Skateboarder, photographer, artist, Toy Machine company owner - Ed Templeton is one of skateboarding’s most influential and beloved figures.
And as a 14 year-old who obsessively wore out their copy of 1281 back in the day, he was a real and important influence on me, especially when it came to working out how I might express myself as a creative person.
What, you could be into skateboarding and snowboarding - and also art, culture and literature? This was revelatory stuff.
All of which is why I’ve been hoping to interview Ed since I began Looking Sideways back in 2017. In October 2025, we finally made it happen.
Whenever you speak to somebody of such notoriety, who at this point has been interviewed countless times, the challenge is always the same: how can I make this person comfortable, and get them to open up?
I’ve started a Looking Sideways book store! Yep, inspired by the fellow book geekery of my Looking Sideways listeners and readers, I’m now listing my favourite books of the year on the new LS bookshop here.
Buy anything from here and you’ll be supporting independent UK book stores (ie not paying for Jeff Bezos’ next rocket), as well as helping finance Looking Sideways (I get a 10% commission) in a really simple way. Big up reader Tim LeRoy for giving me this idea.
Related: want to discuss any of my selections, or share any of your own 2025 reads? Click here.
As is often the case on Looking Sideways, a shared interest in art and creativity was the foundation of a conversation rich in insight and honesty.
Yes, we spoke about skateboarding, Toy Machine, Welcome to Hell, art and photography, as you might expect.
But we did so through an unexpectedly wistful and nostalgic lens as Ed, now in his 50s; and with the wit, candour and humility that have always been his hallmarks; grapples with the topics that come for us all in the end: aging, impermanence, the value of possessions, the influence of our forebears, and the legacy we want to leave behind.
Special thanks to Don Brown and Thomas Campbell for their help with this one.
