Ex-Band Member Inspires Pupils

On Friday 24 January, Christ’s Hospital invited Jamie Catto, a founding member of the band Faithless and leader of personal development workshops, to talk to pupils in a lecture entitled ‘Real is the New Sexy.’

Jamie believes that from infancy we are taught to edit ourselves in order to please others, but that this addiction to approval often holds us back and masks our personalities. He spoke about how to better know our deepest instincts and unlock our authentic selves, in a talk which proved to be extremely powerful and memorable. His talk created lots of discussion among the pupils and a few stayed behind to challenge his thoughts or purchase his book, entitled ‘Insanely Gifted: Turn Your Demons Into Creative Rocket Fuel.’

GE (Year 11) Pupil Max said: ‘After reading his book, I was excited to meet Jamie; he talks almost exactly like he does in his book. I really enjoyed the exercise where everyone looked into their partner’s eyes for 6 minutes in silence – it taught me that you don’t need words to have a conversation or learn more about somebody. It was a delight to host Jamie and we hope more lucky people are able to benefit from his thought provoking talks and workshops.’

Andrew Wines, Assistant Head (Admissions) had the following to say of the event: ‘Jamie Catto was an engaging speaker who consistently took us out of our comfort zone, ensuring the audience was learning from start to finish. He reminded us that real life flows unpredictably and that if we embrace our authentic selves, we can cope with that ambiguity. Despite his fascinating and highly relevant life story, Jamie made his talk about the pupils rather than about himself.’

Jamie Catto is a British musician, video director, photographer, and script editor. He was a founding member of Faithless, before leaving in 1999 to form 1 Giant Leap. He travelled to 50 countries and five continents recording music and interviews with a digital video camera, a laptop and a stated intention to explore ‘The Unity in the Diversity’. 1 Giant Leap’s first album was released in 2002, was nominated for two Grammys in 2003 and sold around 300,000 copies.