A Talk by Gary Powell

Former Detective, Crime Author and

Member of the Crime Writers Association

Many will be surprised that the right of a convicted person to appeal their conviction and or sentence in the British judicialsystem has only been available since the early 1900’s. As with many changes in our society they often come about by ‘needing to learn from the mistakes of the past’ as our politicians love to say.

This talk highlights one such case. A case of mistaken identity and wrongful conviction of an innocent man which led to the formation of the Court of Appeal. It also reminds us of the fallibility of eyewitness evidence in an age where fingerprints were yet to establish a foothold in British law and DNA, as a crime-fighting tool to convict the guilty and most importantly acquit the innocent, was seventy-five years away.

Come on one man’s journey from riches to rags; to a criminal conviction and a prison cell; to proving his innocence. It’s a fascinating story!

I'm an ex-Fleet Street showbiz journalist, now based in Newark, and I specialised in writing about TV and interviewing TV, movie and music stars for over 30 years. I'm also an amusing and experienced speaker and I do two talks recalling amusing moments from my interviews with celebrities - ‘Oprah Winfrey Touched My Elbow’ (also featuring anecdotes on encounters with Eric Morecambe, Liz Hurley, Sir David Attenborough, Keith Floyd and many more) and 'Terry Wogan's Hair Weave and Other Stories', recalling my encounters with everyone from Ernie Wise to Pat Phoenix, as well as Terry of course.

The talks generate lots of laughter and nostalgia but also give audiences a glimpse behind the camera or curtain.

I have 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.  I am in the process if making a talk/slide show of this journey and wondered if your group would be interested next year?

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

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.

Bharat has worked for BBC Radio Leicester, Radio 4, ITV and BBC TV. He has covered major events which have made headlines around the world, including the Kegworth air crash, the death of Princess Diana, the capture of Colin Pitchfork using DNA fingerprinting for the first time, the Gujarat earthquake and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann. But it's not all been about tragedy. He has also interviewed a parrot who allegedly spoke five languages, the world’s oldest donkey and met Brian the Budgie, who escaped from Ilkeston to Corfu but was found by his astonished owners while they were eating a souvlaki under a tree on holiday in Corfu Town.
But there's one story he has never covered and that is his own. His family left a comfortable lifestyle in both India and Zambia after a soothsayer told his parents his future lay in England. They exchanged a comfortable lifestyle in a warm climate for a tiny terraced house with an outside toilet and a leaking roof in a rundown suburb. Their arrival was followed by a series of bizarre and comic incidents, which were often odder than anything Bharat encountered as a reporter. These are the subject of a highly entertaining book,Indian Takeaway, which has been turned into an audiobook on BBC Sounds. All proceeds from the book go to the Hope Against Cancer charity, which has already found several cures for cancers through the
research it funds.