Meet the Staff – Stephen Thompson ‘Boltono’. The shikona by which Stephen goes, is UK born, but has lived solidly outside of the UK for 11 years. He has enjoyed immensely his travels through, and life in, Turkey, China and Thailand. Good at art at school and denied English Literature studies by a backward educational system, he now likes writing stories and discovering different cultures to compensate! Anyway, it’s nice to get away from all those traffic cones on English motorways! Currently, he is exploring further a life doing what he has really always wanted to do, which is to be loved by God and have his own art studio in a butterfly-visited garden replete with fresh air and the occasional gin and tonic. This is what he has to say about sumo: – “I like sumo because it has slow build-up based on discipline and personal commitment, contemplation, eventual fast action, tremendous skill shown sometimes, and winners and losers where both exit with honour. But mainly I like that in sumo the winner overcomes the “form”, the restrictions that he is in... the tight circle of the dohyo... and not just his opponent. I have been a ‘fan’ of the sport since I first saw a documentary about ‘The Wolf’ on TV in the UK back in 1989”.