Geoff Thompson is a British writer, martial artist and self-defence teacher from Coventry. A former nightclub doorman, he wrote the bestselling memoir Watch My Back, developed the self-defence concept known as The Fence, and won a BAFTA in 2004 for his short film Brown Paper Bag.
Brian Rose has interviewed Thompson four times on London Real, between 2013 and 2023. They have talked about fear and how to face it, violence and anger, his move from factory work to writing, his memoir Notes from a Factory Floor and his book on forgiveness, 99 Reasons to Forgive.
His central message is that fear can be a friend rather than an enemy. Each interview is listed below in order with a short summary.
Fear My Friend (2013). His first London Real interview, covering his years on the door and the method he used to face his fears one by one.
Thompson’s core idea is that fear can be used rather than avoided. In 2013 he described listing his fears as a pyramid and confronting them one at a time, starting with the smallest.
Working as a doorman in some of Coventry’s roughest clubs in the 1980s forced him to face violence and his own fear of confrontation. That experience shaped his books on self-defence and his concept of The Fence.
In 2013 and again in 2023, Thompson said forgiveness was the only real revenge. He argues that holding on to anger keeps the harm alive, and that forgiving is something you do for yourself.
Thompson describes years of low-paid manual work before he committed to his dream of writing. In his 2020 and 2023 interviews he credits confronting his fears with making that change possible.
Geoff Thompson is a British writer, martial artist and self-defence teacher from Coventry. He worked as a nightclub doorman, wrote the bestselling memoir Watch My Back, and won a BAFTA in 2004 for the short film Brown Paper Bag.
Across four interviews from 2013 to 2023, Thompson talked about fear, violence, his years on the door, his writing and film work, his memoir Notes from a Factory Floor, and forgiveness after abuse.
Start with Fear My Friend from 2013, his first London Real interview and the clearest account of his life and his ideas on fear. Then watch 99 Reasons To Forgive from 2023 for his later thinking on forgiveness.
Four times: Fear My Friend in 2013, Conquer Your Fear in 2014, Notes From The Factory Floor in 2020 and 99 Reasons To Forgive in 2023.
The Fence is a self-defence concept Thompson developed from his time as a doorman. It uses a non-aggressive stance and body language to keep a physical and psychological barrier between you and a potential attacker, and is widely taught in self-defence training.
Published in 2023, 99 Reasons to Forgive draws on Thompson’s experience of being abused as a boy. He argues that forgiveness helps the person who was harmed to heal, and that forgiving is not the same as excusing what happened.
Yes. His short film Brown Paper Bag won the BAFTA for Best Short Film in 2004. An earlier short, Bouncer, starring Ray Winstone, was also nominated for a BAFTA.
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