Ben Fogle (born 3 November 1973) is an English
television presenter,
adventurer and
writer.
Biography
The son of
actress Julia Foster and broadcasting
veterinarian Bruce Fogle, he attended Bryanston
School
in Dorset
. He
has two sisters: Emily Fogle, a graphic designer and Tamara Fogle,
a London fashion designer.
Fogle has often cited an early inspiration as Shakleton, in whose
travels he became more interested in after his own near death
experience in Snowdonia.
Early career
He studied at the
University of
Portsmouth and the
University of Costa Rica. He worked
on the Picture Desk of
Tatler
magazine in London before leaving to appear in
reality show Castaway 2000.
Castaway
Fogle
first came to public notice by participating in the BBC reality show
Castaway 2000, which followed
a group of thirty-six people marooned on the Scottish
island of
Taransay
for a year
starting 1 January 2000.The series captured the nation's
imagination and attracted an audience of 9 million.
Presenting
Fogle presenting at
Crufts
2008.
Fogle has since become a regular television presenter for the BBC,
hosting
Crufts,
One Man and His Dog,
Countryfile,
Country Tracks,
Extreme Dreams With Ben
Fogle,
Animal Park,
Wild on the West Coast and
Wild in Africa. He has
also reported for
Inside Out,
Cash In the Attic,
Heaven and Earth, and
What Are We Like with
Jo Brand. BBC 2's Escape in Time will be
broadcast in the new year.
Countryfile
Fogle
appeared on the rural affairs programme alongside John Craven from 2001 until 2008, during which
time he reported on a number of the UK's rural pastimes, including
coracle racing, the worm charming championships, the lawn mower racing championship, world
stinging nettle eating competition
in Dorset, oyster eating championships in Northern
Ireland
, World Conker
Championships in Northamptonshire
, the alternative Scottish games, world tin bath
racing on the Isle of
Man
, bog snorkelling and
the Man versus Horse race in Wales
, the
Tough Guy Competition,
cheese rolling
in Gloucestershire, morris dancing, Tar Barrels in Devon
, Up Helly Aa in Shetland
, the Furry Dance in
Cornwall
and the British Open Crabbing Championships in
Walberswick
, Suffolk. In 2008 Ben
took part in the World Coal Carrying Championships in Gawthorpe,
West Yorkshire finishing in 22nd place.
Fogle left
Countryfile after its format revamp in 2008,
and is now fronting a new Sunday Morning show
Country Tracks.
Extreme Dreams
He presented the BBC 2 series made by
Ricochet in 2006 and 2007
in which he selected five members of the public to go on
expeditions of a lifetime. Destinations included expeditions to the
Kaiteur Falls in Guyana, Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Mount Baker
in Uganda, Mount Roraima in Venezuela, the Black Cat trail in Papua
New Guinea, the Inca ruins in Peru, the Sahara Desert of Libya,
Across the Arctic tundra of Svalbard in the Arctic Circle and most
recently a journey across the Andes of South America from the
Equator in Ecuador to the tropic of Capricorn in Chile.
Sport
Fogle was the first to cross the line in the pairs division of the
2005–2006
Atlantic Rowing Race
in "Spirit of EDF Energy", partnered by
Olympic rower
James
Cracknell, third overall. Whilst competing in the 3000 mile
race, the pair had their boat fully capsized by huge waves.
They made
landfall in Antigua
at 07:13
GMT on 19 January 2006, a crossing time of
49 days, 19 hours, 8 minutes. After
penalties, they were placed second in the pairs and fourth overall.
The BBC series that followed the pair,
Through Hell and High
Water, won a
RTS award
in 2007.
He has
also completed the six day Marathon
des Sables for the World
Wide Fund for Nature across of the Sahara Desert and the Safaricom Marathon in
Kenya
for the TUSK Trust, with
Longleat
Safari Park
keeper Ryan Hockley. Fogle has completed the
Bupa great North Run in 1 hour 33 minutes, the London Marathon and
the Royal Parks Half marathon. Fogle beat
Eastenders actor
Sid Owen in a three round charity boxing
match for
BBC Sport Relief under the training of
Frank Bruno.
In October 2009, Ben and James Cracknell cycled a rickshaw 423
miles from Edinburgh to London non stop. The team took 60 hours to
reach the capital, raising money for SSAFA (Soldiers, Saliors,
Airmen and Families Association) The event was filmed for ITV's
Pride of Britain Awards.
Fogle is an ocean yachtmaster with a sailing world record for the
Portsmouth-Cork route.
South Pole
Fogle teamed up with
James Cracknell
once again, together with Ed Coats, a Bristol based doctor , as
Team
QinetiQ to take part in the inaugural South Pole Race.The team
took 18 days, 5 hours and 10 minutes to complete the 770km race,
coming second overall, behind the Norwegian Team, who commended
them on making it "a fantastic race".Ben suffered hypothermia and
frostbite to his nose and the team experienced temperatures as low
as minus 40 °C.The race was filmed by the BBC for the series
On Thin Ice and was aired in Summer 2009. Macmillan
published an account of their journey, Race to The Pole which
became a top-10 bestseller in the UK.
Writing
Fogle has
written four books; The Teatime Islands in search of the
remaining islands in the British
Empire in which he travels to Saint
Helena, Ascension
Island
, the Falkland Islands
, the British Indian Ocean
Territories
and Tristan da Cunha
. He also attempted to travel to Pitcairn
Island
but when the inhabitants learned that he was a
journalist, they refused to let him land. It was short
listed for the
W H Smith's people's award
for Best Travel Book.
He has also written
Offshore published by
Penguin in 2006 in which he travelled around
Britain in search of an island of his own.
He visited the Kingdom
of Sealand and attempted to invade Rockall
in the
North
Atlantic
. In
2006 he published the hit
Crossing, published by Atlantic
books and co-written with Cracknell followed their Transatlantic
rowing bid. In 2009, The Race to the Pole was published by
Macmillan.
Fogle writes a weekly Country Diary for the Sunday Telegraph and is
a regular columnist for
The
Daily Telegraph and travel writer for
The Independent. He has a column in
Sky magazine and has contributed to
the
Evening Standard,
New York Times,
The Sunday Times and
Glamour magazine.
Personal life
In 2006 he married Marina Hunt, co-founder of Kasimira party
organisers whom he met whilst walking his black
Labrador Retriever, Inca. The Fogles are
currently expecting their first child, due in December 2009.
While
filming the latest series of Extreme Dreams in Peru
, Fogle
caught leishmaniasis. The
illness left him bedridden for three weeks on his return home.
Fogle was
treated at London's Hospital for Tropical
Diseases
.
Fogle is the President of the
Campaign for National Parks, in
which role he backs the
Youth
Hostels Association and
National
Parks Mosaic campaign to open up England's national
parks to ethnic minorities.
Fogle is also: an ambassador for the
World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and
Tusk; a supporter of the Duke of
Edinburgh award scheme, and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People;
and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society
. He is also a patron for the British
Hedgehog Preservation Society, the Prince's Trust and
Shelterbox.
Fogle was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the
University of Portsmouth in
2007.
Television presenting credits
References
- Daily Telegraph - Race to the South Pole
- South Pole Race website
- Five episodes of 'On Thin Ice' were broadcast on BBC 2
Sunday evenings receiving a peak record of 3.7 million viewers
[BBC2
- Amazon.co.uk: Joseph Haschka's review of Offshore: In
Search of an Island of My Own
-
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1189570/Ben-Fogle-thrilled-father-wife-Marina-suffered-miscarriage-year.html
- Fogle catches a flesh-eating bug
- http://www.cnp.org.uk/press_release/17-07-07.html
- Communicator - The newsletter of the University of
Portsmouth - Issue 19 - Autumn 2007
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