Last day of 2008

London, UK

and it's freezing

Radio Presenter News

London, UK

Former TalkSport presenter Jon Gaunt is suing his former employer after being sacked in November. You can read the full story here

How To Do An Interview In A Foreign Country

London, UK

Just four years ago, I spent some time in Cuba. Those cars are something else - watch this report from CNN.

Top Hollywood Stars

London, UK

Inevitably, I've been asked by a curious few, whose the most striking looking female film star you've spoken to for LSQ TV in the past year? Apart from some well known names, I think the two that stand out for me are Nazanin Boniadi and Lake Bell. Here's Nazanin at the premiere of Iron Man:



Lake appeared with Ashton Kutcher at the premiere of What Happens In Vegas:

Top 10 Prophecies for 2009

London, UK

Before I outline my top 10 prophecies for 2009,let's see what I wrote this time last year about prophecies for 2008

Here are eight of those prophecies:

1. Arsenal to win the Premiership in England. - Wrong

2. Political unrest in China ahead of Olympic Games in Peking. - Correct

3. A Hollywood film star will die unexpectedly. - Heath Ledger

4. Some type of natural disaster in Central or South America. - Wrong

5. Republican Candidate to win the race for the White House. - Wrong

6. More terrorist atrocities in Middle East and elsewhere. - Mumbai, Sderot

7. Madeliene McCann will be found in Morocco or Algeria. - Wrong (so far)

8. Unrest in Belgium. - Could be argued


OK, here's my TOP 10 PROPHECIES FOR 2009:

A. Liverpool to win Premiership
B. Major car manufacturer to go under
C. Conservatives shatter Labour in an autumn general election
D. Sterling will bounce back in 2009
E. Major earthquake in southern hemisphere will kill thousands
F. Political change in Iran
G. Leading sports personality dies unexpectedly
H. U.S. President has mystery illness
I. Major train crash in France
J. Renowned world leader dies

David Beckham on Italian Sky Sports

London, UK

You may have heard that there's been a bit of bother over the proposed interview between David Beckham and the gorgeous Ilaria D'Amico of Italian Sky Sports. Apparently, Victoria doesn't want her hubby to chat with "Italy's sexiest sports presenter" according to newspaper reports. Victoria may have seen photos of Ilaria on the internet. Point is, if she can't trust her husband why stick with him?

How To Be Professional On TV

London, UK

Just found this clip on You Tube. The American tv presenter inadvertently uses a profanity but gets away with it. No apologies, no red-faced embarrassment, she was just being professional.

How to Get On In Sales

London, UK

Following the success of Communicate With Clarity, People have been asking when the next seminar will be held and is Geoff Burch joining you again?
The simple answer is that I plan to run more during 2009 and will advertise the dates in due course. Keep checking in at my other site Jeremy Jacobs and my Facebook page.

Miss World 2008

London, UK

Who remembers Michael Aspel interviewing the Miss World contestants on the BBC years ago? Nowadays, I'm not sure whether it would give a male tv presenter street-cred or vilification in today's "pc" world.

This year's contest was won by Kseniya Sukhinova from Siberia.

How To Make The Right Impression

London, UK

Annoying things I find about presenters and public-speakers are that they can talk too quickly, have a nervous laugh and sometimes apologise. Why? Lack of preparation, over-confidence, lack of self-esteem? Alan Stevens the Media Coach gets to grips with "sorry" business

I've seen far too many speakers who make self-denigrating opening remarks. OK, the best person to tell a story against is yourself, but don't do it right at the start of your speech. Worst of all, in my view, is the person who wanders on, looking hunched and nervous, handles the mike as though it's a poisonous snake, and then says "I'm not very good at this, and my speech isn't very well prepared"

(see the entire blogpost here)


Nervousness and speaking too quickly, in my view go hand-in-hand. Here a piece I posted on my other site a year ago:

December 4th, 2007
Tips to improve your communication
Posted in Public Speaking, Personal Development, UK at 10:52 am by Jeremy Jacobs

Last night at Riverside Communicators, a member of the audience remarked on something I posted a few months ago on this site. The discussion we had in the Eel Pie pub after the meeting was centred around clarity of speech. Speaking at the right pace certainly helps as that previous post pointed out. How about that for an alliteration?
Here’s the article reproduced in full
20+ Tips to improve your communication


Depending on your line of work your rate of speech can vary. When I’m broadcasting on the radio, it can vary further still. A news bulletin can be around 120 to 130 words per minute. On the other hand, when reporting on a live sports event, that rate can go to 170 wpm or higher.
When conductiong a sales appointment or job interview, it’s very important you remain calm, collected and in control. In those instances, it’s a case of the slower the better.
Whilst I was working with the well known Japanese copier manufacturer in the 1980’s, I attended a special one-day course of the power of telephone sales. I’ve never forgotten these immortal words:
6 As a representative of your company
12 on the telephone, it is important
18 that you speak clearly. That means
24 you must articulate. It also means
32 that you must speak so that you can
38 be understood. Although there is no
44 set rate of speech, most expert
50 speakers talk at between one hundred
56 forty and one hundred sixty words
63 per minute. That is a good speed
68 for telephone communication. It is
75 not too fast to be understood and
82 it does not give the listener the
88 impression that you are under pressure.
93 Nor is it too slow.
100 The one hundred sixty word rate adds
107 an element of dignity to your voice.
114 The one hundred sixty word rate also
122 gives a sound image to the caller that
128 establishes both you and your company
134 as efficient and well-organized. To
141 give the caller the kind of impression
148 of yourself and of your company
154 you wish, speak correctly, speak at
160 one hundred and sixty - that’s one
165 hundred sixty words per minute.

Interviewing Politicians

London, UK

You may have seen Sir John Major on Andrew Marr's programme yesterday morning. I would have loved to have presented the show and interviewed him.

The UK could be facing a very bleak 2009 as the former Prime Minister explained. "I fear we are going to have an avalanche of job losses in the first three or four months of next year" but I particuarly liked his scathing attack on Gordon Brown blaming him for the economic "train wreck" facing Britain as the country faced its worst financial crisis since the end of the war. Accusing Labour of having "squandered" the benign economic conditions they inherited in 1997, he said: ``They have spent and spent and spent. It's a frightening scenario.''

Sir John insisted that the relatively warm public response to the Prime Minster's handling of the economic crisis would not last as the recession began to bite more deeply, going on to criticise measures taken by the Government so far, such as the recent cut in VAT .

He said: ``The concept that Gordon Brown, who has been Chancellor for 10 years and Prime Minister for one and presided over this train wreck is the person to put right what he got wrong strikes me as being ironic to say the least.

``If a burglar has ransacked your house, you don't normally invite him back to fix the security locks.

How To Be A Confident Presenter And Speaker

London, UK

The answer maybe to take a step back and reflect on your good fortune. Take this blog post entry from Jennifer Jones, author of "How To Tell If A Guy Is A Jerk" and "Goodness Graciousness".

December Media Blog Grab

London, UK

Someone called me yesterday a blogging mad presenter and speaker. The truth hurts!

Here's what I've noticed this week:

The dashing Neville Hobson remarks about Le Web 08

Andrew Grill and the mobile society

Simon Cowell embarrassed. Really, well I never.

December watchables on Channel 4

Kate Winslet, does the future hold great gongs for her?

and finally, Iain Dale and the wonder woman of politics

TV Presenting For Business

London, UK

You will have seen other posts about business-guru, Geoff Burch on this blog and over at my other website. Very shortly on BBC2, Geoff continues presenting his hit tv show, All Over The Shop. Each episode has attracted over 2 million viewers. This must prove that Geoff is hitting a nerve with small businessmen and retailers alike.

The Best Of Leicester Square TV (3)

London, UK

One of the first Premieres covered by LSQ TV was The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, starring Johnny Depp. Claire Bueno and Jeremy Jacobs are the presenters.

The British Comedy Awards

London, UK

The LSQ TV "fan-cam" was out last night to capture Eva Mendes and Alec Baldwin arriving for last night's award ceremony.

The Best Of Leicester Square TV 2008 (2)

London, UK

Watch as Jeremy Jacobs and Catherine Whale meet the celebs at the premiere of Angus Thongs and Perfect Snogging. Alan Davies was cool.

Twilight Premiere

London, UK

Newbie girl presenter Kiri was in the Square for the premiere of Twilight.

The Best Of Leicester Square TV 2008

London, UK

Back in April, Cat and I were at the UK Premiere of What Happened In Vegas, starring Ashton Kutcher (Demi Moore's other half) and Cameron Diaz. Unfortunately, Cameron wasn't there having just lost her father:

How to Increase Your Earnings

London, UK

A re-post from a few weeks ago:

By attending my Seminar on telephone cold-calling, you will learn how to be more effective on the phone. You'll get more quality appointments and new customers.

Details of the Seminar can be found at the Communicate With Clarity website. Or, you can register straight away by going to the booking website here. Details can also be found on Facebook here and here

The first session takes place on the morning of November 11th at Barnet Football Club. The location is just a few minutes walk from High Barnet tube station on the Northern Line. If you're travelling by car, there's plenty of free parking space available at the ground.

You'll see that the second session is being held on December 2nd. Guest speaker will be business guru, Geoff Burch. Some of you may have seen the first two episodes of his BBC2 tv series "All Over The Shop"