Details of talks given by Ken Kelly
A well-travelled and experienced High Performance Manager – with a passion for bringing little-known and forgotten history back to life !
After graduating, Ken worked as a teacher and lecturer in Mathematics in the UK and Malaysia. Whilst working in Kuala Lumpur he was appointed as a National Athletics Coach for the MAAU Centres of Excellence Programme.
Widely travelled across five continents, he found time and travelled extensively throughout SE Asia and India.
He came back to the UK overland through Hong Kong, China - and across Russia on the trans-Siberian Express – and arrived in Berlin the day the Wall came down (not his fault!).
Returning to the UK, Ken swapped teaching for High Performance Sport, taking management roles with a number of the UK’s leading sports bodies including UK Athletics, the British Paralympic Association and the England & Wales Cricket Board. On the GB staff at four Paralympic Games and head athletics coach in Sydney and Athens, in 1992 he was awarded an Olympic Coach Scholarship.
For 15 years, as a counter-point to his professional work, Ken has studied the US and Soviet space programmes extensively from Mercury to the Space Shuttle, Vostok to Soyuz. Having visited Mission Control Centre in Houston and corresponded with astronauts from that period.
His talks catalogue has now expanded, to bring to audiences, stories that should not be forgotten.
Favouring a multi-media style, Ken is an experienced, innovative and engaging presenter having spoken extensively at UK conferences and overseas.
Since 2018, Ken has been a speaker on cruise ships; sailing to Europe, the Far East and across the Atlantic. To date with Saga, Princess, Royal Caribbean and Marella Lines.
Ken is now an adviser/consultant to a number of national sports organisations. He keeps a rowing machine in the garage – but is mindful to avoid over-training!