Connor PR specialist in expert PR
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Press Release
Gypsies, Come Dancing!
Forget Got to Dance and Strictly Come Dancing, telly bosses are currently battling it out for the rights to bring an even more sequined dance event to our screens, the World Gypsy Dance Championships! The first and only worldwide contest for dancers from the Gypsy, Roma, Traveller community is to be hosted in London later this year. Organisers have already begun the worldwide search for the next Gypsy dance star, and are expecting stiff competition for the coveted gold medal.
Running the contest is Irish Romany Gypsy, Róisín Mullins, a former Irish Dance World Medallist and dancer with Michael Flatley’s Lord of the Dance. Róisín has judged thousands of Gypsy acts, including performing horses, in TV talent shows such as Travellers Got Talent and Gypsy and Traveller Face of the Year, alongside singers David Essex and Jentina. But now Róisín will be encouraging Travellers to swap their twenty stone wedding dresses for flamenco skirts, hitch up their wagons, and hit auditions at Traveller fairs, sites and events throughout the UK.
Róisín Mullins said: “The World Gypsy Dance Championships is a fantastic opportunity for dancers to take centre stage. We have already seen singers from the community make it on TV talent shows, but for me, the dancers represent our culture best”.
Joining Róisín to organise the contest will be her Gypsy partner, Irish dance show producer, Jack Jacobs. The pair are keen to show off a more positive side to the community, at what they hope will be the biggest gathering of gypsy dancers in history. Event organiser Jack is particularly excited about revealing the community’s hidden talent.
Jack Jacobs said: “The contest is a real first for the Gypsy and Traveller community. There are some incredibly talented dancers out there, and traditional dance styles that we, in the UK, have never seen before. So the chance to pull Gypsy dancers together from all over the world to compete against one another will be an amazing site”.
Celebrities rumoured to be taking a seat on the judging panel alongside Róisín include world famous Gypsy dancers, and stars from the BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing.
As well as heavily diamented costumes and fake tan, the contest promises to deliver an all out battle of traditional versus modern, with Flamenco and Irish dancing facing off against hip hop and street dance.
Entrants can compete in any dance style, but must be from a Gypsy, Roma or Traveller background.
To enter visit www.worldgypsydancechampionships.com
Press Enquiries:
For all media enquiries please contact: siobhan@connopr.com Tel: 07966 177025 or Jack Jacobs at jackjacobs@live.co.uk
Connor PR entertainment PR Specialist, Connor PR working with Gypsies, Come Dancing
Memorial held for TV globetrotter Alan Whicker
Memorial held for TV globetrotter Alan Whicker
Yesterday I attended the Memorial Service of my dear friend Alan Whicker at The Grosvenor Chapel in London’s Mayfair.
Sir Michael Parkinson and Monty Python star Michael Palin were among the guests.
Former BBC boss Michael Grade described Whicker as “one of the corner stones of the golden age of British television”.
Whicker died in July 2013 after a TV career lasting nearly six decades.
He was best known for Whicker’s World which ran from 1959 to 1988 on both the BBC and ITV.
He had… eyebrows that could speak a thousand words when raised slightly at the right moment.”
Lord Grade
“Alan Whicker belonged to that very exclusive club of gifted individuals who over so many decades consistently delivered memorable programmes for what is more usually such a transitory medium,” Lord Grade said.
“He had that unmistakable voice with its delicate inflections so easily mimicked, eyebrows that could speak a thousand words when raised slightly at the right moment… and an unerring instinct to know when to listen.”
Whicker’s dapper dress sense – which included his trademark smart blazer and tie – made him one of the most recognised figures on television.
Palin, who spoofed Whicker in a Monty Python sketch, said Whicker was “a towering figure” in the world of television.
He said Whicker had the “enviable ability to deliver introductions and summings up that were as crisp and precise as the clothes in which he delivered them”.
Palin recalled how he had been the fourth person the BBC had asked to present travel series Around the World in 80 Days, the first choice having been Whicker.
“I was later told – apocryphally I’m sure – that the reason he turned it down was that the BBC, in soliciting the great man’s services, had taken him out to lunch at the Pizza Hut in Shepherd’s Bush.
“Alan didn’t do Pizza Hut.”
Sir Michael Parkinson said Whicker had “inspired an entire generation of young journalists” to seek a television career.
“He never let celebrity cloud the business of being a proper journalist,” he added.
Whicker’s long list of famous interviewees included Peter Sellers, Joan Collins, the Sultan of Brunei and notorious Haitian dictator ‘Papa Doc’ Duvalier.
Reference Tim Masters, BBC http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606893
Connor PR expert in publishing PR, Connor PR expert in Travel PR, Siobhan Connor worked with Alan Whicker
Connor PR launches restaurant House of the Rising Sun in Shrewsbury
‘EAST MEETS WEST’ COMES TO SHREWSBURY
WITH THE OFFICIAL LAUNCH OF:
HOUSE OF THE RISING SUN RESTAURANT
ON BUTCHER ROW
Connor PR launches House of the Rising Sun restaurant in Butcher Row, Shrewsbury.
More than 200 people gathered on Tuesday night to celebrate the official launch of a new restaurant, House of the Rising Sun, on Butcher Row. Headed up by entrepreneur Sam Taylor, owner of The Libertine Cocktail Bar and Tea Room, working alongside head chef, Adrian Badland.
The Mayor of Shrewsbury, John Tandy. Celebrity TV chef, Marcus Bean, and Shrewsbury’s business community were among the guests who joined Sam and the patrons of the restaurant on Tuesday evening.
Guests were treated to champagne cocktails and a selection of delicious Pacific Rim canapés as they enjoyed the fusion of global dining in a sumptuous and luxurious atmosphere.
Sam Taylor said “I was overwhelmed by the turn out tonight. I have been focussed on delivering that big city experience in a local town setting, and the feedback from tonight’s event seems to indicate that ambition. Our young team never cease to amaze me with their enthusiasm, attention to detail, and understanding of the importance of top class customer service, so that nobody leaves without having a great dining experience”.
Head chef Adrian Badland added “I’m delighted with the feedback from the fusion dishes my team and I have created over the last four months. We have challenged traditional thinking and worked extremely hard to produce some wonderful taste experiences for our customers. I was particularly delighted to welcome John Tandy the Mayor into the kitchen tonight, who shared his enthusiasm for cooking high quality food with us all!”
Shropshire-born Adrian has worked at numerous award winning restaurants in the West Midlands, and has brought his 20 years’ experience to bear in indulging his passion for creating contemporary dishes distinguished by their unexpected contrasts of flavours and textures.
Media enquiries
Please contact Siobhan at Connor PR Siobhan@connorpr.com
Tel 07966 177025
Photos from the event are available on request
www.hotrs.co.uk
Connor PR launches House of the Rising Sun restaurant, Connor PR expert in event launches, Event PR company Connor PR, Connor PR expert in event launches, Connor PR promoting restaurant PR
Managing MIL perfect reading for families getting through Christmas and the New Year
Publishing specialist Connor PR started working with Kay Rink, author of Managing MIL: You and your Mother-in-Law – for better, or for worse?
Essential reading for Daughters-in-Law, Peridot Press in October 2013
Here’s some of the press we achieved…still more to come out in January!
Mailonline
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2493071/A-manipulator-steamroller-reluctant-gran-Common-mother-law-types-revealed.html
Daily Telegraph
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/mother-tongue/10442145/Mother-in-law-The-11-worst-MILs-The-mother-in-laws-you-love-to-hate.html
Independent online – lifestyle
http://www.iol.co.za/lifestyle/people/how-to-manage-your-mother-in-law-1.1610385
Female First
http://www.femalefirst.co.uk/weddings/katy-rink-369751.html
ITV Daybreak
December 23rd, talking about the stresses of Christmas
TV – The Daily Edition – Australia
http://au.tv.yahoo.com/the-daily-edition/video/watch/19971424/in-laws-from-hell/
Shropshire Star
http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/11/15/shrewsbury-launch-for-new-mothers-in-law-book/
BBC World Service
https://www.facebook.com/bbcworldservice/posts/708894369129692
Marie Claire
http://www.marieclaire.co.uk/blogs/545031/how-to-survive-christmas-with-your-mother-in-law.html
Book People
http://www.thebookpeople.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/qs_product_tbp?storeId=10001&catalogId=10051&langId=100&productId=439823
Daily Mirror
http://www.mirror.co.uk/lifestyle/family/christmas-can-you-make-peace-2809235
Netmums
http://netmumsblog.com/2013/11/25/managing-your-mother-in-law/
The Women’s Room Blog
http://www.thewomensroomblog.com/2013/11/25/managing-your-mother-in-law-by-kay-rink/
Family rapp.com
http://www.familyrapp.com/bookclub/managing-mil-you-and-your-mother-in-law-for-better-or-for-worse/
RTE
http://www.rte.ie/radio1/mooney/programmes/2013/1211/492231-mooney-wednesday-december-11th-2013/?clipid=1375422
Connor PR specialist in expert PR, Connor PR specialist in book and publishing PR, Connor PR specialist in entertainment PR
Connor PR working with child protection expert Mark William-Thomas on Exposure: ‘Predators Abroad’
EXPOSURE ‘PREDATORS ABROAD’
Wednesday 2nd October, ITV, 22.35pm
One year after exposing the Jimmy Savile sex abuse scandal, child protection expert Mark Williams-Thomas has gone undercover in a new documentary, Exposure: Predators Abroad, in a bid to unveil British child sex offenders who are travelling abroad to prey on vulnerable youngsters.
Mark Williams-Thomas is available for comment and interview.
Around the world an estimated 2 million children are exploited in the sex industry.
Among the offenders are British paedophiles – but no one knows how many. In 2008 authorities in the UK vowed to get tough with these travelling child sex offenders.
But five years later Exposure reveals Britain is struggling to crackdown on child sex tourism. Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas travels to Cambodia for his first major investigation following last year’s multi award-winning Exposure programme, ‘The Other Side of Jimmy Savile’.
Williams-Thomas goes undercover in Phnom Penh to expose the sickening trade in children for sex. Posing as a British child sex tourist, he meets men who want to supply two girls for $800 – just over £500. The girls are just 9 and 10.
Williams-Thomas also investigates the so-called ‘new sex tourism’, which involves paedophiles accessing children by way of teaching, setting up orphanages and volunteer work.
The programme features contributions from experts in the field, including Bharti Patel from the charity End Child Prostitution, Pornography and Trafficking or ECPAT.
She tells the programme: “Prosecution of child sex offenders abroad is dismally low in this country and that is probably the most worrying thing and it also sends out the signal that British sex offenders can get away with committing this and not be prosecuted. So more needs to be done.”
The programme was made with the help of Action Pour Les Enfants, an organisation that carries out surveillance operations on suspected paedophiles in Cambodia and helps police secure prosecutions. Shocking footage, never broadcast before, shows British paedophiles with their young victims.
Cambodian police are currently involved in an ongoing operation as a result of information supplied by this programme.
Connor PR specialist in TV Publicity, Connor PR specialist in expert PR, Connor PR working with Mark Williams-Thomas, child protection expert.
To arrange an interview with Mark please contact: Siobhan at Connor PR
Siobhan@connorpr.com Tel: 07966 177025