Who is/was your favourite after dinner speaker?
Discussion
I went to two events in the same week a few years ago, one hosted by a wealthy organisation who paid £25K for Jeremy Paxman, and the other hosted by a much smaller organisation who paid £2K for Richard Coles. Paxman was useless, and Richard Coles was superb.
If you ever get to meet him, ask him to tell the story about the record company's signing on golden hello and his pushing for a zanussi washer dryer.
If you ever get to meet him, ask him to tell the story about the record company's signing on golden hello and his pushing for a zanussi washer dryer.
Thankyou4calling said:
I just posted in another thread that the late Bob Monkhouse hosted an event I attended back in the day and was truly excellent.
Who’s your favourite and any good anecdotes?
Slightly O/T.Who’s your favourite and any good anecdotes?
My late uncle went for lunch with him many years ago. People kept coming up to him in the restaurant asking him for autographs. My uncle asked him if he was ever fed up with all the attention. He replied, nope, never. It's my fans that have put me where I am today and I'm always grateful. A truly decent gent.
Nice to hear the above about Bob.
Here’s a few more I’ve witnessed first hand ;
Bruce Forsyth. Not particularly funny, topical or a very good singer. Nicely dressed though.
Mark Durden-Smith. If you ever wondered where he went, he does the circuit. And extremely entertaining and quick witted he was too.
Roger Black. Had some great stories of his achievements and translated them well to a business environment. Very nice lounge suit and ladies loved him.
Kriss Akabusi. As you’d expect. Massive personality and very self deprecating. Always good value.
Major General Colin Powell ( I kid you not) how I got on this jolly was a tale in itself but my goodness he nailed it. I almost felt like standing up, hand on chest and singing the Star Spangled banner!
Here’s a few more I’ve witnessed first hand ;
Bruce Forsyth. Not particularly funny, topical or a very good singer. Nicely dressed though.
Mark Durden-Smith. If you ever wondered where he went, he does the circuit. And extremely entertaining and quick witted he was too.
Roger Black. Had some great stories of his achievements and translated them well to a business environment. Very nice lounge suit and ladies loved him.
Kriss Akabusi. As you’d expect. Massive personality and very self deprecating. Always good value.
Major General Colin Powell ( I kid you not) how I got on this jolly was a tale in itself but my goodness he nailed it. I almost felt like standing up, hand on chest and singing the Star Spangled banner!
Thankyou4calling said:
Nice to hear the above about Bob.
Here’s a few more I’ve witnessed first hand ;
Bruce Forsyth. Not particularly funny, topical or a very good singer. Nicely dressed though.
Mark Durden-Smith. If you ever wondered where he went, he does the circuit. And extremely entertaining and quick witted he was too.
Roger Black. Had some great stories of his achievements and translated them well to a business environment. Very nice lounge suit and ladies loved him.
Kriss Akabusi. As you’d expect. Massive personality and very self deprecating. Always good value.
Major General Colin Powell ( I kid you not) how I got on this jolly was a tale in itself but my goodness he nailed it. I almost felt like standing up, hand on chest and singing the Star Spangled banner!
Go on, do tell. Fascinated. Here’s a few more I’ve witnessed first hand ;
Bruce Forsyth. Not particularly funny, topical or a very good singer. Nicely dressed though.
Mark Durden-Smith. If you ever wondered where he went, he does the circuit. And extremely entertaining and quick witted he was too.
Roger Black. Had some great stories of his achievements and translated them well to a business environment. Very nice lounge suit and ladies loved him.
Kriss Akabusi. As you’d expect. Massive personality and very self deprecating. Always good value.
Major General Colin Powell ( I kid you not) how I got on this jolly was a tale in itself but my goodness he nailed it. I almost felt like standing up, hand on chest and singing the Star Spangled banner!
I was attending a convention in 2001 (I think) SAN Francisco. There were a number of breakout sessions with speakers on customer service, marketing, finance etc. I wasn’t booked in any but left the main hall to wander and sauntered through a door in to what transpired to be a VIP invitation only event hosted by none other than 4 star General (retired) joint Cheif of Staff Colin Powell! I breezed past security ( genuinely unknowingly) and sat down for a 45 min talk on how to win a war, be a good American and make apple pie. The good General then took questions and walked the floor and I shook his hand. I’m sure he was wearing full military uniform.
I really didn’t know I was in this hallowed portal til the MC announced Mr Powell’s arrival on stage.
Cool story.
I really didn’t know I was in this hallowed portal til the MC announced Mr Powell’s arrival on stage.
Cool story.
Not speaker, but m/c at an awards dinner: Penny Smith, the newsreader. Vivacious, quick-witted, and a filthy sense of humour. Also excellent was Beverley Cracknell (nee Turner).
Best speaker: David Coulthard was good, as was Sir Chris Hoy.
Worst: Ian Hislop. Clearly just rocked up with that year's version of his speech, not tailored to the audience at all, you could almost see him holding his hand out for the cheque as he left the podium.
Best speaker: David Coulthard was good, as was Sir Chris Hoy.
Worst: Ian Hislop. Clearly just rocked up with that year's version of his speech, not tailored to the audience at all, you could almost see him holding his hand out for the cheque as he left the podium.
TooLateForAName said:
My brother had an excellent tape (yeah it was a long time ago) of an air traffic controller giving a hillarious after dinner speech.
googled it : dave gunson
This is who I was going to mention. I still have the tape but you can find all his stuff on YouTube. He was excellent, the humour was so dry.googled it : dave gunson
Edited by TooLateForAName on Saturday 25th July 22:09
Most were not particularly memorable. Richard Noble was pretty good.
I was always pretty smashed and at formal military dinner nights where you're not allowed to leave the table I was usually praying they'd wrap it up pretty quickly. Worst was an uninteresting crusty general that didn't shut up until near 1am. There was a lot of piss soaked mess dress that night.
I was always pretty smashed and at formal military dinner nights where you're not allowed to leave the table I was usually praying they'd wrap it up pretty quickly. Worst was an uninteresting crusty general that didn't shut up until near 1am. There was a lot of piss soaked mess dress that night.
Tony Mason was pretty good, Nicky Grist was excellent but the most entertaining and genuinely surprising was Vic Lee.
You may not of heard of him but he was the team boss of the Listerine BMW's in the btcc, according to him the sponsorship money was running short so he went testing several times at Zandvoort bringing back tonnes of drugs hidden in the race transporters!
You may not of heard of him but he was the team boss of the Listerine BMW's in the btcc, according to him the sponsorship money was running short so he went testing several times at Zandvoort bringing back tonnes of drugs hidden in the race transporters!
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