The Wonderful World of Adam Catterall

BLOG – Frequently Intense – 18/1/12

I have several friends in their late 20’s who after embarking on ‘the safer’ option when it came to their career have now decided that they want to follow their original dream. If you’re not happy with your work it is inevitable that at some point you will think ‘I wish I’d have done something different with my life’. It is no surprise to me that so many of my former school mates or work colleagues are deciding to take control almost 10 years after beginning their working lives. Imagine if they would have had the courage to do so …

Sherlock: How did he fake his own death? – 16/1/12

Greatcoat flapping in the breeze, feet placed squarely on the very edge of the rooftop, it certainly looked as though Sherlock had been outsmarted by Moriarty as last night’s final Sherlock instalment came to a close. Phone discarded, the consulting detective stepped off the building and began his plummet to earth – arms outstretched, legs cycling furiously as the pavement came up to meet him. Moments later, we saw him lying in a pretty terminal-looking pool of blood. So the only place you’d have expected to see Sherlock again, was in a graveyard. That is unmoving, below the earth – …

BLOG – First, they ignore you … – 16/1/12

Gandhi is credited with a quote that embodies a struggle against the odds. “First they ignore you. Then they ridicule you. Then they fight you. Then you win.” When you set out to do something new, something you are fully committing to, at first no one is going to pay attention. If you stick with it long enough, hopefully some people will start to take notice and some of those people will begin to ridicule you. Sad but very true. This is probably where most start to feel like giving up, but it is absolutely the most important time to …

NEWS – Acting? Me? – 14/12/11

If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen a rather peculiar tweet from my account on Sunday the 11th of December accompanied by an even stranger picture, covered in fake tan, hair slicked back dressed in an apron. I’m not into some weird fetish or anything, I was trying my hand at acting. Before you think I’m changing direction in career I best give you the back story of how all this came about. A friend of mine, a talented ACTUAL actress, has written a pilot for a sit-com she is after getting commissioned. It’s set in a …

NEWS – More dates on Radio 1 – 25/11/11

Thank you for all your recent questions regarding the next time I’ll be on the radio. Well, this week I’ve had the dates for the ‘next time’ confirmed. Once you’ve eaten all your turkey and slept off that almighty NYE hangover, why not turn your radio nob in the direction of BBC Radio 1. I will be covering the early breakfast slot from Tuesday 3rd of January, for the rest of that entire week. In fact the whole line up changes on Radio 1 that week with their annual ‘In new DJ’s we trust’ feature. For example the king of new music Mr. …

Wrong Direction – 24/11/11

My radio airtime is sporadic at the moment (hopefully this will soon change) so I thought I would use my own website to air my recent observations to firstly entertain you and secondly to reassure myself that there are people in the world as weird as me. Have you ever been walking down the street and realized that you’re going in the complete opposite direction to where you are supposed to be going? However, instead of just turning around and walking back in the direction from which you came, you have to do something first like check your watch or …

Sacrifices – 21/11/11

“If you’re going to be a champion, you must be willing to pay a greater price than your opponent.” Bud Wilkinson, University of Oklahoma Football Coach The first question to ask yourself when goal setting is: What do I really want? The answer produces a list of things. Some are tame and some are farfetched. Many millionaires and athletes today were once told their dreams were too lofty to attain. What people don’t see are the struggles behind the scenes that people who have achieved a lot have faced. What sacrifices are you prepared to make to achieve your goals? …

91,520 hours! – 7/11/11

There are four ways you can decide how to live your life. Boring- Little risk. Little reward. Lazy. Not much to talk about. Mediocre – You get paid every month but hate your job. Life seems okay from the outside but you’re always complaining. You refuse to take action to correct it. Above average – You’re moving up. You’re following your passion but something is still missing. You don’t take the extra step needed and quit too easily. Epic – You’re doing what people only wish. You’ve done the unrealistic. Much more difficult but the rewards last a lifetime. You’re …

If you’re gonna talk the talk … make sure you can walk the walk! – 11/10/11

The greatest boxing entrance and exit EVER!

Make them winners! – 5/10/11

You may have seen on the TV over the last week or so, politicians from various parties getting together for their annual conferences. I did the unthinkable and watched parts of the Labour one on the telly. Away from my programmes on radio I work with young people from under privileged backgrounds on raising their aspirations. For the first time in a long time I found myself nodding along with what a politician was saying, and the man in question was Ed Miliband! I know, SHOCK! He highlighted the injustice of bright children who are full of potential, but held …

He will put his ‘Money’ were his mouth is – 22/9/11

Sport is all about opinion. Floyd Mayweather Junior is in my opinion the greatest fighter of his generation. However despite dominating his sport of boxing for 16 years and becoming a nine time world champion at various weight divisions there is always one question that keeps following him. The question revolves around one man, Manny Pacquiao. The negotiations for Mayweather and Pacquiao are as infuriating a sports story as any reporter will cover, or as any fan will ever read about. The two sides negotiate, then, one denies the negotiations ever happened. They come to a fundamental agreement on key issues like money, …

The Recipe … – 14/9/11

I have been asked to prepare a speech labelled ‘the recipe for success’ for students who are leaving their university education and hopefully moving into their chosen fields of work. We are all individuals with our own circumstances that either help or hinder our endeavour for success. I have always believed that whether a person achieves what they want depends solely on the character that is taking on the challenge. With this as my starting point I’ve thrown together a few thoughts that may help you in your own ventures. Firstly and most importantly you need a goal. So many …

Not so easy as A’s, B’s & C’s – 28/8/11

Believe this or not there is no better feeling, than helping someone else achieve something that they originally believed was impossible. For the last two academic years I have worked with over two hundred year 11 students at various schools in Preston, Lancashire. These students were classed by their head teachers as GCSE C/D borderline. I live by the mantra that anything is possible. It may sound cheesy and others don’t agree but that’s the secret. I don’t care what other people think. If I allowed what others thought of me to influence the way I tackle my life, I’d …

Bromance – 1/8/11

I am what is known as a stereotypical man. I like playing sport, watching sport, talking sport, driving fast cars, looking at fast cars, drinking pints of anything alcoholic, eating curry and taking the piss out of anything and everything that crosses my path. Even though I am a very happily married man to (boast) a seriously fit woman, I also can appreciate other attractive beholders of the female form. With all this in mind, what I’m about to admit is some what contradictory to my character. I have a man crush. A man crush, according to its dictionary definition, …

Happy wife, happy life – 19/7/11

I live between two houses. The first is in my native land of Lancashire where I live with my beautiful wife. The second is in ‘Saaaf Landan’ (south London) where I reside with one of my best mates from school. The reason for this split of abode in case you’re wondering is because of my work commitments in our nation’s capital. Up until recently my mate and I have been living in an all lads house but our testosterone filled evenings of beer and FIFA have come to an end because against all the odds he’s found himself a lady …

Queen B or Lady G? – 15/7/11

At the time of year when the festival season is littered with guitar wielding superstars dominating various headline slots up and down the country, recent times have shown that organisers are prepared to chance their arm at allowing ‘pop acts’ to take the lime light ahead of traditional bands. The two biggest pop acts in the world trusted with such stature this summer were Beyonce and Lady Gaga. So between them who is the best? As per usual with any debate I’ve ever aired on the radio this all began with a few cinzano’s and a packet of dry roasted …

If at first … – 4/7/11

I know you’ve heard this a million times before: quitters never win, winners never quit; if you fall off the horse, get back on; finish what you started. I, like many others, find inspiration from real life stories. In this blog I look at the world of Literature. William Golding’s Lord of the Flies is now studied in schools across the world. Time magazine ranked it as one of the top 100 English-language novels ever written. The book has sold more than 14.5 million copies since it was first published in 1954. Golding won a Nobel Prize for Literature largely …

My take on what women want! – 23/6/11

Right, here it is! I’ve been working on this for over 6 months. It started when one of my friends asked me that minger of a question … ‘What do women want?’ So, I set about analysing my own lady and how she operates. I am one of the lucky ones. I am married to an absolutely ‘mint’ woman. However, even ‘mint’ women are a little bit bonkers. Now, in no way do I profess myself to be some kind of expert but I do know one reason why understanding women isn’t such an easy thing. Many studies indicate that …

Dont be afraid of the spotlight – 20/6/11

Do you care about what people think about you? Do you care so much about what they think that it prevents you from actually being yourself? Does it prevent you from becoming what you’re supposed to be? One reason why people expend so much effort conforming to social ‘norms’ is that they think that others are closely paying attention to what they are doing. They want to be in the ‘cool’ crowd so they do what the majority are doing. If you ever accidentally forgot that it was dress down day at school and you were the only one to …

Thicker skin than a Rhino! – 26/5/11

I know a man that used to work for WH Smith. He was the head of their travel retail business. When I say he ‘used to work’ for them he was sacked in “very gruesome circumstances” and was advised by his boss to quit the bookselling business based on how financially un-successful his stint in the role had been for the company. The man in question did exactly the opposite and attempted to set up his own business aimed at a market he believed he knew inside out. With £6000 in his back pocket, given to him as a ‘redundancy’ …

One year on … – 23/5/11

One year ago the reality of a decision I made in January 2010 was upon me. I woke up on a Monday morning for the first time in five years without a radio show to think about. It was also the first time in three and a half years that I wasn’t woken by a 4.30am alarm. I had decided to take a leap of faith and leave a safe secure position in the hope of attaining my dream job. I made this decision in the middle of a recession and with a fiancé to support who is at university …

Set your own standards – 10/5/11

There are two things people crave more than sex and money. Recognition and Praise! Have you noticed how children ask for it? “Mummy, Daddy, look at me!” Most of the time parents happily oblige and say how wonderful something is. As children we seek praise. We are taught that if we did something our parents approved of we would be rewarded or praised for it. If not, then there would be no praise or even … a punishment. Does this cycle become so engrained in us that we continue to seek praise in our adult lives? When do we …

Living the Dream – 26/4/11

I have found it amazing the amount of messages of support I have received over the last seven days regarding my first ever programmes on Radio 1. Family, Friends and people I have never even met all willing to congratulate me on realising a goal I have had since I was 15. I have dreamt about this moment countless times over the years and now that I am ‘living the dream’, the feeling exceeds my expectation. Last Tuesday I was in Hertfordshire at the University for the Student Radio Conference. Each year I am invited to host ‘Demo Factor’, an …

Probably the best pub quiz question ever! – 13/4/11

I have to give my mate the credit for this. On a recent trip to the boozer with the lads, my good friend Chris Ingham (there you go Ingy, full credit is yours) came up with an absolute belter of a footy quiz question. Can you name the Premier League’s Top Goal Scorers by letters of the Alphabet? Have a do at it yourself but if you can’t be bothered waiting, the answers are below. Try it on your mates. Its a worldy! A = Nic Anelka B = James Beattie C = Andy Cole D = Dion Dublin E …

Do you talk to yourself? – 11/4/11

The phrase that proclaims ‘you are your own worst enemy’ is in fact a solid truth in life for just about everyone. The reason I suggest that we are the ones sabotaging our own lives is that we tend to make a repetitive mistake every day. We listen to ourselves! It’s only natural to think, but unfortunately our thoughts are often negative, self conscious, egocentric, and irrational emotions that drop us into the very pitfalls we spend most our lives climbing out of and complaining about. Not only do we complain about the problems caused by results we initiate, but …

There are no Boundaries – 6/4/11

“If we did all the things that we were capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves” – Thomas Edison. Click on the link below and spend five minutes of your life dwelling on the statement above. Boundaries only exist in your head! The Deathcrawl

How SMART are you? – 31/3/11

Do you have a goal? Imagine a game of football without the goals at each end of the pitch. A group of 22 players would run around aimlessly with no purpose to their endeavour. Many people live their lives this way. They work hard every single day but without purpose or direction. They work with no goal to aim at. It is easy when setting a goal to fall in to the trap of being general with your target. There is a reason as to why the goals in a game of football are a certain size. If the rules …

Give me strength! – 23/3/11

Now I know I have a strong Lancashire accent and on some occasions I speak with such vigour that even the most northern of folk take a moment to digest and understand what I have uttered but I’ve found something this week that gets right on my wick. Why do businesses in England persist in employing people to answer their telephones who don’t have a full grasp of the vernacular? The very people who struggle when it comes to conversing in the ‘Queens’, that make the whole process of ordering something so painful that it puts me off ever doing …

Rubbers, Retweets & Rude People – 17/3/11

I used to confirm that I wasn’t on my own with certain weird thoughts I have through my own radio programme but as of last May as you know I relinquished that privilege so I can only seek validation of my weird world through my web site. I was in Boots the other day shopping and I came across the aisle were they keep the condoms. Now before you send me a load of wise cracks, ‘came across the aisle’ isn’t my attempt to copy the sordid acts of George Michael and secondly I wasn’t intending to buy any pregnancy …

Don’t worry, be happy! – 14/3/11

The inability to tolerate uncertainty plays a huge role in anxiety and worry. Chronic worriers can’t stand doubt or unpredictability. They need to know with 100 percent certainty what’s going to happen. Worrying is seen as a way to predict what the future has in store, a way to prevent unpleasant surprises and control the outcome. The problem is, it doesn’t work. Thinking about all the things that could go wrong doesn’t make life any more predictable. You may feel safer when you’re worrying, but it’s just an illusion. Focusing on worst-case scenarios won’t keep bad things from happening. It …

The Greatest? – 4/3/11

I have been lucky to have watched Premier League football since its inception in 1992. Many fantastic footballers from home and abroad have graced the fine football stadia of our land, providing moments of shear joy for many like minded football followers. Its has become the norm then to discuss the greatest Premier league side of all time over a pint and a packet of nuts down your local ale house. Even more so it has become the norm to discuss who the greatest player was. Back in 1992 surprisingly the first player to win the PFA player of the …

Jamie’s School? Dream on! – 3/3/11

By now, you will know I own a business that specialises in raising aspiration in young people and a bi-product of this is that they achieve higher than expected grades at GCSE level. You can imagine my excitement when I found out Jamie Oliver, the celebrity chef, shared my views of ‘more inspiration needed’ in the education system and that he had decided to make a TV programme called ‘Jamie’s Dream School’ to inspire disaffected youngsters. Brilliant, I thought, and with my wife, a high school teacher herself, we settled in to pick up some new techniques that we could …

Let’s hope it doesn’t go Ars up – 27/2/11

It was billed to be the end of the draught. Six years without a trophy for the mighty Arsenal, a period of time that hasn’t gone by without a ribbing from their competitors. However it wasn’t meant to be. Birmingham to their credit worked their socks off to nullify the Gunner’s main threats and were by no means the type of side that ‘parked the bus’ in the style that Mancini’s Manchester City did at the Emirates earlier in the season. The winning goal was the biggest slice of luck Wembley has seen since Rene Higuita’s scorpion kick in 1995, …

Northern Monkey – 23/2/11

For those people that thought the North-South divide disappeared with the collapse of heavy industry, or when Harvey Nichols opened a store in Leeds in the 1990’s, take another look. I spend 75% of my working life in London (soon to be 100%) surrounded by people who come from the south. Let me tell you it’s different and they think I’m a god damn alien. First of all what is ‘Dinner’? Where I come from this is something you eat, between 12pm-1pm. Not down here. ‘Dinner’ is your evening meal which is eaten at anytime after 6pm. I’m sorry but …

Talkin’ ’bout the next generation – 16/2/11

You will know by now I spend a lot of my time helping young people aspire to greater things. I have a company that works with year 11 students from various schools up and down the country that are totally disaffected by education. There are many reasons why these teens see no point in believing in a dream that in their eyes they have no chance of realising but the main comes down to the lack of inspirational characters in their life. Characters that are on their level, that speak their language and understand what they are going through. I …

The biggest word in the world is ‘IF’ – 9/2/11

Remember this. The word ‘IF’ doesn’t determine circumstance it only determines your attitude towards the circumstance you are questioning. A young lady contacted me this week via my twitter and she was questioning her ability to do her job. She was getting bogged down with tiny issues that shouldn’t have been in her head and after a few tweets back and forth I sent her on her way to tackle the next day with a different attitude. I’m led to believe it worked for her. However not everyone will speak about a problem they have with the belief in their …

Maslow and what makes you tick – 6/2/11

A long term friend of mine called me to cast his eye over his business. He’s been trading for over ten years and employs around 30 people. The last few years however have been hard and profits are down. With this, inevitable redundancies have taken place. As a person that talks for a living, and some of that talking is spent on motivating others to be the best they can be, he asked me for advice on how he can motivate his staff. I spent two full days at his firm and at the end of the second day I …

What’s ‘love’ got to do with it? – 1/2/11

Loyalty, it’s a funny old word isn’t it? The majority of us are all loyal to our friends, family and partners. I say the majority; I exclude the likes of John Terry from the loyalty to friends and partners bit. And it’s with footballers in general that loyalty just doesn’t seem to exist at all. When you are a football fan you will stay forever loyal. My in-laws are die hard Blackburn Rovers fans and spend their hard earned money following their beloved blue and whites up and down the country. Through thick and thin, from winning the Premier League …

Nature vs Nurture – 31/1/11

The First time I ever came across the term ‘Nature vs Nurture’ was at 6th form college whilst studying Theatre. The play in question was ‘The Tempest’ by none other than William Shakespeare. In the play Caliban is characterised as the devil. The most famous quote from this particular Shakespeare classic is when describing Caliban, Prospero (if you will Caliban’s teacher for want of a better word) says ‘A devil, born devil upon who’s nature, nurture will never stick’. With this Shakespeare is telling us that people are born bad, and no matter how much work you put into them …

Bang Tidy – 30/1/11

A couple of weeks ago via the wonderful world of twitter a lovely young lady tweeted me saying she had woke up singing a comedy tune I had made up over a year ago. It got me thinking as to whether I actually had the audio anywhere. After a bit of digging around on my laptop, there it was bold as brass. So I thought I’d upload it for you to hear it again. I created a rap alter ego named AC Slate-ya, who’s debut record was called ‘Bang Tidy Body but a Rubbish Face’. He also went on to ‘collaberate’ with …

Caught Offside – 24/1/11

So Richard Keys and Andy Gray have been ‘relieved of their duties’ for the Bolton and Chelsea game on Monday night football. I for one think that this should be made permanent. In their defence neither men made a sexist comment during a live broadcast to paying Sky Sports subscribers. The pair was recorded off-air saying women “probably don’t know the offside rule”, when they were discussing the appointment of Sian Massey to Saturday’s Premier League match between Wolves and Liverpool. Keys said: “Somebody better get down there and explain the offside rule to her.” To which Gray replied: “Yeah, …

Daydream Believer – 21/1/11

In my second life as a motivational speaker I get asked the same question over and over again. ‘How do I get what I want out of life?’ Answering the question is easy, however the application of the answer is somewhat difficult. Cast your mind back to school (if you’re still at school when reading this, then perfect. Cast YOUR mind back a couple of hours instead!) Did you give it everything you had on a consistent basis? I’m going to generalise by saying you didn’t. Lets say you enjoyed English (this is for the sake of my point, don’t …

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