In National Adoption Week, NICK THORPE reflects on the most challenging and fulfilling experience of his life… MONTHS before we met our son for the first time, I knew in my gut that I wanted to be his dad. The description from the social worker chimed for both of us: “A lively, sociable three-year-old with…
Watch Nick’s talk on YouTube Romania’s Palace of the Parliament is designed to intimidate. Twelve stories tall, with 1,100 rooms decked in a million cubic meters of Transylvanian marble, it was originally built by the Ceaușescu regime at a cost of 3 billion euros. I first took a tour of its vast, echoing halls about ten…
TEDx conference, Palace of the Parliament, Bucharest, Romania November 2012 “My name is Nick Thorpe, I’m a writer and journalist, and I have a fascination with risk-taking. Despite my innate anxiety – or perhaps because of it – I seem compelled to stretch myself, force myself into the present moment. But what’s changed over the…
A few weeks ago I took part in an unforgettable fundraising Night of Adventure at the Vue Cinema in Edinburgh – the biggest-screen slideshow of my life thus far. It was organised by the intrepid and slightly nuts Alastair Humphreys in aid of Hope and Homes for Children – a charity close to my heart…
Not so long ago, I signed up for a clowning workshop called “Spring Fool” (www.thefoolstory.com). It was one of a series of adventures in the lost art of letting go (later chronicled in my book Urban Worrier), and I comforted myself that it couldn’t possibly be any scarier than wingwalking on a bi-plane. But actually,…
Edinburgh Launch of Urban Worrier Tues 7th June, 6.30pm Blackwell’s Bookshop 52-63 South Bridge, Edinburgh EH1 1YS Ticketed but free Calling all Urban Worriers! Do you ever wish life could be a little less stressful? Well come and join the club! In less than a week my new book will hit the bookshelves and I’m hoping…
With less than a week until Urban Worrier goes on sale, I noticiced this morning that Amazon is doing a big opening offer for those who pre-order the book: reduced from £13.99 to £7.75 – so you’re almost getting two for the cover price of one. With my business hat on, I should probably avoid…
Somehow dragged myself out of bed at 5.30am today for a live interview at BBC Radio Scotland in Edinburgh on Sunday Morning with Sally Magnusson. Given the hour, Sally thankfully went a whole lot easier on me than all the politicians she grilled during the recent Scottish elections. In fact we meandered our way through a…