Tommy Smith sadly died 13/4/19 although he only did a few jobs for our agency when we asked our boss Dave Davies what memories he had of Tommy he said “When I first met Tommy I was  a bit scared of the man I had only seen him on the pitch and I imagined he was going to be a bit of a handful but nothing was further from the truth he was good fun to be with” “I remember I was comparing a Hardmen of Football show with Tommy and Norman Hunter, at the time the then manager of Liverpool was using a rotational system on the pitch and a number of the Liverpool footballers houses had been broken into. So I did the gag “Of course Liverpool are currently using the rotational system at the moment its nothing to do with the football its just to confuse the Burglars” well Tommy put his head round the curtain of the stage and chased me round the stage much to the amusement of the audience”. Type the details of your news item here...

It is with great sadness that we have lost another one of our clients. Gordon started working with TOBN in 1995 our boss David received a phone call one day. “Hello is that David? My names Gordon Banks you might have heard of me I played football in the 1960’s and 1970’s. I wonder if you could get me some work Geoff Hurst says you’re getting him loads and I could do with a bit.” David told Gordon that as a boy in 1975 he queued up outside a sports shop for 2 hours to get his autograph and Gordon had to leave to go to another job so he never got the autograph. 2 days later David received a signed photo saying “sorry it’s a bit late”. That started our relationship with the great man there’s many stories we could tell of his wicked sense of humour. Sadly the last year he has been unable to do any jobs for us due to his illness and it is with great sadness but fond memories we say to Gordon “Rest in Peace”. 

2 great new names for the agency Ledley King former Spurs and England defender, and Teddy Sherringham Manchester Utd, West Ham, Spurs and England.   

What an amazing year Frank Bruno was out most of the year all over the World, there was particular football fever with the World Cup and we were delighted Gareth Southgate could do a few jobs for us. Harry Redknapp who has worked with us for over 20 years winning "I'm  a celebrity" really capped off a wonderful year. There was a tinge of sadness with the passing of Peter Stringfellow, Ray Wilkins, & Ray Wilson all who had great relationships with our company. So looking forward to 2019 with a Rugby World Cup and some new names to the agency. 

Very sad news on the passing of Ray. He did a number of jobs for us over the years always popular with the audiences honest on his views and a great footballer in his time. 

We are always when new names are happy to do some jobs for us.

Rishi Persad is a regular face covering a number of sports for the BBC, Channel 4, ITV he is current!

Shaun Edwards although a prolific player in Rugby League he now is on the coaching staff for the Welsh national team in rugby Union.

Sir AP McCoy working directly with his office Racing most successful jockey just retired

Ian John Lewis Former boxer now current big fight referee

Mike Tindall former rugby player with England and Bath now married into Royalty as son in law of Princess Anne 

New faces that joined us 2015

Micky Quinn former Newcastle, & Portsmouth football player now Talk Sport presenter Saturday and Sundays. With generally the new speakers on to the circuit only wishing to do a question and answer presentation, it is refreshing to have a new name actually that can stand up for 40 mins and give an entertaining after dinner speech. As a horse racing trainer he can also add Horse racing stories to his repertoire!

Peter Marinello was part of the Arsenal double winning side and had a reasonable career with various Scottish club Arsenal and Portsmouth sadly seen the highs and lows of football an interesting story.

Mark Cueto just retired from Professional Rugby with an impressive career with England the Lions and Sale. A Former World Cup Winner played in the 2007 World Cup final and had a try disallowed which could have won the World Cup for England

Ryan Jones former Welsh international and club player, Welsh captain with 73 caps to his name mian club career was with Ospreys .

Neil Warnock. Although former player with Chesterfield, Rotherham, Barnsley among others Neil is best known as a straight talking manager he has been with numerous clubs but probably best known for his connections with Leeds, Sheffield Utd, QPR and recently Crystal Palace in the Premiership 2014-2015 season, now a pundit on BT sport and Talk sport.

Nigel Martyn, Leeds, Crystal Palace, Everton, Leeds and England Goal keeper ideal for a Q&A  session  

After the well published resignation from Queens Park Rangers. Harry is now available for certain commercial opportunities. He said “I do not want to be charging all over the UK but will consider certain opportunities” With Harry being one of the characters of the game there he is not afraid to tell the truth behind a lot of stories reported in the media. We have always found that Harry commands big audiences as even if you are not a supporter of Harry’s teams his appeal works across all age groups and social classes. Harry is now a pundit for BT Sport

So often client come back to us and say XXXX was brilliant last year we need to follow that who can you suggest? Frank Bruno is a difficult act to follow and in the boxing world there are not that many names that non boxing fans will recognize and in turn sell tickets. When Frank was ill a few years ago Barry stepped in and we were delighted to offer Barry to a northern promoter. Client who was over the moon now has come back and said “okay you have built the bar so high for the last 2 years with your speakers who are you going to suggest for next years event?” that question luckily we have almost 100 answers to give!!

Our client Kenneth Wolstenholme passed on in 2002  however we still represent his family concerning the licensing of his voice especially those famous words from the 1966 World cup final “there are people on the pitch—they think its all over----- (as Geoff Hurst scored his hatrick)  it is now” this is one of the most famous phrases from the 1960’s  and people want it for TV, adverts,  films, we were delighted recently to be contacted by the producers of ITV’s Endeavour  this is the story of the young Inspector Morse. So lookout and listen during the second series on soon starring Shaun Evans and Roger Allam from the books originally written by Colin Dexter

We suppose everyone has a niche in the celebrity market but we certainly seem to have cornered the opening of businesses. A celeb will draw attention to the premises and the media love a picture story of a celeb coming to town. Recent ones have included Dean Aston, Bobby George playing darts with members of the public, Gary McAllister, Peter Shilton, Malcolm Macdonald, Sir Geoff Hurst, & Frank Bruno

Kevin Keegan is someone we have been wanted to give work to for a while and joining us on a World Cup year is great timing. As we often say legend is a commonly used word but in football player terms Kevin certainly can claim a crown for that accolade. When you look at his achievements during especially a period for Liverpool and not forgetting Newcastle oh and England. His managerial record is not bad either a full biog is on this site. We were delighted that his first job for us in Wales received wonderful plaudits and we quote “It was very good, and Kevin was excellent. Our team thoroughly enjoyed his speech, but what really stood out was how personable he is, considering his status in football. A genuinely nice guy and a professional in all respects. He spent the time talking to our team, posing for photo’s, signing footballs and mixing and mingling with our guests.” It is ironic his first cap for England was against Wales and his second cap and his first England goal. On his second job for us our boss went along to listen to Kevin’s speech. On all presentations Kevin requires screen so to add to his speech many images both still and clips of film which really enhances the presentation. Kevin can tailor the speech from football, entertainment (for those who are not all football lovers) motivational. Our boss was impressed and the client was over the top with complements so we feel Kevin will be a real asset to us and hopefully you!!

World Cups for hire or sale

Our World Cups are seen in more places across the World than anywhere else. We have replica’s of the Jules Rimet trophy won by England in 1966 plus the modern World cup currently used. These are available to either hire or buy. These have been used on BBC and ITV and featured in the Carlsberg TV adverts.

Kenny Dalglish joins TOBN 

When the term legend is constantly banded about we ask ourselves what accolade can be used that indicates bigger than just a legend. We have it ------Sporting Royalty! In fact Kenny is known in Liverpool as "King Kenny". His bio seems drawn out infact we have edited down to bare achievements! 

Kenneth Mathieson Dalglish MBE (born 4 March 1951) is a Scottish former player and manager. He played for Celtic and Liverpool, winning many honours with both. He is Scotland's most capped player of all time with 102 appearances, also Scotland's joint-leading goal scorer, with 30 goals. Dalglish won in 1983 both the ballon d'or Silver award &  the PFA Player of the year and the FWA Footballer of the year in 1979 and 1983. In 2009 Four Four Two the football magazine named Dalglish as the greatest goal scorer in post-war British football, and in 2006 he topped a Liverpool fans' poll of "100 Players” He has been inducted into both the English and Scottish Halls of football fame.

His years at Liverpool were among the club's most successful periods, as a player he won six Football League 1st Divisions, two FA Cups, four League Cups, seven FA Charity shields, (now called Community Shields) three European Cups(now Champions League) and one  UEFA Super Cup. Dalglish became Player manager of Liverpool in 1985 after the resignation of Joe Fagan  winning a further three First Divisions, two FA Cups and four FA Charity Shields, before resigning from Liverpool in 1991.

Eight months later Dalglish made a return to football management with Blackburn Rovers, whom he took from the Second division in 1995 to win the Premier League. He stepped down as Blackburn manager to become Director of Football at the club, before leaving altogether in 1996. Newcastle Utd came calling and in January 1997 Dalglish took over as manager. Newcastle finished runners-up in both the Premier League and FA Cup during his first season. Dalglish went on to be appointed Football director at Celtic in 1999, and later manager, where he won the Scottish League cup departing the following year.

Between 2000 and 2010 Dalglish became the Scottish Ambassador for MacDonald’s and founded The Marina Dalglish Appeal with his wife to raise money for cancer care. In January 2011 Dalglish was appointed Liverpool's caretaker Manager  after the dismissal of Roy Hodgson, May 2011 this became permanent. Under his guidance winning the League cup getting in the Europa League and reaching the final of the FA Cup, Dalglish left Liverpool in May 2012. In October 2013, Dalglish returned to Anfield as a non-executive director.

He was awarded an MBE in the 2009 New Years Honours List for services to charity.

Malcolm Macdonald (Supermac) for a number of years has been tied up with his radio show in the North East for a number of years working with Bernie Slaven, & Eric Gates. Eric was replaced by Micky Horswill and listening figures went up to 75,000 listeners. The legends giving a bit of banter and opinions about their former clubs Sunderland, Middlesborough and Newcastle although Malcolm can talk also about Arsenal, Fulham and of course England. However with politics and radio takeovers and the need to appeal to a younger age group Malcolm has now said he will consider dinners across the UK and what a story he has to tell please consider him for your next event.

Sir Geoff Hurst, Gary McAllister MBE, Malcolm Macdonald, Peter Shilton OBE, Derek Thompson, Dean Windass, Norman Hunter among others all have been busy for us opening shops throughout Great Britain in the last few months it’s the perfect way to let the local public know you have launched a business and the papers will come and photograph and in some cases the local radio and TV will turn up who needs paid advertising which is so hit and miss when all that publicity is available?

Big Ron in Celebrity Big Brother 2013.

(As a post script Ron became the second house mate to be voted out. He had mixed feelings about being in the house it has given him a new audience and as he says at least under 20's and non football supporters know who he is now. The winner of the series was Charlotte Chrosby)

It had to happen at some point we have negotiated a number of times for Ron to do a reality show. It has finally happened we have an irreverent look at the people Ron will be in the house with and now how he will get on with them. Starting with  CHARLOTTE CROSBY who is famous for MTV reality show Geordie Shore.  Her romance with Gaz kept viewers hooked until things turned nasty in April this year when a spot of jealousy  saw Charlotte getting  violent and breaking a bed with her bare hands. Apparently the Scenes were so shocking that TV bosses refused to show them on air and she was sacked.

COURTNEY STODDEN  an American television personality and model but she’s even more well known for marrying 51-year-old Green Mile actor Doug Hutchison at the tender age of 16. They wed in 2011 in Las Vegas after meeting online.

Louie Spence is the artistic director of Pineapple Dance Studios and became a household name when the dance school bought out its own TV show. He’s  a well known choreographer, and has worked with  Take That and the Spice Girls (he went with the girls on tour) and was  a judge on Dancing On Ice.

MARIO FALCONE He’s The Only Way Is Essex  Love rat having cheated on  TOWIE star Lucy Mecklenburgh. He ventures out of Essex to Savile Row where he is a bespoke tailor. At least Ron will have something to talk about with Mario as Ron likes a nice suit.

VICKY ENTWISTLE and BRUCE JONES best known for roles on Corrie.

CAROL McGIFFIN she and Ron may clash as she is the outspoken one on TV’s Loose Women. Formally married to Chris Evans she’s now engaged to the 22 years younger Mark Cassidy.

ABZ LOVE who was a member of 90s boyband 5ive. Abz and  the band had sales of 20 million records around the world before they split  up in 2001. Ron with his crooning especially the old Rat pack standards will be able to possibly do a duet with ABZ when house guests are all bored!  

SOPHIE ANDERTON a model who has done a bit of TV I wonder what she and Ron will talk about? But then the same applies to :-

DANIELLE MARR  Celebrity Botox doctor and clinical director of a face Clinic, Sophie’s fame started being the face on Irish reality show Dublin Wives. She’s now filming Dr Danielle’s Diaries. Perhaps she can help Ron with facial issues, grooming etc etc

DUSTIN DIAMOND Ron will need to be briefed on this Gentleman  as he played Screech in 90s teen sitcom Saved By The Bell. He then bought out his own sex tape called Screeched  Saved By The Smell!

LAUREN HARRIES born James Charles Harries, Lauren began her TV career at the tender age of 10 as the Terry Wogan show resident antiques expert. She then had a her full sex change operation in 2001, she’s we are told a Buddhist and can read people’s’ auras allegedly!

Ron Atkinson has been with this agency since 1997 we have worked with him through highs and lows and he has always said the Reality shows will just want to try and upset him however he has said Reality shows are tactical just like the game of football you just need to ensure you are on the winning side. After the House experience Ron will be available to talk about his experiences behind the scenes on Big Brother as well as his entertaining normal speech that has made him a good all-round after dinner speaker for years.

When our boss started the sporting part of our company the only client was Bobby Moore and then Geoff Hurst and the football agency grew from there. When Frank Bruno joined us in 2003 it opened up the boxing side of our business other sports we have done small amounts of business with generally a sportsperson or their PA phones us and asks us to get them work and it goes from there. We are delighted that for the new season we are adding a number of Rugby names to our stable prices start at £950 and we look forward to supplying many of these names across the World!

After 30 years in this business Logistical challenges we feel we can handle and welcome them as a change from the Norm however our stress levels were certainly tested when a client from Azerbaijan was let down by one of our competitors and needed a rugby speaker. It is not a case of just getting on a plane in UK and flying there you have to stop and get a working permit in Georgia stay there for a day or so deal with some interesting people then fly to Azerbaijan. We detailed the Itinerary so there would be no hiccups but did not foresee some of the characters who would appear out of nowhere asking for money! However our client Steve Fenwick being a Welshman who never was scared of a challenge when he played dealt with everything in a real professional manner arrived just on time for the clients Rugby dinner and even continued entertaining the guests until the early hours of the following day. It was the one time we were glad our out of hour’s service really came into fruition. Steve was the real star not only for his patience but dealing with tricky situations and most of all ensuring the client was more than happy with his performance.

The British Lions tour for Australia 2013 not only reawakened the call for former British Lions back home for events all across the UK but we were delighted that Graham Rowntree, Shane Williams, Scot Quinnell all had a role in the tour which not only is a mark on their CV but helps us sell them for events in the next few Months.

Shane Williams who recently retired from UK rugby has been doing some speaking engagements then decided he would play rugby in Japan in soaring temperatures for the next few months. He was delighted to receive a call from Warren Gatland the Lions manager asking him to play a game against the Brumbies at the age of 36 years old now a Lions record. He almost scored in the first 2 minutes! 

Scott Quinnell has been busy in Australia on events and giving his opinion on the coverage of each game for Sky TV. Graham Rowntree was selected as one of the coaches for the tour looking after the forwards. All when they return will have stories to tell and certainly will make compelling listening for lunches and dinners for the 2013-2014 season of events

We reported earlier in the year Tommo was waiting in anticapation to what 2013 would bring and "falling on his feet" is a good phrase after bad health in 2012 and being replaced on Channel 4 Derek is now racing consultant to SHEIKH Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, he stepped up his Tommo on TV from Racetracks all over the UK and lucklily for us still speaks at events and opens shops as much as the Racing diary allows

For the "Gloves off" boxing Sky Programme it was decided to bring together 3 characters of the British Heavyweight boxing legacy. Johnny Nelson's job was to try and keep order. Frank commented it was interesting a little bit of banter which hopefully Sky does not edit out. We have not been give the transmission date yet but look out for it! Johnny Nelson has asked us to facilitate some work for him so a good package would be Frank and Johnny together?

We have been working with the Sky 1 programme “League of their Own” for a number of years in fact since the series started and put loads of Celebrities on the show and each series we always get the question about Harry appearing with Jamie

While Harry was “out of work” we were able to get the deal agreed and you can see the results on your I player or the net. Harry was delighted that Chas from Chas and Dave also made an appearance and sung a song for Harry. This was first shown in November.

Reality TV programmes are like marmite you love them or hate them however “I’m a celebrity shown on ITV at the end of each year certainly attracts millions of viewers who would not bother with similar programmes. One of the stars from the recent series has worked for us for a number of years but the programme certainly helped Eric a gain number of new fans. He is available with a dartboard with an MC or if you want him to speak for lunch or dinner to speak and tell a little about the antics and behind the scenes of “I’m a celebrity”

2012 for Frank was a year he was glad to see disappear. He was out of action for almost 6 months but we were delighted a number of bookers transferred their dates and he started back doing appearances in September. With lots of media interest, a TV advert a number of papers running front page exclusives it would be fair to say Frank is “back with a vengeance”. With his recent Mental Health issues Frank can provide a serious presentation covering Mental Health issues and his personal battle which not only is motivational but thought provoking. His humorous normal speech is still being requested or a combination of the 2 so light and shade.

Now Harry is settled in at Queens Park Rangers (however under pressure) He will consider a few short notice invitations however these will need to be in and around the M25 region and the South of England. Harry has his own charities that he supports for nothing and we cannot deal with any non paying requests sorry.

Bob Champion had Grand National success with Aldaniti a film starring john Hurst was made about him, and now honoured for his charity work.

Champion fought cancer to win the world's most famous steeplechase at Aintree on his injury-plagued horse in 1981, and has been a non stop fundraiser ever since.

He has won the Helen Rollason Award for outstanding achievement in the face of adversity at the 2011 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards presented 22 /12/11.

"It's absolutely amazing, a great honour. I was shocked when I heard about it," the 63-year-old very laid back  former Jockey said.

It goes without saying we are delighted to be an agent for Bob and we toast the acknowledgement the BBC has made to this great man. Also at the awards supporting Bob,  Derek Thomson & Frank Bruno

One of the many bookers who have booked Frank, usually 9 time out of 10 comes back to discuss how they can use Frank again for the following year. One such company, wanted some unusual auction prizes to include an experience with Frank. Together we put together a concept of where the first which is happening in May a small group of people will be able to have some time with Frank in the Gym and then use the facilities at a health club in the Midlands. If this is something that you would like to consider, why not give us a call, we can pass the clients details on to you or maybe if you are a charity or a fund raiser and feel that this is something that you could sell to your audiences for you next fund raising occasion, then drop us a line.

Over the last few years quite a number of people have put together the concept of having Frank in conversation with some of his opponents. This has included Mike Tyson, & Joe Bugner. However, in Autumn 2011 it was the first time that Frank and Tim Witherspoon had been together for an speaking dinner event. Tim spends quite an amount of time, now in the UK and is looking to do some events. Although he had beaten Frank in the boxing ring he told a story for which Frank received a standing ovation, where although he had beaten Frank, Frank phoned him the next day after their fight and congratulated him on his win. Something that Tim Witherspoon said no other boxer had done at any point of his career. For a different event with 2 Heavy weight champions give us a call.

We have all seen BBC Question of Sport on the television, but for the road shows this year to join Robbie Savage, Sue Baker, Phil Tuffnell etc etc, quite a number of other names were needed around the county and we were delighted to supply various members of our clients. Two highlights being Archie Gemmill who covered the Scotland events and Gary Pallister, who covered Manchester and the Newcastle Area. This was a chance for audiences up and down the country to go and see a live show.

When looking at sporting celebrities very much at the moment, cost is the deciding factor and quite often people forget that dart players all of which have been headline sportsman, with much National TV and media coverage over the years and provide very good value for money.  A particular client wanted a darts player to play darts against their customers, so we supplied a  compare and darts legend John Lowe. John was able to meet and greet the customers, was photographed with them and of course score as many “altogether now” 180’s as possible at the event. With darts once again becoming more and more popular, just look at the viewing figures on TV to discover how much this is attracting new audiences watched by millions every week on TV and thousands in audiences at events every week, this is certainly something worth considering for your venue.

When a Scottish promoter contacted us for Frank to do some DJaying at their venue, Frank was delighted to take on the role. Frank loves music, although as he quite openly says quite a lot of the time he cannot always remember the verses to a number of the songs he loves, he can sing many a chorus! The night  in Glasgow had a sellout audience. This was very much different from a normal After Dinner, as in between the songs and music he gave his own style of humour, stories, comic lines to the audience, as well as attending a VIP reception.  

One of the advantages if you have a good crowd that perhaps like to carry on the event after the event! Frank is ideal for this and will regale many stories unto early hours of the morning if there is some liquid refreshment available. 

As a legend of West Ham, Celtic and Scotland and again one of the real characters of football, he has some wonderful entertaining stories, which certainly equal those of George Best and many other playboys of football. In his day he was a great player doubling up with Tony Cottee what they did on the football pitch they now can do for events--- playing off each other!

One of the Icons of 1970’s football and certainly a controversial media pundit, Rodney Marsh flew in for a few weeks at the back end of September to fill a number of dates for us at various different functions up and down the country. Where there was some gaps in his dates, we were delighted to offer some real last minute bargains.A couple of sporting dinner organisers couldn’t believe it where they had been previously quoted by other agents 3 to 4 thousand pounds more that we actually quoted for Rodney to come down and do their event, and were delighted to have Rodney who’s name still sells tickets. He will be back in 2013 please register your interest with us asap.

To save embarrassment for some of the organizers concerned, we will stay away from some of the particular details of the cricket club in question. However its a fact a lot of cricket and rugby clubs try to use their own network of connections and "we may know somebody that knows somebody". Quite often and more and more we are finding that people are being let down last minute and so we were delighted to supply Graham Fowler for one such cricket club, who amused and entertained the audience for their Black Club Dinner. Graham is a great servant of cricket, perhaps not so well known on the speaking circuit and great value for money for your after dinner event.

Bryan has done various jobs for us over the years, sadly we were only able to give him work when his football commitments allowed. He has now been given the all clear concerning the cancer scare and we are trying to book available dates working around his ambassadorial role with Manchester United. We were delighted that he was able to attend some functions for us in the Caribbean, where the client was delighted with not only a dinner event but also a golf day, both of which were highly praised and enjoyed both by Bryan and the audience. 

So although we are based in the UK, where ever you are in the world we will be pleased to furnish you with some of our legends.

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We mentioned earlier in the year where we organized Jimmy Greaves to attend a birthday event. We were delighted this year for a certain gentlemen’s 50^th birthday to organize his boyhood hero Trevor Frances to join him at a private dinner in Birmingham. The birthday boy, who I understand to be very chatty was actually dumb struck and wrote to us later, saying he acted just like a little boy drooling over his hero. Trevor managed to fine a replica of one of the shirts that he wore in his playing days which he presented to the birthday boy.

If you have a member of your family or a friend where you are struggling thinking about a present, why not a number of you get together all put in some money and then get the birthday person’s idol to come and visit and make the particular persons lunch/birthday celebration an event to be remembered for the rest of their lives. 

December 2011 Now with the super league hitting our TV screens Rugby League is growing a bigger and bigger audience across the UK not just up north! We were delighted recently to supply Danny McGuire, Lee Smith, Jamie Peacock and Rob Burrow for a recent opening of some shops in the North of the Country. These guys are super heroes to Rugby League fans remarkably and great value for money, considering their status in English Rugby League.

We are always pleased to welcome additions to work with our agency and two to note – John Hartson, former Arsenal, Celtic, Wales and West Ham player, he recently had a serious bout of cancer and has an amazing inspirational story. He talks about not only his cancer and how he has managed to contain the dreaded decease, but also some of his entertaining stories from his days playing football. He is now seen regularly on BBC and sky as a pundit and in Wales with lots of media.

Nicky Summerbee – very rare that we get a modern day player who is willing to talk about their experiences. Nicky Summerbee the son of the Manchester City and England Mike Summerbee has been on the speaking circuit now for a number of months and has asked us now to obtain some work for him. He is very sensibly priced and will certainly add some fresh stories talking about some of the players who are currently playing football to-day and his experiences with them.

When St Ives Football Club needed a legend of sport to open their new pavilion in St Ives. It had been named after a service man who sadly had prematurely passed on, Sir Geoff was the perfect person to use for the very moving ceremony. He talk at the opening of the ceremony at the unveiling, with some poignant and thought provoking words, which left the many hundreds that turned out to see the event touched and with total reverence the fallen solder who was duly honoured. Sir Geoff later went on to Falmouth, to provide an entertaining after dinner speech. For those people who have seen his after dinner speech before, he has added new sections into his speech, just to give it a bit of freshness. It is worth considering Sir Geoff for your next event. Even if you have had him previously.

When ITV 1 need sports people for Ant and Decs "Push the Button", TOBN came to the rescue. The game on the show was to beat the goal keeper and we supplied Neville Southall the following week referee Dermott O'Gallagher, refereed a penalty competition which was held on the pitch half time at the Birmingham v Arsenal League Cup Final at Wembley Stadium.

When the British Freight Association wanted somebody to keep in order their conference, Graham Poll was the ideal person to host this and we were delighted to supply him for the day. He added his own brand of humour to the proceedings. The report from the client was that they were absolutely delighted with what he did and this shows now that Graham now is a very entertaining after dinner speaker and perfect host for an event as well.

When the Channel Islands sports personality of the year comes round, despite the fact that a number of agencies are asked to pitch in their ideas and quotations, each year we manage to fight off the opposition and this year we had a boxer to help us. Joe pulled no punches as he talked honestly about his determination to succeed and presented awards to the many successful sports people on the Channel Islands. Our Company was also asked to organize special contributions from both Tim Henman and Andy Murray. It was a bonus for all the guests as Joe took as his guest Brian Fortuna, the Strictly Come Dancing professional dancer. The women were particularly delighted that Brian chose to join Joe for this event.

With Frank we quite frequently get some unusual requests. It was quite interesting when a Rock Band called Chicken Hawk, wanted to meet their all time sporting hero and invite him to try and sing one of their Rock Songs. Did we say sing? Think we meant scream their rock songs.

The results for this were quite interesting to say the least, why not have a look at the video on the net.

We were delighted to organize Frank Bruno to fly to Gibraltar for the opening of 'Bruno's' a bar named after

Our World Champion boxer. This was due to be opened earlier last year, but with the Ash cloud and Frank being fairly busy, we managed to get the date together to finally get out there to officially open the bar.

Although we had to keep it a secret for quite a while, we were delighted to supply Peter for the BBC TV show Strictly Come Dancing. Peter Shilton survived 3 weeks of eliminations on the show. It opened up a whole new aspect of the agency where we were dealing with Spray Tans, Styling and the ways of dancers!

With viewing figures of just of 10 million viewers per show, it has been a record series and it is just a shame that Peter couldn’t last longer. However, the viewing public preferred Ann Widdecombe’s flight through the air and Gavin Hastings Pecks, although we received wonderful coverage for Peter and he is now available with his dancing partner Erin to appear at any dance workshops or events that require not only a sports talk but also a demonstration and workshop on dancing. Erin Boag Peter’s dancing partner has been in all 8 series of Strictly Come Dancing and her professional dancing partner is Anton Du Beke whose celebrity partner is Ann Widdecombe.

Through Strictly Come Dancing we were able to generate lots of media interest and TV’s that went all over the world.

As we look at the end of another year, although a lots of celebrities have been moaning about the down turn with appearance requests, we can honest say that it has been a wonderful year for Frank Bruno, not only with appearances relating to boxing but also mental health conferences, motivational mental health events, voiceovers for various advertising campaigns, meet and greet and mix and mingles. With the recent David Hayes and Audley Harrison fight, people now tell us how that showed good a World Champion Frank actually was. He is still a character that even though he has hung up his gloves is still very much in demand. Already next year is looking healthy with bookings.

Following hosting of their respective lounges at Fulham and Tottenham, George and Martin have added West Ham to their Match day diaries. The Hammers have introduced a 1966 lounge to their portfolio of match day venues and both George and Martin are alternatively (subject to their Fulham and Tottenham commitments) hosting this lounge to meet and greet customers and talk about the West Ham home fixture of the day the opponent and all and everything English football and 1966. As it has not been a particularly good season for West Ham’s loyal fans thus far this sometime helps lighten the customer’s spirits and makes the match day experience all the more enjoyable.

We have been delighted to be working with Chris from his early days at Sky, he is now a regular TV fixture with his own TV show on Sky and is proving to be a very entertaining after dinner speaker and we are delighted to be supplying him for a number of events.
If you have the facilities of an overhead projector, Chris usages as part of his speech some funny humorous examples from Sky television. It is certainly worth the expense of hiring this extra equipment, as it is a wonderful complement to his already entertaining speech.

We are always getting telephone calls where the man in the street wants to meet their hero’s without having to book for a dinner or an event. A number of our clients including members of the 1966 team, Archie Gemmill, members of the 1971 Arsenal Team. The 1971 Chelsea Cup Winners Cup Team, Jimmy White, Steven Hendrey etc. etc. appear at memorabilia shows where people have the opportunity to meet their heroes and get their autographs and photographs with the celebrity. It is worth keeping an eye out for these events and an ideal opportunity to get autographs. If you cannot make one of these events and are looking for autographs why not visit www.soccerbid.co.uk.

One of our clients in their revamps or opening of new betting shops, have generally booked off us a variety of people Sir Geoff Hurst, Derek Thompson, John Francome, Harry Redknapp, Peter Shilton etc. etc.
However, they have decided to change things around a little bit recently in the Anfield branch, when they wanted someone with a Liverpool connection that wasn’t either Liverpool or Everton only associated. Stan Boardman was the ideal person for this and the punters loved the funnies to cheer them up if their bet did not win. Another one of their branches they were very much darts enthusiasts and so we organized Dennis Priestley, with his Dart Board and Road show and so take on some of the punters as they went to place their morning Saturday bet. To cap it all for the launch of Strictly Come dancing we organized Peter Shilton with his dancing partner Erin Boag to glide their way into a Canary wharf shop-betting shop. Just to show how strong and dominant the female professional dancers have to be, Erin picked up Willie Carson the former jockey for a photo shoot!

We were contacted by a firm of lawyers asking to book Harry Redknapp for one of their associates and a client social event. We were a little concerned it was a wind up, but Harry delighted the audience, some of which freely admitted they did not follow football.
The booker who has had a number of speakers over the last ten years said it was the best and most entertaining speaker they had ever had.
Unfortunately Harry cannot do as many events as he would like to do at the moment, due to the pressures trying to keep Tottenham near the top of the Premier league and also now moving onto the knockout stages of the Champions League.

With the whole of the country under snow, lots of the media struggled to get celebrities out to comment on the World Cup 2018 bid. However, once again TOBN came to the rescue supplying Martin Peters for the Sky’s sport live coverage. BBC News, Radio 5 we even had him on standby for the One Show.
For a quick fast turn around there is no other choice for the media than to come to our company, we don’t sit on the fence we get on with the job and organize your celebrity for you whatever the weather!

TOBN once again are in a league of their own, see our clients on the Sky 1 weekly programme. When the researchers for “a league of their own” were looking for people to join John Bishop, Andrew Flintoff and Jamie Redknapp for the guest celebrities there was only one place to look and we were delighted to supply Dennis Taylor, Frank Bruno, Peter Shilton, Harry Redknapp and John Virgo, all of which you will see on the shows in the next few weeks. Look out for the Christmas special!

Maybe not on the pitch but for our company its been an amazing 3 months even when the disputed goal did not go in against Germany we were “doing a deal” with The Sun newspaper on an exclusive. Our company and clients have been involved in campaigns for Mars, Kit Kat, Marks and Spencer, Carlsberg, the Royal Mint, Blue Square.com, MacDonald’s, Coca Cola, Nationwide, Bostik, EA Sports, Indesit, Last minute.com, Typhoo, Corals, Microsoft, Bookers, etc etc our media department was starting at 7am and finishing at midnight some days a Big thank you to all our clients.

This was a call we were receiving most days of June for work both in the UK and South Africa we were delighted to have helped nearly all the requests we got and we almost wanted to say to each panicking and stressed booker “why did you not come to us first”? The only good thing is that our phone number is now on their I phone and blackberries for next time!

When ITV wanted a selection of names for the 10 million viewing World cup live show there was only one place to go to and we were delighted to supply Jimmy Greaves, Gordon Banks, Peter Shilton, Terry Butcher, Sir Geoff Hurst, etc etc

When the England team performed as they did the media centre at TOBN went into overdrive with all our clients both in the UK and South Africa we now have some great relationships with the media which will be good for them, our celebrity clients, and our business clients in years to come. 

When the directory service 192.com wanted a celebrity face to head up their campaign using the theme of the World cup and how about making connections with people who went to the game in 1966. George Cohen was the ideal candidate to front this campaign for them. This included quite a number of media interviews followed by radio interviews. So much so that 192.com were so delighted with the initial response using George for their campaign they extended the contract. George one of the lesser known members of the 66 team is a great communicator and the media love him. He is ideal for fronting a campaign such as this. 

Quite a number of promoters and organizers this year used many of our former stars on the road in lunch time and dinner functions. These included Sir Geoff Hurst, Martin Peters, George Cohen, Peter Shilton, Frank Bruno, Harry Redknapp in fact most of our list worked around the country for numerous events. Most events based around the World cup or just an excuse to have an event. The famous London St Georges day lunch this year was attended by Frank Bruno, Phil Taylor and Steve Davies. This is becoming a bigger event every year with our company who is delighted to offer the best of English entertainment for this wonderful event. It seems more and more people are jumping on the St Georges day band wagon so maybe start looking for who to consider for next year? 

When forward planning an event having to work round the football time table its always a nightmare and a Chinese restaurant in Rochester, Kent caught a cold when 98% of their clients decided that as good as an entertainer as Tony is going to see Dagenham and Redbridge in one of their promotion fighting games was just too much of a conflict of interests. There was discussion whether we were going to move the night or not due to Tony’s heavy diary commitments no dates could be found so Tony went along and did the job for 8 people. Those who know Tony will know Sky pundit former footballer is entertaining whether 8 or 800 people and he said it was an unusual experience with only 8 people sitting around the table. 

As a company we get hundreds of charity requests, but we were particularly appealed by the Brainwave charity that works with children that have brain damage. Peter and Sir Geoff were happy to get associated with this charity event at Stamford Bridge and as an additional fundraiser Peter went in goal and a number of guests paid great money to the charity for an opportunity to take a penalty against England’s most capped player. 

When the Evening Standard and Wells and Young’s brewers needed to put together the perfect night in a pub tobn.co.uk had the answers for them supplying a range of celebrities for competition winners across June and July. We are delighted to have supplied Alex Stewart, Martin Peters, and Sir Geoff Hurst for some evenings where competition winners from the Evening Standard were able to sample some real ales and be entertained by the celebrities in a controlled nice not to full environment. A night at the pub is becoming more entertaining! 

When we were approached by Titan bet to organize a football celebrity for a penalty shootout between two buildings in Paddington, we did think it was a bit of a joke; however Graham Le Saux and Peter Shilton both wearing harnesses did a penalty shootout to launch the Titan bet world cup big prize gambling campaign. Peter said it was a little scary and the former players had to have a harness on so they didn’t fall off the top of the building. Pete said “I am a little scared of heights and was certainly one of the most unusual jobs I have done in my life” however the image created media awareness across the world and did exactly what the client wanted it to do. Peter even had a go at taking some penalties himself.

When DANONE wanted to put together an exciting day for their staff they decided on a football championship and the ideal person to help and advise teams was England’s most capped player Peter Shilton who later went in goal and penalty shootout was organized with the winners of the teams. At 50 something years old Peter is still very agile and dives around as if he is a young goal keeper and you can see in his time how he was the world’s best goal keeper. 

When Amscan one of the leading party products suppliers needed to launch their World Cup product range we were approached and supplied Gordon Banks who did a PR day with their staff and had photographs with a lot of the products. Next time you see one of those flags on the back of a car or some of the world cup banners seen at pubs and clubs up and down the country this was all instigated through a tobn marketed event! Gordon Banks was able to demonstrate more than just an awareness for the campaign but also how much customers can SAVE (excuse the pun) with this leading party supplier.

The catchphrase obviously borrowed from the Carlsberg advert and we were delighted to be able to assist not only in some special celebration glasses for the World cup which say “They think its all over it is now” but also quite a lot of work was done on our behalf concerning celebrities for the Carlsberg advert which in the end featured Phil the Taylor Power, Sir Steven Redgrave, Sir Ian Botham, Dame Kelly Holmes, Nigel Benn etc. 

Sadly the Irish couldn’t make it to South Africa this year; however when the World Cup visited Northern Ireland for the first time ever an Irish legend was needed and we supplied Pat Jennings who worked on behalf Coca Cola when they bought the World cup over. 

As part of Fifa’s ruling only people who have won a World Cup are allowed to touch the World Cup, so we were delighted to supply George Cohen and Martin Peters for various events on behalf of Coca Cola when the World cup visited England.

As we look at the end of another year, although a lots of celebrities have been moaning about the down turn with appearance requests, we can honest say that it has been a wonderful year for Frank Bruno, not only with appearances relating to boxing but also mental health conferences, motivational mental health events, voiceovers for various advertising campaigns, meet and greet and mix and mingles. With the recent David Hayes and Audley Harrison fight, people now tell us how that showed good a World Champion Frank actually was. He is still a character that even though he has hung up his gloves is still very much in demand. Already next year is looking healthy with bookings.

Although we had to keep it a secret for quite a while, we were delighted to supply Peter for the BBC TV show Strictly Come Dancing. Peter Shilton survived 3 weeks of eliminations on the show. It opened up a whole new aspect of the agency where we were dealing with Spray Tans, Styling and the ways of dancers!

With viewing figures of just of 10 million viewers per show, it has been a record series and it is just a shame that Peter couldn’t last longer. However, the viewing public preferred Ann Widdecombe’s flight through the air and Gavin Hastings Pecks, although we received wonderful coverage for Peter and he is now available with his dancing partner Erin to appear at any dance workshops or events that require not only a sports talk but also a demonstration and workshop on dancing. Erin Boag Peter’s dancing partner has been in all 8 series of Strictly Come Dancing and her professional dancing partner is Anton Du Beke whose celebrity partner is Ann Widdecombe.

Through Strictly Come Dancing we were able to generate lots of media interest and TV’s that went all over the world.