{"id":1377,"date":"2021-05-25T11:28:46","date_gmt":"2021-05-25T11:28:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=1377"},"modified":"2026-03-03T11:13:03","modified_gmt":"2026-03-03T11:13:03","slug":"s2-e1-renaissance-man-simon-cocking-from-london-to-asia-central-america-to-ireland","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/index.php\/podcast\/s2-e1-renaissance-man-simon-cocking-from-london-to-asia-central-america-to-ireland\/","title":{"rendered":"S2: E1 &#8211; Renaissance Man, Simon Cocking, From London to Asia, Central America to Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Today&#8217;s guest is a bit of a Renaissance man whose early working life involved travel writing, focusing on the Deep South and Central America. Since then, he&#8217;s been involved in music, sports, tech and the environment. Simon Cocking is the editor of Irish Tech News, as well as being a very sought after keynote speaker and ICO advisor.&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"Simon Cocking Central America\" class=\"wp-image-1383\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Central-America.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>In 1992 he spent a year in Central America visiting all the countries.&nbsp; In this interview, Simon said of Central America,&nbsp;<em>&#8220;I think time in Central America is really good to help us to contextualise things that are playing out. And I think we only become richer for doing that.&#8221;<\/em><br><br><strong>Simon&#8217;s colourful life has included summers busking and fire juggling in Spain, playing with Samba bands in Dublin and at festivals all over Ireland. In Madrid, he taught English as a foreign language.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1384\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-800x450.jpg 800w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa-400x225.jpg 400w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-Africa.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>This is only a taster of what Simon talks about in this interview. He wonderfully connects the influences of the many places that have played special roles in his life. He also joins the dots between the many activities he has been involved with.<br><br>Listen in to discover many more places and experiences. &nbsp; As Simon says about special time spent in Honduras:&nbsp;<em>\u201cEvery time you work with others the final outcome is the result of a coalition of inputs, energies, and ideas on the way things should be done. The mosaics were a great way to make an exchange, a link between my sponsoring organisation, City Artsquad, who kindly allowed me the time to go to Honduras, the local community groups who now have their first-ever mosaics on Utila, and me, the artist who learnt and saw so many things from the local people \u2013 including that my name in Utilan meant, yes man, no problem, chill out.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-gallery columns-2 is-cropped\"><ul class=\"blocks-gallery-grid\"><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"768\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM-768x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1386\" class=\"wp-image-1386\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM-768x1024.jpg 768w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM-800x1067.jpg 800w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM-400x533.jpg 400w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Simon-Cocking-birthday-gift-2021-SM.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 768px) 100vw, 768px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><li class=\"blocks-gallery-item\"><figure><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"838\" height=\"1024\" src=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-838x1024.png\" alt=\"\" data-id=\"1387\" data-full-url=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2.png\" data-link=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/index.php\/podcast\/s2-e1-renaissance-man-simon-cocking-from-london-to-asia-central-america-to-ireland\/cape-clear-simon-cocking-2\/\" class=\"wp-image-1387\" srcset=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-838x1024.png 838w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-246x300.png 246w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-768x938.png 768w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-800x977.png 800w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-400x489.png 400w, https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2.png 1010w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 838px) 100vw, 838px\" \/><\/figure><\/li><\/ul><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today&#8217;s guest is a bit of a Renaissance man whose early working life involved travel writing, focusing on the Deep South and Central America. Since then, he&#8217;s been involved in music, sports, tech and the environment. Simon Cocking is the editor of Irish Tech News, as well as being a very sought after keynote speaker&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1379,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","filesize_raw":""},"tags":[],"series":[12],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Cape-Clear-Simon-Cocking-2-sm.jpg","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Creative-Places-Faces-Podcast-Cover.jpg","download_link":false,"player_link":false,"audio_player":false,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"dark","subscribeUrls":[],"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/feed\/podcast\/ireland","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/creativeplacesandfaces.com\/index.php\/podcast\/s2-e1-renaissance-man-simon-cocking-from-london-to-asia-central-america-to-ireland\/\">S2: E1 &#8211; Renaissance Man, Simon Cocking, From London to Asia, Central America to Ireland<\/a><\/blockquote>\n<script type='text\/javascript'>\n<!--\/\/--><![CDATA[\/\/><!--\n\t\t\/*! 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