary cricketer, a famous actor, one of Britain’s most decorated soldiers,an England football manager and a man who turned his family’s bakery into Britain’s biggest fast-food chain - but also many less celebrated men and women who have led extraordinary lives or achieved remarkable things. Among many others, they include SAS men, fast-jet pilots, explorers and adventurers, a treasure diver, a kidnap negotiator, a notorious gangster, the first woman ever to qualify as a gamekeeper and deer-stalker, a leading surgeon and a spy.

A hugely engaging storyteller and award-winning speaker, Neil has entertained audiences at every type of occasion - corporate events, conferences, festivals, luncheon clubs, dinners and banquets - throughout the UK and right across the USA, Australia and New Zealand.

His talk “The Ghostwriter” gives us privileged glimpses into the hidden worlds of his ghostwriting clients, including some very famous names and some ‘ordinary people achieving extraordinary things’, and also reveals the truth behind one of the most earth-shattering events

Christmas Party and quiz

Bharat Patel was one of the first Asian reporters on British radio and TV. His family left India for Zambia and then migrated to England. By the age of eight, he had lived on three continents and arrived in Leicester armed with just a few words of English. A teacher told him that Indians always speak with their teeth clenched, whereas the English speak with their mouths open and enunciate. This advice helped him to get a job at the BBC at a time when accents of any sort - Indian or Brummie or Geordie - were frowned upon.

My talk begins with me leaving school . . .
I talk about how my career began as a chef and hotel manager.
My 17 years working the oil rigs in the North Sea.
Followed by operating projects in Algeria & Nigeria..
My time in Kazakhstan & Russia was particularly exciting.
Not to mention the most dangerous place of all . . . Baghdad.
My career culminated in Dubai where I ran an oil services company.
The talk is full of interest, anecdotes, humour, and inspiration.