Ben Shephard & Harry Moseley

Ben Shephard

As some of you may have read in my previous blog on the subject, I’m putting together a ‘book of celebration’ for Harry Moseley – an 11-year-old boy who raised tons of cash for cancer charities, despite suffering from an inoperable brain tumour himself.

Tragically, Harry died last October, but his legacy and light is still shining brightly…

This week, as part of the process of collecting material for the book, I had the great pleasure of interviewing a friend of Harry’s - British TV presenter, Ben Shephard (@BenShephard on Twitter) an excerpt of which you can watch here:

Not having more than glanced at a lit televisualisation machine for more than a decade, I didn’t know a great deal about Ben before meeting him, except for what I could find on searches of the Interland – specifically his Wikipedia page, news articles mentioning his friendship with Harry and a very powerful photograph of him alongside Duncan Bannatyne (of BBC’s Dragon’s Den) at Harry’s funeral.

Duncan Bannatyne & Ben Shephard

Meeting Ben, at Starbucks in Richmond, London, was quite an experience. From the moment my girlfriend, Jen (who volunteered to be videographer for the occasion), and I walked in, we felt in the company of an old friend – he has such a gracious, engaging and charming nature, not to mention a brilliant eloquence in vocal expression. It could have been a bit unsettling - from the perspective of this mumbling, bumbling oaf - if it weren’t for the fact he’s a top bloke.

Very quickly, as the interview progressed, I knew that we were recording something a bit special that was perfect for the book – the right mix of the poignant, tragic and laugh out loud funny that I’d hoped could be captured through these face-to-face meetings with Harry’s friends.

The love for Harry, that so many, many thousands of people share, shone from Ben as we talked – in his physical expressions and through his words. I was humbled, once again, by the tremendous energy of goodness that Harry has given all the people he touched, in life.

The book is progressing superbly well. Tomorrow morning, we’ll be interviewing five more of Harry’s friends – Steve Jacques, Michael Johnson, Ian Taylor and James & Ollie Phelps, and I’m delighted to say that next week, we’ll be talking to the mighty Chris Evans.

There’s still an awful lot to do, but it’s going to be done, and with passion.

I hope you can pop along to Harry’s website and buy one of his special bracelets, or perhaps make a donation:

Help Harry Help Others

And please follow Harry’s mother, Georgie, on Twitter at: 

@Harry_Moseley 

Ben, Harry & Gary Lineker

* * * * *

There’s now a Lesism Facebook Page! I’d be most appreciative if you’d give it a LIKE:

www.facebook.com/Lesism

You’re also very welcome to befriend me on my regular Facebook account, here:

www.facebook.com/lesfloyd