Lunchtime With Stephen Daldry and Haile Gebrselassie Tickets

Film and theatre director Stephen Daldry will interview Haile Gebrselassie, the two time 10,000 metre Gold medallist.

Who is Haile Gebrselassie?

Haile Gebrselassie, a long-distance runner, was born on April 18, 1973 in Asella, Arsi Province, Ethiopia and currently lives in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia.

In 1992, Haile won the 5000 meters and 10000 meters races at the 1992 Junior World Championships in Seoul and also won a silver medal in the Junior Race at the World Cross Country Championships. In the following year, he won the World Championships title in the Men's 10000 meters. In 1994, he set his first world record by running 5000 meter with a timing of 12:56.96.

In 1995, Haile ran the 5000 meters in an astonishing 12:44.39 minutes at Zürich, Switzerland and broke the world record 12:55.30, which was earlier held by Kenya's Moses Kiptanui. This world record at the Weltklasse meet in Zürich was voted "Performance of the Year" by Track and Field News magazine. At the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, Haile won his first Olympic gold in the 10000 meter race.

Haile went on to set a 10000 meters world record in the Netherlands by finishing with 26:22.75 and broke Paul Tergat's world record of 26:27.85. In 2000 he won all the events in which he participated and ranked first in 5000 and 10000 meters race category. At the 2000 Sydney Olympics and became the third man in history to successfully defend an Olympic 10000 meters title after Emil Zátopek and Lasse Viren.

Haile participated in his debut marathon in London finishing third. In 2005, he went undefeated in all road races, including the British All-Comers record in the 10K at Manchester, a win in the Amsterdam Marathon by setting the record for the fastest marathon time in the world for 2006 (2:06:20), and a new world best for 10 miles in Tilburg, Netherlands (44:24).

Who is Stephen Daldry?

Stephen started his career at the Sheffield Crucible Theatre and directed extensively in BritainÂ?s regional theatres. In London he was Artistic Director of the Gate Theatre and the Royal Court Theatre where he headed the 26million redevelopment. He has also directed at the National Theatre, the Public Theatre in New York and transferred many productions both to Broadway and The West End. His 1992 National Theatre production of An Inspector Calls is currently touring the UK.

His production of Billy Elliot the Musical is currently playing in London and on a National Tour of the USA having previously played on Broadway, Sydney, Melbourne, Toronto and Korea. It recently won more Tony awards (10) than any other British show in Broadway history.

His four films "Billy Elliot", "The Hours", "The Reader" and "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" have attracted 19 Academy Award nominations and two wins.