BIRDWATCH (formerly tepid) REPLIES TO YOUR QUESTIONS

Update: 3 Feb 2000

date Q & A (red date means changed or added in last month) BACK TO MAIN INDEX PAGE etc
Dec99
30Ja00

08Ja00
03 Feb00
03 Feb00
10 Dec99
Dec99
Dec99
Dec99

Are you looking to 'dish the dirt' on Roy? - No. Not unless it's true.
Confidentiality - see statement available from the TEPID index page.

Why isn't your front page more informative?
What is TEP ? / Info on Top Events
Who or what is TEPID and what are you up to?
What's this "hospital bed" story all about?
Can you provide some information on the Voluntary Agreement?
What do you propose to do with the information you are sent?
What is the Tepid Onelist? / What is the TEPID email ring?

Click on the question that interests you, or just scroll down this page for all the Q&A's.

Any further questions? Please EMAIL us at tepid66@hotmail.com

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QUESTION: Unclear who TEP are. Could you clarify this...

Sometimes you can't see the wood for the trees. We just assumed that people browsing this site would know who TEP are but obviously there's no reason why everyone should know, espically as the company concerned never describe themselves as 'TEP'. TEP actually stands for 'Top Events & Publications'. Data follows:

Principal activities in October 1999: magazine publication: "Quest", "Beyond", "Digital Photographer", etc.

Company Number: 2482206. Date of Incorporation: 9 March 1990. Registered Office: 2 Hilliards Court, Wrexham Road, Chester, CH4 9QP
Share Capital - Authorised Issued: 1000 ordinary @ £l each. Shareholders: RHBird, QLHBird. Directors: RHBird, QLHBird. Secretary: RH Bird.
Bankers: Lloyds TSB. Auditors: Saffery Champness

Formerly known as Top Events Ltd, and before that, ROAR Exhibitions & Events Ltd. Forced into liquidation in Jan 2000 by P&O, a creditor. Prior to this, magazine titles (Quest etc) were transferred to Chesterwell Management, another Bird company.

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QUESTION: Who or what is TEPID ? [ie this website] and what are you up to?

TEPID stands for TEP Investigation Division, a name which we are already beginning to regret choosing, as it's rather cumbersome. We are wondering if it shouldn't be something like QUEST FOR CASH instead! Name changed to BIRDWATCH on 3 Feb 2000 after the winding up order on Top Events Ltd.

The list of Top Events creditors, issued when the Voluntary Agreement was proposed in 1999, totalled 167 people / organisations.

We believe that maximum legal pressure should be applied to Bird to (a) have him start to meet his obligations, and (b) make him think twice before doing the same thing all over again with a fresh company and new and innocent contributors. It's time to call a halt. To these ends we will use all legal means to apply pressure, and the more people who support us (actively or discreetly) the better. Please help!

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QUESTION: What's this "hospital bed" story all about?

5-12-99: We were tipped off about this but have since been informed from what we believe to be a reliable source that it is crap. It was alleged that when the Commissioning Editor, Philip Mantle, was hospitalized after a heart attack, Mr Bird went to visit him and took a bag of work for him to do from his sick-bed. TEPID never really believed this story and we didn't post it on this site.

We have now (10 Dec 1999) had a statement from Mr Bird on this 'hospital bed' story - see "On the Record". Since we never placed this dubious story on its site in the first place, we were rather puzzled to receive a refutation from Mr Bird. Read his statement on our ON THE RECORD section.

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QUESTION: Why isn't the front page of TEPID [your site] more informative, like giving info on who Roy Bird is and why we're interested in him?

We're not trying to bring a publisher's poor reputation to the attention of outsiders or general surfers. Anyone browsing into our site will most likely wonder, "Who the hell's Roy Bird?" and then leave. This site is intended for people who are interested in Bird's activities and what opposition there may be to them.

This site represents the 'cream' of the internet traffic regarding Bird and is really an information exchange. There is a moderated email forum on 'OneList.com' which we of course trawl, and any rubbish on there won't make it onto this site.

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QUESTION: Can you provide some information on the Voluntary Agreement?

This question was asked before the C.V.A. ('voluntary agreement') took effect. Now, it has taken effect and we apologise to the writer for not replying before the vote.

Top Events, contributors to Quest etc will not be surprised to hear, was facing liquidation in the summer. Since it is illegal for a company to continue trading when it can't pay its bills, liquidation loomed. Often, a company in that situation is taken into Administration, which is a step away from bankruptcy. Mr Bird avoided this by proposing a Voluntary Agreement to the creditors which basically offered this:

Vote YES and take a cut of 30p in the pound on what's owed to you, or vote NO and get virtually nothing because the UK taxman will grab the lion's share.

Roy Bird conducted his affairs such that Top Events owed hundreds (sometimes a few thousand) of pounds to individual writers and miscellaneous business suppliers, but owed £44,000 to another of his companies, called CML (Chesterwell Management Ltd).

CML was thus a big creditor and since the voting blocks were proportional to the sums owed on paper, CML (ie Roy Bird) had the effective casting vote. He therefore, at a stroke, voted to cut the amount that he owed to his magazine contributors by 30%.

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QUESTION: ...what do you propose to do with the information [that you are sent] ?

Firstly, collate it. We want to have the maximum insight into the activities and future intentions of Mr Bird. Secondly, and only with the permission of the individual sources, build a consortium of creditors who can act in unison to push for outstanding payments.

To that second end, a moderated email group, similar to a bulletin board, has been set up on 'onelist' - see the front page of this site for further details.

Some people will applaud from the sidelines and contribute useful information while remaining outwardly unassociated with BirdWatch, while others will declare their active and public support for our position.

Note that we have received reliable information that Mr Bird has control of several companies and is seeking to set up yet more. In view of the C.V.A. we can only wonder what he has in mind for the future.

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QUESTION: What is the Tepid Onelist? / What is the BIRDWATCH email ring?

Onelist is an automated email pool where if you join the group you all get to see what any of you say to the group. You can also elect to reply to individuals. It's a bit like a chatroom but through the email system via Onelist.

We has set up a list, which you can opt in to (or out of). It's not a ring, more a forum.

JOINING PROCEDURE: If you elect to join, either by responding to the emailed invitation or by clicking on the blue Onelist button on our first page, then you will be diverted to www.onelist.com. You will be told you are not currently a member of the TEPID community. If you wish to join then click JOIN COMMUNITY. Onelist.com will then ask you a few standard questions (name, year of birth, city you live in, and of course your email address). When registration is complete, you will be sent an email by Onelist.

At sign-up, you will have been given a onelist.com password, which you will need if you want to change your member profile. When sign-up is complete, you will receive copies of all emails sent to the group by other members. You can elect to receive a daily digest instead of individual email traffic by editing your member profile at onelist.com or indeed you can unsubscribe.

The list of subscribers is only viewable by us, thus maintaining subscriber confidentiality should you wish to receive the traffic. The moment you elect to respond, however, you are conveying information about your email service provider (and thus possibly your identity) to anyone who cares to examine the email's properties.

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Further questions, please EMAIL us.