Matthew Collins is a middle-aged, bald bloke who makes a living writing and talking about travel and being a dad.
Years ago he was ‘Special Assignments’ man for BBCtv’s The Travel Show. Each week on the programme he was given a challenge – anything from spending a week in a French nudist camp where single men and photography were banned (he was alone with three cameras round his neck); to journeying overland to Spain with his leg in plaster, when it wasn’t even broken, testing travel facilities for disabled people.
He did other TV – presented on Wogan, hosted a sixth-formers’ tv quiz show, fronted a series called Well Worth a Visit, and did lots of daytime stuff. He also made a commercial for Schweppes Tonic Water with Liz Hurley and Richard E. Grant.
For the last nine years he’s been raising two sons alone (Charlie and Nicolai, 16 and 15). So, when he appears on the radio or telly he usually talks about travel or family issues. However, as a single dad he has acquired one area of expertise that everyone is now interested in – family survival on a budget.
He’s turned this expertise into a funny, informative one-man show (How To Pimp Your Kids and Shop For Free at Waitrose) that he’s performed to sell-out houses at the Edinburgh and Buxton Fringe Festivals. see Edinburgh audience reactions.
Matthew has written four-and-a-bit books – one on The Travel Show, three on adventures with his kids in North America and he’s part-written a guide book to Spain. He’s written for most British national newspapers, most recently contributing to The Times.
Matthew speaks fluent French and reasonable Spanish. He can swear in Russian and recite Pushkin. His interests include horse-riding, cycling and swimming, shadow boxing his growing sons, and dancing badly alone in his bedroom to music turned up loud. He also has a passion for Shakespeare.
MATTHEW'S TALKS
Matthew Collins gives humorous, informative speeches to schools, corporations and social organisations.
His talks are always humorous and entertaining. But they can be highly motivational too.
Matthew can give talks and corporate presentations in fluent French and English.
Audiences include:
WI Federations and Groups
The Round Table
Cruise Ship Passengers
Corporate Dads
Corporate Mums
Primary and Secondary School Pupils
See some comments about his Talks
MATTHEW’S AFTERNOON TEA TOUR
‘There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea.’
Henry James
And now Matthew Collins is on an Afternoon Tea Tour – to which you are invited.
For only £6.75 per person participants will enjoy afternoon tea with scones, jam and cream, and Matthew's hilarious, credit-crunch/travel talk Budget Travel, Borrowed Grannies, Tax-Free Cash From Your Kids and Shopping For Free in Supermarkets. (You’ll probably get back the money you pay for tea in your first shop after the talk.)
All this in some of England’s loveliest hotels.
Each afternoon tea lasts just under two hours, including Matthew’s talk (which lasts 40 minutes).
Matthew’s Afternoon Tea Tour kicks off at 3pm on Tuesday 29 September Bournemouth in The Miramar Hotel.
More dates at Chichester, Eastbourne, Bognor Regis, Brighton,
Worthing and Hastings will be posted here soon.
TICKETS
Tickets for Matthew’s Afternoon Tea, which include
tea or coffee and scones with jam and cream
plus
Budget Travel, Borrowed Grannies, Tax-Free Cash From Your Kids and Shopping For Free in Supermarkets (Matthew’s hilarious/money-saving talk),
are only £6.75 per person and can be purchased by phoning 0207 385 0977 (leave a message and someone will call you back).
MATTHEW’S BOOKS:
Matthew’s Travels – Ten Years of Trips for The Travel Show
Across America with the boy
Across Canada with the boys and three grannies
Florida Holiday? Make the kids Pay
BOOKS – FOR MORE INFORMATION CLICK HERE
ONLINE TRAVEL CLIPS:
Matthew has just posted his first clip on youtube. The clip is of the magnificent catch a father-and-sons fishing trip yielded in Canada. Apologies to Charlie and Nicolai....
To see the magnificent Canada catch, click here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d50CGCRfRQU
More clips will be posted soon.
INCONSEQUENTIAL TRIVIA ABOUT MATTHEW COLLINS
Matthew loves good wine and good conversation (although he’s fine with cheap wine and cheap conversation). He also loves poetry – anything from Chaucer to Shakespeare, to Baudelaire to Auden to Simon Armitage.
Matthew loves flowers. Boxing fascinates him. His childhood idol was Muhammed Ali and he was a member of Kingston Boxing Club for two weeks in 1978.
Matthew likes Iggy Pop, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Kirsty MacColl, Leonard Cohen, Jimi Hendrix, James Brown, The Cowboy Junkies, The Tindersticks, Edith Piaff, Serge Gainsbourg and Dexy’s Midnight Runners. He’s keen on Mozart, Mahler, Beethoven, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev, Gershwin and Vaughan Williams too.
Matthew hates shopping but he makes exceptions for Waitrose and Upmarket Butchers. He loves (but doesn’t wear) women's shoes and in another life he would be a womens’ shoe designer. Eat your heart out Jimmy Choo.
For more information about talks and speeches, please Email Matthew