Jonathan Thompson, born in
Salford
, Greater Manchester
, November 1976 is a British
television
presenter, actor and entrepreneur. He is an avid collector
of classic
arcade games, and is a
figure in the
retro gaming
community.
Early life
Thompson
was educated at St James' Primary School, Rusholme
and Trinity
C of E High School, Manchester
, before attending Manchester
Grammar School
. He went on to study at both the University of
Salford
where he gained a HND in Design & Media
Communications in 1997, and the University of Central
Lancashire
from which he graduated with BA (Hons) Television
and Radio in 1999.
Media career
Thompson started his broadcasting career at the age of 18 when he
presented on SKY’s
Nickelodeon channel.
In
addition he presented on hospital radio based in the Manchester Royal
Infirmary
where he presented various evening and weekend
shows. BBC GMR where he presented a
program called “The People” He also had a role in the BBC’s popular
drama
”Cutting It” in 2005.
Thompson has scaled down his media activity, but he still operates
on a freelance basis when time allows and has conducted interviews
with some science fiction actors, including
Dave Prowse and
Elisabeth Sladen.
He has also done freelance reporting work for
Southport Reporter, and
Channel M.
Retro gaming
Thompson’s
obsession with video games started at an early age when he was
first encountered a ”TRON”
machine, this fascination with arcades led frequent trips to
Blackpool
and it was on one of these trips that he purchased
his first Star Wars
machine. This sparked the collecting bug, and he had amassed
a small collection whilst still in his early teens. He was able to
take advantage of the lack of interest in old hardware in the early
1990’s and managed to make several block purchases of machines for
bargain prices, using the then fledgling
Ebay
to search for machines. The
retro
gaming revival and subsequent rise in interest in classic
machines enabled him to build a successful business, .
He now runs a company, which deal in original machines, Sci Fi
Machines which offers machines for hire . His company was also
commissioned to produce commemorative cabinets to celebrate the
release of
”Taito Legends” in 2005. He
is a familiar face on the retro gaming circuit and a regular guest
speaker at exhibitions, along with more established figures such as
Archer Maclean.
Star Wars
Thompson’s love of
Star Wars led him to
collect as many of the machines as possible, and the 1997 cinema
re-release of the trilogy led to a stroke of good fortune. Several
machines were sited at a local cinema which led to an unexpected
demand for his machines. Thompson currently is the PR front man for
the largest collection of Star Wars arcade machines in Europe, they
have been exhibited all over the country and will feature
prominently at
Star Wars
Celebration Europe commemorating the movie’s 30th
anniversary.
Video Game and Computer Museum Project
The first stage of Jonathan's campaign to bring to the UK was a
competition called the the 'Voyager Crusade',. This competition was
run in Liverpool and was aimed at finding young up-and-coming game
designers with the emphasis on playability, rather than the modern
gaming trend of style over substance. The idea being to drum up
interest in video gaming. The winner was announced before the end
of 2008.
The next stage of this project is held in Manchester at the Urbis
center. The exhibition opened in May 2009 and runs until 20
September 2009, called "Videogame Nation". This event will log the
interest from the public and will allow a study of who people react
to this subject.
External links
References
- http://www.jonathan-thompson.co.uk/jt-biography.shtml Jonathan
Thompson's online mini biography
- Games development press releases by Develop -
www.developmag.com
- Press Invite! Fancy some drinks next Friday afternoon? //
GamesIndustry.biz
- Retro Gamer, Page 6, April 2007. Also see http://www.jt-voyagercrusade.com
- [1] M.E.N. Media Ltd. Also see newspaper
article in Manchester Evening News, published on 25 June 2009 -
Page 25
- Southport Reporter - 'Video Game Generation
Exhibition...'
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