[LDN 2012] London Marathon with Leon Taylor

What a day at the London Marathon 2012. The weather held up as I clapped and cheered the thousands of runners around the course.

You can’t beat the atmosphere around London on marathon day, it really brings people together in the sense that we’re all just happily giving up our Sunday by cheering on a load of strangers as they take on the 26.2 mile challenge. I had a few friends running the race this year, so its great fun trying to spot them out amongst the masses of runners, despite them not having the energy to wave back once we tracked them down!

But this year, my marathon day was even more special as I was lucky enough to meet ex Olympian and BT Ambassador, Leon Taylor.

Leon who won silver at the 2004 Athens games in the pairs 10m diving event told me how much the crowd spurred him on when the pain was just settling in – he came in with an amazing time of 3hrs 32min, but he certainly didn’t look like he’d just ran a marathon.

Leon who has now retired from diving, is a BT ambassador and will be heard during the Olympics as he takes to commentating for the BBC. I’m looking forward to hearing his unique view on the discipline. Congratulations to everyone who completed this year’s marathon, I filmed my journey around the course, so you can watch that and my interview with Leon below – I just hope next year I get a ballot place to compete in it myself!

2012
05/14
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[LDN 2012] TwoWheelDocs – Canoe Slalom Selection Event Wins BT Film Competition

In this TwoWheelDoc I visited the Canoe Slalom selection event – a competition that decides who goes to London 2012. I met the athletes who won a place in Team GB along with their coaches and training staff. With so much pressure on Team GB delivering our “Our Greatest Team” – I thought I’d get the view of people within the canoe team to find out how they are feeling ahead of 2012. The BT Storytellers film features interviews with David Florence, Richard Hounslow and performance director, John Anderson, amongst others.

UPDATE: The film was entered in the latest BT Storytellers competition based around the theme of “Our Greatest Team” and won the gold prize. Tom fought off tough competition to win the prize of a lifetime, a trip to the “Greatest Team Rises” event at the Royal Albert Hall. Tom will interview the athletes on the red carpet of this prestigious event, before enjoying the unique event within weeks of London 2012.

2012
04/26
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[LDN 2012] TwoWheelDocs interviews online and in the press

“I recently did an interview for the ‘The Times’ which was published today! The questions were posed by Damian Arnold. Last time I was in a National paper was the Daily Mirror where I made page 54, this time it was page 46…so by this maths I will be front page by 2037! Click the photo to read about my TwoWheelDocs series for BT. “

“I was also interviewed last week by the excellent Liz Williams from Synctracks, she asked about my approach to storytelling for the Olympics – the indepth interview can be found by clicking the image below.”

2012
03/27
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Aston Martin Brand Film Released

trademark productions in partnership with Khurrum M. Sultan have created this stunning new brand film for the new Aston Martin Cygnet. The film was launched on the Aston Martin facebook page and is already ramping up the views on youtube.

As you’ll see from the making of film the entire shoot was a great challenge, but trademark productions ably managed to bring together actors, equipment, tracking vehicles and locations to make this film a success.

Numerous car websites and magazines have picked up on the launch, a selection of their quotes can be found below:

[London based Sultan] “made the film for his final project, and although it looks like a big commercial for the Cygnet, we like his thinking here. He made a classy film, Aston publicised its car, terrific.” (motorward.com)

[Khurrum] “took his creative eye to the Cygnet to see how he could make it appealing. You know what? We think he’s managed.” (carbuzz.com)

CLICK THE IMAGE TO VIEW THE FILM

2012
01/20
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Tom blogs at the first ever Winter Youth Games

“Fresh from my return from Innsbruck I blogged for the Ski Club of Great Britain at the first ever Winter Youth Olympics. The weekend in Austria saw me spectate the opening ceremony, Super G, biathlon and a medal ceremony. With Singapore hosting the first summer youth games was in 2010, this is was the first meeting of 14-18 year olds competing in winter sports. I provided three blogs along with exclusive photos, one of which the Ski Club of GB even used for their facebook profile picture.

All three of my blogs can be found on the Ski Club of Great Britain website.

I also managed to track down the Chef de Misson of Team GB, Sir Clive Woodward, for a quick interview. Along with two of Britain’s young hopefuls, Rachelle Rogers and Paul Henderson – who were both very excited to be representing their country in Innsbruck.

It was a fantastic experience and one I will never forget – I thoroughly enjoyed filming and tweeting at the Olympics- it really whetted my appetite for the summer in London.

2012
01/19
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[LDN 2012] British Olympic Ball Coverage

My latest BT Storytellers’ assignment saw me travel to The Olympia in West London, where over 2,100 people crammed into the vast hall to raise money for Team GB, at the 2011 British Olympic Ball.

The event saw past and present Team GB legends, as well as the great and good, grace the red carpet (which was actually gold) and show their support for next year’s summer games. The event was hosted by Stephen Fry and Miranda Hart while Tom Jones headlined the various music acts.

As the sun set, the intense camera flashes seem to get brighter and there was a time in the middle where the organisation just wasn’t possible as so many athletes and celebrities were just flying through. So much so that Seb Coe and the Princess Royal seemed to sneak past seemingly unnoticed after the obligatory photos.

During the pandemonium I was swiftly ushered out by Anthony, the official BT photographer, to jump over to the other side and be in front of the camera to have my photo taken with the various BT Ambassadors. Standing next to  legendary paralympic basketball player, Ade Adepitan, whom I’d grown up watching on TV; and the Brownlee brothers, who as a novice triathlete myself, I gather a lot of inspiration from – it was just great feeling. I also had my photo taken with Lee Pearson who I had met a couple of weeks earlier, who was just as happy and welcoming as before.

You can watch my full film featuring the likes of Steve Redgrave, Sally Gunnell and Colin Jackson to name but a few.

My write up for the event also appeared in the Lincolnshire Echo, which you can access here.

2011
11/25
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[LDN 2012] TwoWheelDocs takes over page 54 of the Daily Mirror

I was as shocked as anyone when I turned to page 54 in today’s Daily Mirror (Nov 25th) to find that I had a full page spread on my TwoWheelDocs series…and I’m loving the James Bond image too, although I feel my cover may have been blown! Thanks to Laurie Hanna for the excellent article.

You can find a full PDF of the report by clicking here

I even made the top story on the tabloid’s website in the 2012 section

2011
11/25
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[LDN 2012] Spectator Entry Team Member Gamesmaker Interview

Over a year ago I signed up to become a volunteer at the London 2012 Olympics, and only a few weeks ago I was granted an interview for the role of “Spectator Entry Team Member”. Even though I would have preferred a role within the media side of things, being any kind of “gamesmaker” for the Olympics would still be a fantastic experience.  I made a film about my day and you can find it below:

The uniforms for the ‘gamesmakers” have been released too. I hope there’s not a Sainsburys on the Olympic site…things could get very confusing!

2011
11/25
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[LDN 2012] Arun Ghosh Jazz Event

As a BT Storyteller, I put myself forward to cover numerous events – the latest adventure was a trip to the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich to interview fellow Storyteller, Arun Ghosh. A very charismatic man who with his band made for a night full of surprises and excellent music. The film can be found below. I also photographed the event where the images can be found above.

2011
11/19
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[LDN 2012] Writing for The Lincolnshire Echo

After studying Media Production at the University of Lincoln for three years, I was delighted when the prestigious Lincolnshire Echo asked me to write two columns for them about my BT Storytelling adventures. They included my experiences with meeting Lee Pearson and my red carpet filming at the British Olympic Association Ball in October. The BOA Ball video is currently in production but you can watch my interview with Lee Pearson right here.

You can download my second article in full by clicking here.

2011
10/28
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