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Anthony Day

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Rose Dooley Student Contributor, University of Leeds
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Hannah Shariatmadari Student Contributor, University of Leeds
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Leeds chapter and does not reflect the views of Her Campus.

Many A-level students finish their exams and decide to take a gap year, usually travelling around Australia and Southern Asia and ending with the clichĂ© Full Moon party on a beach in Thailand. However, Anthony Day’s gap year involved something a little different which resulted in him meeting Gordon Brown.

HC: Why did you decide to take a gap year?
AD: I decided to take a gap year as I felt pressured from my college into going to university. I initially applied to go to Newcastle University to study History but didn’t really put much thought into the decision; I just went along with it all because everyone else was. It was only when I received my A-Level results that I realised I didn’t actually want to go to university straight away. I suddenly realised I had grown tired of studying for exams every Christmas and summer and wanted some time to consider what I really wanted to do, without the pressures put upon you at college.

HC: What is the Diana award and how did you end up meeting Gordon Brown?
AD: Long story, so I’ll start at the beginning! 

In 2007 I was awarded a Diana Award for ‘inspiring the lives of others’ through my Fairtrade work. The Diana Award was set up in memory of Princess Diana to recognise the work of young people around the UK. During my work with the Diana Award I was asked to set up a website that acted as a platform for Diana Award Holders to upload audio, video, images and blogs about their concerns, such as knife crime, bullying and poverty. I managed the site, contributing my own reports and materials in the process. In addition, I was asked to act as a Local Community Leader for the North East.  

I first met Gordon in 2008 during an awards ceremony in Gateshead. Following our initial meeting I endeavoured to contact the former PM again and was fortunate to have a ten minute telephone call with him.
My interest in global social justice, in particular Fairtrade, lead over two years to various correspondence with the Queen, MPs, ministers and significant media figures including David Cameron, Tony Blair, Peter Mandelson, Ed Balls, Esther Rantzen, Robin Gibb and Bob Geldof.

For this reason, and after being awarded the Diana Award in January 2009, the PM invited me to Downing Street to discuss the negative stereotyping of young people portrayed in the media and the subsequent repercussions. Following this meeting I secured a further meeting in July 2009 where I interviewed the PM on the key issues that affect young people; tuition fees, job prospects for the young unemployed and his strategies to tackle these matters. Following this, I was invited to Downing Street again for an awards ceremony for Diana Award holders in November 2009. Here I spoke to Gordon and Sarah Brown and former Chancellor Alistair Darling.

HC: What was Gordon Brown like?
AD: Despite a lot of speculation in the media, I can honestly say that Gordon Brown is one of the nicest and most accommodating people I’ve ever met. Throughout all of my meetings with Gordon he seemed genuinely concerned about the many issues facing young people. He also tried his utmost to take time out of his schedule to find solutions to the issues I raised with him.    

     
 
HC: And out of all the people/celebs you’ve met who would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?
AD: When I met Lord Mandelson, former MP of Hartlepool, he was very demanding. So much so that he even brought his own tea bags along with him. He subsequently gave them to our deputy headteacher so that he could make him a cup of tea. Trust me; if you knew our deputy headteacher, he wasn’t the kind of person you would do this sort of thing to. So, yes, very pretentious, but would you expect anything else from the Dark Lord of Politics?
 
HC: So what made you choose Leeds University and your course?
AD: During my time off, I knew that journalism and reporting the news was what I wanted to do. Although it seems silly, I always knew that I wanted to do it, but it wasn’t until after college and the media work that I was involved in, that I realised that THIS WAS IT! After this revelation, I decided to look for a course that suited me; that was Broadcast Journalism at Leeds Uni. The course was a perfect balance between academic and practical and had a really good reputation.
 
HC: Are you continuing your work on the projects while you’re at University?
AD: Since coming to university I have had to scale back some of my commitments in order to concentrate on my university work. However, I still keep in constant contact with the Diana Award and continue to work with them and other media organisations to promote their work and the work of Diana Award holders.

HC: And finally describe your perfect evening in Leeds?
AD: A night out with friends, a McDonalds on the way home and plenty of laughs in between. Surely that’s a perfect formula? Right?

 

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Rose Dooley
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Hannah Shariatmadari

Hannah first joined Her Campus as part of the Illinois branch as a writer during her study abroad year at UofI. While in the US, Hannah joined Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and subsequently began to write a weekly column for the Greek newspaper, The Odyssey. Now back home in the UK, Hannah has founded the first ever UK HC branch for her own university, The University of Leeds. She is in her final year of a Politics degree and is excited for the year ahead and what great things Her Campus Leeds will achieve. Outside of her studies, Hannah enjoys travel, fashion and being an alumni of The University of Leeds Celtics Cheerleading squad where she ran as PR Secretary for the committee during her 2nd year.