Born into poverty on a tough council estate in Leeds, England, Richard was placed on the “At-risk” register before he could walk and talk. Then, just one week before his sixth birthday, his mother was tragically taken from him when she became the first victim of a man who would go on to become one of Britain’s most notorious serial killers, Peter Sutcliffe.

What followed was foster parents, time in a care home, and then a deprived childhood living with his often violent and drunken father. Richard eventually left school with no qualifications and very little self-esteem. After stumbling from one mistake after another, he fell into petty crime and this led to a stint in the same prison as his mother’s killer! When he was released, he had few prospects and entered a suicide pact with one of his sisters. He had reached his rock bottom.

Find out how Educationalists influenced Richard to turn his life around and how he then and went on to become a Sunday Times No1 Best Selling author whose first book, Just a Boy, made sales of almost half a million in the UK alone and was translated into more than 10 different languages.

Today, Richard has delivered over 3000 presentations around the world, inspiring audiences with his story of overcoming adversity, and sharing his powerful iCan approach. In 2009 he founded the iCanSpeak Academy, training individuals and teams to enhance their presentation skills and communicate their message authentically and with confidence, so they achieve more effective results.