Dave Trott's Blog

HOW DUMB ARE WE?   A few days ago I got an email asking if I wanted to be on a Channel 4 documentary about advertising. Apparently the government is worried about all the expected Bulgarian immigrants next year. They … read more

    When my son was very small he asked me about death. We were driving along on a sunny day. Suddenly the concept hit him with the weight of a cartoon anvil. I heard his little voice from the … read more

    Gordon Smith didn’t go to art school. He started at 16 as a runner in an ad agency. Then he managed to get a job in the studio, then a junior art director, then senior art director, then … read more

    A while back, Robin Wight was involved in a project that needed some careful public relations handling. The most influential man in this area is Alan Parker, founder and chairman of Brunswick PR. So Robin said to his … read more

    Joseph Bell was a physician at Edinburgh University in the 1870s. He constantly taught his students observation and deduction. To notice every tiny detail and draw conclusions. Most people of course don’t do this. Everything passes us by … read more

Sheryl Sandberg is Chief Operating Officer of Facebook. She earns around $26 million a year. She was talking about what women need to do to get to the top of their profession. She said they needed to learn from men. … read more

    In Soho is a pub called the John Snow. Who is he, why is a pub named after him, and why in Soho? It all concerns the cholera outbreak of 1854. Five hundred people died in two weeks. … read more

    On American hospital-based TV shows you hear the term ‘triage’. As in “Nurse, get this patient to triage immediately!” I always thought it meant emergency treatment. Actually it doesn’t mean that. The idea of triage is to ration … read more

    In 1963 John Kennedy Toole wrote “A Confederacy of Dunces”. It was different to a conventional novel. He sent it to a publisher he admired, Simon and Schuster. The editor in charge felt it needed serious changes. He … read more

    When my children were very small, my wife and I went to some parenting classes. I still remember the best thing I heard there. It was very simple, the best things usually are. In all our interactions with … read more