Geoff Thompson

:"For the New Zealand politician" see Geoffrey Thompson and "For the Chairman of the Football Association see Geoff Thompson (football)

Geoff Thompson (born in 1960 in Coventry, England) is a writer, teacher and self-defence instructor. He has written dozens of books on self-defence, martial arts, fear control [citeweb|url= http://www.geoffthompson.com/listInstructional.asp|author =Thompson website|title=Geoff Thompson books] cite web
title = Fear - The Friend of Exceptional People
publisher = Geoff Thompson
date = July 2001
url = http://www.geoffthompson.com/detailProduct.asp?id=18
accessdate = 2008-01-27 ] , as well as "Watch My Back", an autobiography about his early years and how he came to be a nightclub doorman working in his hometown of Coventry.

Fighting disciplines

Thompson began his martial arts training in the Eastern arts including karate and Kung-Fu. However, during his time as a nightclub doorman he found that what he had learned was inadequate for the reality of violence. Thompson came to realise the techniques encouraged and practised in touch contact and semi-contact martial arts were not always suitable for self defence. Though he utilizes a small core of techniques from touch contact and semi-contact martial arts as part of his teachings, Thompson prefers more pragmatic full-contact martial arts and combat sports such as boxing, kick boxing, Muay Thai and wrestling (Greco-Roman, Judo and Freestyle).

He holds the ABA boxing instructor certificate and high level coaching awards for wrestling. [citeweb|url= http://www.geoffthompson.com/detailProduct.asp?id=35|author= Geoff Thompson web site|title=wrestling] as well as a 1st Dan in Judo, [citeweb|url= http://www.geoffthompson.com/detailProduct.asp?id=34|author= Geoff Thompson web site|title=Judo] and 6th Dan in Shotokan Karate. [citeweb|url=http://www.shotokankata.com/Articles/Geoff%20Tompson.htm|author=shotokankata.com|title=Articles with Geoff Thompson]

Video and film

In addition to his books, Thompson has written and presented a series of martial arts and self help DVDs. In 2004, Thompson won a BAFTA award for 'best short film' for his screenplay "Brown Paper Bag".cite web
title = Brown Paper Bag wins BAFTA award
publisher = BBC
date = February, 2007
url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/birmingham/features/2004/02/bafta-award.shtml
accessdate = 2007-12-02 ] His short film "Bouncer" starred Ray Winstone.cite web
title = Bouncer Review
publisher = Channel 4
date = 2002
url = http://www.channel4.com/film/reviews/film.jsp?id=141239
accessdate = 2007-12-02] His most recent work "" directed by the Shammasian Brothers and starring Craig Conway has finished production and was shown at a private screening in London on 23 January, 2008. It toured the film festival circuit in the early part of 2008.

Thompson's first feature film Clubbed an underworld drama set in the early 1980s has completed production and is scheduled for release in the United Kingdom on 16 January, 2009.cite web
title =Clubbed
publisher =Internet Movie Database
url =http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0856778/
accessdate=2008-09-09]

References

External links

* [http://www.geoffthompson.com Geoffthompson.com]
* [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0396515/ Brown Paper Bag at Internet Movie Database]
* [http://www.romans1220.com Romans 12:20, a short film]