Matthew Syed

 

Following unprecedented requests from delegates over the past three years, we are pleased to announce Matthew Syed will be part of our 2015 event. 

 

Matthew was born to a Pakistani father and Welsh mother in Reading in 1970. After attending his local state school, he graduated from Oxford University in 1995 with a prize-winning first class degree in philosophy, politics and economics.  

 

Matthew is currently a columnist and feature writer for The Times.  His first book Bounce, published in April 2010, has been described as “one of the most intelligent and thought-provoking books about sport ever written” and is an international bestseller, has been published in nine countries.

 

Before becoming a writer Matthew was the England table tennis number one for almost a decade, three-times Commonwealth Champion, and twice competed for Great Britain in the Olympic Games (in Barcelona in 1992 and Sydney in 2000).

 

Matthew was one of the co-founders of TTK Greenhouse, a charity which “empowers youngsters through sport” and which currently supports more than 10,000 young people on 31 full-time school programmes.