John Tempest
PR consultant and Founder/Director of the award winning, The Bradford Soup Run, JohnTempest attended Bradford College in 1967.
John arrived at Bradford College fresh from Bradford GrammarSchool. Despite the best efforts of tutors to retain his interest, otherattractions beckoned.
"The course would have been a general catch-all (but not in mycase) GCE. I remember my best times at Bradford College were withChris Norman - who later went on to form the band Smokie. Themusic we played together was good, but I don't think we got muchwork done. The Rag Week gave us enough leeway to raise fundsfor charity as well as have some fun. And some of the girls whoattended seemed pretty fit, too, if I remember rightly."
John went into sales, then marketing and public relations. He hasworked with William Hague, Tony Benn, Paddy Ashdown, amongmany others. He was Campaign Director and PR Advisor to the lateScreaming Lord Sutch, and was responsible formany Loony policies including, locally, the renaming of Five LaneEnds to Six. He had his own daily 3 hour radio show which taughthim how to interview all sorts of people, which means he often hasfun when being interviewed.
He founded The Bradford Soup Run 25 years ago as a result ofa bet in a pub. The charity has provided a hot meal, blanketsand clothes for thousands of rough sleepers and John regularlyspeaks to schools and business people about the grim realitiesof homelessness. In 1999 TBSR was voted the Best CommunityGroup in the Millennium Awards; in 2006 they were finalists in theBBC sponsored Best of British Food & Farming Awards. "It was goodto meet Ainsley Harriott, Marcus Wareing, Jamie Oliver and GordonRamsey - who swore at me (I swore back and after that we goton fine) and they applauded our stance that because people arehomeless they shouldn't have to eat crap."
In 2007 his play with music:
Homeless!
was widely acclaimed atits premiere in Bradford and he is now working on another play.John enjoys ruffling feathers and is not afraid to ask embarrassingquestions of pompous politicians. "If the political will was there,homelessness could be eradicated. But most politicians are moreinterested in their own gravy trains rather than helping those at thefoot of the heap." He is currently campaigning to save the Odeon.
Photograph by Trevor Griffiths