Geoff Thompson (martial Arts)
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Geoff Thompson (born 26 January 1960) is a
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
-winning writer, film-maker, spiritual teacher, and martial artist. He has written prolifically in a wide range of genres, including books on spirituality, self-help, self defence, and martial arts, and scripts for film and stage.


Biography


Early life

Geoff Thompson was born on 26 January 1960 in
Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...
, United Kingdom.


Martial artist (1990s)

Thompson became a martial artist specialising in 'reality' martial arts and self defence, based on his experience at the night club door, and co-founded the British Combat Association with Peter Consterdine. Thompson became a self defence instructor and promoted his concept of "The Fence". He taught seminars in the US for
Chuck Norris Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris (born March 10, 1940) is an American martial artist and actor. Born in Oklahoma, Norris first gained fame when he won the amateur Middleweight Karate champion title in 1968, which he held for six consecutive years. H ...
.


Film writing and BAFTA award

Thompson began writing for film with his script for the short film ''Bouncer'' in 2003, which went on to star
Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...
and was nominated for a
BAFTA The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA, ) is an independent trade association and charity that supports, develops, and promotes the arts of film, television and video games in the United Kingdom. In addition to its annual awa ...
award. He wrote the script for a short film ''Brown Paper Bag'', based on his own brother's problems with alcoholism that eventually led to his death in 1999, and this won Thompson a BAFTA award in 2004 for Best Short Film. Geoff went on to write the film script for the feature film ''Clubbed'' (2008), based on his autobiography ''Watch My Back'', starring
Colin Salmon Colin Roy Salmon (born 6 December 1961) is an English actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''D ...
. He wrote the screenplay for the feature film ''The Pyramid Texts'' (2015), starring
James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland (born 1947), known professionally as James Cosmo, is a Scottish actor. Known for his character work, he has played supporting roles in films such as '' Highlander'' (1986), ''Braveheart'' (1995), '' Trainspotting' ...
. Thompson made his directorial debut in 2015 with the short film ''The 20 Minute Film Pitch''. His work '' Romans 12:20'', directed by the Shammasian Brothers and starring Craig Conway, (2008), has been adapted into a feature film, ''
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
'' (2017), starring
Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his r ...
.


Writing for stage

Thompson has written for stage, including the play ''Fragile'' which is semi-autobiographical and showed in Coventry.


Spiritual teacher, podcast, TED talk

Alongside writing, for many years Thompson was a spiritual teacher and coach, drawing upon his own experiences as a martial artist and of personal problems that he had contended with, which inspired his self-help books. Thompson produced a popular
podcast A podcast is a Radio program, program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. Typically, a podcast is an Episode, episodic series of digital audio Computer file, files that users can download to a personal device or str ...
on spiritual guidance and self-help for a number of years, and in 2016 he presented a TED talk entitled ''Conquering Fear''.


Recent years

In 2020 he released an autobiography, ''Notes from a Factory Floor'' and the spiritual self-help text ''The Divine CEO''.


Filmography


Feature films

*'' Clubbed'' (2008) – Writer, starring
Colin Salmon Colin Roy Salmon (born 6 December 1961) is an English actor. He is known for playing Charles Robinson in three James Bond films and James "One" Shade in the ''Resident Evil'' film series. He has had roles on many television series such as ''D ...
*''The Pyramid Texts'' (2015) – Writer, starring
James Cosmo James Ronald Gordon Copeland (born 1947), known professionally as James Cosmo, is a Scottish actor. Known for his character work, he has played supporting roles in films such as '' Highlander'' (1986), ''Braveheart'' (1995), '' Trainspotting' ...
*''
Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...
'' (2017) – Writer, starring
Orlando Bloom Orlando Jonathan Blanchard Copeland Bloom (born 13 January 1977) is an English actor. He made his breakthrough as the character Legolas in The Lord of the Rings (film series), ''The Lord of the Rings'' film series (2001–03). He reprised his r ...
. Later renamed ''Retaliation''.


Short films

*''Bouncer'' (2002) – Writer, starring
Ray Winstone Raymond Andrew Winstone (; born 19 February 1957) is an English television, stage, and film actor with a career spanning five decades. Having worked with many prominent directors, including Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg, Winstone is known ...
. BAFTA nominated. *''Brown Paper Bag'' (2003) - Writer, starring Ronnie Fox. BAFTA winning. *''Romans 12:20'' (2008) – Writer *''Pink'' (2009) – Writer *''Counting Backwards'' (2014) – Writer *''The 20 Minute Film Pitch'' (2015) – Writer and Director *''Shadow'' (2017) – Writer


Bibliography


Autobiography

*''Notes from a Factory Floor'' (2020), Urbane Publications, *''Watch My Back'' (2004), Summersdale, Originally published as "Bouncer" in two parts c. 1989.


Self-help / Spirituality

*''The Divine CEO'' (2020), O-BOOKS, *''The Caretaker'' (2014), Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''Hunting the Shadow – How to Turn Fear into Massive Success'' (2012), Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''The Beginner's Guide to Darkness'' (2011), Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''The Formula – The Secret to a Better Life'' (2011), Summersdale, *''Live Your Dreams – Ten Secrets to Loving Your Life'' (2010), Summersdale, *''Everything that Happens to Me is Fantastic'' (2008/9), Summersdale, *''Everything that Happens to Me is Good'' (2008/9), Summersdale, *''Everything that Happens to Me is Great'' (2008/9), Summersdale, *''Fear – the Friend of Exceptional People'' (2006), Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''Warrior – A Path to Self Sovereignty'' (2005), Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''Stress Buster – How to Stop Stress from Killing You'' (2005), Summersdale, *''Shape Shifter – Transform Your Life in 1 Day'' (2004), Summersdale, *''The Elephant and the Twig – The Art of Positive Thinking'' (2001), Summersdale,


Screenplay

*''Fragile'', Geoff Thompson Ltd, *''The Pyramid Texts'', Geoff Thompson Ltd,


Fiction

*''Red Mist'' (2004), Summersdale,


Martial arts / Self-defence

*''Dead or Alive: The Choice Is Yours – The Definitive Self-protection Handbook'' (2004), Summersdale, *''Animal Day – Pressure Testing the Martial Arts'', Summersdale, *''Arm Bars and Joint Locks'', Summersdale, *''The Art of Fighting without Fighting – Techniques in Personal Threat Evasion'', Summersdale, *''Chokes and Strangles'', Summersdale, *''The Escapes'', Summersdale, *''The Fence – The Art of Protection'', Summersdale, *''Fighting from Your Back'', Summersdale, *''Fighting from your Knees'', Summersdale, *''Pins – The Bedrock'', Summersdale, *''Real Head, Knees and Elbows'', Summersdale, *''Real Punching'', Summersdale, *''Real Kicking'', Summersdale, *''Three Second Fighter – Sniper Option'', Summersdale, *''The Throws and Takedowns of Freestyle Wrestling'', Summersdale, ASIN: B0061MRQSU *''The Throws and Takedowns of Greco-Roman Wrestling'', Summersdale, *''The Throws and Takedowns of Judo'', Summersdale, *''The Throws and Takedowns of Sombo'', Summersdale, *''Weight Training for the Martial Artist'', Summersdale, ASIN: B0061NWC8I


Martial arts

Thompson began his
martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...
training in the Eastern arts including
karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...
,
aikido Aikido ( , , , ) is a gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art which is split into many different styles including Iwama Ryu, Iwama Shin Shin Aiki Shuren Kai, Shodokan Aikido, Yoshinkan, Renshinkai, Aikikai, and Ki Aikido. Aikido is now practic ...
and
kung-fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to c ...
. However, during his time as a nightclub doorman, he found that what he had learned was inadequate for the reality of violence. Thompson came to realise that the techniques encouraged and practiced in touch-contact and semi-contact martial arts were not always suitable for self-defence. Though he utilises a small core of these techniques as part of his teachings, Thompson prefers full-contact martial arts and combat sports such as
boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...
,
Muay Thai Muay Thai or Muaythai (, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, the Art of Eight Limbs or the Science of Eight Limbs, is a Thai martial art and full-contact combat sport that uses stand-up striking, sweeps, and various clinch fighting, cl ...
,
judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Greco-Roman- and
freestyle wrestling Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...
. He holds the ABA Boxing Instructor certificate and high-level coaching awards for wrestling, a 1st Dan in
Judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
(1997) under world champion Neil Adams, and an 8th dan in
Shotokan Karate is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" thr ...
. Geoff is a Joint Chief Instructor of the British Combat Association. Geoff Thompson was also the first instructor to name and extensively teach "the fence", a technique in real-life defence involving keeping your hands in front of you in a non-threatening manner so as to protect yourself in case a situation escalates but without provoking violence. In the 1990s, Thompson wrote and presented a wide range of martial arts and self-defence DVDs. In 1995, he and his self-defence school featured in the Channel 4 documentary ''Passengers''.


Martial arts instructional DVDs

*''The Escapes'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRT8 *''Ground Fighting – Chokes and Strangles'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRU2 *''Pins – The Bedrock'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRSY *''The Pavement Arena Part One'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRWA, *''The Pavement Arena Part Two – The Protection Pyramid (''2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B01I05LPZ0 *''The Pavement Arena Part Three – Grappling, The Last Resort (''2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRWU *''The Pavement Arena Part Four; Fit to Fight'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRX4, *''Real Punching: The One Punch Kill'' (2005), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B0007NLRS4 *''The Ultimate Self Defence Seminar'' (2006), Summersdale Productions, ASIN: B000CR6X5C


References


External links

*Geoff Thompson IMDB pag
Geoff Thompson

Interview with Geoff Thompson and SUBvert magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Geoff People from Coventry 1960 births Living people British male karateka British male judoka Shotokan practitioners BAFTA winners (people) Martial arts writers