Podcasts about Gateshead

This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension, as we explore one of the UK's most talked-about immersive experiences.Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who have brought The Traitors Live Experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous.So, how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling, guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game… and who's about to be banished…Skip the Queue is brought to you by Rubber Cheese, a digital agency that builds remarkable systems and websites for attractions that helps them increase their visitor numbers. Your host is Paul Marden.If you like what you hear, you can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify, and all the usual channels by searching Skip the Queue or visit our website SkiptheQueue.fm.If you've enjoyed this podcast, please leave us a five star review, it really helps others find us. And remember to follow us on LinkedIn. Show references: The Traitors Live website: https://www.thetraitorslive.co.uk/Neil's LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/neil-connolly-499054110/Neil Connolly is a creative leader of design and production teams focused on development, production and installation of live theatre, entertainment, multi-media and attractions for the themed entertainment industry worldwide.Neil began his career as a performer, writer, producer & artist in Londons alternative theatre/art scene. It was during this time Neil developed a love and passion for story telling through the platform of interactive playable immersive theatre.Having been at the vanguard of playable & immersive theatre since 2007, Neil had a career defining opportunity in 2019 when he devised, wrote & directed an immersive experience as part of Sainsbury's 150th Birthday Celebrations. Making him the only immersive theatre & game maker in the world to have HRH Elizabeth Regina attend one of their experiences.In a distinguished career spanning 20 years, Neil has brought that passion to every facet of themed entertainment in the creative direction and production of attractions such as; Handels Messiah, Snowman & The Snowdog, Peppa Pig Surprise Party, Traitors Live, The Crystal Maze Live Experience, Tomb Raider Live Experience & Chaos Karts, an AR go-kart real life battle. Other clients and activations include: Harrods, Sainsbury's, Camelot/The National Lottery, Samsung, Blenheim Palace, Land Rover and Warner Brothers.Neil has worked across 4 continents for many years with private individuals; designing, producing and delivering live entertainment on land, sea & air. A world without boundaries requires freethinking.Neil is currently working with Immersive Everywhere on creative development of show and attraction content for projects across U.K, Europe, North America & Asia. Transcriptions:  Paul Marden: This week on Skip the Queue, we're stepping into the turret and turning up the tension as we explore one of the UK's most talked about immersive experiences.Paul Marden: Our guest is Neil Connolly, Creative Director at The Everywhere Group, who've brought The Traitor's live experience to life. With over 10 million viewers watching every betrayal, backstab and banishment on the BBC show, expectations for the live version were nothing short of murderous. So how do you even begin to transform a TV juggernaut into a thrilling guest-led experience? Let's find out who's playing the game and who's about to be banished.Paul Marden: So, we're underground. Lots of groups running currently, aren't they? How did you make that happenNeil Connolly: Yeah, so now we're two floors under us. There's a lower basement and some other basement. So the building that we are in, there's a family in the 1890s who owned all of the land around Covent Garden and specifically the Adelphi Theatre.Paul Marden: Right.Neil Connolly: And they wanted their theatre to be the first theatre in the UK to have its lights powered by electricity. So they built their own private power station in this building. Like, literally like, all this, this is a power station. But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this building until the 1980s when the establishment was assumed through the important UK network.Neil Connolly: And then it was sat there empty, doing nothing for 40 years. And so the landlord that is now started redeveloping the building 10 years ago, added two floors onto the top of the building. So now what we're in is an eight-storey structure and we've basically got the bottom four floors. Two of which are ground and mezzanine, which is our hospitality area. And the lower two floors, which are all in the basement, are our experience floors. What we're looking at right now is, if you look off down this way to the right, not you people on audio, but me here.Neil Connolly: Off this side is five of the round table rooms. There's another one behind me and there's two more upstairs. And then I've got some Tretters Towers off to the left and I've got my show control system down there.Neil Connolly: On the floor above me, we've got the lounges. So each lounge is connected to one of the round table rooms. Because when you get murdered or banished, one of the biggest challenges that I faced was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished? Because you get kicked out of the game. It's not a lot of fun, is it? Therefore, for me, you also get kicked out of the round table room. So this is a huge challenge I face. But I built these lounge concepts where you go— it's the lounge of the dead— and you can see and hear the round table room that you've just left. We'll go walk into the room in a while. There's lots of interactivity. But yeah, super fun. Neil Connolly: But unfortunately for these the Savoy had taken to that moniker, so they quickly built their important institution. The family had this establishment until the 1980s when the establishment was considered through the important UK network.Paul Marden: Yeah. So we've got 10 million people tuning in to Traitors per episode. So this must be a lot of pressure for you to get it right. Tell us about the experience and what challenges you faced along the way, from, you know, that initial text message through to the final creation that we're stood in now.Neil Connolly: So many challenges, but to quote Scroobius Pip on this, do you know Scroobius Pip? Paul Marden: No. Neil Connolly: Great, he's amazing. UK rapper from Essex.Neil Connolly: Some people see a mousetrap and think death. I see free cheese and a challenge.Neil Connolly: There's never any problems in my logic, in my thinking. There's always just challenges to overcome. So one of the biggest challenges was what happens to people when they get murdered or banished. The truth of the matter is I had to design a whole other show, which happens after this show. It is one big show. But you go to the Lounge of the Dead, there's more interactivity. And navigating that with the former controller, which is O3 Media and IDTV, who created the original format in the Netherlands, and basically designing a game that is in the world and follows the rules of their game with some reasonable adjustments, because TV and live are not the same thing.Neil Connolly: It takes 14 days to film 12 episodes of The Traitors. Paul Marden: Really? Okay. Neil Connolly: So I was like, how do I truncate 14 days of somebody's life down into a two-hour experience and still deliver that same impact, that same power, that same punch?Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: But I knew from the beginning of this that it wasn't about time. There is a magic triangle when it comes to the traitors, which is time, space, atmosphere. And time was the thing that I always struggled with. I don't have a Scottish cattle show, and I don't have two weeks. No. So I'm like, 'Cool, I've got to do it in two hours.' So our format follows exactly the same format. We do a breakfast scene, then a mission, then a roundtable banishment, then there's a conclave where the traitors meet and they murder somebody. And I do that in a seven-day structure, a seven-day cycle. But it all happens within two hours around this round table.Neil Connolly: I'm the creative director for Immersive Everywhere. We're a vertically integrated structure in the sense that we take on our own venues. So we're now standing in Shorts Gardens in the middle of Covent Garden. So we've leased this building. We've got a lease that is for a number of years and we have built the show into it. But we also identify the IP, go after that ourselves, we capitalise the projects ourselves. We seek strategic partners, promoters, other people to kind of come involved in that journey. But because we're also the team that are licensing the product, we are also the producers and I'm the creative director for that company. So I developed the creative in line with while also getting the deal done. This is incredibly unusual because other producers will be like, 'Hey, I've identified this IP and I've got it.' Now I'm going to approach a creative agency and I'm going to get them to develop the product. And now I've done all of that, I'm going to find someone else to operationally put it on, or I'm going to find a venue to put it on in, and then I'm going to find my ticketing partner.  But we don't do that. We have our own ticketing platform, and we have our own database, so we mark our own shoulders.Neil Connolly: As well as other experiences too. Back, we have our own creative industry, we are the producers, we are the female workers. So we cast it, we hire all the front of house team, we run the food and beverage, we run the bars. The operations team is our operations team because they run the venue as well as the show at the same time. So that's what I mean. We're a vertically integrated structure, which means we do it, which makes us a very unusual proposition within... certainly within the UK market, possibly the world. It makes us incredibly agile as a company and makes us to be able to be adaptive and proactive and reactive to the product, to the show, to the market that we're operating in, because it's all under one roof.Neil Connolly: This show started January 24th, 2023. Right. It's very specific because I was sitting on my sofa drinking a lovely glass of Merlot and I had just watched... UK Traitors, Season One. Yep. Because it came out that Christmas. Immediately I was like, 'Oh my God, this is insane.' And then I got a text message that particular night from our head of licensing, a guy named Tom Rowe, lovely man. And he was like, Neil, I'm at a licensing event with some friends of mine and everyone's talking about this thing called Traitors. I've not watched it. Have you watched it? Sounds like it might be a good thing. And so I sat back and drank my Merlot. And about five minutes later, I text him back and I was like, Tom, get us that license.Neil Connolly: And then I sent him a bunch of other details of how the show in my head would work, both from a commercial standpoint, but also from a creative standpoint, because I'm a commercially minded creative. Right. So I instantly took out my notebook and I started writing down exactly how I thought the show was going to do, the challenges that we would face and being able to translate this into a live thing. But I literally started writing it that night. And then he watched the first episode on the train on the way home. And then he texted me the next morning and he was like, 'I love it.' What do we need to do? And I was like, 'Get us in the room.' Two days later, we were in the room with all three media who own the format globally.Paul Marden: Okay.Neil Connolly: So we sat down and then they came to see one of our other shows and they were like, 'Okay, we get it now.' And then that was like two and a half years of just building the show, getting the deal done and facing the myriad of challenges. But yeah, sometimes it just starts with the text message.Paul Marden: So they get to experience all the key parts of the TV.Neil Connolly: All the key beats. Like right now, I'm holding one of the slates. They're not chalkboard slates. Again, this is... Oh, actually, this is a good challenge. So in the TV show, they've got a piece of slate and they write on it with a chalkboard pen. This seems so innocuous and I can't believe I'm talking about this on a podcast.Neil Connolly: Slategate was like six months of my life. Not in its entirety, but it was a six month long conversation about how we do the slates correctly. Because we do... 48 shows a day, six days a week. And those slates will crack. They will bash. And they're kind of a bit health and safety standards. I was like, can't have them. Also, they write on them with chalk pens, white ink chalk pens. But in the TV show, you only do it once a night. Yeah.Paul Marden: And then you have a producer and a runner.Neil Connolly: They just clean them very, very leisurely and set them back for the next day. And I was like, no, I've got to do a whole bunch of roundtable banishments in two hours. So we talked a lot about material, about style, literal viewership, because if you take a seat at the table. Yeah. If you're sitting at the table here, you'll notice that we've got a raised bit in the middle. If I turn mine around, the other person on the other side can't see it. So I was like, 'Okay, cool.' So we had to do a whole bunch of choreography. But also, the room's quite dark. Yes. At times, atmospheric. Yeah. In that magic triangle time-space atmosphere. So anything that was darker, or even that black slate, you just couldn't read it. And then there was, and then I had to— this is the level of detail that we have to go into when we're designing this kind of stuff. I was like, 'Yeah, but I can't clean off these slates with the white ink because everyone will have to have like a wet cloth chamois. Then I've just got loads of chamois around my venue that I just don't need.' And so then we're like, 'Oh, let's use real slates with real chalk.' And I was like, 'No, because dust will get everywhere.' I'll get chalk just all over my table. It'll just ruin everything. It'll ruin the technology that's inside the table because there's lots of hidden tricks inside of it. Paul Marden: Is there really? Yeah, yeah, yeah.  Neil Connolly: There's loads of hidden tricks inside the table. So after a while, going through many different permutations, I sat down with Christian Elenis, who's my set designer and my art director. And we were, the two of us were nearly in tears because we were like, 'We need,' and this only happened like.Neil Connolly: I would say two, three weeks before we opened. We still hadn't solved how to do the slate, which is a big thing in the show. Anybody who's seen the show and loves the show knows that they want to come in, they want to write somebody's name on the slate, and they want to spell the name incorrectly.Neil Connolly: Everyone does it on purpose. But I wanted to give people that opportunity. So then eventually we sat down and we were like, Christian, Neil. And the two of us in conversation went, why don't we just get a clear piece of Perspex, back it with a light coloured vinyl. And then Christian was like, 'Ooh,' and I'll make it nice and soft and put some felt on the back of it, which is what I'm holding. And then why don't we get a black pen? And we were like, 'Yeah,' like a whiteboard marker. And then we can just write on it. And then A, I can see it from the other side of the table. Thing one achieved. Two. Every marker pen's got an eraser on the top of it. I don't know why everyone thinks this is important, but it is. That you can just rub out like that, and I'm like, 'There's no dirt, there's no mess, and I can reuse this multiple times, like dozens of times in the same show.' And I know that sounds really weird, but that's the level of design I'm going to need.Paul Marden: I was just about to say, and that is just for the chalkboard. Yeah. Now you need to multiply that. How many decisions?Neil Connolly: How many decisions in each game. But also remember that there are eight round tables in this building. Each round table seats 14 people. And we do six sessions a day. So first ones at 10 a. m. Then we do 12, 2, 4, 6, and 8 p. m. So we do 48 shows a day, six days a week.Paul Marden: I love the concept that these are shows. This is not this is not visitor attraction. This is theater repeated multiple times a day for multi audience is concurrently.Neil Connolly: And I've just spent five minutes describing a slate to you. Yeah. But like, I haven't even got— it's like the sheer amount of technology that is in the show. And again, theatrical, like, look above our heads. Yeah. You've got this ring light above every seat. It's got a pin light. There's also microphones which are picking up all the audio in the room, which again is translating to the lounge of the dead. Every single one of the round table rooms has four CCTV cameras. Can you see that one in the corner? Each one of them is 4K resolution. It's quite high spec, which is aimed at the opposite side of the table to give you the resolution in the TV. In the other room. Then you've got these video contents. This is constantly displaying secret information through the course of the show to the traitors when they're in Conclave because everyone's in blindfolds and they took them off. They get secret instructions from that. There's also a live actor in the room. A live actor who is Claudia? They're not Claudia. They're not pastiches of Claudia. They are characters that we have created and they are the host of The Traitor's Game. Right. They only exist inside this building. We never have them portrayed outside of this building in any way whatsoever.Neil Connolly: They are characters, but they live, they breathe— the game of Traitors, the world of Traitors, and the building that we have designed and constructed here. And they facilitate the game for the people. And they facilitate the game for the people. One actor to 14 people. There are no plants, even though everyone tries to tell me. Members of the public will be convinced that they are the only person that's in that show and that everyone else is a plant. And I'm like, no, because that would be insane.Neil Connolly: The only actor in the room is the host.Paul Marden: 14 people that can sit around this table. How many of them are in the same group? Are you with your friends or is it put together where there are other people that you won't know in the room? If you book together, you play together.Neil Connolly: Yes. Okay, so if you don't book 14 people... Ah, we also capped the number of tickets that you can purchase to eight. Right. So you can only purchase a maximum of eight tickets unless you do want a full table of 14, at which point you have to then purchase a VIP package because you are booking out a whole table for yourselves. The game doesn't work if there's less than 10 people at the table. So there has to be 10, 11, 12, 13 or 14 people sat at a round table for the show to actually happen, for it to work. By capping the number of tickets that you book for eight, then that guarantees that strangers will be playing together. And that is the basis of strangers. Yeah, yeah. Like, you need to be sat around a table with people you know, you don't know, that you trust and you don't trust. Yeah. Fact of the matter. And do you see people turning on the others in their own group? Every single time. People think genuinely, and I love this from the public, you would think that if you're turning up as a group of eight and a group of four and a group of two, that the bigger group would just pick everybody off to make sure that someone in their group gets through to the end game.Neil Connolly: I'm sure they think that and they probably plot and plan that before they arrive on site. As soon as this game starts, gloves are off and everyone just starts going for each other. We've been open nearly two months now. I have seen, like, children murdered of their mothers.Neil Connolly: Husbands murder their wives, wives murder their husbands. I've seen, like, three generations—like, we get, because it's so intergenerational, like our lowest, the lowest age that you can play this is 12. Right. And then it's upwards. I've seen three generations of family come in and I've seen grandkids murder their own nan.Neil Connolly: Absolutely convinced that they're a traitor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. 100%. Or they banish them. Like, it's just mental. I've also seen nans, who are traitors, murder their grandkids.Neil Connolly: Like, and this is in a room full of strangers. They're just like, 'No, I'm not going to go for Barbara, who I met two hours ago in the bar. I'm going to go for my own grandson. It's mental.'Neil Connolly: The very, very first thing that I always think about whenever I'm creating an experience or whenever I'm designing a show is I put myself in the position of 'I'm a member of the public.' I have bought a ticketNeil Connolly: What's the coolest thing that I am going to do for my money? What is my perceived value of my ticket over actually what is the value of that ticket? I wanted to give people the experience of knowing what it was like to be sitting in one of these chairs at this table and feeling their heart. The pounding in their chest and I mean, the pounding in their chest, that rush of adrenaline from doing nothing— from sitting in a chair and all you were doing was sitting in a room talking to people and your heart is going.Neil Connolly: Because you're either being accused of being a liar. And trying to defend against it. And trying to defend against it. Or you actually are lying and you're trying to whittle your way out of it. And that feeling is the most alive that you will ever feel. Not ever. Like, I'm sure they're... No, no, no. But, like, give people that opportunity and that experience, as well as, like, access to the world of traitors and the law and everything else. But also, it's like any other theme park ride. People go on roller coasters because the imminent fear of death is always there. Yeah. And you feel alive. You're like, you've got such a buzz of adrenaline. Whereas, arguably, we do exactly the same thing as roller coasters, but in a much more longer-drawn format and multiple times. Yeah. And people do feel alive. When people walk out of the show, you see them go upstairs to the bar, and they are... Yeah.Paul Marden: You've said to me already that you don't use the word 'immersive,' but you know, I'm, I'm, I'm sat. The company is called 'immersive' everywhere. I'm sat behind the scenes. Okay. I'm sat in the room and the room is hugely convincing. It's like the highest fidelity escape room type experience that I've ever sat in. It feels like I'm on set, yeah, yeah. Um, I can totally believe that, in those two hours, you can slip. I sat on a game. It was only a two-minute game at iApple, but I was being filmed by one of the team. But within 30 seconds, I'd forgotten that they were there because I was completely immersed in the game. I can believe that, sitting in here right now, you could forget where you were and what you were doing, that you were completely submerged in the reality of the land that you're in.Neil Connolly: Yeah, 100%. Like, the world does not exist beyond these worlds. And for some people, like, I have my own definition. Everyone's got a different definition of what immersive is. I've got my own definition. But... I can tell you right now, as soon as people enter this building, they're in the bar, they're kind of slowly immersed in that world because the bar is a themed bar. It's done to the same, like we designed and built that bar as well. But as soon as they start descending that spiral staircase and coming into the gameplay floors, into the show floors, they just forget the rest of the world exists. And especially when they sit down at this table, it doesn't matter. I'm sat next to you here, but you could be sat at this table with your loved one, strangers, whatever. The gloves come off and just nothing exists apart from the game that you're about to go through.Paul Marden: You've been open now for a couple of months. More success than you were anticipating, I think. So pre-sales went through the roof? Yes. So you're very happy with the results?Neil Connolly: Yeah, yeah, we were. Yeah, well, we still are.Neil Connolly: We were very confident before we'd even started building the show, like the literal structural build, because we did very well. But then that set expectations quite high because I had a lot of people that had bought tickets and I was like, 'OK, I need to put on a good show for these people. And I need to make sure that they get satisfaction relative to the tickets that they bought.' But I don't feel pressure. I do feel anxiety quite a lot. Creatively? Yeah. I mean, I meditate every day.Paul Marden: But you've created this amazing world and you're inviting people into it. And as a creative, you're opening yourself up, aren't you? People are walking into the world that you've created.Neil Connolly: Yeah, this was said to me. This is not something that I came up with myself, and I do say this really humbly, but it was something that was said to me. It was on opening day, and a bunch of my friends came to playtest the show. And they were like, 'Oh, this is your brain in a building.'Neil Connolly: And I was like, 'Yeah, I hadn't thought about that.' But yeah, it is my brain in a building. But also that's terrifying, I think, for everybody else, because I know what happens inside my brain and it's really quite chaotic.Neil Connolly: But, you know, this I am. I'm so proud of this show. Like you could not believe how proud I am of this show. But also a huge part of my job is to find people that are smarter than me at the relative thing that they do, such as the rest of my creative team. They're all so much smarter than me. My job is vision and to be able to communicate that vision clearly and effectively so that they go, 'I understand.' The amount of times that people on the creative team turn around to me and go, 'Neil, that's a completely mental idea.' If people are saying to me, 'No one's ever done that before' or 'that's not the way things are done.'Neil Connolly: Or we can do that, but we're going to have to probably invent a whole new thing. If people are saying those things to me, I know I'm doing my job correctly. And I'm not doing that to challenge myself, but everything that I approach in terms of how I build shows is not about format. It's not about blueprints. It's not like, 'Hey, I've done this before, so I'm just going to do this again because I know that's a really neat trick.' I go back to, 'I made the show because I wanted people's heart to pound in their chest while they're sitting in a chair and make them feel alive.'Paul Marden: Is that the vision that you had in your head? So you're articulating that really, really clearly. Is that the vision that you sold to everybody on, not maybe day one, but within a couple of days of talking about this? No, it was day one.Neil Connolly: It was day one. Everyone went, that's a completely mental idea. But, you know, it's my job to try and communicate that as effectively and clearly as I can. But again, I am just one man. My job is vision. And, you know, there's lighting design, sound design, art direction, there's game logic. We haven't even gotten to the technology of how this show works yet, or how this room works.Neil Connolly: Actually, I'll wander down the corner. Yeah, let's do that. But, like, there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks. Like, this is one of the games, one of the missions. In the world and the lore of the show, the round table is sacrosanct.Paul Marden: Yes.Neil Connolly: Traitors is the game. The game is in other people. I can do so many missions and there's loads of missions and they're really fun in this show. But the game is in other people. It's in the people sat on the other side of the room. But also I wanted to do a thing where people could interact directly with the set. And so I designed one of the missions to be in the round table itself.Neil Connolly: So there's a course of these moon dials, which you basically have to align through the course of it. And there are sensors built into the table so that they know when they're in the correct position. How you find out the correct position is by solving a very, very simple puzzle and then communicating effectively to a bunch of strangers that you just met.Neil Connolly: And the sensors basically read it all. And when that all gets into position, the lights react, the sound reacts, the video content reacts, the whole room reacts to you. So I wanted to give people something tangible that they can touch and they make the room react to them. Yes, it's. I mean, I've designed, I've got background in escape rooms as well, right? Um, so I've done a lot of that kind of stuff as well. So I wanted people to feel in touch, same, but like, there's more tangible props over here. Um, yeah, that is a model box of the room that we are stood in, yeah. Also, there's an exact replica of it on the other side of it. There are very subtle differences between it, and that informs one of the missions. So that is two model boxes in this roundtable room. There's one of these in every single roundtable room. So there's 16 model boxes of the show that you're stood in on the set. And again, theatre. It's a show. But it's one of the missions, because I wanted people to kind of go, 'Oh, there's a live actor in front of me.' I'm having fun. Oh, look at all these lights and all the sound. Oh, there's a model box over here. That's in theatre land and blah, blah, blah. But that is also a really expensive joke. It's a really expensive joke. And there's other, like, lots of hidden tricks.Neil Connolly: Let's go look at backstage. Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.Neil Connolly: I say backstage, like how we refer to it or how I always go. I use 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably. Like right now you're on the set. Like you're on the stage. Yes. We're just wandering around a long corridor. There are round table rooms off to either side. But like, you know, there's a green room upstairs where the actors get changed, where the front of house team are, where the bar team all are. But as soon as they go out onto the show floor, they're on stage—yes, completely. We'll very quickly have a look at the gallery—yes, show control. Hi, Robbo. Do you mind if I stand in your room for the purposes of the audio? I'm talking to the technical manager, Thomas Robson. We're recording a podcast.Paul Marden: Robbo, oh yeah, okay. My mind is absolutely blown. So you've got every single room up on screen.Neil Connolly: Yeah, so that's great. There's 164 cameras—something like that. But every roundtable room has four cameras in it. Each camera is 4K resolution. So we've got cameras on all of them. We've got audio into those rooms. That's two-way, so that if show control needs to talk directly to them, they just press a button here and they can talk directly to the room itself. Mainly just like, stop misbehaving, we're watching you.Neil Connolly: We've then got cameras into all of the lounges, all of the show spaces, all the front of house, all of the bar areas, the mezzanine and back of house. And then you've got QLab running across all of the different shows. We've got backups on all of these screens. So if one... of the computers goes down, we can very quickly swap it in for a backup that's already running. We've got show control, which is, there's a company called Clockwork Dog, who, they're an amazing company. What COGS, their show control system, is doing is pulling in all of the QLab from sound, all of the QLab from lighting, and also we built our own app. to be able to run the show. So there's a whole logic and decision tree based on the decisions that the public do through the course of the game. So yes, there is a beginning, a middle, and an end in terms of our narrative beats and the narrative story of the show that we're telling people. But also that narrative can go in. Hundreds of different directions depending on the actions and the gameplay that the people do during the course of the show. So, you haven't just learned one show— you have to learn like You have to learn a world, and you have to learn a whole game.Neil Connolly: Like, there's the server, stacks, which we had to build. You had to network and cable the entire building. So we have built an entire new attraction, which didn't exist before. And also we're pulling in information from the front of house system which is also going into the show itself because again, you put your name into the iPad when you arrive on site and then you tick a box very crucially to say, 'Do you want to be selected as a trader? Yes or No.' Because in the game, it's a fundamental rule. If you say no, you cannot be selected as a traitor by the host during traitor selection. That doesn't mean you can't be recruited.Paul Marden: By the traitors later on in the game. So you could come and do this multiple times and not experience the same story because there were so many different pathways that you could go down.Neil Connolly: But also, the game is in other people. Yes. The show is sat on the opposite side of the table to you because, like, Bob and Sandra don't know each other. They'll never see each other ever again. But Bob comes again and he's now playing against Laura. Who's Laura? She's an unknown quantity. That's a whole new game. That's a whole new show. There's a whole new dynamic. That's a whole new storyline that you have to develop. And so the actors are doing an incredible job of managing all of that.Paul Marden: Thanks, Robbo. Thank you. So you've worked with some really, really impressive leading IP, Traders, Peppa Pig, Doctor Who, Great Gatsby. What challenges do you face taking things from screen to the live experience?Paul Marden: Challenges do I face? We're wandering here.Neil Connolly: So we are in... Oh, we're in the tower.Neil Connolly: Excellent. Yep, so we're now in Traitor's Tower. Good time for you to ask me the question, what challenges do I face? Things like this. We're now stood in Traitor's Tower. Paul, let me ask you the question. Without the show lights being on, so we're just stood on a set under workers, what's your opinion of the room that we're stood in?Paul Marden: Oh, it's hugely impressive. It feels like, apart from the fact you've punched the fourth wall out of the telly, it does feel like you're on set.Neil Connolly: It's a really faithful reproduction of the set. So that's kind of one of the challenges is managing the public's expectations of what they see, do and feel on site. So that I don't change the show so that people come and play the game that they're expecting to play. But making reasonable adjustments within that, because TV and live are two very, very different things. So first and foremost was making sure that we get the format right. So the game that people play, which informs the narrative of the show and the narrative structure of the show. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. Breakfast, mission, round table, conclave. I've designed a whole bunch of new missions that are in this, taken some inspiration from missions that people know and love from the TV shows, whether that's the UK territory or other territories around the world. And also just other stuff is just clear out of my head. So there's original content in there. paying homage and respect to the world that they've built and allowing ourselves to also play and develop and build out that world at the same time. Other challenges.Neil Connolly: This is not a cheap project. No, no. I mean, the production quality of this is beautiful. Yeah, yeah, thank you. It is stunning. When people walk in here, they're like, 'Oh my God, this is... High end.' I am in a luxury event at a very affordable price.Paul Marden: Thank you. And then we're going back upstairs again. Yes. And in the stairwell, we've got the crossed out photos of all of those that have fallen before us.Neil Connolly: No, not quite. All of the people that are in this corridor, there's about 100 photos. These are all the people who built the show.Neil Connolly: So this is David Gregory. He's the sound designer. This is Kitty, who is Immersive Everywhere's office manager. She also works in ticketing. That is Tallulah and Alba, who work in the art department. Elliot, who's our lighting designer. So all of these people are the people who brought the show to life.Paul Marden: Amazing.Neil Connolly: And we wanted to pay homage to them because some of them gave years of their lives to building the show from literally the inception that I had in 2023. Through to now and others are the people who literally spent months of their life underground in these basements building hand-building this set and so we wanted to pay homage to them so we got all of their photos we did the iconic red cross through it yeah and we stuck them all up in the corridor just because we thought it'd be a nice thing to do.Paul Marden: You're in the business of trading and experiences and that ranges from art exhibitions to touring shows. There's always going to be a challenge of balancing innovation and profitability. What is the formula? What is the magic formula?Neil Connolly: I believe, first and foremost, going back to what I was telling you earlier about us being a collaborative organisation. We are not a creative crack that has been used for the show. We are also the producers of the show. And to make my point again, I'm a commercially minded creative. So I actually sit down with the producers and go, 'Okay, cool.' There are 112 seats in the show.Paul Marden: Yep.Neil Connolly: Therefore, how many shows do we need to do per day? How many shows do we need to do per week? How many shows do we need to do per year? Therefore, let's build out a P &L. And we build a whole business plan based around that.Paul Marden: By having everybody— that you need in the team— makes it much easier to talk about that sort of stuff. It makes it much easier for you to design things with the end result in mind. You don't have a creative in a creative agency going off— feeding their creative wants without really thinking about the practicalities of delivering on it.Neil Connolly: Exactly. So you've got to think like, literally, from the very, very beginning: you've got to think about guest flow. You've got to think about throughput. You've got to think about your capacities. Then you've got to basically build out a budget that you think— how much, hey, how much really is this going to cost? Yeah. Then you build out an entire business plan and then you go and start raising the money to try and put that on. And then you find a venue. I mean, like the other magic triangle, like the traitor's magic triangle is, you know, time, space, atmosphere. That's how you do a show. Like with my producer's hat on, the other magic triangle is show, money, venue.Neil Connolly: The truth of the matter, like I make no bones about it, I can design shows till the cows come home, but I'm always going to need money to put them on and a venue to put them in. Also, I want to stress this really important. I use the words 'I' and 'we' very interchangeably.Paul Marden: It's a team effort.Neil Connolly: You can see that in that corridor. I am not a one-man band. I am the creative director of a company. I am a cog that is in that machine, and everybody is doing... We are, as a team... I cannot stress this enough. Some of the best in the business are doing what we do. And everyone is so wildly talented. And that's just us on the producing side. That's immersive everywhere, limited. Then I've got a whole other creative team. Then we've got operations. Then we've got... It's just mad. It's just mad, isn't it? This is a job. Who would have thought, when you were at school, this was an opportunity? Not my principal or my maths teacher.Neil Connolly: So, sorry, just to balance the kind of economies of scale. That was the question, wasn't it?Paul Marden: Well, we were talking about what is the formula for making that an investment, but you know, the authority here is the effort you've put in to do this feels high, but at the same time, you have to find this thing. There is a lot of investment that goes into the front.Neil Connolly: But that comes back to creatives. Caring and I'm not saying the creatives don't, but I care. I care about building businesses. Yeah, not necessarily like building my own CV, like there's so many projects that across our desks. I'll be like, 'Yeah, that'd be really fun to work on.' But do I think that I can make that a touring product? Can it be a long-running location-based entertainment sit-down product? Can it be an art shop? Like you've kind of got a balance with what do you think is just creatively cool versus what can we do as a company that is a commercially viable and financially stable product? And so all that comes through in terms of the creative, but also in terms of the activities of how we run the building, how this model realizes. Because if you think about it, let's make Phantom of the Opera run in the West End. Yes. The show is very obvious, with many casts on a room, away, fruit team away, terrace, it's a big activity. If they haven't sold half that away, they have to use the whole show and play all those people.Neil Connolly: But if they haven't sold half that away from one of my shows... I only have to activate four of my rooms, not eight of them. Therefore, I don't have to call in four actors. I don't have to call in a bunch of the other front of house team and I can scale in the operations on the back. It's an entirely scalable process. Flexible, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, 100%. But also, like, we've got eight rooms here. If we decide to take this to another territory, and that territory demands a much higher throughput, then instead of eight rooms, I can do 20 rooms, 30 rooms. As long as we know that the market is there to be able to kind of get people through it.Neil Connolly: I love this show and I'm so proud of it. The main reason why I'm proud of it is when the show finishes, let's go into one of the lounges. Have you been into one of the lounges?Paul Marden: I've had a nose around a lounge.Neil Connolly: There are different shapes and sizes. We won't go into that one. We'll go into this one down here. That one, that one. It's always such a buzz when you're stood in the bar and the shows kick out, and you see tables and tables of 14 people going up into the bar.Neil Connolly: Area and before they've even gotten a drink, they will run straight over to their friends, families, strangers, whoever they were playing with in that table of 14, and instantly be like, 'Right, I need to know everything that was going on inside your head, your heart, and your soul over the last two hours of my life because this was my experience.'Neil Connolly: And they'll just go, and they'll be like, 'And this is what I was thinking.' And then I thought it was you because you did this and you touched your nose in a weird way. And then I thought you were sending secret signals. And then everyone's like, 'No, that's not what I was doing.' I was just trying to be a normal person. And they were like, 'Well, why did you say that thing?' It sounded super weird. And they're like, 'That's just what I do.' And it's just totally mental. And then they all get a drink from the bar. And we call it the bar tab chat.Neil Connolly: It's another revenue stream.Neil Connolly: I do talk about this like it's a show. And it is a show. You've walked around, do you think it's a show? Completely. I talk to established houses all the time. Like, you know, the big theatres of the land. Organisations that are national portfolio organisations who receive a lot of Arts Council funding. The thing that they want to talk to us about all the time is new audiences. They're like, 'How do I get new audiences through my door?' What can I do? And I'm like, 'Well, firstly, make a show that people want to go and see.'Neil Connolly: Again, they're like, 'But I've got this amazing writer and he's a really big name and everyone's going to come because it's that name.' And I'm like, 'Yeah, that's wicked. That's cool.' And they can all go pay reverence to that person. That's really wonderful. Whereas when you look at the attractions landscape or the immersive theatre landscape or like anything like... Squid Game, or The Elvis, Evolution, or War of the Worlds, which has also laid reality, or any of that kind of stuff, across the landscape, it is nothing but new audiences. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It is nothing but actual ticket-buying audiences.Neil Connolly: And they come from all different walks of life. And what I love is that they do come in to this experience and we hit them with this like secret theatre.Neil Connolly: And they're like, 'Oh my God.' And often it's a gateway to them being like, 'Oh, I didn't realise that.' Maybe I'll go see a Western show or maybe I will go to the National Theatre and see something. Because that's the level of archery. Because those organisations, I love them and I've worked in a few of them, but those buildings can be quite austere, even though they're open and porous, but it's still very difficult to walk through that threshold and feel a part of it.Paul Marden: Whereas coming in here, coming into an event like this, can feel like a thing that they do.Neil Connolly: Because it's the same demographic as theme park junkies. People who love going to theme parks love going to stuff like this because it's an experience, it's an otherness, it's an other nature kind of thing. Because modern audiences want to play and do, not sit and watch. But we all exist in the kind of same ecosystem. I'm not taking on the National Theatre.Paul Marden: Gosh, no. I always talk about that. I think the reason why so many attractions work together in the collaborative way that they do is they recognise that they're not competing with each other. They're competing with sitting on your backside and watching Netflix.Paul Marden: Yeah, yeah.Paul Marden: Our job for all of us is to drag people away from their screens and drag people off of their sofas to do something. And then that's the biggest challenge that we all face.Neil Connolly: I think then that kind of answers the question that you asked me earlier, which I didn't answer. And I'm very sorry.Neil Connolly: is about identifying different pieces of IP. Like, yes, we largely exist in the world of licensing IP. And how do we identify that kind of IP to be able to translate? Not just how do we do it, but like, actually, how do we identify the right thing that's going to... How do you spot the winner? Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And that is one of the biggest challenges to your point of we're talking directly to people who consume arts, culture and media and technology in a slightly more passive way, whether that's just at home and watching Netflix and then bringing that to life. In a very, very different way. If you have a very clear marketing campaign that tells people what it is that they're buying and what they're expected to see or do on their particular night out, because that's what modern people really care about, what they do with their money. Yeah. And they want to have a good night out. And I'm in the business of giving people a good night out. We also happen to be murdering a lot of people in the course of the show.Neil Connolly: Still a good night out. Still a good night out. But I'm in a place where the dead sit. Yeah, exactly. Lounge of the dead. And like, you know, this is a really cool space. Oh, it's just beautiful. You know, we've got the telephone really works. There's lots of information that comes through that. The radio works, that does different things. The TV screen on the wall, that has the actual live feed into the round table room that you've just left. And there's other little puzzles and hints and tricks in this room, which means that after you've been murdered or banished and you come to the Lounge of the Dead, you're still engaged with the game to a degree. You just don't directly influence the outcome of the game. But you're still involved in it. You're still involved in it. It's super fun. Oh, and you can have a drink in here.Paul Marden: I don't let people drink in the round table. Even more important. What's this?Neil Connolly: The dolls, the creepy dolls. What this is, this is the void. Creatively speaking, this is where all the gold goes when people win or lose it. And the creepy dolls are from the TV show. Ydyn nhw'r un gwirioneddol o'r sioe? Felly, gafodd studio Lambert, sy'n gwneud y sioe tebyg, llawer o brops o'r sioe tebyg i ni eu rhoi ar y ddispleiddio yma. Felly, mae gennych chi'r Dolls Creepy o'r lles 3 yno. Rydyn ni'n mynd i fyny. Yn ôl yma, mae'r peintiwch Deathmatch.Paul Marden: Which is from season three.Neil Connolly: And they get the quill and they write the names and got the quill upstairs. We've also got over here, the cards that they used to play the death match with. Excellent.Paul Marden: So you began your career in theatre. How did that evolve into the world of immersive live experiences?Neil Connolly: Life story. I am the son of a postman and a cook. And if you haven't noticed already, I'm from Ireland. There was no theatre in our lives, my life, when I was growing up. And I stumbled into a youth theatre. It's called Kildare Youth Theatre. And the reason why I joined that is because there was a girl that I really fancied.Neil Connolly: She had just joined this youth theatre and I was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna join that as well' and that kind of opened the world of theatre for me. At the same time, I then got spotted by this guy, his name's Vijay Baton, his real name's Om, but he converted to Hare Krishnanism in the 90s. And he set up a street theatre company in Ireland. He just taught me street theatre. So he taught me stilt walk, he taught me juggling, he taught me how to build puppets. And so I spent years building puppets with him and going around Ireland doing lots of different street theatre while I was a teenager. And doing street theatre and doing my youth theatre and then kind of all of that kind of came to a head when I had to decide what I was going to do with my life. I applied to go to drama school. And I applied to two drama schools. One was Radha. Didn't get in. Didn't even get an audition. And the other one was Rose Bruford. And they took me. And the reason why they took me— I probably wasn't even that good. But on the day that I was auditioning to get into Rose Bruford was the same day as my maths exam for my final exams at school. You call them your A-levels, we call them the leaving certificate.Neil Connolly: And while all of my friends were back in Ireland doing their maths exam, I was in an audition room pretending to be a tree or the colour black.Neil Connolly: Who knows? And they kind of went, 'Well, if I fail my maths exam, I don't get into university in Ireland.' Like, it's just a blanket thing. And so I was like, 'I literally sat across the panel' and I was like, 'eggs, basket.' And they were like, 'cool.' So they let me in based off of that. So I got a classical training. Then what happened is I came out of university. I was living with two of my friends, Natalie and Joe. And we had our own little production company called The Lab Collective. And we just started making shows. In weird ways, we joined a company called Theatre Delicatessen. Let's get away from this. Yeah, yeah, yeah.Neil Connolly: So Theatre Deli was a company set up to take over disused spaces in London and convert them into art spaces.Neil Connolly: Basically legalised squatting. It's the same as like a guardianship. But we weren't living in the buildings. We were just putting on shows and we put on art shows, we put on theatre shows. We did Shakespeare for a while. We wrote our own work and we just did lots of really, really cool stuff. And I worked in music festivals, classically trained actor. So I was trying to do shows. I did a lot of devising. I also joined an improvisation group. And kind of through all that mix, like those years at Delhi, which was making these weird shows in these weird buildings, were very, very formative years for us. The Arts Council wouldn't support the kind of work that we were making. We were like, 'Cool, how do we get space?Neil Connolly: How do we get or make money to support ourselves? And what are the shows? There's the magic triangle all over again. Space, show, money. And that's your apprenticeship, I guess, that brings you to here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And like, again, I make no bones about it. 10 years ago, I was selling programs on the door of the Royal Festival Hall while doing all of that stuff. So in one of the Theatre Daily buildings, we did a show called Heist, which is you break into a building and steal stuff. That's what the public do.Neil Connolly: And a bunch of us did that. I mean, it's so much fun— kind of doing it. And off the back of that, somebody else basically tried to chase down the crystal maze. And then they went away, and then they called me up and they were like, 'Hey, I've got the rights. Do you want to make the crystal maze?' And I was like, 'Yeah, sounds like fun.' So I got involved with that, did that for a while. And then, from there, this is the end of a very long story. I'm so apologised. Yeah, from there, all of those different things that I've done through the course of my life in terms of operations, designing experiences, being a creative, understanding business.Neil Connolly: Building a P&L, building a budget, talking to investors, trying to convince them to give you money. All of that stuff kind of basically came together. And over the last few years, like the wildest ride is that pre-2020.Neil Connolly: We were just a bunch of people doing a bunch of weird things, making weird shows and weird attractions in kind of different ways. And then that year happened. And I don't know what happened, but literally every single major studio, film, TV production, game designer, licensor in the world, suddenly just went— brand extensions, world extensions, and they all just started calling us. And they were like, 'Hi, I've got this thing.' Can you develop it into a thing? Because I need to extend my brand or I want to build a world and extend that for the public. And we were like, 'Yeah, okay, cool.' And we were just lucky, serendipitously, to be in the right place at the right time. To be those people that people can approach. And we're always, we're very approachable.Neil Connolly: As you can tell, I talk a lot. And, you know, so the last five years, it's just been a mad ride.Paul Marden: So look, Neil, it's been amazing. I have had the most fun. Last question for you. What's next? Are you putting your feet up now because you finished this? Or on to the next? Neil Connolly: Very much on to the next thing. So we're already in production with our new show, which is called Peppa Pig Surprise Party. And that is opening at the Metro Centre in Gateshead next year. Oh, how exciting is that? It's very exciting.Paul Marden: So quite a different demographic.Neil Connolly: The demographic for Peppa Pig is two to five year olds. It's been a really fun show to design and create. To go back to a question that you asked me very early on, there is no blueprint, there is no format. I have embraced the chaos tattooed on my arm. And always when I approach things, any new show or any new creative, I am thinking of it from a ticket buying perspective: 'I have paid my money.' What is the coolest thing that I can possibly do with that money? And so therefore, I'm now looking at families and, like, what's the coolest thing that they can do for that ticket price in the world of Peppa Pig?Paul Marden: Let's come back in the new year, once you've opened Peppa Pig, let's go to Gateshead and see that. That sounds pretty awesome to me. I reckon there's a whole new episode of Designing Worlds for two to five-year-olds that we could fill an hour on.Neil Connolly: Oh yeah, 100%. It's a totally different beast. And super fun to design.Paul Marden: Oh mate. Neil, it has been so wonderful having a wander around the inside of your crazy mind.Paul Marden: If you've enjoyed today's episode, please like it and leave a comment in your podcast app. It really does make it so much easier for other people to find us. This episode was written by Emily Burrows from Plaster, edited by Steve Folland, and produced by Sami Entwistle from Plaster and Wenalyn Dionaldo. Thanks very much. See you next week.  The 2025 Visitor Attraction Website Survey is now LIVE! Dive into groundbreaking benchmarks for the industryGain a better understanding of how to achieve the highest conversion ratesExplore the "why" behind visitor attraction site performanceLearn the impact of website optimisation and visitor engagement on conversion ratesUncover key steps to enhance user experience for greater conversionsTake the Rubber Cheese Visitor Attraction Website Survey Report

Dave, Steely and Mickey are back to reflect on a week of mixed emotions for the Heed Army.A hard-fought 3-3 draw with Aldershot

Rob, Joe and Dickie look back on another goal filled week in the National League. Underdogs galore are taking the headlines currently and it was significant weekend for some teams as they get off the mark. We hear from Dave Gaddis from the Heed Army Podcast about Gateshead's travails on the past year and their is a look ahead to the midweek fixtures Subscribe, like and a leave a review Produced by Leo Audio Productions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Dave, Steely and Mickey are still buzzing after an unforgettable week for the Heed! ✨Gateshead 2️⃣ - 1️⃣ Tamworth at the International Stadium on SaturdayTHEN the unbelievable comeback at Yeovil… from 3-0 down at half-time to a 4-3 last-minute winner! Pure cinema!!!

It's been quite the week for Yeovil Town FC. Mike Hudson joins Ian and Ben to discuss the crazy Gateshead match and Mark Cooper's subsequent sacking. We give our potential managerial options, a few thoughts on Halifax and answer your GCQs. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

fWotD Episode 3036: Gateshead International Stadium Welcome to featured Wiki of the Day, your daily dose of knowledge from Wikipedia's finest articles.The featured article for Wednesday, 27 August 2025, is Gateshead International Stadium.Gateshead International Stadium (GIS) is a multi-purpose, all-seater venue in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, England. Originally known as the Gateshead Youth Stadium, the venue was built in 1955 and has since been extensively redeveloped on three occasions. Its capacity of around 11,800 is the greatest in the Metropolitan Borough of Gateshead, the third-largest in Tyne and Wear (behind St James' Park and the Stadium of Light), and the sixth-largest in North East England.The main arena is principally used for athletics. The inaugural athletics competition at the redeveloped venue, the 1974 "Gateshead Games", was instigated by Brendan Foster, a Gateshead Council employee at that time. By breaking the world record in the men's 3,000 m, Foster brought international publicity to the new stadium and began a tradition of athletics competitions at the venue, which has since hosted the British Grand Prix (2003–10) and the European Team Championships in 1989, 2000 and 2013. It is the only venue to have hosted the latter event three times. Five world records have been set at the stadium, including two by pole vaulter Yelena Isinbayeva and a tied 100 metres record by Asafa Powell in 2006.Although Gateshead International Stadium primarily caters for athletics, it is the current or former home to teams in several sports. It has been used by Gateshead F. C. and its predecessors since 1973. It was home to the Gateshead Thunder rugby league club during their spell in the Super League, and the replacement Gateshead Thunder club played home games in the main arena, which was known as the Thunderdome when used by that team until the club relocated to Newcastle in 2015. It has also been the home of Women's Super League 2 side Newcastle United Women since 2025. Gateshead Harriers Athletic Club, which includes Foster and Jonathan Edwards among its life members, are the oldest tenants, having used the site since 1956. The stadium has also been used as a concert venue by numerous musical artists, including Little Mix, Guns N' Roses, Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and Tina Turner.This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:12 UTC on Wednesday, 27 August 2025.For the full current version of the article, see Gateshead International Stadium on Wikipedia.This podcast uses content from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.Visit our archives at wikioftheday.com and subscribe to stay updated on new episodes.Follow us on Mastodon at @wikioftheday@masto.ai.Also check out Curmudgeon's Corner, a current events podcast.Until next time, I'm standard Matthew.

Defeat at Braintree, today's match with Gateshead and your GCQs are on the agenda on today's podcast. Ian and Dave are back with Ben to chat about it all.Many thanks to Dexter Tyson, Ed Turnbull and Andy Cleave for the voice notes. Keep em coming! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Join Anita Rani as she broadcasts live from Blaydon Rugby Club in Gateshead ahead of the first game of the Women's Rugby World Cup. Tonight England kick off the tournament on home soil by facing the USA in Sunderland at the Stadium of Light. To preview tonight's game and the tournament to come, we are joined by former England player and World Cup winner Kat Merchant.We also hear from the Managing Director at World Rugby, Sarah Massey on how she hopes to ensure this World Cup is a success.Blaydon Rugby Club have a thriving women's side and they invited Anita to join them in a training session. KP, Hayley and Rosie, who play for the club, join Anita live to discuss not only being team mates but being family too!The England player Abbie Ward talks about her dream of finally lifting the World Cup trophy after being beaten in two finals. Abbie was the first player to benefit from the Rugby Football Union's landmark maternity policy for players. And tonight she will walk out at The Stadium of Light as she begins her dream of becoming world champion. She speaks to Anita about her hopes ahead of the World Cup.All four home nations have qualified for the Women's Rugby World Cup. Given England are hosting, it means fans from across Scotland, Wales, Ireland - who play with Northern Ireland - and of course England are within touching distance of one of the stadium's hosting. Four fans share their good luck messages for their teams.And with some saying rugby is the most accessible sport, why is it such a powerful tool for encouraging a positive body image? Joining Anita to discuss is Kat Merchant, now a personal trainer who celebrates her strength, and players of Blaydon Rugby Club.Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Emma Pearce Editor: Karen Dalziel

Join Dave and Mickey as they look back at the opening week of the new Vanarama National League season! The lads break down Gateshead's first game, preview the upcoming away trips to Eastleigh and Rochdale, and continue the ever-popular Prediction League – who's taken an early lead after Week 1?

Kev is joined by Adam & Robin to discuss our weekends fixtures against Sheilds & Gateshead, then give our quick take on this weeks 100M+ spending spree

Join Dave, Steely and Mickey as they celebrate the return of football! ⚽️ The lads reflect on Gateshead's first pre-season friendly away at neighbours Hebburn Town of the Northern Premier League, and look ahead to the exciting away days now we know the fixtures for the forthcoming Enterprise National League campaign.We also can't wait to host a live podcast from the Fog on the Tyne pub, right behind Gateshead Stadium — with a raffle and some amazing prizes to be won! All proceeds from the raffle will go to the Gateshead Supporters' Society and the Gateshead FC Foundation, so come along and support two brilliant causes.

Plans for a new National Park in Galloway and Ayrshire have been dropped. The Scottish Rural Affairs Secretary, Mairi Gougeon, has announced that following a consultation, the park doesn't have enough support locally, and so will not go ahead.In the Broads National Park in Norfolk, a rise in the number of deer is having an impact on habitats and farmland. A drone survey to asses the numbers has revealed as many as 20 per square km. Work is underway to generate a market for local venison to help support culling.And we meet Vice Chair of the Rare Breed Survival Trust, Ryan Perry. He started off feeding the pigs at his local city farm in Gateshead at the age of 7, where he fell in love with Tamworths. Now he's on a smallholding where he keeps pigs, three breeds of sheep, goats, poultry and cattle...alongside a full time job in the NHS as a biomedical scientist.Presented by Charlotte Smith Produced by Heather Simons

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv PinkPantheresss album and Sir David Attenboroughs new film Whats coming up this week Woman missing since 1962 found alive and well Ed Sheeran thrills fans with surprise Ipswich gig Trump says he is not considering running for third term Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Brazil police thwart bomb attack on Lady Gaga concert Royal Family hopes nothing distracts from VE Day commemorations Layton Carr fire death children released on bail in Gateshead Syrian security forces oversaw armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Uppsala shooting Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Parking chaos and poo The price of Mam Tors popularity Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Europe marks VE Day with Trump on its mind How Canadas Mark Carney plans to win over Donald Trump Katy Perry From Blue Origin flight to cringe dance moves the online backlash against her Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv PinkPantheresss album and Sir David Attenboroughs new film Whats coming up this week Syrian security forces oversaw armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says Brazil police thwart bomb attack on Lady Gaga concert Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Trump says he is not considering running for third term Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels Royal Family hopes nothing distracts from VE Day commemorations Layton Carr fire death children released on bail in Gateshead Woman missing since 1962 found alive and well Ed Sheeran thrills fans with surprise Ipswich gig

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Layton Carr fire death children released on bail in Gateshead PinkPantheresss album and Sir David Attenboroughs new film Whats coming up this week Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Ed Sheeran thrills fans with surprise Ipswich gig Brazil police thwart bomb attack on Lady Gaga concert Woman missing since 1962 found alive and well Trump says he is not considering running for third term Syrian security forces oversaw armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels Royal Family hopes nothing distracts from VE Day commemorations

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv How Canadas Mark Carney plans to win over Donald Trump Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Europe marks VE Day with Trump on its mind Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Uppsala shooting Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival Parking chaos and poo The price of Mam Tors popularity Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Katy Perry From Blue Origin flight to cringe dance moves the online backlash against her Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Uppsala shooting Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark How Canadas Mark Carney plans to win over Donald Trump Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels Parking chaos and poo The price of Mam Tors popularity Europe marks VE Day with Trump on its mind Katy Perry From Blue Origin flight to cringe dance moves the online backlash against her

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels Woman missing since 1962 found alive and well Layton Carr fire death children released on bail in Gateshead Brazil police thwart bomb attack on Lady Gaga concert Royal Family hopes nothing distracts from VE Day commemorations Ed Sheeran thrills fans with surprise Ipswich gig PinkPantheresss album and Sir David Attenboroughs new film Whats coming up this week Syrian security forces oversaw armed civilians who killed Alawites, accused man says Trump says he is not considering running for third term

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Europe marks VE Day with Trump on its mind Five men arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences, Met police says Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Katy Perry From Blue Origin flight to cringe dance moves the online backlash against her Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Parking chaos and poo The price of Mam Tors popularity Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope How Canadas Mark Carney plans to win over Donald Trump Uppsala shooting Swedes react to horror amid Walpurgis festival Reform considers legal challenges against asylum hotels

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Beyonc daughter Blue Ivy Nepo babies or superstars in waiting Lorraine Kelly reassures fans ahead of keyhole surgery Newspaper headlines Harry bombshell backfires and Reform re education Nada Tawfik My impression of Prince Harry during our exclusive interview Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Australia federal election Anthony Albanese wins in landslide Prince Harrys emotional avalanche hits the Royal Family Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Bristol van dwellers Fear and loathing on Cliftons leafy streets

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Nada Tawfik My impression of Prince Harry during our exclusive interview Newspaper headlines Harry bombshell backfires and Reform re education Australia federal election Anthony Albanese wins in landslide Prince Harrys emotional avalanche hits the Royal Family Lorraine Kelly reassures fans ahead of keyhole surgery Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Bristol van dwellers Fear and loathing on Cliftons leafy streets Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Beyonc daughter Blue Ivy Nepo babies or superstars in waiting

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Australia federal election Anthony Albanese wins in landslide Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Lorraine Kelly reassures fans ahead of keyhole surgery Prince Harrys emotional avalanche hits the Royal Family Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Beyonc daughter Blue Ivy Nepo babies or superstars in waiting Nada Tawfik My impression of Prince Harry during our exclusive interview Newspaper headlines Harry bombshell backfires and Reform re education Bristol van dwellers Fear and loathing on Cliftons leafy streets Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Trump criticised after posting AI image of himself as Pope Nada Tawfik My impression of Prince Harry during our exclusive interview Newspaper headlines Harry bombshell backfires and Reform re education Labour minister sorry over grooming gangs dog whistle remark Lorraine Kelly reassures fans ahead of keyhole surgery Bristol van dwellers Fear and loathing on Cliftons leafy streets Prince Harrys emotional avalanche hits the Royal Family Beyonc daughter Blue Ivy Nepo babies or superstars in waiting Fourteen children arrested over Gateshead boys fire death Australia federal election Anthony Albanese wins in landslide

Alex Forsyth presents political debate from Clara Vale Village Hall, Gateshead.

CNN, HBO MaxLegendary US singer Dionne Warwick 2025 Inductee Class in the Rock & Roll Hall of FameThe news came shortly after the 82-year-old star became one of the latest recipients of a Kennedy Center Honor, alongside comedian Billy Crystal and actor Queen Latifah.The Don't Make Me Over tour will begin its UK leg at Gateshead's The Glasshouse on Sunday 5 May, 2024, with tickets going on sale via Ticketmaster.  In 2023, we saw the debut of her Documentary that aired on CNN New Year's Day featuring Legendary Music Icons like the late Burt Bachrach, Jerry Blavat, Chuck Jackson, as well as Berry Gordy, Quincy Jones, & Smokey Robinson. She began singing professionally in 1961 after being discovered by a young songwriting team, Burt Bacharach and Hal David. She had her first hit in 1962 with “Don't Make Me Over.” Less than a decade later, she had released more than 18 consecutive Top 100 singles, including her classic Bacharach/David recordings, “Walk on By,” “Anyone Who Had a Heart,” “Message to Michael,” "Promises Promises,” “A House is Not a Home,” “Alfie,” “Say a Little Prayer,” “This Girl's in Love With You,” “I'll Never Fall in Love Again,” “Reach Out For Me,” and the theme from “Valley of the Dolls. ”Together, Warwick and her songwriting team of Burt Bacharach & Hal David, accumulated more than 30 hit singles, and close to 20 best-selling albums, during their first decade together.Warwick received her first GRAMMY® Award in 1968 for her mega-hit, “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” and a second GRAMMY® in 1970 for the best-selling album, “I'll Never Fall in Love Again.” She became the first African-American solo female artist of her generation to win the prestigious award for Best Contemporary Female Vocalist Performance. This award was only presented to one other legend, Miss Ella Fitzgerald.In 1970, Warwick received her second GRAMMY® Award for the best-selling album, “I'll Never Fall In Love Again,” and began her second decade of hits with Warner Bros. Records. In 1974, she hit the top of the charts with “Then Came You,” a million-selling duet with The Spinners. She then teamed up with Isaac Hayes for a highly successful world tour, “A Man and a Woman.”In 1976, Warwick signed with Arista Records, beginning a third decade of hit-making. Arista Records label-mate Barry Manilow produced her first Platinum-selling album, “Dionne,” which included back-to-back hits “I'll Never Love This Way Again,” and “Déjà vu.” Both recordings earned GRAMMY® Awards, making Warwick the first female artist to win the Best Female Pop and Best Female R&B Performance Awards.Warwick's 1982 album, “Heartbreaker,” co-produced by Barry Gibb and the Bee Gees, became an international chart-topper. In 1985, she reunited with composer Burt Bacharach and longtime friends Gladys Knight, Elton John and Stevie Wonder to record the landmark song “That's What Friends Are For,” which became a number one hit record around the world and the first recording dedicated to raising awareness and major funds (over $3 Million) for the AIDS © 2025 Building Abundant Success!!2025  All Rights ReservedJoin Me on ~ iHeart Media @ https://tinyurl.com/iHeartBASAmazon ~ https://tinyurl.com/AmzBASAudacy:  https://tinyurl.com/BASAud

Rabbi Daniel Lapin is known world-wide as a noted rabbinic scholar, best-selling author and host of the Rabbi Daniel Lapin Podcast where he shares his knowledge of how the world really works. He is one of America's most eloquent speakers and he has helped many people around the world grow in their five F's: Faith, Family, Finances, Friendship, and Fitness through ancient Jewish wisdom. He was born in Johannesburg, South Africa, later studied in yeshivas in Gateshead, London, and in Israel. He emigrated to the United States and founded The Pacific Jewish Center. His more recent projects, along with his wife Susan, include online courses, a community called The We Happy Warriors, and has written many best-selling books, including their most recent book, The Holistic You: Integrating your Family, Faith, Finances, Friendships, and Fitness. Rabbi Lapin is an avid boater and sailed his family from Los Angeles to Honolulu in the summer on their own 44 foot sailing cutter. As the family grew, the Lapins switched to calmer waters, boating in the San Juan and Gulf Islands in Washington State and British Columbia. He and his wife Susan homeschooled their seven children on Mercer Island, Washington and now live in Baltimore, MD.Gems:Our primary obligation is to teach ourselves, not just our children.We are responsible for our own growth and progress; nobody else is responsible.Parents must be on the same page.Create an authentic connection with G-d rather than a formalistic one.Teach children to build a relationship where they can talk to G-d.Judaism is more than just a ritualistic way of life.Try to get out of your comfort zone.We pass down principles that are relevant at all times.Think through what you're going to tell your children.Be open to freshness.How we teach needs to be linked to each child as an individual.Raise children that we would really like.We can't expect things to be easy.Homeschooling is more viable than people think.Our job is to acculturate the next generation. Dot-by-Dot Hebrew CurriculumA Kriah curriculum designed for the classroom, home, or Remedial with readers,workbooks, & games.Parenting On PurposeThis course will help you better understand your child and build a deeper connection.AmazonWe receive a small commission for any items purchased through my Amazon link.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the show

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Eurovision UK entry Remember Monday promises theatrical act Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes about a week apart Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries Can an LED face mask really transform your skin Denmark lost 52 soldiers fighting alongside the US. Now it feels threatened by Trump Trump says Ukraine more difficult to deal with than Russia Man climbs Palace of Westminster tower with Palestinian flag Im lucky to be alive journalist tracked by Russian spies says Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead Labour ministers yet to hold talks over Abramovich funds

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Denmark lost 52 soldiers fighting alongside the US. Now it feels threatened by Trump Labour ministers yet to hold talks over Abramovich funds Can an LED face mask really transform your skin Trump says Ukraine more difficult to deal with than Russia Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries Eurovision UK entry Remember Monday promises theatrical act Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes about a week apart Im lucky to be alive journalist tracked by Russian spies says Man climbs Palace of Westminster tower with Palestinian flag

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries Denmark lost 52 soldiers fighting alongside the US. Now it feels threatened by Trump Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead Can an LED face mask really transform your skin Trump says Ukraine more difficult to deal with than Russia Labour ministers yet to hold talks over Abramovich funds Man climbs Palace of Westminster tower with Palestinian flag Im lucky to be alive journalist tracked by Russian spies says Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes about a week apart Eurovision UK entry Remember Monday promises theatrical act

Morse code transcription: vvv vvv Trump says Ukraine more difficult to deal with than Russia Im lucky to be alive journalist tracked by Russian spies says Actor Gene Hackman and wife Betsy Arakawa died of natural causes about a week apart Denmark lost 52 soldiers fighting alongside the US. Now it feels threatened by Trump Eurovision UK entry Remember Monday promises theatrical act Is Trump reining in Musk after a cabinet showdown with secretaries Can an LED face mask really transform your skin Man climbs Palace of Westminster tower with Palestinian flag Tesco trials giant trolley scales in Gateshead Labour ministers yet to hold talks over Abramovich funds

This week's episode is inspired by this article, after the MailOnline exclusively reported this week that a brawl on the streets of Gateshead last Tuesday was triggered by social workers attempting to remove children from a property in the area. Our hosts, Vince and Cara, share their thoughts on this latest riot, examine why social workers are frequently at the centre of these conflicts, and discuss how we can we better protect social workers from physical and emotional harm.  Join the discussion, every Friday morning. Created by social workers, for social workers.

Mark Griffiths, Chay Long and Neil Williams discuss a tremendous victory for Wrexham against Swansea which sets up an epic showdown on Sunday. They also look back on a week of highs and lows for the men's team, and remember the remarkable events of 14 years ago, when we suffered a record home defeat to Gateshead but struck a blow for the club's future. Our guest is Ntumba Massanka, who was the scorer of one of the iconic goals of the last few years, a fabulous overhead kick against Guiseley. He's still playing, and is also part of his family business, Tshibangz Bakes, who produce a fantastic range of desserts, many of which draw upon their Congolese heritage. You can follow them, or get in touch here: Website: https://tshibangzbakes.com/ Insta: @tshibangz.bakes TikTok: tshibangz.bakes email: tshibangzbakes@gmail.com Snapchat: tshibangzbakes

The extraterrestrial comedy podcast where we probe the events of 1940 Gateshead whereby an absolutely reliable five year old witnessed the death of an alien. Death, via shovel. The five year old was chased by this alien you see dear probers but the uncle of the witness, protected the witness via devastating shovel strike. That witness was Robert Hall, a man who searched for answers many years later. Prior to the shovel strike, Robert had witnessed all many of extraterrestrial entities during a soldier parade of sorts and Robert was a victim of alien abduction. All that and more on this week's file.     Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/butitwasaliens   Store: https://butitwasaliens.co.uk/shop/     Probe us: Email: butitwasaliens@gmail.com Instagram/Threads @ ButItWasAliens Twitter @ ButItWasAliens Facebook: @ ButItWasAliens - join Extraterrestrial Towers     Music:  Music created via Garageband. Additional music via: https://freepd.com - thank you most kindly good people. During the episode you also may have heard a snippet of the ‘Inside the Castle Walls' song from Nintendo's 1996 Super Mario 64 from the Nintendo 64, composed by Hero of Sound Kōji Kondō.     Sources: Streets of Silence summary: https://streetofsilence.com/1940-alien-encounter-in-england-the-gateshead-grey/   Northern Echo article: https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/opinion/leader/9104870.alien-killed-coal-shovel/   YouTube video ‘Gateshead Grey' via Rich Planet Starship: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dBJ5kbkC_6E

2025 has yielded just two points for Mickey Mellon's blue and white army. one of which was earned this weekend at Gateshead. February is already a massive month, will January's recruitment be enough? You can support the pod by paying a monthly subscription of just £2.99 via this link ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you'd like to make a one off donation, you can now also Buy Us A Coffee by clicking ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ You can also support us by visiting ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠our website⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, subscribing to our mailing list and purchasing from our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠online shop.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Please subscribe to our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube Channel⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to watch the Latics Football Phone In live every Wednesday from 8.30pm. BPAS and Latics Football Phone In are ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠KUPOD⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ productions. Title music is by Manchester DJ and producer Starion find out more ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Laticsmind theme composed, recorded and produced by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Matt Berry⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ at King Buzzard Studios in Shaw.

In this episode I head up to Gateshead to visit Ben Allan as he completes his first HMO conversion, following the advice and support from our Inside HMO Investing programme. Starting with a hands-on approach, Ben shares how his background as a joiner helped him tackle nearly every aspect of the renovation himself—saving money, building confidence, and creating a high-yielding property.We discuss the challenges he faced, from navigating stressful bridging loans to uncovering hidden surprises in the property, and how he maintained focus on his goal of achieving financial freedom for his growing family.With a 40% ROI and tenants moving in just weeks after completion, Ben's journey is packed with lessons on managing timelines, choosing the right projects, and deciding when sweat equity is worth it. ********************Welcome to the Inside Property Investing Podcast with Mike Stenhouse. You're in the right place if you're looking for practical advise and inspiring stories to help you build a thriving property investment business and create more freedom in your own life.Register now for our free 2025 HMO Training Series (starts January 23rd) >>See what we've got going on right now to help you succeed - https://go.insidepropertyinvesting.com/podcast-links Get more advice and inspiration on your favourite platforms:Instagram: @InsidePropertyInvestingYoutube: Inside Property InvestingFacebook: Inside Property InvestingNewsletter: InsidePropertyInvesting.com

It's one thing to be born with a gift. It's another thing entirely to use it.Kenny Bednarek could've just been a kid from Wisconsin that ran fast, but this kid had a dream. And as we know, it's the dreamers that make history.Ensuring his name became legend, Bednarek captured the world's attention when he first claimed silver in the 200m at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Following that monumental achievement, 2021 seemed to be a victory lap for Kenny.Claiming four Diamond League wins in Lausanne, Zurich,Doha, and Gateshead; and another in the World Continental in Ostrava, Kenny was awarded “Most Consistent Track and Field Athlete,” Diamond League Champion, and made history as the first sprinter to ever run sub 20 in 10 wind-legal races in a single season.Although he's definitely encountered his share of difficulties,Kenny takes even hindrances in stride. Demonstrating his tenacity in 2022, he not only claimed silver in the World Championships 200m - just seven months after breaking a toe– but also acquired two Diamond League wins in Rabat andRome. In 2023, shortly after suffering a grade two hamstring strain and grade three fascia tear, he made the USA team and finished 5th at the World Championships 200m, followed by his complete domination in Brussels, where he earned the Diamond League title.With his injuries a thing of the past, Bednarek has shown us that a healthy Kenny is a dangerous Kenny. With four personal bests and two coveted titles to add to his collection, personal bests and two coveted titles to add to his collection,this is undoubtedly the best season of his career.We caught a glimpse of what Kenny had in store when he started the year with a 100m win in the World Continental Tour in Kenya; followed by a personal best of 19.67 and a tremendous win at the Doha Diamond League. Victorious yet again in the Prefontaine Diamond League, he went on to achieve two more personal bests during the Olympic trials-clocking 9.87 in the 100m and 19.59 in the 200m. This was the first time Bednarek made all three teams (100m, 200m,and 4x100m) at the Olympic trials; and with the distinction of being a two-time Olympian, Kenny made certain he left the 2024 Paris Olympics decorated with silver for a second time in the men's 200m.While it didn't seem possible to top his already exceptional year of achievements, consistent with his character, Bednarek went on to attain his fourth personal best at the Zurich Diamond League with an incredible 19.57 in the 200m. And finally, to conclude a most magnificent season, Bednarek bolted to glory with a spectacular win at the Diamond League meet in Brussels and the distinction of being crowned the Diamond League Champion.In any event, it has been truly remarkable to witness the rise and reign of Kung Fu Kenny. He's transformed from underdog to 2x Olympic silver medalist, 10x Diamond League winner, World Championship Silver Medalist, 2x Diamond League Champion, World #2 in the men's 200m,and the silent warrior that's here and coming for it all.Click here to follow Kenny on Instagram!Support the show

Rob, Joe and Christian are joined by the recently retired Manny Oyeleke as he chats through his decisions to retire and what the future holds and give a player perspective on this time of year. An interesting day in the trophy as both York and Barnet head out, Boston beat Gateshead not at Gateshead and Torquay fall Faal of Worthing. Plus some big results at either end of the table in the North and South division Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NUFC Matters Live Rob Lee Gateshead Leisure Centre 2824 Part 1 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NUFC Matters Live With Rob Lee at Gateshead Leisure Centre 2824 Part 2 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Portrait Monica BonviciniCourtesy the artist, © Monica Bonvicini and VG-Bildkunst, Bonn 2022 / Photo by Olaf Heine Born in Venice, Italy, Monica Bonvicini currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. The artist studied at the Universität der Künste in Berlin and the California Institute of the Arts in Valencia, CA. Since the 1990s, Monica Bonvicini has had numerous exhibitions and projects around the world. Upcoming, the artist will have a major solo exhibition at Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin (2022). Other significant solo exhibitions include Hurricanes and other Catastrophes at Kunstmuseum Winterthur, Switzerland (2022), I Don't Like You Very Much at Kunsthaus Graz, Austria (2022), LOVER'S MATERIAL at Kunsthalle Bielefeld, Germany (2020), I CANNOT HIDE MY ANGER at Belvedere 21 Museum of Contemporary Art, Vienna (2019), As Walls Keep Shifting at OGR, Turin, Italy (2019), Monica Bonvicini at Berlinische Galerie, Berlin (2017), her hand around the room at BALTIC Center for Contemporary Art, Gateshead, Newcastle (2016), BOTH ENDS at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel (2011), Desire Deseise Devise at Deichtorhallen, Hamburg (2012), Monica Bonvicini at Frac des Pays de la Loire, Carquefou, France (2009), Monica Bonvicini / Tom Burr at Kunstmuseum Basel, Switzerland (2009), Focus: Monica Bonvicini–Light Me Black at Art Institute of Chicago (2009), NEVER MISSING A LINE at Sculpture Center, New York (2007), Monica Bonvicini at Palais de Tokyo, Paris (2002), among others. Bonvicini has earned several awards, including the Golden Lion at the Biennale di Venezia (1999); the Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst, from the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin (2005); the Rolandpreis für Kunst for Art in Public Space from the Foundation Bremen, Germany (2013); the Hans Platschek Prize for Art and Writing, Germany (2019); the Oskar Kokoschka Prize, Austria (2020). Monica Bonvicini's works can be found permanently installed in Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, London; on the waterfront at Bjørvika, before the Den Norske Opera & Ballett House, Oslo; the Istanbul Museum of Modern Art (2003-2019); and the Weserburg Museum of Modern Art, Bremen, among others. Monica Bonvicini, Chainswing Rings & Stripes 2024 Galvanized steel chains, chain quick fasteners, belting leather, rivets, galvanized steel rings Dimensions variable Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles Monica Bonvicini, Stay Home 2024 Silkscreen and tempera on Fabriano paper 78 3/4 x 59 inches; 200 x 150 cm (unframed) 82 5/8 x 63 inches; 210 x 160 cm (framed) Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles Monica Bonvicini, Installation view, Put All Heaven in a Rage, Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York, 2024. Photo by Pierre Le Hors Courtesy the artist and Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York / Los Angeles

Simeon Gholam is back with another episode of The EFL Interviews on the Essential EFL podcast. This week he speaks to three players from Leagues One and Two.First up is Chesterfield's Will Grigg who chats about their return to the Football League and their high expectations now they're back in League Two.Then it's Exeter's Ed Francis. A product of the Manchester City academy, Ed tells Simeon about his journey to Exeter via a spell at non-league Gateshead.And finally we hear from Newport County defender Cameron Evans, who has had an 'interesting' footballing journey so far to say the least which have included spells in the League of Ireland and even contact with clubs via Linkedin.

In this episode of the St. Emlyn's podcast, hosts Iain Beardsell and Simon Carley share their insights from recent conferences, including Gateshead's RCEM scientific conference, Tactical Trauma 24 in Sweden, and the Premier Conference. They explore 'Goldilocks moments' for executing life-saving procedures in critical care, emphasizing optimal timing for interventions like thoracotomies. The episode also discusses innovative training methods like shadowboxing to enhance decision-making in high-stress medical scenarios. In addition, they review a significant trial on smoking cessation in emergency departments, highlighting its potential role in broader public health initiatives, including sexual health and HIV screening. Discussions also cover various pain management strategies, such as the use of intranasal vs. intravenous Ketorolac for renal colic. The hosts critique the traditional peer review process in medical research and advocate for open peer review to support equitable and accessible scientific publishing. 00:00 Introduction and Catching Up 02:07 The Goldilocks Moment in Critical Care 05:25 Training and Decision-Making in Emergency Procedures 07:23 Smoking Cessation in Emergency Departments 10:07 Challenges in Implementing Preventive Health Strategies 10:38 Successful Public Health Projects in Emergency Medicine 11:19 Exploring Alternative Interventions in Emergency Departments 11:52 Highlights from the Premier Conference 12:54 Intranasal Ketorolac for Pain Management 15:46 The Future of Peer Review in Medical Research 20:09 Concluding Thoughts and Upcoming Content

In this episode, we speak with Dr. David Noe, the translator, and Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn, the editor behind the newly released English edition of John Arrowsmith's remarkable work, Plans for Holy War: How the Spiritual Soldier Fights, Conquers, and Triumphs. Originally published in 1657 as Tactica Sacra, this treatise considers the intricacies of spiritual warfare, offering timeless insights and practical guidance for Christians engaged in the spiritual battle. John Arrowsmith was a notable seventeenth-century theologian and member of the Westminster Assembly. Born in 1602 in Gateshead, Durham county, Arrowsmith was a dedicated scholar who served as a fellow at St. Catherine's College and later as master of St. John's College, Cambridge. His significant involvement in the Westminster Assembly and his writings have left a lasting impact on Reformed theology. Join us as Drs. Noe and Van Dixhoorn share their journey in bringing this classic work to modern readers, revealing the challenges and triumphs they encountered along the way. With a deep appreciation for Arrowsmith's theological and scholarly contributions, they offer listeners a unique perspective on why Plans for Holy War remains a vital resource today. Dr. David Noe serves as pastor of Reformation Orthodox Presbyterian Church in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He is a distinguished translator and scholar with a deep expertise in classical languages and Reformed theology. Dr. Noe is also the Latin editor for the Confessional Presbyterian Journal, and his online pedagogy for Latin, Greek, and Classics generally can be found at LatinPerDiem.com, MossMethod.com, and AdNavseam.com. Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn (PhD, Cambridge) is Professor of Church History and Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC and an OPC minister. He is the author of Confessing the Faith and God's Ambassadors and editor of The Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly (1643–1652). Chapters 00:07 Introduction 05:36 Biography of John Arrowsmith 11:02 Dr. Noe's Introduction to Arrowsmith 14:47 Arrowsmith's Health 17:41 Arrowsmith's Latin 21:57 Arrowsmith's Involvement at the Westminster Assembly 26:51 The Portions of This Volume 29:25 Speeches against Weigelianism 33:44 Arrowsmith's Work on Spiritual Warfare 40:28 The Pastoral-Scholastic Style 44:03 The Present Value of Reading This Book 55:08 Future Projects 57:38 Conclusion

//The Wire//2130Z August 9, 2024////ROUTINE////BLUF: UKRAINIAN KURSK OFFENSIVE CONTINUES. ARRESTS CONTINUE IN U.K. FOR SPEECH CRIMES. TENSIONS REMAIN HIGH IN MIDDLE EAST.// -----BEGIN TEARLINE------International Events-Eastern Europe: The Ukrainian Kursk offensive continues amid Russian forces pouring into the region. Much confusion abounds as Ukraine seeks to cause as much damage as possible before Russian forces push them back via the inevitable counteroffensive. So far the Russian response has been limited throughout the region, however fierce fighting has been observed as the front becomes more established along the salient.United Kingdom: British authorities have instituted an internet blackout of some police websites. The main Police.uk website now blocks all American IP addresses. AC: This is probably due to Americans (or British citizens using an American VPN) spamming their informant hotlines with fake reports.Throughout England, Muslim Defense League (MDL) attacks continue, along with other factional violence. Yesterday a police officer was stabbed during a traffic stop in Gateshead.  Around the nation arrests continue to draw the ire of the native Anglo population as judges crack down on offensive speech with an exceptionally heavy hand. British authorities continue to double-down on threatening to extradite and prosecute those outside the U.K. for offensive speech online.Middle East: Despite the lack of any substantial public information, preparations continue throughout the region concerning a widening war. As the delay in Iran's response goes on, the theories widen regarding what might actually happen. Some say Iran will essentially do nothing but conduct a minor strike somewhere random, while others are convinced the delay is due to Iran preparing for an even larger counterattack than last time. Though very little information in the public space indicates what Iran will do, clearly governments with access to better intelligence are expending significant resources to prepare for such an attack. Throughout Israel, bomb shelters have been opened, and politicians have moved critical meetings to underground bunkers. The USS WASP ARG has arrived in port Limmasol, Cyprus as even more US Navy assets stage throughout the region.-----END TEARLINE-----Analyst Comments: It's possible that all of this, both Iran's response and the preparation for it, are a “made-for-TV” information operation. This is a complicating factor on it's own, but another variable is worth considering as well. Israel's military goal in conducting these specific airstrikes targeting key leaders was to provoke an Iranian response. The longer Iran waits to retaliate, the higher the chance is of Netanyahu losing patience and launching a pre-emptive strike. Consequently, it's worth considering the possibility that the ball might not solely be in Iran's court. At this point, Israel (and probably the United States) may be committed to a response, even if Iran doesn't do anything substantial in retaliation. This could explain both the rhetoric and rumor that Iran probably won't do anything major, but on the Israeli/American side, preparations continue.Another factor to consider is the impact of internal politics within Iran. This morning Western media sources claimed that while the Ayatollah and various military leadership are very much in favor of directly targeting Israel, the newly elected President is not so, and more concerned with de-escalation. As a reminder, President Pezeshkian is only in office right now because his predecessor was killed in a helicopter crash under very suspicious circumstances a few months ago. Though the position of President in Iranian politics is largely symbolic, it is the tiniest bit suspicious that the one guy who was put into some level of power due to the suspicious death of his predecessor is somehow the same guy who

“I was on a walk in Chopwell Woodland Park which is on the fringe of Gateshead, and I came across this beautiful pylon. I heard it first fizzing with static […]

In 1986 in Gateshead the MetroCentre opened on the site of a former power station. Laurie Taylor talks to Emma Casey, Reader in Sociology at the University of York about a new study which charts the history and the impact of this mall which created space for more than 300 shops. They're joined by Katie Appleford, Senior Lecturer in Consumer Behaviour at University for the Creative Arts, London and researcher into UK mothers' shopping habits post-COVID. Has the promise of shopping, as represented by the Metro Centre, faltered in the wake of the pandemic?Producer: Jayne Egerton

Amsterdam and Leeds are two of the only places in the world to have cut rates of childhood obesity — and they've not done it by focussing just on diet. Sheila Dillon finds out how these two locally-based policies worked, and why the political circumstances around them were just as important as the policies themselves. She speaks to parents, academics, policy experts and public health leaders to find out what we can learn from these two remarkable interventions.In Leeds, the local authority has prioritised health in the early years over the last 20 years, and part of that is working with the charity HENRY (Health, Exercise and Nutrition for the Really Young). HENRY has trained council staff to deliver courses helping parents to teach their kids healthy eating right from the start. In 2019 Leeds made national headlines becoming the first city in the UK to see a small, but significant drop in childhood obesity, and a bigger drop of 10% in the most deprived areas. The data shows that overall between 2009 and 2017 obesity dropped from 9.4% to 8.8% in four-to-five year olds, while levels remained unchanged in similar cities. When it comes to improving children's health, Amsterdam's Healthy Weight Program attracted a lot of interest from around the world, becoming the shining example of what can be done to tackle high levels of obesity though action on a city-level. The Program's main principle was ‘the healthy choice should be the easy choice', aiming to reduce childhood obesity through healthy food and drink, exercise and better quality sleep. From 2012 to 2015 the percentage of children who were overweight or obese went down 12%, from 21% to 18.5%, with the biggest fall amongst the lowest socio-economic groups.In the programme we hear from: Alice Wiseman, Joint Director of Public Health for Gateshead and Newcastle, and Vice President of The Association of Directors of Public Health; Dr Dolly Van Tulleken, policy consultant and visiting researcher at the MCR Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge; Jaap Seidell, Professor of Nutrition and Health at The Free University in Amsterdam; and Kim Roberts, Chief Executive of the HENRY charity.Presented by Sheila Dillon and produced by Sophie Anton for BBC Audio in Bristol

Kevin and Kieran discuss the news that The Dutch football association has deducted 18 points from Vitesse Arnhem, officially confirming the club's relegation, and find out why Gateshead have failed to meet the entry criteria for membership to the EFL. COVERED IN THIS EPISODE: - National League and FA Cup replays - Gateshead and the EFL - Nottingham Forest and VAR - Vitesse Arnhem - Cardiff City and FC Nantes - Torquay - Southend - Rochdale - Spurs planning application - Guinness and Heineken and the Premier League Follow Kevin on X - @kevinhunterday Follow Kieran on X - @KieranMaguire Follow Producer Guy on X - @guykilty Follow The Price of Football on X - @pof_pod Send in a question: questions@priceoffootball.com Support The Price of Football on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/priceoffootball Check out the Price of Football merchandise store: https://the-price-of-football.backstreetmerch.com/ Visit the website: https://priceoffootball.com/ The Price of Football is a Dap Dip production: https://dapdip.co.uk/ contact@dapdip.co.uk Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Northumbria was back at it again.  The Continental Bishop turned Earl was dead.  Most of his men lay slain at Gateshead, or BBQed in that Church.  And any left alive were locked inside Durham Castle. The post 441 – God Bothering first appeared on The British History Podcast.