Laurence Middleton

Writer, Traveler, Creator

Discover Pills and Presidents—my latest travel anthology.

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Pills and Presidents

Hilarious, engaging, shocking: Pills and Presidents takes you behind the scenes in some crazy worlds. Share trials, tribulations, disasters and triumphs, all told with mesmerising style and wit.

"Made me laugh out loud!" Doug Simpson, (former editor, The Pharmaceutical Journal).

The anthology contains:

Get There Before Clinton — behind the scenes at a World Summit
DRINX 4 PAX: bladerunner — leading a wild, small group exploratory tour
Faith, Hope and Charity — the tribulations of a Cuban charity fundraiser
Dr. Enrique, "Mr Enthusiasm" of Puno, Peru — an interview with an inspirational businessman
That Will Sort You Out, Mr Branco — on the receiving end of Colombian Healthcare
A Month in the Agency — behind the scenes in a London advertising agency
Looking For Rain — a trip in the Llanos with my father-in-law
"I'm a Pharmacist – Get Me Out of Here!" — behind the scenes on a Reality TV show

Available At:

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Purchase EPUB Directly: Coming soon!

Sample: Pills and Presidents

Here's a taste of *Pills and Presidents*:

I should have suspected something when I saw all the dents on the side of the maroon Renault 5. I should have paid attention as he fumbled with the key. It was only as we hurtled over the cobbles at bone-shaking speeds, veering very close and personal to unyielding Roman walls that I realised: Manolo was drunk.

But the restaurant was beautiful — or perhaps it was just the relief of arriving in one piece. Blue and yellow local ceramics caught the light on the white walls around the enclosed central patio, when Manolo finally found the light switches. There were flowers everywhere. The kitchen looked clean too — a bonus. We worked out a menu selection for a fixed-price meal and I began to relax — Christmas Eve would be fine and my group would be ecstatic. But then I made a stupid, fatal mistake. Wishing to make it "a night to remember", wishing to go the extra mile, I said, "We'd like a guitarist." Silly me...

★ ★ ★

The two nurses turned into my room on their morning rounds. Their faces dropped; they looked suddenly terrified, one grasped the door post. Did I look that bad, I wondered? Then I noticed the glass of water on my bedside table shaking. I almost breathed a sigh of relief — it was only another earthquake...

★ ★ ★

The Outside Broadcast truck was where the Director performed. With two engineers she called the shots. She would speak directly to the camera crews and presenters during the show in order to guide them and to keep the pace and activity entertaining. At certain points she would cut to an insert that had been created from the daily footage after calling up and preparing Mr Voice-of-God in his chilly hideout.

The scary thing was that the show had to start absolutely on the second as it went straight out onto S4C's network via Rob. There were three hours to go to the show when the Director let me into the plan for that evening. The Celebs had been learning the Welsh names for the parts of the body — so tonight's live surprise was a group of three male strippers up from London. A driver had been dispatched to Bangor railway station to collect the gentlemen in question.

Then the driver rang. The strippers had missed the train. They were apparently on a later train. He was confident he could still get them back before the show.

It was not easy to find enough things to do for the live shows with hours of airtime to fill. Our producer had already used some game show formats — such as memorising items, Celebs doing individual party pieces and so on. There were meetings during the day to plan the details – but they had to do a lot of thinking on their feet.

The driver rang again: no strippers on the second train either. In fact, they were not on any train and one was in a police cell. The evening show was vanishing before our eyes as the director turned to me with an appealing look.

"Would you mind? I mean, it would be quite easy..."

★ ★ ★

Cameras, mics, lights, motherboards, cables and books littered my spare room. I had decided to put together a media company with the help of this loan and a set of screwdrivers.

Before too long I had a secretary, Maria, and a phone. The phone was ringing. Someone wanted a quote for webcasting. There were not many companies webcasting back then, which is how we must have got the business. The voice was extremely plummy.

"Where?" I asked. The contact couldn't say. "How can I quote if I don't know where?" I asked Maria.

"Or when," she said.

The contact, let us call him "M", was not very forthcoming with the details. In fact it took weeks.

"London", "M" eventually confided, then "Westminster", then, finally, "Downing Street".

By this stage I was pressing the panic buttons, but there was no backing out: the quote had been agreed. I was to interview the PM and members of the Cabinet in Number 10. It was time to re-read the camera instruction manual...

Services Inspired by My Journey

The skills behind Pills and Presidents are available for your projects.

Storytelling Content

Craft authentic narratives for brands or blogs—see my style in my book.

Short-Form Video

Create engaging Reels or Shorts—watch an audience experience video filmed at a mediaeval festival in Somerset, UK.

Event Webcasting

Stream events live with polish—skills honed on global travels.

Visual Branding

Photos and videos for your identity—shot with a traveler’s eye.

Creative Consulting

Blend AI with human creativity for innovative campaigns.

Video Editing Services

Transform raw footage into polished stories—expertise from TV and global brands.

Want to collaborate? Let’s bring your story to life.

Latest Posts

Website Creation

Making a Website with AI: My Journey

Welcome, fellow storytellers and dreamers, to a thrilling new chapter in the world of creation! Since the advent of artificial intelligence capable of coding, we've stepped into an era of unprecedented enablement. But is it as simple as it seems? Join me as I share my adventure building this website with AI, the lessons learned, and tips to get you started.

My Journey

I am a writer, cameraman, photographer, producer, director and pharmacist. If it sounds like a case of restless legs it was. So how did I get here?

I returned to Hay-on-Wye after qualifying as a pharmacist and set to work with my father in the historic local Chemists.

This was a traditional pharmacy where we actually made things. I could formulate my own mixtures, cosmetics, polishes, drinks, stink bombs...

But something started nagging me. Why were so many people taking medicines they didn't need. Why were so many people, with beautiful homes in this beautiful town, so depressed, downing benzodiazepines like there was no tomorrow.

My sister brought a friend home from Oxford and a relationship started. I suddenly found myself sat with the headmasters' family in Wellington College. They were discussing Tennyson's 'In Memoriam' over breakfast. I didn't like being so out-of-my-depth and I signed up for an English Literature A-level at night school. I loved the course, rising each morning at 4 a.m. to study before work. One day Mr Spiers, our wonderful, crusty, Canadian professor, said that now was the time to apply for University, if anyone was interested. I was.

Goldsmiths' College, University of London is an inspiring Victorian beauty with a huge library. I practically lived in it. Social anthropology, philosophy, mythology, psychology — I delved into everything trying to find answers to my nagging questions. I worked as a locum in Brixton to pay for the course, a far cry from Hay-on-Wye.

I started travelling and taking on challenges — needing to understand the world and myself. I worked in Advertising, on trawlers and in bars in the Isle of Man, bought a one-way ticket to Rio with a friend, taught English and Poetry, got married in Bogotá, lead adventure tours in Egypt and Peru, started a production company...

Long story short: I worked off my demons, sorted myself out, discovered my own philosophy and created my own happiness. My first book, Pills and Presidents, is the result of some of these adventures.

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Publisher, Production & Agent:
Actionstream Direct Media Ltd
Hayfields
Hay-on-Wye,
Hereford

United Kingdom

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Laurence Middleton