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  • Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome back to another lesson with me Tom. Actually today isn't really

  • a lesson because it's a special day today. It's my birthday. Ok.

  • Because it's my birthday I wanted to do something slightly different. I'm going to tell you

  • thirty five facts about me. So I wanted to do this video because I wanted to share a

  • little bit more about me and to help you guys get to know me better. So what I'm hoping

  • is that we are going to get to know each other better because in the comments below I want

  • you to tell me which facts are also true for you. Now why is it thirty five facts? Well,

  • it's a really simple reason. Today it's my thirty fifth birthday. Alright, that was fact

  • number one. There it is, we've started. Ok, here we go. So fact number it's my thirty

  • fifth birthday today. Wow! It's ok, it's fine. I'm ok with that. Alright fact number two.

  • I was born in London, I am a Londoner. However the hospital that I was born in was bulldozed,

  • it was destroyed a week after I was born. That's right! I think I was like the last

  • baby to be born in that hospital and then it was gone. And it's not there anymore. I

  • am six foot tall, which is a perfectly good height. I quite like being six foot. I've

  • always been six foot. Not always obviously, when I was a child I wasn't six foot. But

  • six foot works for me yeah. After university I worked for the BBC. That's right. The British

  • Broadcasting Corporation. I worked on a TV show called What Not To Wear. It was like

  • a fashion show and I was the runner. So I was doing all the little things like driving

  • the presenters to the studio or getting them their food or holding the sound boom. I kind

  • of did everything. I enjoyed it but I decided that TV wasn't really my thing and so I became

  • a teacher. I've been a teacher for ten years. So I started in 2007 and my inspiration was

  • my Mum. She was a teacher and was a fantastic teacher and I kind of, I got in to teaching

  • through her. I actually have done a vlog all about why I became a teacher so you can watch

  • that if you want. My teaching has taken me to three countries so i lived in Spain for

  • one year. I lived in San Sebastian in the north. I then moved to Argentina. I lived

  • in Buenos Aires for one year. So between them I've picked up a little bit of Spanish. 'Hola

  • me llamo Tom. Tengo treinte y cinco anos. So I think that means 'my name is Tom and

  • I'm thirty five years old.' As you can see, it's not great but I picked up some. So I

  • also lived in Hong Kong and i taught at the British Council for three and a half years.

  • Absolutely loved it. I loved all the countries that i lived in. Hong Kong was particularly

  • special for me I just really connected with the city. And yes I can speak a little bit

  • of Cantonese. Here we go (Cantonese) Which I think means where is the swimming pool.

  • Really useful if you need to know where the swimming pool is. Otherwise totally useless.

  • In fact I learned a lot of Cantonese from my students. So i used to teach little kids.

  • Kindergarten kids and i'd hear them. I'd create an activity where they had to run around the

  • room and they'd run around and they'd be like 'fai de la' and I'd be like 'what does that

  • mean?' and it means like hurry up so yeah I learned a lot of my language, a lot of my

  • Cantonese from my little kids. Alright a secret skill that I have is that i can touch my nose

  • with my tongue. You want to see it? Alright. Get ready! That's pretty useful, right? The

  • only problem is i get a wet nose straight after. Eat Sleep Dream was originally a podcast.

  • A podcast is a radio programme that you can listen to at any time. You can get it on iTunes

  • and various other places. And so I started Eat Sleep Dream English in 2012. It was a

  • podcast of me walking around various famous places in London trying to describe them and

  • as I described them people could download worksheets with the important vocabulary.

  • It was pretty good. I quite liked it. I had to stop it because I moved to Hong Kong so

  • it came to an organic end but it was the beginning of what now is Eat Sleep Dream English. I

  • don't do the podcast any more, in fact I only did about twelve or thirteen but I really

  • enjoyed it and it gave me the experience to then start this YouTube channel. I started

  • learning to play the guitar when I was fourteen years old. My dad taught me which was fantastic,

  • really cool. There was a guitar in our house and used to pick it up and be very frustrated

  • with it because I didn't know what to do and one day I just asked my dad. I said can you

  • teach me? And he did. He's a great guitar player, plays lots of like folk music, really

  • nice stuff so yeah he kind of taught me and we've sort of played together which was fantastic.

  • Alright my biggest fear, I think my biggest fear is sharks! So when I was about five I

  • went to Universal Studios in Los Angeles. There was a ride there with Jaws from the

  • movie Jaws. You are in this tram and this shark just comes up and attacks you and I

  • was really scared. Then that evening, that evening me and my sister are in the hotel

  • swimming pool, we are swimming around and she says to me 'oh my god! Jaws! Jaws!' I'm

  • five years old I start panicking. I'm like 'oh no!' I get out of the pool as quickly

  • as I can and she's laughing, she's like 'ah I got you, I tricked you!' And ever since

  • then I've had this fear of sharks. So it's thanks to my sister for that one. So yeah

  • so even when I go into swimming pools now I'll check to see if there are any sharks

  • in there. If I'm in the sea, yeah I'm always thinking about sharks so it's not enough to

  • stop me going in and swimming because I love swimming, I love surfing but it's always on

  • my mind. Yeah! Does anyone else have a fear of sharks? Let me know.

  • Ever since I've started doing Eat Sleep Dream English there's one famous person that you

  • all think I look like. Harry Potter. I've never heard that before, no one has ever told

  • me that i look like Harry Potter but allegedly you guys think I look like Harry Potter. Which

  • makes me think that I should do an English lesson dressed as Harry Potter. If you want

  • to see that video you let me know in the comments below. I write a journal every single day.

  • I've written one for the last eight years. I started when I went on holiday to Thailand.

  • I wanted to remember the holiday, I wanted to remember every single day so I started

  • writing my journal and I've just carried on ever since. And I love it because what I'll

  • do is I'll go back to the year before andI'll have a look at what I was doing this day last

  • year and it's great. My memory isn't fantastic so for me it's a great way to remember what

  • I've done in my life. Alright, every day I have the same breakfast. Yeah it's a bit funny,

  • I don't know why but I like routine, maybe I like waking up and knowing exactly what

  • I'm going to have. And what I have is the most delicious thing for me. So I have a boiled

  • egg, I'll have two slices of toast one with jam and one with peanut butter. I'll have

  • some spinach, I'll have avocado, a bit of grated cheese and a cup of coffee. Well I

  • say a cup of coffee, it's a bowl of coffee. I'll always have coffee in a bowl. Why? Well

  • when I was young I was told that that's what French people did and I thought that sounded

  • really cool so I've continued doing that ever since. It tastes better maybe that's the thing.

  • It tastes better when you drink it out of a bowl. Try it! Don't laugh until you try

  • it and then yeah then you can laugh. I love making top five lists. I don't know why but

  • for example top five trees. What are your favourite trees? I have a top five list of

  • my favourite trees. What about places you want to visit? I have a list of the top five

  • places that I want to visit right now. The top five cities or countries. I guess I think

  • it makes for an interesting conversation. You can debate with somebody. What's your

  • favourite? Why is it your favourite? Yeah I find it interesting.

  • I support Tottenham Hotspur. Now the reason I support Tottenham. Well there are many reasons.

  • They are my local team so i grew up in North London and they are from North London. Also

  • my great grandfather was one of the original founding members of Tottenham Hotspur. It

  • was founded by a group of school boys and he was one of them so I kind of has to support

  • Tottenham. It's in the family. Also they are the best so that's an easy one. Oh and Harry

  • Kane, that one.

  • I have many favourite films but the number one favourite film I think it would have to

  • be Home Alone. I mean it's super funny like I've never laughed as much as when I first

  • saw that film I was rolling on the floor absolutely in stitches. You are not going to believe

  • this one but it is true. I once had a tooth in my head for six months. It's true honestly!

  • It is true. So it was somebody else's tooth, I was playing football with my friend Ben

  • and we had an accident and our heads collided and his front tooth went into my head. And

  • it was really painful but I didn't realise that it had gone in there and then six months

  • later I was kind of watching TV I was sort of scratching my head and I was like that

  • feels strange and so I went to the doctor and he went pop and it was my friend's tooth.

  • Really! The real tooth. I couldn't believe it. So I put it on a piece of string and then

  • made it a necklace out of it. Actually that bit isn't true I didn't do that but i should

  • have done. But I did give it back to my mate Ben. So yeah and now I have a little scar

  • in the top of my head.

  • My dream is to live by the sea. I think this is a dream that is shared with many many people.

  • But yeah I would love to live by the sea. I'm not quite sure where but I love the idea

  • of being by the beach, being able to go into the sea, hopefully with no sharks and see

  • the horizon.

  • I have one or two nicknames. My niece and nephew call me Uncle T which I like, Uncle

  • T, Uncle Tom. When I was teaching kids they used to call me Teacher Tom. It's not really

  • a nickname but I really liked it. Teacher Tom. I was teaching them about Space and this

  • little five year old goes 'Teacher Tom, Teacher Tom my sister likes apples.' Ok, that's great

  • information, thank you for telling me that.

  • I have one sister, her name is Anya and you guys have probably met her. She's been in

  • a couple of my videos already. We walked around London a couple of times and we walked around

  • the countryside together. She's awesome, she's obviously the best sister that I could wish

  • for and I know that you guys love her as well so hopefully I'll get her on another video

  • really soon. Because yeah, she's awesome.

  • When I was a kid I wanted to be a rollercoaster designer. I didn't really know what it meant

  • but I'd been to a theme park where there was an amazing roller coaster and i loved the

  • idea of designing one so I used to get paper and pens and just draw these crazy designs

  • and it never went beyond that but yeah that was kind of what I wanted to do as a kid.

  • Oh and obviously be a football player, of course.

  • This one is a hard one to admit but I have never watched Star Wars! I know! I know! I

  • should, I really should! But I've kind of got to the point now where I kind of don't

  • want to. Maybe this is me being stubborn but every time I tell someone that I've never

  • seen Star Wars I just love their reaction. They are like 'oh what! You've.. what!' and

  • I enjoy seeing their reaction so maybe I should never watch Star Wars. Let me know if you've

  • never watched Star Wars, please let me know in the comments below. If I could meet any

  • famous person, I would love to meet David Attenborough. Now David Attenborough is a

  • national treasure here in Britain. He presents nature documentaries so if you have ever seen

  • Planet Earth or Blue Planet, he was the voice and presenter for those programmes. He does

  • amazing amazing TV. He has shown me the world, so I have been able to sit in my living room

  • and he has shown me the world. He's gone to every corner and shown me how beautiful the

  • world is so I'd love to talk to him to ask him questions about you know what he's seen

  • and what he's done and all his experiences. At my sister's wedding I wore a kilt which

  • is traditional Scottish dress. Now I'm not Scottish but my sister's husband is Scottish

  • so we all wore kilts to the wedding. I have had every bad haircut that you can imagine.

  • Literally everything. I've shaved my hair off, I have had bleach blonde hair, I've had

  • cornrows, I've had it all. I've had a mohican, I've had every terrible haircut there is possible

  • and I'm glad that I have because you've got to try these things once, right? So yeah,

  • every haircut you could imagine.

  • One of my first jobs when I was about fourteen or fifteen. At Christmas I worked in a shop

  • that sold Christmas trees. So I would help families, they would come into the shop. They

  • would want to buy a Christmas tree and I would help them choose the Christmas tree that they

  • wanted and then I would put it on my shoulder and carry it to their car. It was a really

  • fun job, it was really festive and i kind of thought I was helping families find their

  • Christmas tree which is kind of magical so yeah that was a really fun job. It was quite

  • tiring but yeah I enjoyed it. But my worst job, well that's easy that's very easy. So

  • after leaving school I was temping, so i was doing different jobs every day and one job

  • that I was given by the temping agency was to go about fifty miles north to a town called

  • Milton Keynes. The night before was an Eminem concert and it was a huge venue, outdoor venue

  • and we got there and the manager just said you need to clear this field of all the rubbish.

  • And this field was covered with rubbish. Everything. Cans, bottles, just...it was awful. And it

  • was a sunny day so I thought well I'll make the best of it so I took off my top and I

  • tried to get a sun tan. Obviously in summer that's a pretty silly thing to do if yo haven't

  • got any sun tan cream. So we were working there for eight hours, picking up these bottles,

  • putting them into plastic bags. Finally we finished and then my friend looked at me and

  • he's like 'Tom you are super red. You look like a lobster!' And indeed I was covered

  • in sunburn. So the journey home, it was the worst. I couldn't touch the back of my seat

  • because it hurt too much I just had to stand up right. I was absolutely shattered from

  • the day at work. It was the worst day ever. Definitely. Definitely the worst job I've

  • ever done. It's made me appreciate how hard some jobs are and you know, and the tough

  • things that a lot of people have to do every day. So yeah, it was a good experience, a

  • good learning experience. When I was a kid I was obsessed with WWF which is wrestling.

  • And my favourite wrestler was the Ultimate Warrior. The Ultimate Warrior, he was the

  • ultimate wrestler in my eyes. He was strong, he was fast, he was cool.

  • I've been in two bands. Well I say two bands. One was a group where we did like one terrible

  • concert we were singers, it was awful. And the second one was a punk band, again not

  • very good but we played one concert in the same venue that Coldplay have played so that's

  • kind of cool. I've played in the same venue as Coldplay. When I was a little kid I was

  • definitely very mischievous. A little bit naughty but I was also a little bit cheeky

  • so i kind of got away with murder really. So I'd get into the food draws and I'd just

  • eat the chocolate that was there or any sweets that I could find. And then my Mum would find

  • me and be like 'tom what are you doing?' And I would just smile and grin and have this

  • cheeky face and she would start laughing and I got away with it.

  • And the final one and the most important is that I have a niece and nephew. My nephew

  • is Stanley and my niece is Isla and they are awesome. I love hanging out with them, we

  • do all kinds of fun things. So we play football, we do musical statues, we play Uno. They are

  • much better than me at these games but I love playing with them they are super fun. That

  • was thirty five facts about me. I hope you enjoyed that. Let me know in the comments

  • below, were any of those similar for you. Do you have a niece and nephew or are you

  • afraid of sharks? Let me know in the comments below, I'd love to know more about you guys.

  • Remember guys I've got new videos every Tuesday and every Friday teaching you fresh modern

  • British English. Remember to hit the subscribe button, hit the like button and of course

  • if you are on Instagram or on Facebook I'm there as well so go check those out as well.

  • Thank you so much for hanging out with me today, I've really enjoyed this one. It's

  • been a personal vlog today but I hope you have enjoyed it. Anyway, this is Tom, the

  • Chief Dreamer, saying goodbye.

Eat Sleep Dreamers welcome back to another lesson with me Tom. Actually today isn't really

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