Disability
Addiction
Mindset
Bullying
Self Confidence
Neil Bakewell has an astonishing life story which is the subject of his keynote speech. This biography gives a short insight into that story and some of his achievements.
At nine years old Neil developed a stammer that was so bad he could barely spit out two coherent words. Bullied on the playground because of the stammer, Neil turned to food for comfort and soon turned into a secret compulsive eater. He always found spelling an issue at school and at seventeen he was finally comprehensively diagnosed with dyslexia. Despite this he graduated from Loughborough University with a degree in aeronautical engineering.
His weight continued to increase! Despite repeated attempts to lose weight, Neil continued to pile on the pounds, finally accepting the fact he was addicted to food. By 2009 he weighed 43 stone (equivalent to the weight of TWO baby elephants) and was given only five years left to live. Despite the high risk factor Neil decided the only way to save his life was to undergo a gastric bypass operation and to date he has lost over 20 stone.

After recovering from the operation he decided to beat his other demon. Speaking. He became a professional speaker at the end of 2009. Neil has also beaten his issues with the English Language by writing over 50 different kindle books under numerous pen names, selling thousands of books every single month and now talks about turning your weaknesses in life into your strengths and how satisfying that can be.
Q: If you weren’t a speaker, what do you think you’d be?
I always thought I should be a detective. Asking questions that no one really wants to answer. Such fun….suppose it would be a bit like a maths teacher really.
Q: What was your favourite subject in school and why?
You might think History with dressing up as Henry VIII and everything..But no…I didn’t even do it at GCSE. Geography, I guess. You got to stand to streams and measure the depth with a long ruler. What better way to spend a morning.
Q: If you could change one thing you did as a young person, what would it be?
Playing a musical instrument for 9 years while hating every moment. On a more serious note not telling someone about my problems.
British Values covered
- Rule of law
- Mutual respect