Cupid strikes Bournemouth campus

Love was most certainly in the air on campus today as infatuated student James Talbot handed out roses to some lucky lasses accompanied by his very own violinist.


The loved-up lad was on a one-man mission to woo the women across both BU and AUB campuses.

Loved-up lad James Talbot

He was spotted serenading in nine different locations including the BU library, AUB canteen and even disrupting a lecture in 100-seater lecture hall of Kimmeridge House. The disgruntled lecturer commented, “It was a surprise, hopefully it is a serious thing!”

James interrupts a lecture in Kimmeridge House

The besotted boy even became (probably!) the first person ever to be kicked out of the student shop after the queue came to a standstill as he poured his heart out to an unsuspecting shopper.

James sings in the student shop before being kicked out by the employee in the background

When asked how he felt being the first person ever to be kicked out of the student shop at BU James simply replied “proud”.

He continued, “everybody does their crazy things as a student, I’ve probably had more than my fill! But I can say I am the first student to be kicked out of the shop! I can live with that title.”

James’ mission for maidens was well documented. Within two hours video footage taken of his amorous antics had reached over 16,000 people via the ‘Spotted AUCB library’ Facebook page.

Not to be outdone by their local rivals the ‘Bournemouth Uni Confessions’ page also featured James with the footage reaching over 30,000 people to date and has been shared 85 times. You can watch the video here.

Jordan Elson, a first year film production student was approached in the AUB library. “I was sitting doing work and a guy I’ve never met before gave me a rose and professed his love in front of the rest of the library!

James confesses his love to AUB student Jordan Elson

“It was lovely, but strange. I am going to phone my friend and tell her about it now, maybe I will sing to someone else!”

Wubetina Gebreselase a business computing student was confronted in the BU library. “I don’t know him! It is really cute and makes a girl feel special. I’m not really into Valentine’s Day but it was really nice.”

James sings to Wubetina in the BU library

It turns out that James is in fact a final year acting student at AUB and was hired by Nudge to give out the roses as a marketing stunt entitled ‘Nudge Love’.

Nudge is a non-profit organisation which aims to bring back the element of play to adult life by creating a series humours happenings in public.

James is a final year Acting student at AUB

Nudge have been doing stunts in both BU and AUB campuses since November last year, mostly notably by starting a huge game of ‘pegs’ and by recently putting up “bad joke posters” in toilets all over the universities.

James reflected on the event, “My favourite part was in the BU library. I went to the girl, started singing to her and when I turned around everybody had come out from every nook and cranny to spectate on the whole thing which was fantastic.”

Sharing the love in Dylan’s

Tom Etheridge, who was hired to play the violin, said, “In the beginning I felt a bit awkward doing it but then I realised we were in a position of power and then I started to enjoy it!

“I think the lecture was a strong environment to do it in because everyone was seated were we on a stage so I thought that worked really well.”

The Tab spoke to the Nudge team who organised the event. The individuals wished to remain anonymous in order to maintain the mysterious nature of the project.

“We want to spread some love and happiness between everyone on Valentine’s Day.

“Not everyone is going to have a boyfriend or girlfriend and get a present or a card so we thought it would be really nice to do some random acts of kindness and give out flowers to strangers to brighten up their day.”

Love letters which Nudge were giving out around campus

They mention that ‘Nudge Love’ was one in a series of events leading up to their main event entitled ‘Press Play’.

“The event is an MP3 experiment taking place on 26th April. The aim is to recreate the idea of fun for adults.

“The two organisers reflected on the success on today’s event. “I loved seeing how emotional not just the people receiving the flowers were but everyone around who got involved with it. I can’t believe how many people gathered round to video it.”

Another said, “My highlight was taking that extra risk of going into a lecture. You get this sort of adrenalin rush, it feels great.”

“I think this was the best event we have done so far. The response and the attention we got was great.

“We want people to follow and get involved. We are trying to build up an audience for our main event in April ‘Press Play’.

“We want people to ask ‘What are they building up to? I want to know what that’s about and I want to get involved’”.

To find out more about Nudge and to get involved in their next event follow them on Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Vine at ‘HelloNudge’.

The ‘Nudge Love’ promotional poster