Talk:Matt O'Connor/Temp

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Matt O’Connor is a designer, communicator, author and political activist. He is the founding father and frontman of one of the most controversial and high profile pressure groups of modern times, Fathers4Justice.

Career Highlights
In 2005 he was GQ Magazine’s 7th Top Communicator in the UK, GQ Magazine’s 92nd Most Powerful Man in Britain, Esquire Magazine’s 35th Most Powerful Man In Britain Under 50 and one of twenty people shortlisted for the Royal Society’s Great Briton of the Year Awards.

In 2007 Matt O'Connor published his first book Fathers4Justice: The Inside Story'' through the Orion Publishing Group and sold the motion picture rights to his life story to Buena Vista pictures, part of the Walt Disney group.

In 2008 he was a candidate in the London Mayoral Elections.

In 2009 he launched his extreme ice cream brand ‘The Icecreamists’ in Selfridges flagship London store.

In 2011 The Icecreamists won Event Magazine’s PR Event of the Year Award for the launch of ‘Baby Gaga’ breast milk ice cream.

His second book The Icecreamists was published in the summer of 2012 by Octopus Publishing.

Since 1998 he has been the Creative Director for several major ice cream brands in the UK including Cadbury, Britvic and Del Monte. As creator of the UK’s first National Ice Cream Week, he launched the Daniel Craig ice lolly in 2009 and in 2011 sailed the World’s First Amphibious Ice Cream Van on the Thames past Parliament.

He is also Creative Director for award-winning Italian Gelato brand Antonio Federici Gelato Italiano which he created and launched in 2009. In 2012 Antonio Federici was included on the list of Britain’s Coolest Brands compiled by the CoolBrands Council.

In Spring 2013 he will launch a new political platform powered by people, not politicians.

Matt is a frequent speaker in the media, at business conferences, The Oxford Union and at schools and universities across the UK where Fathers4Justice is now taught on the National Curriculum.

Founder, Fathers4Justice
Founded by Matt O'Connor in 2001, Fathers4Justice was described in The Independent as 'The most spectacular protest group of modern times'. They became infamous for their 'Superheroes' campaign which saw fathers scale national landmarks dressed as iconic superhero characters in protest over the separation of children from their fathers in secret family courts.

In 2010 Fathers4Justice agreed a set of pre election promises with the Conservative Party which were subsequently broken. As a result, in July 2011 O’Connor staged an eight-day hunger strike outside the Prime Minister’s home. In September 2011 Fathers4Justice staged their second protest at Buckingham Palace.

In March 2012 Fathers4Justice launched Children4Justice with a new film and in July 2012 the ASA banned a national newspaper advert by Fathers4Justice which accused Mumsnet of publishing ‘anti-male hatred’ on their website. In May 2012 O’Connor was banned from entering London during the State Opening of Parliament.

The government subsequently failed in an attempt to ban him from going within 100 metres of any venue at the London 2012 Olympic Games. In November 2012 the government outlined proposals to give fathers shared parenting rights.

Fathers4Justice is the world’s largest equal parenting campaign group with 36,000 registered families in the UK. It is also the third highest supported campaign group in the UK behind Greenpeace & Amnesty International (Conservative Party Polling 2011) and their position on Equal Parenting enjoys 84% public support.

Publications
Fathers4Justice: The Inside Story Orion Publishing June 15, 2007

Matt O'Connor's personal account his fight for father’s rights after losing contact with his two boys Daniel and Alexander in a secret family court after separating from his wife.

Fathers4Justice staged some of the most audacious protests ever seen in the UK. They repeatedly breached national security, whether it was powder-bombing Prime Minister Tony Blair in the House of Commons or their infamous 'Superhero' campaign which saw Batman scale Buckingham Palace, Spiderman close Tower Bridge for a week and superheroes climbing into Downing Street behind the backs of the police. The group even took the National Lottery off air when they staged a live protest on BBC1 in front of an audience of 11 million people.

Now the concept of 'Fathers Rights' has finally been recognised and long overdue reforms are being discussed. Find out how one man took on the fight for father's rights by taking on the government with just a handful of other dads, a ladder, and a lot of lycra.

The Icecreamists: 'Ice Creams, Vice Creams & Other Guilty Pleasures' Octopus Publishing June 1, 2012

The new book from The Icecreamists features over 80 ice creams, vice creams and other guilty pleasures. Featured recipes include their infamous ‘Baby Gaga’ (Breast Milk) and ‘Sex Bomb’ (Viagra & Absinthe) ice cream recipes, enabling you to recreate the authentic Icecreamists experience at home.

Quotes about Matt O’Connor
“If ice cream was rock’n’roll, then Matt O’Connor would be its Keith Richards.” The Sunday Times Style Magazine

“King of ice cream. Master of controversy.” Liz Hoggard, The Evening Standard

“A verbal machinegun.” Cole Moreton, The Independent

“An attention-seeking mastermind…” Andrew Mueller, The Independent on Sunday

“…fiercely intelligent, charmingly foul-mouthed and a fantastic turn of phrase. Few could equal O’Connor when it comes to taking a conversational thread, yanking, unravelling and generally running with it.” Will Self, Author & Journalist, GQ Magazine

"...he displayed great humour, eccentricity and innovation in raising awareness of a very serious social issue." The Royal Society, Great Briton of the Year Awards, 2005

“O’Connor and Fathers4Justice have taken communication to a new pro-active level.” GQ Magazine’s 7th Top Communicator in the UK, 2005

“Mastermind of some of the biggest political stunts of recent years.” Esquire Magazine

“…when historians look back on British Society at the start of the third millennium they will accord an important chapter to the men in tights.” The Times Newspaper, January

“Fathers4Justice? The worst campaign group I have ever heard of.” Downing Street Press Spokesman

Personal life
Matt lives in Hampshire with his wife Nadine, children Phillippa and Archie and their Labrador, Cocoa and Irish Wolfhound, Kerry.