Biographical note

Darren Mead is an experienced science teacher who has been described as 'the Jimi Hendrix of teaching' and 'perhaps the most intellectually engaged of all British teachers'. Based in the North East of England, he shares his classroom-based interpretations of research through his highly respected blog, Sharing Pedagogical Purposes. Phil Beadle knows a bit about bringing creative projects to fruit. His self-described 'renaissance dilettantism' is best summed up by Mojo magazine's description of him as a 'burnished voice soul man and left wing educationalist'. He is the author of ten books on a variety of subjects, including the acclaimed Dancing About Architecture, described in Brain Pickings as 'a strong, pointed conceptual vision for the nature and origin of creativity'. As songwriter Philip Kane, his work has been described in Uncut magazine as having 'novelistic range and ambition' and in Mojo as having a 'rare ability to find romance in the dirt' along with 'bleakly literate lyricism'. He has won national awards for both teaching and broadcasting, was a columnist for the Guardian newspaper for nine years and has written for every broadsheet newspaper in the UK, as well as the Sydney Morning Herald. Phil is also one of the most experienced, gifted and funniest public speakers in the UK.