Biography
David Thomas has an astonishing life story which is the subject of his keynote speech. Click on the links below to take you straight to the sections that you want to read about.
Background
- Born in the UK in 1968 in Halifax, Yorkshire, a small Northern English town.
- Currently has joint residence in New York, USA and Bradford, UK.
- His mother was a lifelong alcoholic and he had an aged physically abusive stepfather who was 65 when he was 7.
- At age 16 he was struggling badly dealing with his mother's alcoholism and within a 6 month period he attempted suicide, committed multiple burglaries, assaulted a police officer, received a criminal conviction and was expelled from school.
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David joined the Fire Service at age 20 and subsequently failed his promotion exams.
David (right) with two fellow fire-fighters from Green Watch at Todmorden Fire Station - In 1995 he saw a guy memorize a pack of playing cards on live television. He went out and bought his book hoping it would help him pass his exams.
- He entered the World Memory Championships in 1996 and 1997 coming 4th and 3rd and broke a Guinness Book of Records® memory record in 1998.
- He began teaching his techniques in the Fire Service then on a commercial basis.
- In 2001 he became a full time professional speaker.
Memory achievements
- David came 4th in the 1996 World Memory Championships only 8 months after buying the book.
- He achieved the criteria to become an International Grandmaster of Memory, one of only 3 people in the world who had achieved this under competition conditions at the time.
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He is currently one of only 2 International Grandmasters of Memory in the US and the highest rated.
David with some of the 100 packs of playing cards he memorized - He entered the 1997 World Memory Championships and came 3rd.
- In 1998 he broke an 18 year old Guinness Book of Records® memory record. He recited the math formula Pi – 3.14159....– to 22,500 digits from memory.
- In 2004 David set a world record for memorizing and reciting 100 individually shuffled packs of playing cards. It took him 65 hours over 4 days and out of 5,200 cards he misplaced just 12.
- In 2007, at his first attempt, David entered and won the US Memory Championships.
Best selling author
Essential Lifeskills: Improving Your Memory
"I believe that if I had read David Thomas's book at the beginning of my journey, I would have saved myself years and a lot of money."
Kevin Horsley, South Africa
Improving Your Memory is David's definitive book on memory self improvement. Just 72 pages long in full color, it contains easy to learn strategies and techniques on how to improve your memory quickly and to a high level of success.
- To date, it has sold nearly 100,000 copies in it's first three years of publication.
- It is published in more than sixteen countries around the world. These include USA, UK, Indonesia, Brazil and Holland.
Tell Me Why, Mummy
"I have just finished your book and I wanted to tell you that I found it totally amazing how, through a negative, you turned your whole world into a positive."
Jenny Toofohe, Australia
Tell Me Why is David's inspirational memoir charting his rise from a very difficult childhood to become one of the world's leading experts in his field. It is a heart wrenching and deeply moving book which leaves the reader feeling that they too can overcome some of the challenges they face in their life.
- Went #1 in the London Times bestseller list in March 2008.
- Spent ten weeks in the Top Ten.
- To date, it has sold nearly 250,000 copies worldwide.
Media appearances
"David Thomas has one of the most powerful and intriguing minds in the country."
UK national paper Daily Mail
David is in constant demand by the global media because of his incredible story and as the world's greatest expert on memory skills training.
David having some fun with Oprah on her show
- To date, David has done over 500 international media appearances.
- Countries have included UK, Estonia, Latvia, Dubai, Iceland, South Africa, Germany and US.
- He has even appeared on The Oprah Winfrey Show in Chicago. This went out to 17 million Americans and 112 countries.
Click here to view David's appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show - Interviews also include The Times newspaper in London, the oldest newspaper in the world, and the BBC World Service.
Speaking history
In 1997 David began sharing his knowledge by teaching his memory techniques to members of the Fire Service. In 1998 he started teaching them commercially. To date, his speaking history is as follows:
- Spoken in 15 countries including Dubai, USA, Iceland, Estonia and India.
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Spoken to audiences in size from just 1 (yes really, just 1 person) to over 1,500 people.
David speaking to an audience of 1,500 people - Spoken to every kind of organisation. These have included MLMs, Associations, blue chip companies, public sector, private & public schools and Universities.
- Spoken to every kind of audience. Delegates have included CEOs, actors, firefighters, teachers, Association members, Olympic athletes, Government ministers, general staff, University professors, even blind business people.
- Spoken in a wide variety of venues including The Tower Of London, The Alexandra Palace, Paris & Bally's, Las Vegas, The Dorchester, Park Lane, London and The Harvard Club, New York.