Media & Publishing

30

Andrew Marr

Professor Mike Oliver

BBC TV Presenter, Host of The Andrew Marr

Show

Professor of Disability Studies, University of

Greenwich; Author

Andrew Marr is one of the

most influential broadcasters
on television. His eponymous
discussion programme, on which he
quizzes newsmakers particularly
the political elite, with whom he
shows neither fear, nor favour is
regarded as THE programme to
watch on a Sunday morning if you
yearn to know exactly what is going
on in the world.
As a political commentator, Andrew has worked for various
publications including The Scotsman and The Economist, before
he took over as Editor at the Independent Newspaper between
1996 and 1998. He was Political Editor at BBC News between 2000
and 2005.
Other TV credits include BBC 2s Andrew Marrs History of
Modern Britain, the excellent Andrew Marrs Megacities, and,
in early 2012, he presented The Diamond Queen, a threepart series about Queen Elizabeth II. He has won Two British
Academy Television Awards as well as numerous journalistic
awards and accolades.
He suffered a severe stroke in January 2013, which left him
physically impaired, and Andrew has battled back from the
debilitating effects to smoothly resume his career where he left off.

Mike Oliver is an academic,

author and disability rights
activist and is Emeritus Professor
of Disability Studies at the
University of Greenwich. Much
of his work has been centered
around advocating and changing
the social model of disability.
Mike was the first professor of
disability studies in the UK and
is also the author of many books
and other publications on disability, including numerous
newspaper articles.
He was a disability activist and served on the governing
council of several disability organisations including the British
Council of Disabled People and the Spinal Injuries Association.
Mike is known as the academic who first defined the social
model of disability. He said: We were the ones who escaped
from our isolation and segregation, whether we were in homes
or our families. No-one else did it for us. We created a strong
and very powerful disabled peoples movement which promoted
independent living as one of the central planks of our struggles
for full inclusion into society.
Mike is a massive Arsenal supporter and is married with two
daughters and two granddaughters.

Sir Terry Pratchett

Geoff Adams-Spink

Best-selling author; creator of the Discworlds

Series

Director, Adams-Spink Ltd; Disability Rights UK

Trustee

The world-renowned author of

fantasy novels is best known for his
Discworld series of about 40 books.
His first novel, The Carpet People,
was published in 1971 and his first
Discworld novel was published in
1983. He has written, on average,
two books a year.
His 2011 Discworld novel Snuff
was, at the time of its release, the
third-fastest-selling hardback adultaudience novel since records began in the UK, selling 55,000 copies
in the first three days. He has sold over 87 million books worldwide
in 37 languages and is currently the second most-read writer in the
UK. He was made an OBE in 1998, was subsequently knighted for
services to literature in 2009, and received the World Fantasy Award
for Life Achievement a year later in 2010.
In 2007, he announced he was suffering from Alzheimers
disease and has now turned his attention to raising awareness of
the lack of funding given to combating the affliction. Since 1998,
Terry has been testing a prototype device that has slightly improved
his condition and he has written, with the help of British sci-fi
writer Stephen Baxter, three novels since being diagnosed with the
condition. Due to his disease he dictates texts to his assistant or uses
speech-recognition software to put together his novels.

Geoff Adams-Spink was born in

1962 with disabilities caused by the
morning sickness drug thalidomide.
After attending specialist schools,
he studied French and politics at
Loughborough University, obtaining
a first-class degree.
His university careers adviser
advised him and all fellow language
students that applying for the fast
stream of the Diplomatic Service
would be pointless because, nobody from this university has ever
got in. Incensed at having his expectations revised downwards, he
set about applying. At the end of the rigorous process, he got in.
At the same time, he pursued a lifelong passion for the radio by
applying to the BBC. He was offered a traineeship, but he had a
difficult decision to make. Eventually, he decided to join the BBC
where his creativity would flourish better than in the Foreign Office.
He spent 22 years working as a journalist and manager for the
Corporation, the last eight of which were as Age & Disability
Correspondent for BBC News. He left the corporation in 2011
and now runs his own consultancy firm, as well as chairing an
international confederation of organisations of people affected by
congenital limb difference. He is also an associate of the Business
Disability Forum (BDF), and a Trustee of Disability Rights UK.

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