My friend Dave

For two years now I’ve been an avid follower of Dave. He has become a mentor a advisor and a friend of sorts. The funny thing is I have never met him.

I was reading an article on blogging in the Sunday Times and at the end of the piece there was a list of what they thought was the best blogs. And since I work in advertising low-and-behold there was big complement for one blog by Dave Trott.

So I logged on and was immediately hooked. There are anecdotes, experiences, accidents, incidents, quotes moments from history. He even imparts everyday experiences from his private life, as well has dozens of stories from his years working as a copywriter. There are some gems of advice that have been past down from generations of creatives.

He’s a big fan of Bill Bernbach (every creatives mentor) but admires the all thinkers and dreamers who broke the mould and had to fight to get their ideas believed. Darwin, Newton, Plato, Picasso, Hirst, Hitchcock, Spielberg, to name a few.

He loves the fighting spirit of Winston Churchill, Brian Clough, Mohammed Ali and his big sister who once looked an armed mugger in the eye, dared him to nick her handbag and then scared him off.

His blog imparts the importance of creative thinking, being different, being a bit of an  odd ball. But realise the importance of been the rebel, being fearless and never giving up.

Reading his blog is empowering stuff. But it’s not just for creative folk, it’s good advice for having a good attitude to life. So here’s a humorous anecdote below.

When I worked at BMP, the head of Television commuted in from Brighton ever day.

He started reading The Exorcist on the train.

He said he thought it was the most evil book he’d ever read.

In fact, he said it was so evil he couldn’t finish it.

So at the weekend, he went to the end of Brighton Pier and threw it as far as he could.

So I went to the bookshop.

I bought another copy.

Then I ran it under the tap.

And left it in his desk drawer.

For him to find.

You can find Dave’s blog at     http://www.cstadvertising.com/blog/

You can buy his book Creative Mischief  – somewhere online

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