All the world’s a stage, And all the men and women merely players: They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant, Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms. And then the whining school-boy, with his satchel And shining morning face, creeping like snail Unwillingly to school. And then the lover, Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier, Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard, Jealous in honour, sudden and quick in quarrel, Seeking the bubble reputation Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice, In fair round belly with good capon lined, With eyes severe and beard of formal cut, Full of wise saws and modern instances; And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon, With spectacles on nose and pouch on side, His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all, That ends this strange eventful history, Is second childishness and mere oblivion, Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.
Facebook: Liam McCartney & Twitter: @Lee_Macca92
Liam McCartney is a sybarite of Anglo-Irish heritage that studies Public Relations, Media & Marketing at Canterbury Christ Church University and works part time as a Marketing & Sales Administrator for CP Training Services Ltd. Liam is an alumni of: St. Paul’s Academy, London College of Beauty Therapy and Farringtons School.
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Liam McCartney et al
J’me presente moi, Liam McCartney. I was asked to write a blog as part of my portfolio for my Introduction to Public Relations module; I was unaware about what I should write my blog about so I therefore decided to use this time to therefore write about myself to present an in-depth knowledge of me to future employers.
My birthday is the 5th November 1992 and commonly associated with being Bonfire night in the UK – I came into the world with a bang and no doubt will leave with one aswell! LITERALLY! I was born in Sevenoaks, Kent and a firework hit the hospitals roof – thus a scandal coincided with having to have the firemen present, etc. Such a drama, but then again all the world’s a stage according to Mr William Shakespeare.
My parentage is/was that of Michael John McCartney and Suzanne McCartney (neé Vigus). My mother unfortunately passed away due to Breast Cancer in 2000 and therefore had a huge impact in my life to turn me from what was once a nuclear family into non-nuclear. I also have an older brother, Kieran, who is eight years, my senior. I was predominately raised by my father’s parents, Peter and Patricia McCartney (neé Murphy) due to my parents having to travel consistently for business purposes. My father was Director of Health and Safety for AMICUS the Trade Union and my mother a IT Consultant. My ancestry is predominately Celtic and Saxon, with strong links to Ireland and some weaker links to Germany and the Caribbean.
I am mainly London based; residing between Greenwich in South East London with regular commutes to Canterbury, Kent for my University studies. My family also has property in both Ireland and Italy.
I have attended a variety of schools beginning with Hill House International School for Pre-Prep in Knightsbridge, London; St Stephen’s RC Primary School, Bexley, Kent for Primary School; St. Paul’s Academy, Greenwich, London for Secondary School and then Farringtons School, Bromley, Kent for Sixth-Form. Before I went from Secondary School to Sixth-Form I was not successful in my application to Chislehurst & Sidcup Grammar School due to my GCSE results; this prompted me to take an impromptu gap year. During this year, I worked for the General Federation of Trade Unions as a Project Administrator for their Vulnerable Workers Project due to being a vulnerable worker myself (this created good PR for the GFTU!) and undertook courses at the London College of Beauty Therapy in Facials and Makeup; Gillham’s School of Performing Arts where I took singing lessons and musical theatre classes and Salsa Wild where I enjoyed a cheeky bit of a salsa, with a cocktail in hand.
My gap year was great fun, and it enabled me to have a glimpse into the working world. Although I only worked for the GFTU two and a half days a week I enjoyed the opportunity of being part of world which worked nine to five and being a commuter and independent.
However, I had wanted to return to education due to so many of my friends undertaking their A Levels I felt that I needed to return to that formal academic setting. Thus from September 2010 I was enrolled into Farringtons School in Kent, an independent day and boarding school to study Business, Drama & Theatre Studies, English Literature and General Studies to A Level standard. I then had been unsure whether or not to apply to University due to a variety of reasons, such as the tuition fee rise and how much I had enjoyed employment on my gap year. After a serious discussion with an old flame, of whom to this day I still wish well and all the best, I decided to apply to University to study Public Relations.
Why Public Relations
As the business magnate and philanthropist, Warren Buffett once quoted, “It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it.” This comment offers one of the finest descriptions I can make of Public Relations. It would be charming to believe that PR is all about parties and launches of a sybarite nature, however this is only an illusion created by the media. PR is actually about the creating, promoting and maintaining relations between other businesses and the public. Not just this, PR also works adjacent to the marketing mix and incorporates marketing communications to display the assets of a good or service in a platonic light in an informative and creative manner. What I love about PR is the variety to it: the diversity of businesses it can be applied to; the different consumer audiences; how it works with a business’s corporate objectives and with how it can be used in everyday life to create, retain and promote good relations.
In my younger years I was fortunate to attend luxury events organised by Condé Nast which developed my knowledge of the social promoting of PR, which I do believe helps to gain public interest. This gave me an insight into one of the aspects of PR and it would be a privilege to develop my skills of this and to acquire other skills to plan, develop and implement PR strategies to the best of one’s ability to help keep reputations and images untarnished and fresh.
So my plan of action is to complete my single BA honours degree in Public Relations to at least a 2:1 minimum and then undertake an MA in Public Relations followed by employment. During this time I shall undertake work experience in different PR sector s to try and discover what sector best suits myself. At current I am lacking experience and I am therefore unsure of which industry within PR wish to pursue, although I think out of preference I presume I would prefer to do corporate PR in-house rather than working as part of an agency although should I be able to gain myself a reputation I wish to do freelance PR.
Whilst I will always consider London to be a base and Ireland to be home, having grown up in a family which travels vastly for work I would not find this to be an issue should I have to travel internationally for work purposes. I feel I would enjoy this variety to my working role. Also I understand that one of the downfalls which can come with working in the PR Industry is that social and business lives can mix but I think this is suitable as then that presents itself with the opportunity to always be professional and personable to thus avoid any qualms with friends and or associates.
Having once built a reputation for myself in the industry, my future goal is to either own my own PR Agency or to be Director of Communications for a corporate company.
Whilst the written word has such power to it, nothing beats face to face communication with eyes to glisten and a bespoke response to be sprung to entice a client. Furthermore, I believe humour helps to break down barriers which people may have as at the end of the day people are people despite what backgrounds they come from, they may have different needs and wants but they all breathe the same air despite their nature and nurturing.
As the monologue at the beginning of this blog states, “All the world’s a stage” I believe that regards of whether PR is spin or not a role must be played and it must entice your audience to bring together an applause at the end of the day.
Liam McCartney, at your service. 