Danny Crates
Now retired from International competition, 2004 Paralympic Champion, Danny Crates is a former T46 arm amputee European Champion, Paralympic World Cup winner and world record holder in his disciple and has a number of amazing achievements and stories to share with his audiences.
Born in 1973, Danny has had more experiences than most people manage in an entire lifetime. He had a promising Rugby career, playing at both regional and county level when he suffered a horrific accident in 1994 whilst travelling and working in Australia, which resulted in him losing his right arm. Not to be deterred, Danny resumed playing Rugby, the game he loved, becoming the only known arm amputee playing club rugby in the UK, something that received worldwide media attention. In addition to his Rugby, he also turned his attention to competing in athletics. As someone with natural speed, Danny soon found that he was competing with the best in the World in his event, the T46 400m arm amputee class.
At the 1998 World Championships, Danny made his international debut, in doing so he reached the 400m final and winning a silver medal in the 4 x 400m relay event in a new European record time. Two years later at the 200 Paralympic Games in Sydney, Danny was narrowly beaten into the bronze medal position in the 400m but did go on to win gold in the European 400m in 2001.
Danny then switched to the 800m, a move which resulted in him capturing both the 2003 World Indoor 800m title and European 800m titles. In 2004 he set a new world record and become the 2004 Paralympic gold medal winner over this longer distance. After the Athens games, Danny set his sights firmly on the 2006 world championships where he also won the gold medal.
Danny has always maintained a positive outlook on life since his accident, including returning to Australia with a Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship, studying scuba-diving for the disabled and where he qualified as a diving instructor and Danny sharing a tank with 20 sharks four times a day (at feeding time!) whilst working at the Sea Life Centre in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk.
Having fulfilled his long term ambition to take the Gold medal in Athens 2004, Danny intended to defend his title at the Beijing games in 2008. Sadly however, Danny had been given the honour of carrying the Great Britain flag at the Opening ceremony but was unable compete due to an injury sustained the day before his race. Danny reluctantly retired from International competition in July 2009 but his new ambition is to become one of Britain’s top motivational speakers.
Danny is available for
Motivational speaking
Presentation evenings
Event Hosting
Business and corporate events
After Dinner speeches
Award ceremonies
Product endorsements
To enquire about his availability, please get in touch with us below.
Jonnie Peacock
Born in 1993, Paralympic runner Jonnie lost his right leg below the knee after contracting meningitis meningococcal septicaemia at the age of five. However, the young athlete has never let this stop him from leading an active life.Jonnie went on to play in his school football and rugby teams as well as the local football team. In 2008 Jonnie decided to find out more about disability sport and his prosthetist told him about a talent identification event taking place in London, which Jonnie decided to attend. At the talent day Jonnie tried out a few sports including wheelchair tennis, pistol shooting and a 60m sprint, a few days later the British Paralympic association invited him to attend trials for a five month power programme and Jonnie made it on to the program and from there got set up with UK Athletics and a local sprint coach. He has been training and improving in the 100m sprint ever since and soon hopes to take on the 200 meters too.
Jonnie competes in the T44 class alongside the Oscar Pistorius (the ‘blade runner’ ). Racing against the multiple Paralympic Gold medallist is a great inspiration for Jonnie and fuels his own ambition and desire to compete in the London 2012 Paralympics and hopefully make it on to the podium.
The 2011 IPC World Championship in Christchurch, New Zeland, was Jonnie’s first major event and he finished 2nd in the heats to made the final; a phenomenal achievement in itself and finish 5th in a time of 11.63 in the final itself, less than half a second behind Pistorius! Considering how new Jonnie is to the sport, he has improved significantly in a very short space of time proving he is a real talent and one to watch for the future. He is a great character and has a great personality for any occasion.
Please get in touch if you would like to speak to us about Jonnie appearing at your event.
Ed Coode MBE
Born in Cornwall in 1975, Ed Coode first rose to prominence as a rower when competing in the Oxford versus Cambridge boat race in 1998. Justa year later, Ed won his first World Championship in 1999 where he rowed with Steve Redgrave, Matthew Pinsent and James Cracknell in the Coxless 4s. In 2000 he paired up with Greg Searle in the Coxless pairs for Olympic Games in Sydney; the pair finished a very creditable 4th, just 12/100th of a second from third place and a bronze medal.
In 2001, Ed won his second World Championship in the men’s coxless four, this time with Steve Williams, Rick Dunn and Toby Garbett. Ed missed the 2002 World Championships due to injury but took his place in the men’s eight in 2003 and won the bronze medal at the World Championships in Milan.
Ed moved from the eight to the coxless four for the 2004 Summer Olympic Games in Athens, rowing once again with Matthew Pinsent, James Cracknell and Steve Williams. In a thrilling race they overcame Canada to win the Gold Medal!
Ed is an inspiring and highly motivating speaker who is suited to a variety of events and appearances. If you would like to book him, please get in touch.
Brian Moore
With 64 England caps from 1987-1995 and five Test appearances for the British Lions, Moore is one of the world’s most capped hookers. On his first our with the British Lions to Australia in 1989 he played in all three Tests and in New Zealand in 1993 he played in the last two Tests after Kenny Milne had been chosen as hooker for the first match of the series.
Known world-wide as “Pitbull” Brian was always an aggressive character and a fierce competitor and was an inspirational leader of the England pack.
He played for Nottingham, where he was at University until 1990 when his work as a lawyer with a financial house took him to London where he joined Harlequins until his retirement from the game.
Since then Brian has remained an outspoken personality with strong views about the modern game. He also commentates regularly on television and radio, and writes articles for newspapers and magazines.
Brian has also been part of the BBC 6 Nations commentary team for the past five years as well as having a regular sports column in the Daily Telegraph.
He is without doubt one of the best rugby speakers on the after dinner speaking circuit. In January 2010 he brought out his admirably frank memoirs “Beware of the Dog”
Playing Career: Nottingham 1981-1990; Harlequins 1990-1998; England and Five Nations Debut v. Scotland in 1987, and Grand Slam Champions in 1991, 1992, and 1995.
Tours: Australia in 1988; Argentina in 1990; Australia / Fiji in 1991; British Lions tours in Australia in 1989, and New Zealand in 1993.
Awards: Whitbread / Rugby World Player of the World in 1991.
Contact Us to enquire about booking Brian Moore.
Andy Farrell
Andy Farrell is one of the best known names in both codes of Rugby in recent years. Born in Wigan in 1974, Andy went on to play Rugby League for his home town club for for 13 years. He made his debut in 1991 at the age of 17 and became the youngest ever player to win the Challenge Cup that same year. His performances impressed that much that he became a full international at the age of 18 and would go on to play 34 times for Great Britain and a further 11 times for England.
He was made captain of Wigan at the age of 21 and during his time at the club, won five league championships and five challenge cups. He also captained the team to its first Super League victory in 1998. He is only the second player in Wigan Rugby League history to score more than 3,000 points in all competitions and holds the record for the most points scored in a single season, scoring 429 in 2001.
In 2004, Andy left Wigan and switched codes from Rugby League to Rugby Union, signing for Saracens, however, injuries and a car crash delayed him making his debut for the Hertforshire side until 2006. His performances for Saracens earned him an England call up and he made his debut at Twickenham against Scotland in the 2007 Six Nations clash. He was named in the squad for the 2007 Rugby World Cup later that year and in total won eight caps before retiring from the game in 2009.
Andy is still a coach at Saracens and is considered to be one of Wigan’s best ever players. He is available for a number of personal appearances and makes a great guest. Please get in touch if you would like to speak to us about his availability.
Eddie Gray
Born in Glasgow in 1948, Eddie Gray went on to have an illustrious 20 year career with Leeds United where he made 561 appearances and scored 68 goals from his position as winger and has the distinction of never being booked in his entire playing career.
After making is first team debut for the Yorkshire club at the age of 17 on New Year’s Day 1966, Gray went on to win the League Cup and Fairs Cup in 1968 and the Division One Championship in 1969. As he grew with experience, Eddie was a pivotal part in the Leeds United team of the 1960s and 70s, scoring a number of great goals, many of which Leeds fans would argue rank amongst the greatest ever scored for the club.
He won the FA Cup in 1972 and was on the losing side in 1973 as Leeds lost to Sunderland. Unfortunately for Eddie, when Leeds won the Division One title again in 1974, he missed out on a winners medal due to missing a large proportion of the season due to injury. However, he was back in the side which reached the European Cup final in 1975, only to go down, in somewhat controversial fashion to Bayern Munich.
As his playing days neared an end, Gray assumed the role of player manager in 1982 before retiring from playing to concentrate on management. He stayed at Elland Road as manager until 1985 after failing to get the side promoted from the old Second Division.
After leaving Leeds, he had spells managing both Rochdale and Hull in the football league before joining up with Leeds United again in the 90s as youth team manager and later reserve team boss before becoming David O’Leary’s number two in 1998 where he was a part of the successful Leeds side that finished in the top four of the Premier League and had great runs in the Champions League.
Gray was handed another chance as Leeds manager in 2003 but failed in his bid to get the side promoted back to the Premier League but Eddie still remains a name synonymous with the club and his held in high regard by all Leeds United fans for his long standing association with the club, where he still works as a match commentator on the Club;s Radio Station, Yorkshire Radio.
To enquire about booking Eddie Gray, please get in touch with us below.
Paul Nixon
Born in Carlisle in 1970, Paul Nixon is a wicket keeper and left handed Batsman who has had long distinguished career in the game having played top class Cricket for Leicestershire, England and Kent in the process gaining a reputation for his vocal contributions to games from behind the stumps.
After starting out playing locally for Cumberland, Paul became part of the ground staff at Lord’s before being given his chance in 1988 by Leicestershire where he made his debut in 1989. His first spell at Leicestershire lasted until 1999, during which time he won the County Championship in 1996 and 1998 before a move to Kent where he added the 40 over Championship to his honours. His efforts domestically were rewarded with a call up to the England squad, where he was Alec Stewart’s understudy for the tour of Pakistan and Sri Lanka in 2000/2001.
A return to Leicestershire came in 2003 where he would excel in the Twenty 20 format of the game, helping the team to win two T20 trophies and this earned him a call up to the England squad for the 2007 Triangular Tournament in Australia. Paul made his international debut at the age of 36 in a Twenty 20 game against Australia in January 2007. On the same tour, he made his first ODI appearance, also against Australia. Later that year, he was included in the England squad for the 2007 World Cup where he played in every game making key contributions both behind the wickets and as a batsman.
In total, Paul has played over 800 games in all forms of Cricket scoring over 15,500 runs and recording 21 centuries and taking in excess of 1,500 catches as wicket keeper.
A great personality and excellent addition to any event, please contact us to discuss booking Paul.
Claude Henderson
Claude Henderson has enjoyed a long and accomplished career in both domestic and international Cricket spanning over 20 years, as a slow, left arm Spinner for his country South Africa and Leicestershire.
As an international player, Henderson played seven tests four South Africa during which time he took a total of 22 wickets. During his four ODIs, he boasted an impressive average of 18.85.
Taking over 1,100 wickets in total whilst playing for Boland, Western Province, Lions and Cope Cobras in South Africa and Leicestershire, Claude is one of the most experienced and accomplished Cricketers around. He won the County Championship twice with Leicestershire in 2004 and 2006 and is the County’s leading wicket taker in the Tweny 20 form of the game.
To enquire about Claude Henderson appearing at your event, please get in touch with us below about costs and availability.
Kyran Bracken
Although born in Dublin in 1971, Kryan Bracken is best known for his illustrious career as England scrum half, winning 53 caps between 1993 and 2003; the proudest moment of which came when winning the World Cup in 2003.
After moving to Liverpool at the age of four, Kyran went through education up to degreee level, where he qualified as a solicitor but always had an eye for sport playing both rugby and football from an early age, on one occasion having trials for Liverpool Football Club and Rugby League for St Helens. However, it was during his time in Bristol that he firmly established himself as a taltented Rugby union player and signed to play for Bristol having previosuly played for Waterloo close to his family home in Liverpool.
He made his international debut against the All Blacks in 2003 and when the game turned professional, moved to Saracens in 1996 where he stayed until retiring from the game in 2006. A hugely popular character and well respected in the game, Kryan also represented the British Lions on their tour of South Africa in 1997.
Since finishing playing rugby, Kyran propelled himself in to the mainstream showbiz spotlight winning Dancing On Ice and later winning the “champions of champions” show.
A fantastic addition to any event Kyran is a great personality for guest speaking and public appearances, to enquire about booking him please contact us below.
Dwayne Peel
Born in Carmarthen in 1981, Dwayne Peel has gone on to become the most capped Scrum Half in Welsh Rugby, winning 76 caps since making his debut for his country in 2001.
The stand out achievement in Peel’s career is the Six Nations Grand Slam win in 2005, during which he earned two Man-of-the-Match awards. This achievement was closely followed by Dwayne’s selection for the 2005 British and Irish Lions squad which toured New Zealand, in which Peel played in all three tests against the All Blacks.
Domestically, Dwayne played for Llanelli RFC, who became the Llanelli Scarlets in 2003 between 2000 and 2008 before he moved to play for Sale Sharks in the English Premiership.
Dwanye is available for public appearances and speaking at a variety of functions and events, please get in touch if you would like to enquire about booking him.
