Dame Tanni Grey Thompson is Britain's most successful Paralympic athlete ever!
Born in Cardiff in 1969, Tanni was named Carys Davina. However, when her sister first saw her she called her “tiny” which stuck and became Tanni. Tanni was born with spina bifida but with the support of her parents she was always encouraged to be independent. Tanni attended her local primary school – at first using crutches and callipers and then a wheelchair. She progressed to St. Cyres Comprehensive School and subsequently obtained an honours degree in Politics at Loughborough University.
Without a doubt one of the greatest athletes that Great Britain has ever produced, Colin Jackson called time on his outstanding athletics career in front of an adoring home crowd at the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham in 2003. After more than a decade spent at the very pinnacle of his sport, it was a fitting end to a glittering career.
110m hurdler Colin ranked in the world top 10 for 16 years, was World No.1 from 1992-1994 and, for the last 7 years of his career, was never out of the world’s top 3 and since setting a European junior record of 13.44 in 1986, went on to set 7 European, 8 Commonwealth and 9 UK records at 110mh.
Simon Weston is a truly inspirational speaker. His irrepressible humour, infectious enthusiasm and immediately engaging personality, have made him the number one choice of many companies who invite him back to speak time and again. An inspiring and moving keynote speaker, Simon is also a wonderful and humorous after dinner speaker.
Following his injuries, Simon's road to physical, spiritual and mental recovery saw him active in a number of highly successful ventures including 'The Weston Spirit', a Liverpool-based young people's charity. He remains a tireless worker for the Royal British Legion and the Royal Star and Garter Home.
Nigel Walker first achieved world class recognition as an athlete when he represented Great Britain as a high hurdler on 30 occasions at all major events, including the World Championships and the Olympic Games.
Nigel retired from athletics in 1992 to pursue a second sports career as a rugby union player with Cardiff RFC. In his first season he was capped for Wales at full international level and went on to accrue 17 full international caps. Media work for Nigel has been wide and varied, covering television, radio and the press.
When asked to describe Phil Bennett, one rugby author wrote: "There is a word in Spanish which is used when other superlatives are deemed inadequate - 'Duendne'. It has no equivalent in English or Welsh but it accurately describes that doyen of Welsh Rugby, Phil Bennett.
He was a rugby player whose talents defy definition; a mercurial mix of the impressive, the unexpected and dare I say, the superhuman!" Born on October 24th 1948, Phil grew up in the small village of Felinfoel, in the rugby mad town of Llanelli.
Tori James is the youngest British female as well as the first ever Welsh woman to climb Mount Everest. The BBC documentary ‘On Top of the World’ was produced using the video footage which Tori shot and directed whilst climbing Everest.
Tori is a multi-talented individual with a passion for extreme adventure in sub zero temperatures. She grew up on a farm in Pembrokeshire where she gathered much of her toughness for venturing outside in all weather. After gaining a degree in Geography from Royal Holloway University,
Frances was born in Cardiff and attended University there. Her career in broadcasting started in radio - at 210FM in Reading and Severn Sound in Gloucester. She went from there to HTV West before going on to Meridian TV, ITN and Sky News.
This lead to her working on Sky Sports and News 24 Sport. She has reported from a number of Six Nations OB's for BBC Network Sport and has also presented from the Commonwealth Games for BBC Wales.Frances is a familiar and popular host to viewers and listeners throughout Wales and beyond. She's a much respected anchor of sports programming including 'Wales on Saturday', 'Sports Personality of the Year', 'International Snooker', 'Bowls' and 'Boxing' all for BBC television.
Vivacious television presenter, Claire Summers, is a familiar face on BBC Wales' flagship news programme, ‘Wales Today’. Claire enjoys a much varied role on the programme from anchoring the main slot to doing a whole range of live broadcasts from out and about.
Claire also presents 2W news and sport. With her easy going personality and highly tuned sense of humour, Claire is extremely popular with viewers and colleagues alike. Claire is passionate about news, and enjoys the challenge of a hard story but, at the same time, has a lighter touch.
Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Carolyn Hitt combines wit, warmth and a way with words. She has written and presented television and radio series on the arts, popular culture, consumer issues, history and sport for Radio 4, BBC Radio Wales and ITV Wales.
Carolyn’s broadcasting projects have ranged from Family Detectives, the popular ITV family history series to Gareth@60, a BBC documentary on rugby legend Gareth Edwards. She is also in demand as a media pundit on a wide variety of subjects, from current affairs to literature and as a producer has worked with some of Wales’s most well-known personalities
Sarah is one of the most established and experienced Presenters in Wales. For twenty years she has worked for the BBC presenting live network programmes on BBC 1 and 2 as well as a wide range of television and radio programmes for BBC Wales.
She currently presents BBC Wales’s flagship news programme Good Morning Wales and produces a variety of documentaries for her own independent production company. Sarah started out in journalism at Gwent Broadcasting just as the 1984 Miners Strike began.
Andrew Price is the presenter of A-Z of Bushcraft. He is an expert in ‘living off the land’ and has travelled extensively all over the world in order to study the traditional skills of indigenous peoples including the Orang Astli people of the Cameron Highlands in Malaysia, as well as the native inhabitants of Australia and Canada. Andrew trained as a Ninja warrior for 5 years attaining a high level of skills.
Andrew is a popular writer for various Bushcraft & Survival magazines. He is an experienced practitioner of a wide range of outdoor pursuits including Kayaking, Cycling, Rock Climbing, and Mountaineering.
Iwan Thomas MBE is without a doubt, one of the greatest athletes that Britain has produced. Born on 5thJanuary 1974.
His initial athletics breakthrough came at the “World Junior Championships” in 1992, as part of the British 4x400m relay team, in which they won 5th place. In 1993, Iwan attended West London Institute of Higher Education, studying Sports Science and Geography. Working extremely hard, Iwan managed to juggle his studies and training which paid off, in 1994 took part in the “Commonwealth Games” 400 metres, setting a Welsh Record where he reached the semi-finals, representing Wales.
Ashleigh Crowter is a sports reporter and presenter for BBC ‘Wales Today’, Wales’ flagship television news programme. He is an accomplished broadcaster and witty speaker and an ideal host for conferences and events.
Ashleigh’s working brief is to cover the best stories in Welsh sport – from Grand Slam champions to grassroots heroes. Over the last 13 years, Ashleigh has been close to the biggest sporting events in Wales and overseas.
Broadcaster and former schoolteacher Phil Steele is one of Wales’ most popular after dinner speakers.
His strong sporting background as a former top class welsh rugby player with Newport RFC in the 1980`s together with his role as a mirthful radio presenter and sports commentator for BBC Wales radio and television have enabled him to develop a wide variety of material.
Phil’s twenty-five years experience as a teacher - mostly spent teaching pupils with learning difficulties in The Rhymney Valley of South Wales has also provided him with a rich fund of humour.
Andy McCann went from the youngest assistant head teacher in his County to being one of the most sought after speakers in the UK in a few short years. This was not planned but a twist of fate led him down this life-changing path.
Andy, who studied sport and physical education, followed his dream and became a physical education teacher – becoming Head of PE; Head of Year; Head of VI and Assistant Head. He led his department to win the Midland Bank Sponsored School Sports Award – making them the best performing PE Department in Wales.
Presenter, Piers Bramhall, was recently selected as the ‘Face of Welsh Tourism’ and developed into a brand through his participation on a multi-million pound advertising campaign launched in 2011 on behalf of ‘Visit Wales’. This “We Want Piers Bramhall” advertising campaign was aired across all major channels/Networks during prime time TV.
In a bid to increase tourism to Wales, Piers toured Wales with Wieden & Kennedy to present a series of TV and social media adverts showing the rest of the UK what Wales has to offer.
Angela chamberlain is a 32 year old primary school teacher who lives in Cardiff. She is living with secondary breast cancer, an incurable cancer, in her liver, lungs and bones. You might think that life is a misery when you hear this, but one thing Angela is not, is miserable. Far from this, she is a determined, positive individual, who inspires many in their own lives.
At the age of 21, Angela became one of the youngest women in the UK to be given the devastating news that she had breast cancer. Her determination to continue her teaching degree meant she graduated the same year as having surgery and chemotherapy.
S4C's Intrepid Television Presenter Lowri Morgan is no stranger to tough challenges. In the past she's taken on her share of extreme challenges and pushed herself to the very limit.
Born and bred in Gowerton, Swansea, Lowri graduated in Music - specialising in voice. She is an accomplished soloist as well as being a trained violinist and pianist. During her youth, she was a member of the National Youth Choir as well as the National Youth Orchestra and travelled with the county orchestra as their soloist singing Welsh folk songs throughout America.