Inspiration in the Square
General Business
Thursday 9 June 2005
Heather Mills McCartney, Sir Steve Redgrave, Joe Simpson & Evelyn Glennie OBE
Inspiration in the Square: Four extraordinary speakers and fine dining in one of London’s most spectacular gardens, Portman Square
Portman Square, London
Heather Mills McCartney: Short audio preview
Sir Steve Redgrave: Short audio preview
What you missed..."Inspiration in the Square"
Imagine the following situations and put a tick beside each one you feel you could endure:
- overcoming childhood destitution and domestic abuse, only to have your leg severed in a traffic accident;
- training to a gruelling standard four times a day for 10 months of the year, for over 20 years, while carrying the hopes of a nation;
- shattering your leg while 20,000 ft up a mountain, falling into a crevasse and then facing a nine-mile solo crawl to base camp without food or water;
- trying to create a new musical genre against the advice of almost everyone around you, while profoundly deaf.
Did you choose none of the above? Most people would do the same. Yet for the speakers at "Inspiration in the Square", a London Business Forum event, they were inescapable realities. And for the 300 delegates who heard them recounted in detail, they proved a valuable point: no matter what awfulness you endure in life, you can be sure someone else has experienced worse... and prevailed.
The venue was Portman Square, one of London's oldest and most picturesque private gardens. It was converted temporarily into a conference centre, with a series of interlinked marquees in the centre, and refreshment areas amid the bright flowerbeds, trees and sunny lawns. Temperatures on the day touched 30 degrees outside, so the cooling effect of the air-conditioned canvas was welcome. And although it was possible to hear the occasional siren from inside the main auditorium, every delegate was soon absorbed completely by the speakers.
Heather Mills was a celebrated charity campaigner long before her marriage to Sir Paul McCartney. She was also a victim of some of the worst luck imaginable. Today, she inspired the London Business Forum audience by recalling her optimism in the face of one harrowing setback after another.
Sir Steve Redgrave is arguably the world's greatest Olympian. He won gold medals at five consecutive games, in various rowing categories. And as he walked onto the stage at the London Business Forum it was clear why genes played a key role in his success: he is around 6'5" tall and, even after several years in retirement, still weighs around 16 stones.
After a lunch-hour spent in warm sunshine, the London Business Forum was transported by the next speaker to the brutal cold of Siula Grande, a treacherous mountain in the Peruvian Andes. Joe Simpson is the real-life climber who nearly died on the mountain, and whose experiences were recently recounted in the hit film "Touching the Void".
On stage, Evelyn Glennie shows no sign of the profound deafness that threatened to wreck her musical career before it began. She speaks confidently, with a beautiful Aberdeenshire burr. She enunciates every consonant. And when she plays music, she proves herself a master manipulator of sound.
