Bruce Lee was a Hong Kong-American martial artist, actor and philosopher. He was the founder of Jeet Kune Do, a hybrid martial arts philosophy drawing from different combat disciplines. Credited with helping popularize martial arts films in the 1970s, Lee is considered by some commentators and martial artists to be the most influential martial artist of all time and a pop culture icon of the 20th century, who bridged the gap between East and West. He is credited with promoting Hong Kong action cinema and helping to change the way Chinese people were presented in American films.
Richard Whalley Anthony Curtis is a British screenwriter, producer and director. One of Britain's most successful comedy screenwriters, he is known primarily for romantic comedy films, among them Four Weddings and a Funeral (1994), Notting Hill (1999), Bridget Jones's Diary (2001), Love Actually (2003), Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004), About Time (2013), and Yesterday (2019). He is also known for the drama War Horse (2011) and for having co-written the sitcoms Blackadder, Mr. Bean, and The Vicar of Dibley. His early career saw him write material for the BBC's Not the Nine O'Clock News and ITV's Spitting Image.
Shotokan is a style of karate, developed from various martial arts by Gichin Funakoshi (1868–1957) and his son Gigo (Yoshitaka) Funakoshi (1906–1945). Gichin Funakoshi was born in Okinawa and is widely credited with popularizing "karate do" through a series of public demonstrations, and by promoting the development of university karate clubs, including those at Keio, Waseda, Hitotsubashi (Shodai), Takushoku, Chuo, Gakushuin, and Hosei.
The Blue Planet is a British nature documentary series created and co-produced as a co-production between the BBC Natural History Unit and Discovery Channel. It premiered on 12 September 2001 in the United Kingdom. It is narrated by David Attenborough.
Sanda, formerly Sanshou, is the official Chinese boxing full-contact combat sport. In Chinese Language, "Sanda" originally referred to independent and separate training and combat techniques in contrast to "Taolu".
Chopsocky is a colloquial term for martial arts films and kung fu films made primarily by Hong Kong action cinema between the late 1960s and early 1980s. The term was coined by the American motion picture trade magazine Variety following the explosion of films in the genre released in 1973 in the U.S. after the success of Five Fingers of Death. The word is a play on chop suey, combining "chop" and "sock".
Renzo Gracie is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and 7th degree coral belt Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and coach. A third generation member of the Gracie family, he is the grandson of Gracie jiu-jitsu co-founder Carlos Gracie, grandnephew of Helio Gracie, nephew of Carlos Gracie Jr. and the son of Robson Gracie.
Bartitsu is an eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane-fighting, and French kickboxing (savate). Dormant throughout most of the 20th century, Bartitsu has experienced a revival since 2002.
Edward William Barton-Wright CE, FRSA, MJS was an English entrepreneur specialising in both self defence training and physical therapy. He is remembered today as one of the first Europeans to both learn and teach Japanese martial arts and as a pioneer of the concept of hybrid martial arts.
Sharon Lorencia Horgan is an Irish actress, writer, director, producer, and comedian. She is best known for creating and starring in the comedy series Pulling (2006–2009), Catastrophe (2015–2019), and Bad Sisters (2022–present). She also created the comedy series Divorce (2016–2019), Motherland (2016–2022), and Shining Vale (2022–2023).
Jon Jones is a Welsh film and television writer and director working primarily in the United Kingdom and the United States. He has directed numerous dramas for British and American television including the award-winning When I'm Sixty-Four, The Diary of Anne Frank, Blood Strangers, The Alan Clark Diaries, A Very Social Secretary, Northanger Abbey, Zen, Mr Selfridge and Going Postal.
Edith Margaret Garrud was a British martial artist, suffragist and playwright. She was the first British female teacher of jujutsu and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the western world.
Matt McColm is an American actor and stuntman, and former model.
Brian Sterling-Vete is an English author, Guinness World Record Holder, motivational speaker, TV broadcaster, Director, Stage, Film and Television actor, stunt performer, martial arts expert, fitness expert and entrepreneur.
Ken Pavia is a former sports agent, founder of the Huntington Beach, California based sports agency MMAagents and the former CEO of India’s first MMA Promotion Super Fight League. From 2005 to September 2011 Pavia represented a client roster of 75 professional mixed martial artists at MMAagents, most of whom competed in top tier mixed martial arts promotions such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), Pride Fighting Championships, Strikeforce, DREAM, and Bellator Fighting Championship.
Jack Thorne FRSL is a British playwright, television writer, screenwriter, and producer.
Mike Dibb is an English documentary filmmaker. In almost half a century of making films mainly for television – on subjects including cinema, literature, art, jazz, sport and popular culture – "he has defined and re-defined not only the televisual art documentary genre but has been able to make moving image pieces as a form of self portraiture". Dibb has made many acclaimed films about musicians, artists and writers, including on Federico García Lorca, C. L. R. James, Astor Piazzolla, Miles Davis, Keith Jarrett, Barbara Thompson, and other notable subjects. Sukhdev Sandhu wrote in The Guardian: "In a career spanning almost five decades, it's possible Dibb has shaped more ideas and offered more ways of seeing than any other TV documentarian of his generation." Mike Dibb is the father of film director Saul Dibb.
Peter Consterdine is a British martial artist who holds a 9th Dan in karate. He was a Great Britain and England international spending nine years as a regular squad member of the Great Britain Karate squad. In 1969 he was a founder of the Shukokai Karate Union (SKU) and he was Vice President of the English Karate Federation until his resignation in 2017.
Geoff Hill is an author, journalist and long-distance motorcycle rider living in Belfast. He is a critically acclaimed author and award-winning feature and travel writer.
Sara Mayhew is a writer and graphic artist who works in English-language manga. Mayhew studied graphic design at Canadore College in North Bay, Ontario from 2002 to 2005. The recipient of a TED Fellowship, Mayhew spoke at the TED Fellows stage and was featured at an independent TEDx event in Sudbury, Ontario.
