Norman Wheatley has a unique combination of experience and expertise in the field of creativity. During the last fifteen years he has run training programmes for many leading companies on idea generation, improving memory and creativity but before that he was in the business of using ideas in every day working life as a producer and broadcaster in TV and radio, both BBC and commercial. A top firm of accountants in Ireland wanted to differentiate the firm from others offering a similar service. Norman ran eight days of training, providing methods of coming up with ideas quickly and effectively.
For a three- day course, run all over the country on behalf of one of the major consulting firms, Norman included creativity within project management training. The company wanted the staff to run projects in a better way but also wanted them to get a new perspective on the projects they'd run many times before.
The Royal Navy submarine fleet is not perhaps the most obvious candidate for creativity training. They have very strict rules and therefore had more need than most to find new ways of operating within very tight constraints. Norman's course for them gave them ways of thinking of new working methods easily.
Norman has also run courses on time management, project management and presentation skills throughout Europe: France, Belgium, Spain, Italy and Poland; as well as Kuwait and Nigeria.
He is a firm believer in the use of puzzles of all kinds as a way of keeping the brain active. "They keep you alert to seeing things differently, which is what is needed when it comes to creativity," he says. His expertise in creating baffling brain teasers has led him to provide puzzles for the games page in The Times on Saturday and for BBC 1's "Question Of Sport". He has also appeared on TV several times, winning the top daily prize on two popular quiz shows.
He has been a keen solver of cryptic crosswords for over 40 years and has won the prestigious Azed crossword in Observer and received a "Highly Commended" ranking in the Azed clue writing competition.
Norman has written over 200 songs and has produced and recorded three CDs of original material. He is a well known performer in Midlands folk clubs and festivals and he is just about to publish a booklet of his own humourous monologues.
Here's the answer to this week's brainteaser:
Sporting Dingbats - Answers
1. Hole in one
2. Star - tin - grid = starting grid
3. Full back
4. Finishing line
5. Silly mid-off
