DC10-166 July 26, 2010
UK sports stars are faces of new BT Phone Book
BT’s new Phone Books will feature some of the UK’s leading athletes on the cover to celebrate two years to the start of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games (July 27). The first books will be distributed next week and feature BT Ambassador Ade Adepitan MBE, who won bronze as part of the wheelchair basketball team at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games.
BT is the official communications services partner for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The Phone Book will include London 2012 information specific to each region as the Games move closer. The Phone Book will also be able to claim another first - the first new size compact edition delivered in the UK. Narrow enough to fit into standard-sized letter boxes; it will be delivered to residents and local businesses in Havering, Essex this month, London will follow shortly afterwards and the rest of the UK will follow as it is rolled out over the next 12 months.
Other sports personalities who will feature on the Phone Book front cover include Chris Tomlinson, World Indoor long-jump silver medallist; Lee Pearson CBE, nine-times Paralympic equestrian gold medallist; Lee McConnell, Olympic 4x400m relay runner; Dame Mary Peters, Olympic gold medallist in pentathlon; Leon Taylor, Olympic diving silver medallist who also invented the world's most difficult dive; Anne Bochmann, European Junior swimming gold medallist; Nathan Stephens, Paralympic field athlete; Alistair Brownlee, World Triathlon Champion, and his younger brother Jonathan Brownlee, European Junior Triathlon Champion.
Ade said: “Featuring sporting personalities on the cover of the Phone Book is a great idea and will help raise the profile of the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games across the UK. I’m proud to be the first face of the Phone Book, and my mum is looking forward to receiving her new London Phone Book with me on the front cover!”
The shape of the new BT Phone Book is 15 per cent smaller and small enough to fit into standard size household and business letterboxes though the height remains the same. Despite its compact size, it contains several additional features, including a section with cut out vouchers so consumers can save money with advertisers in The Phone Book, menu guides in the classified restaurant section as well as guides for hair and beauty, leisure, sport and tourism.
David Grossman, CEO, BT Directories, said: “The Phone Book is still very much the quickest way to locate a friend, an essential service or a local business and gracing it with inspiring sporting personalities celebrates BT’s involvement with the London 2012 Games. We hope everyone gets behind the athlete that features on the front cover of their own Phone Book – it would be great if this inspires young hopefuls in the world of sport.
“Ade is a super enthusiastic Paralympian whose accomplishments make him a role model and an important ambassador for London 2012. And who knows? Maybe the new Phone Books will become a collector’s item!”
The BT Phone Book continues to be the only three-in-one directory in the UK with a Classified Business Section and Business and Residential A-Z listings. BT produces 168 geographic editions of the book every year, reaching 27 million homes across the UK.
Notes to editors
About Ade Adepitan MBE
Ade Adepitan’s 18 years in wheelchair basketball saw him gain over 90 caps for Great Britain, with career highlights including winning a bronze medal at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens and gold at the 2005 Paralympic World Cup in Manchester. After his retirement from wheelchair basketball, Ade has been training and competing in Wheelchair Tennis and as well as broadcasting for the BBC and Channel 4 on a variety of shows.
Ade was an integral part of the delegation that went to Singapore to win the 2012 Olympic bid for London and also travelled with the Paralympic team to Beijing 2008; where he witnessed the GB men’s team achieve a bronze medal by beating the USA in their final game.
Ade is a patron of the disabled sport charity, WheelPower, The Association of Wheelchair Children and Scope, and is also an ambassador for the NSPCC and The Prince’s Trust.
