Tag Archives: paddy fitzpatrick

Inside Boxing

12 May Paddy and Teach

Could the rules of boxing work in school? Today I watched the interview of Paddy Fitzpatrick and Lee Simpson about their book, Hats, Handwraps and Headaches: A life on the Inside of Boxing for Swindon Festival of Literature 2021.

Lee Simpson, nicknamed ‘teach’, used to box with his dad when he was younger but moved on to focus on words and writing. Then after years something clicked in him and he wanted to return to his previous passion. He rang up Paddy and asked if he could work with him. I find it interesting how after so many years he finally decided to return to something he used to be so interested in, perhaps in the future it may inspire some of us to get back to something we grew out of.

Teach was originally going to write about the Sunderland football team but turned to boxing as he found it more enjoyable. It’s crazy to think that if it wasn’t for his return to boxing the book wouldn’t have even been written. Boxing isn’t about physical skills strength or power but all about the mental power skills and preparation. Now I’d like to try out the sport for myself as it appears I can learn some useful skills in later life for mental training – if you can’t handle boxing mentally, you can’t handle the sport at all.

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Public Intellectual is not a dirty name – Suzannah Lipscomb at Swindon Festival of Literature

17 May

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Given the reaction of the tabloid and ‘quality’ press front pages during the election, you may be forgiven for thinking that today’s public intellectuals are Katie Hopkins, Jeremy Clarkson and Russell Brand.

Happily, you’d be wrong on two counts and you can argue the toss with me about Russell. The term ‘public intellectuals’ sit uncomfortably with the British public, too self-congratulatory. The French are fine with it. But, boy, do we need them.

According to historian Susannah Lipscomb at the Swindon Festival of Literature last Friday, public intellectuals are the clever people who emerge from quiet libraries; they don’t endlessly research a particular point that only five other people care about.

They arm themselves with encyclopaedic knowledge, for sure, have a long hard rumination about all of it – then they get out there, tell people what they know and have an opinion about it: “They use knowledge and learning to change our shared world,” says Suzannah. Continue reading →

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Boxing Handsome at the Swindon Festival of Literature

8 May

Matt Holland, Anna Whitwham and Paddy Fitzpatrick

Matt Holland, Anna Whitwham and Paddy Fitzpatrick

For me, this was the most fascinating event of the Festival so far.

A lecturer in Masculinity at Royal Holloway University. A boxing trainer.

One with a refined accent, defined cheekbones and flowing clothes.
The other, dapper in a pork pie hat, glittering wrist watch, Irish.

Both were considered.

While I won’t necessarily watch a boxing match, I’m drawn to trained fighting; the Muhammad Ali ideal of ‘dance like a butterfly, sting like a bee’, the marriage of grace and intelligence with brutality. Blood and brains.

The eye-opener about boxing, as seen by trainer Paddy Fitzpatrick, is the universality of successful boxing – the rules can be applied to anything. I’ve heard the same said about dancing, mindfulness, overcoming anxiety, virtuoso musicianship, performance and success in any walk of life. Politics, especially politics. Continue reading →

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