To the podium and beyond
How I ended up as a Beyond the Podium speaker and what comes next
I got to the theatre 30 minutes early. Milos, the naturalist, was giving his talk on marine life. As I walked in, the audience laughed at one of Milos’ gags. My partner Sere and I shared a wide eyed look. “Mucha gente no?” she whispered. She was right, there must have been at least 400 people in that theatre. The last time I had given any kind of public presentation would have been in high school to a class of 30 people maximum. I backed out of the theatre and found a quiet spot to sit, taking deep breaths. Sere held my hand and reassured me but I could tell that she was nervous as well. I can’t remember the last time I was so anxious about something. I had barely been able to eat for the past 4 days and was running on very little sleep. Despite the anxiety a real excitement stirred in me. “This is what I want.” I said to Sere.
I was born in a town called Warrington, equidistant from Manchester and Liverpool, in 1999. Both my parents were teachers, my dad taught literature and my mum, history. And so from a young age I picked up a love for both history and stories. Many weekends and summer holidays were spent visiting various museums and historical sites, from Hadrian’s Wall to the Salt Museum.
I was also lucky enough to grow up in what I see as the golden age for Historical kids entertainment led by the 2009 Horrible Histories TV series. As I got older that obsession took a new turn with the introduction of the Assassin’s Creed video games. Each year, I eagerly awaited their release and in the months leading up to the games' launch, I would dedicate myself to learning as much as I could about the historical eras they depicted.
However, despite my passion, I found my formal historical studies lacking. The rigidity of the UK's education system, with its emphasis on testing and assessment, meant that the first three years of high school were primarily spent preparing for exams scheduled for the fourth and fifth years. This narrow focus resulted in a lack of variety in topics, so I began to look elsewhere to satisfy my interests.
At the age of 17 I stumbled across a book that would, quite literally, change my life. The decision to purchase John Hemming’s "Conquest of the Incas" was impulsive, driven by a fleeting interest. Little did I know that this book would ignite a passion that would shape my future.
At around 700 pages it was the biggest book I had ever read up until this point in my life but I was hooked by its narrative. The book read like fiction and I became obsessed with the characters of Atahualpa, Tupac Amaro, Hernando de Soto and Francisco Pizarro. A loose goal began to form in my mind. After university I wanted to move to Spain, learn the language and save up enough money to do a grand trip to Peru where I could see all of these sites I had visited through the pages.
I specifically chose my university because of its modules on South America. I had a tough couple of years though and didn’t meet the requirements to study a BA in History at Newcastle. I was set on that University though and an opportunity arose to study a joint honours of History and Archaeology and so I would still be able to take those modules on South America.
I had a vague interest in Archaeology that didn’t go much further than a love for the Indiana Jones movies. However, within just one semester of my first year I had dropped the history side of my degree to pursue a single honours Archaeology degree which still allowed me to take those South America modules. Funny how things work out.
My interest in South America continued but what caught me off guard was a real interest in East African archaeology after having a fantastic lecturer in my second year, Dr Ashley Coutu. This led me to apply for a scholarship to carry out research in the area with the funding of the University and so in the summer of my second year, my friend and I headed out to Nairobi and Zanzibar to produce research on the effects of coastal erosion on East African archaeological sites. We had no idea what we were doing really but it was great fun and it sparked a real interest in travel which I hadn’t done much of before University.
That lecturer moved away in my third year and so my dissertation had to focus on something else. I faced some setbacks though as the lecturers for my biggest interests went on leave as I considered studying South American Body Pots and the archaeology of the Muslim caliphate in Spain. I settled on local history, exploring the extent of power the monastic houses had in Cheshire. Perhaps it would have been interesting if a global pandemic hadn’t happened, causing all libraries and archives to close and leaving me with not enough time to pivot topic and not enough resources to produce anything meaningful.
The dream of moving to Spain remained alive while I waited through the pandemic. I got my qualification to teach English as a second language. As restrictions began to ease I spent some time working as a teaching assistant in a school then moved in with a friend down in Cirencester, spending half my time working in a coffee van and half my time trying to get my online teaching off the ground. Moving to Spain fell through. The in-person teaching market was in a poor state thanks to the pandemic and Brexit. I still wanted to leave the UK though. I had been learning Spanish on and off since picking up that book at 17 and so I knew I wanted to go to a Spanish speaking country.
Two of the first countries to be on the green list to travel to were Colombia and Argentina. I knew very little about either but was interested in both. I decided I’d go to Buenos Aires first and then perhaps make my way to Colombia and stop off in any countries that may have opened by then. And so I moved to Buenos Aires in January of 2022.
The past two years haven’t been easy. I met my girlfriend Sere and decided I wanted to stay in Buenos Aires but this proved to be quite tricky when it came to making enough money with the teaching. I eventually found a job in January of 2023 working for a Biotech Events Company remotely despite knowing nothing about the events industry or biotech. Needless to say it wasn’t for me. In June that same year I took a trip up to the north of Argentina. An area that had been a part of the Inca empire and had a culture that I fell in love with. In the pueblito where we stayed was an old Inca site, Pucará. This was the first time I had been to an actual Inca site, 5 years after first picking up that book. It was there that I made a decision. Or perhaps you could say I had my calling if you want to be more spiritual about it. That I had to make my passion for history and archaeology paired with my love for storytelling my life’s work. I had no idea how to do this. I was fairly broke, earning some money but relying as well on an inheritance from my grandma to subsidize my income. However I began to put something together with an idea to turn it into a documentary. I had heard about the Welsh in Patagonia and the story had gripped me.
The research became a nice distraction from work which was becoming less and less enjoyable. I still had no idea what I was going to do with all this research but I found it interesting, it lit some kind of fire in me that I didn’t get from my job. And then one day a friend sends me an advert for a job. An entertainment company was looking for destination speakers on cruise lines. So I sent off an application, not expecting too much. They got back to me fairly quickly though, asking if I had any experience presenting. I did not. But they said to record a 15 minute presentation to send off. So I set up a camera in my room and began to waffle on about the Incas for 15 minutes off the top of my head. They liked it and I got the job. Shortly after I quit my job and began to turn that research on the Welsh in Patagonia into a presentation.
So when I got on that stage for the first time, the nerves all washed away. I knew that this was what I wanted. The entertainment manager on the cruise said I was the youngest presenter she’d ever seen. When the naturalist, Milos, started working for Celebrity, I was still learning how to tie my shoelaces. The other presenter, Steven, well he had been to Antarctica and had a long list of achievements and academic titles. I was armed with an undergraduate degree and a lot of passion for storytelling. The imposter syndrome was real but despite the self doubt I felt I had something worthwhile to share..
What’s next? Well my dream is to continue doing this on the ships as well as in an online format, making short documentaries and writing about my adventures. I’m not too sure yet about my path but I am excited about this year and the possibilities that lie ahead of me. I’m not too sure how I ended up in this position but I am incredibly grateful. So I invite you all to join me on this adventure and thank you for being a part of it.
It’s funny what sparks us. Michael Wood and his TV series on the Conquistadors, Map of a Nation by Rachel Hewitt. Good for following your instincts.