Patrons

Dr Chris Steele MBE

Dr Chris Steele has been a GP for over 40 years, a TV doctor for 31 years and is the resident doctor on ITV’s This Morning. He was also voted Health Journalist of the Year in 2007 and has received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Guild of Health Writers in 2010. He is also an MBE.

Dr Chris qualified as a doctor in 1968 and has worked as a GP in South Manchester since 1970. Chris became interested in treating his patients who smoked in the early 1970s and became a pioneer in this field. Chris is now recognised as an international expert in smoking cessation and nicotine addiction.

Dr Chris has over 10 years of experience as a journalist and makes regular contributions to magazines and papers nationwide.

Dr Chris has his own website and newsletter which provide people with information and knowledge about health, including how to lose weight, stopping smoking and lead a healthier more informed life. These are Dr Chris’ specialist areas and he has written books and articles covering these fields including ‘Quit Smoking with the Nicotine Phaseout Program’, and in 1989 the ‘Fat Farewell Diet’. He is also the author of ‘Babies and Younger Children’.

Dr Chris is married to Monica and has four children two girls and two boys. His eldest daughter is a linguist/translator and his other daughter is a teacher who is also training as an occupational therapist.

His son Matt is a musician and plays for the popular group Brand New Heavies while his son Andrew is an Olympic athlete specialising in the 400 meters.

Dr Chris says, “I love my work! And that involves bringing important issues to the attention of every one of my viewers, listeners and readers.”

Michael Rosen

Michael Rosen is one of Britain’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults.  His first degree in English Literature and Language was from Wadham College, Oxford and he went on to study for an MA at the University of Reading and a PhD at the former University of North London, now London Metropolitian.  He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches critical approaches to reading on an MA in Children’s Literature, having done the same at Birkbeck, University of London.  He has taught on MA courses in universities since 1994. He was the Children’s Laureate from 2007-2009 and has published over 200 books for children and adults, including the recent bestseller ‘Many Different Kinds of Love’ and ‘On The Move.’

Piers Hernu

Piers studied law at University before becoming a traded options broker in The City. He then left to go travelling and ended up spending eight months in a Nepalese prison for gold smuggling.

On his return, he wrote his story for both The Independent and Loaded and subsequently became a journalist. He then launched, and was the award-winning editor of, Front magazine for four years (featured in BBC2’s Trouble Between The Covers) before joining FHM as a columnist and then Editor At Large.

Most recently he has worked as a feature writer for The Mail On Sunday’s men’s magazine and has made regular contributions to Newsnight, Daybreak, This Morning, BBC Breakfast News, Richard and Judy, Sky News, Five News, Littlejohn, Radio 1,2,4 and 5, Talksport and numerous other chat show/documentary/talking heads and radio shows where he is most frequently asked for opinions on: laddism, magazines, sex, gender wars, modern men, drinking and changing cultural trends.

Piers is married to Jenny, they live in Camden and his interests are fishing, going to gigs, travel and cricket.

Lisa Francesca Nand

Lisa Francesca Nand is a broadcast journalist with a background in radio, podcasting, travel, TV, film-making. On The Big Travel Podcast, she speaks to well-known people about their lives in travel. The podcast frequently tops the charts in the UK and many of the 160 countries it has listeners.

Lisa began her journalism career at the BBC as an assistant on Newsnight, then as a presenter, newsreader and reporter on BBC radio across the south. She was the first female presenter on TalkSPORT national radio.

Lisa has created countless travel films and articles for the national press and is a current regular expert guest on national radio and TV.  She also directed the acclaimed 2015 documentary First Heartbeat for TLC UK/Discovery International, about her experience with miscarriage.

She developed Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis when she was 21.

Date updated: 20/01/22 (V1.6)
Review date:  20/01/23