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I’VE long held the view that the Firecracker Ball is the hottest ticket in the Yorkshire business and social calendar. So when Martha Phillips from the Firecracker Ball committee rang to ask if I would be interested in being media partner for this year’s event I didn’t hesitate to say yes. The annual event, which […]

TO Hull and Back. That was the name of the Only Fools and Horses Christmas special way back in 1985. I remember watching it on my new portable colour TV in my bedroom right after the Queen’s Speech on Christmas Day. It was the first feature-length episode of the sitcom and so wasn’t accompanied by

UNSUNG heroes. It’s a strange phrase. I’ve always loved unearthing the unsung heroes of business. You know, the entrepreneurs who have created something special but also wanted to put something back. But by highlighting their achievements doesn’t that mean that they are no longer unsung? That might be the case but many still remain relatively

“ARE you taking your Ferraro Rocher?” I was asked when I told a friend I was off to watch the finish of the Tour de France  on the Champs-Elysées, preceded by a drinks reception on the lawn of the British Embassy in Paris. “No, we’re flying to Paris and anyway, I can’t afford a Ferrari,”

FORGIVE the self-indulgence in including yet another photograph of me in this blog. But given I wrote about attire in the workplace last week at least the above shot proves that I don’t always go to work in a suit or dinner jacket. This was me compering a recent event we worked on for broadcasting

YOU know you’re at the Great Yorkshire Show when you patiently wait for a pack of beagles to cross the road in front of you and walk contentedly around a barn staring at prize-winning rabbits (the English Spot is like Thumper crossed with Perdita from 101 Dalmatians). Having failed to get a VIP car parking

LAST weekend was spent in Norway, a country I had never been to before. If that Scandinavian nation which isn’t in the European Union is what Britain can be like post Brexit, then I’m all for it. Blue skies, sparkling fjords, bright-eyed smiling people and it doesn’t get dark until gone midnight. Wasn’t that the

THREE months into his year as High Sheriff of West Yorkshire and Richard Jackson MBE admits he is busier than ever. As well as his voluntary role hosting High Court judges and welcoming royalty to the county, he is continuing his business projects. Richard’s Yorkshire Ventures business acquired the Raithwaite Hotel in Sandsend, near Whitby,

IT has been a busy but rewarding week with the high spot a day-long training session for Sky on presentation skills. No it wasn’t the Sky newsreaders who needed the benefit of my help but regional managers who work in the group’s home service division. We put together and I hosted the day called ‘Powerful

IN the last few weeks Leeds has hosted England Test Match cricket versus Pakistan at Headingley. Across the city international football was played at at Elland Road with England v Costa Rica plus boxer Josh Warrington won a world title in his home city front of 20,000 fans. Meanwhile last weekend millions of TV viewers