Who is Mark Channon?

Where did it all begin?

I would have to say I’ve had a pretty varied journey to-date. Headed down to the big smoke from Aberdeen when I was 16 to spend a fun 3 years at Arts Educational in Chiswick (it’s a college for actors/singers/dancers etc.). That got me hooked on acting, although I spent most of my 20’s in musicals, either on Tour or in the West End. It wasn’t until my late 20’s early 30’s I started to get some straight parts – straight as in non-musicals.

Of course then there’s the whole world of memory improvement and mind mapping. Back in 1993 a friend of mine loaned me a memory course and at the time I was also working through Anthony Robbins personal power course. It wasn’t until about 6 months later that an opportunity popped up. My agent asked me if I had any ideas for a game show, at the time I didn’t but said I would get back to her. I remember this very clearly because I then had a completely mad 30 minutes where I wrote a gameshow which I called Memory Masters. I sent it off and within a week had a meeting with Stephen Leahy of Action Time (as it was then). We pitched it to the BBC and within 8 months it was on prime time TV – that was in 1995 when Bob Monkhouse fronted it, hence Monkhouses Memory Masters.

I figured if I was going to be on TV teaching this stuff then I had to ‘walk my talk’ as Robbins would say, so I entered the 1995 World Memory Championships and finished 6th – ranked 3rd in the world as a Grand Master of Memory *ahem*. It was around that time that I met Tony Buzan and got hooked on Mind Mapping.

The years following were pretty interesting to say the least and I took the dive into working as a trainer, mostly public seminars and corporates – more acting – life in the fast lane *phew*.

“Life moves pretty fast. You don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.”

Ferris Bueller – One of my favorite 80’s films

If you’ve come to this site via memoryschool.com you may have known that I ran that site for quite some time. The reason for the change was pretty simple – memory is a big part of what I do (who I am, as it were) but it’s not everything and I also enjoy poking fun at the occasional thing which is harder to do on a site which is just geared around a business. So although I offer coaching on markchannon.com and will no doubt offer other products and services in the future, it’s more about… I don’t know… ME :)

I’ve been lucky enough over the last 4 years, not only to have 2 brilliant kids (although they are a little bit manic – don’t know where they get it from) but to work in a variety of schools across the country, running workshops on memory, mindmapping, leadership, teamwork, presentation etc. I think it really tests your skills as a presenter to work with kids right across the spectrum from Eaton to some of the more, (is challenging the right word), yep, challenging schools – although to be fair, they’re all challenging but well worth it.

My focus at the moment is working as a Team Leader at the BBC (funny I should end up back here), not that I’ve ‘ended’ back here, I’m only 38, so who knows where I’ll end up, as long as it’s somewhere hot but not too hot, not keen on insects, although who I’m I too judge! Anyway I divert, working at the Beeb, looking after a team of Software Engineers and Client Side Developers, they’re a great bunch and do awesome stuff, hence why I’ve been there for 3 years!

Interesting facts

  • Favorite 80’s film – Breakfast club (although Sure Thing is probably a close second)
  • Very eclectic taste in music.
  • I do like the odd beer… What? I’m Scottish…