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Ash Bhardwaj
Ash is an adventure filmmaker, writer and Telegraph travel columnist. A vocal supporter of the need for more diverse voices in travel and adventure, his assignments have included travelling to Everest with wounded British soldiers, meeting the Area Boys of Lagos in Nigeria, trekking through Sudan’s Bayuda Desert and making a pilgrimage with his father’s ashes to the source of the River Ganges. In 2014, Ash joined Levison Wood for 700 miles of his Walking The Nile expedition, filming extensively in Uganda and the Sahara. He subsequently worked on Walking The Himalayas, Walking The Americas and From Russia To Iran. His solo projects include trekking through the Albanian Alps tracing the footsteps of the WWII Special Operations Executive (SOE) and travelling through Colombia for the Insight TV series 'On The Run' (Sky 564). Ash has regularly contributed to both Radio 4's From Our Own Correspondent and Open Country. He is also the co-host and creator of the successful travel and adventure podcast series, The First Mile with fellow Wolfsong team member Pip Stewart.
In March 2018, he embarked on a major expedition along the length of the new Iron Curtain, covering some 3500 miles over the course of 5 months. The journey became the subject of Telegraph Travel's first ever podcast Edgelands, reaching number 1 in the iTunes chart in its first week. He also fronted Barbour's SS18 campaign with a series of short films about the Jurassic coast and recently completed his third assignment in Japan with Wondertrunk. You can watch Ash's showreel here.
Ash previously taught secondary school Chemistry and Physics and he continues to volunteer in education, mentoring 6th formers. His articles have appeared in the Daily Telegraph, The Times, Huffington Post, Evening Standard, Sunday Times Travel and BA Highlife, amongst others. In 2014 he commissioned as an Officer in the British Army Reserve, where he serves in the Rifles.
Ash is studying for a Masters in Strategic Communications and recently shared his expertise and insights into the war in Ukraine as a panelist on Sky News' The Great Debate ('How Is Putin's War Changing The World?') and in the Radio 4 documentary 'How Ukraine Made Us Care'. In autumn 2022, Ash appeared in his first lead presenting role in the 4 x 60' TV series 'Expedition Borderlands with Levison Wood & Ash Bhardwaj'. The series aired on Discovery+ in India to great acclaim and was recently awarded Best Travel Show at the Indian TV Awards 2023.
Ash is currently writing his debut book, which will be announced in the coming weeks.
Darren Edwards
Darren is a record-breaking Disabled Adventurer, Author and Motivational Speaker, as well as a specialist in Resilience and Mental Toughness.
Darren’s life was drastically altered in the summer of 2016 when a near-fatal climbing accident left him permanently paralysed from the chest down. Refusing to let his life be defined by his injury and subsequent medical prognosis, he has battled back with determination, grit, and resilience to achieve things many thought impossible for an individual with a high-level Spinal Cord Injury (SCI).
Darren’s incredible achievements since that life-changing moment have seen him lead a team of daring previously injured and wounded veterans, becoming the first team to kayak from Land’s End to John O’ Groats (across some of the UK’s wildest and most unpredictable seas), as well as rowing across the world’s busiest shipping lane of the English Channel. In 2023, he became the first person with a disability to complete 7 marathons in 7 days across 7 continents – better known as the ‘World Marathon Challenge’. He also recently completed a remarkable expedition crossing Europe's largest icecap in Iceland (a journey of 130 kms in just 11 days) as part of a three man team, each of whom had a Spinal Cord Injury. In addition to these physical and mental battles, he has raised over £200,000 for charity and is an established and professional Motivational Speaker.
In February 2023, Darren self-published his first book ‘Strength Through Adversity’ to 5-star rave reviews on Amazon. In this inspirational, motivational memoir, Darren shares his personal story of overcoming life-changing challenges and building resilience to encourage others to develop courageous thinking and a positive mindset. Instilled with humour, down-to-earth honesty and a genuine sense for adventure and pushing the limits, Darren demonstrates a heartfelt and passionate commitment to connecting with his audience and getting them to think – and act - differently. You can watch Darren's showreel here, see an interview with Sky News here and follow his regular updates on Instagram.
Rhiane Fatinikun
Rhiane is an outdoors advocate, with a passion for human empowerment and challenging the status quo. A keen cross-country runner at school, Rhiane rediscovered her appreciation for the great outdoors relatively recently, realising the positive effect getting outside and into nature could have on herself and the wider community.
A proud Mancunian, Rhiane previously worked in the Civil Service for several years, where she was also a trade union representative. She also sat on the Equity Steering Committee for the British Mountaineering Council, focussing on creating better opportunities for people through social change.
In 2019 Rhiane founded Black Girls Hike, a charitable organisation and hiking group seeking to address the lack of representation and inclusion of people of colour in the outdoor community and to provide a safe environment for black women to enjoy the natural world. The group also run training days and skills weekends in leadership and teamwork, which also address the under-representation of black instructors in the industry. Rhiane hopes to continue the growth of BGH across the UK, which also includes chapters in London and the Midlands, and to work with likeminded groups internationally.
Rhiane is a popular public speaker, including events with Glastonbury Festival, Bloomberg, DofE at Buckingham Palace, Pave The Way, The Countryside Charity and Kendal Mountain Festival. She has also received support from a number of outdoor brands, such as Berghaus, Lowe Alpine, Keen, Komoot and Vivobarefoot. More recently she's appeared in campaigns for Cumbria Tourism, Canopy & Stars, West Yorks Moors NP, Adidas, Barclays and Beats by Dr Dre.
Rhiane has also been in demand as a guest contributor on TV shows such as BBC2's Great British Railway Journeys, More4's Caroline Quentin's National Parks, Channel 5's When Camping Holidays Go Horribly Wrong and BBC1's Countryfile, amongst others. You can watch her showreel here.
Having previously been acknowledged for her work at the Northern Power Women Awards and as a Wellness Warrior at the Boots Women of The Year Award 2019, Rhiane was awarded Campaigner of the Year at the Great Outdoors Awards and was the winner of the Positive Role Model Award at the 2021 National Diversity Awards. In June 2022, she was awarded the prestigious Geographical Award by the Royal Geographical Society for her work encouraging and empowering Black women to enjoy the great outdoors. BGH have been featured in the Sunday Times, The Voice, Women’s Health, The Telegraph, The Metro and Resurgence & Ecologist magazine. You can watch a clip of Rhiane talking about her work here and follow Black Girls Hike on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
Errol Reuben Fernandes
Errol is the Head of Horticulture at the Horniman Museum and Gardens in South London where he manages 16 acres of stunning gardens. The Horniman Museum is the only museum in the country with a social anthropology, natural history and gardens collection, allowing both the museum and its visitors to explore how human experience is intertwined with nature.
Having had a love of nature and a passion for gardening from a very young age, Errol initially diverted away from the horticultural path to study fine art at De Montfort University and went on to develop a career as an artist and curator, exhibiting internationally before studying for a Masters in Art Psychotherapy at Goldsmith's, University of London. He spent almost ten years working with the Tate, V&A, British Library, secure prisons and other organisations as an artist, engaging communities and marginalised groups in collaborative arts projects. Errol then went on to practice as an art psychotherapist within adult psychiatry and also worked with children and adolescents and slowly began to include elements of gardening therapy in his work. Errol subsequently gained horticultural and botanical training at Capel Manor College (London's only specialist environmental college) and at the Chelsea Physic Garden. Prior to joining the Horniman in April 2021, Errol was Senior Gardener for the 112-acre Kenwood House estate in Hampstead, north London, in the care of English Heritage.
Errol is particularly interested in ecological and sustainable horticulture and develops planting schemes that sit comfortably alongside nature, have a low impact on the environment both in terms of implementation and maintenance, but he also strives to push the boundaries of contemporary horticulture and design practice. Working with communities, sharing knowledge, nurturing collaborative working practices and inspiring the next generation of horticulturalists are principles that are central to his work. Errol achieves this through his public speaking, including events with The Gardens Trust, the Garden Museum, the London Gardens Network and the Beth Chatto Symposium 'Re-Wilding The Mind'. He has also featured in publications such as Gardens Illustrated, the Guardian, the Telegraph and Bloom magazine. Errol was recently a lead presenter on series 2 of Channel 4's 'The Great Garden Revolution' and he has also made guest appearances on BBC1's 'Gardeners' World'. You can watch a short clip of Errol here.
Justine Gosling
Justine is an adventurer, former senior NHS critical care physiotherapist and volunteer aid worker. For the past four years she has been working for the World Health Organisation, including a lengthy stint in Copenhagen, within their Disability and Rehabilitation Team. For 9 years prior to that, she worked at the London Royal Free hospital specialising in trauma and complex long-term rehabilitation, as well as acute and critical care (including Ebola patients transferred to high security units in the UK). She holds a BSc in Sports Therapy from the University of Hertfordshire and a BSc in Physiotherapy from the University of East London. Prior to joining the Royal Free, she worked as a physio at West Ham United FC and Wasps RFC.
Justine has led multiple cross-country ski, kayak and hiking expeditions in the Canadian and European Arctic. With a deep appreciation of science and history, Justine hopes to engage people in those subjects through her adventures. These include a solo 3,500 mile cycle ride across 15 countries of the former Iron Curtain, a 1000 mile walk along the entire length of Finland and a Via Ferrata climbing adventure along the WWI front line of the Dolomite mountains. Justine also volunteers as an emergency responder, providing care and physiotherapy in flood-stricken Louisiana, in Haiti following Hurricane Matthew, working with Syrian refugees in Greece and helping to rebuild the infrastructure of schoolhouses in Uganda's Kiryandongo refugee camp.
Justine has worked extensively with high profile brands, who have both supported her endeavours and invited her to participate in brand campaigns, such as Talisker, Canada Goose, Land Rover Explorer, The North Face and Hurtigruten, amongst many others.
Justine's most recent adventures include a hiking expedition in Greenland, as well as successfully summiting Mont Blanc and completing a gruelling expedition along the North West Passage in the Canadian Arctic. You can watch a clip of Justine sharing her experiences here.
John Hudson
John Hudson is the UK military’s chief survival instructor, designing and implementing the training of instructors in Land, Sea, and Extreme Environment Survival. Prior to joining the RAF as a helicopter pilot, John studied Product Design at Leeds College of Art. He has penned the joint services survival training manual, revised the RAF’s aide memoir found in all military aircraft survival packs and advised on the UK’s SERE (Survive Evade Resist Extract) training film, watched by all service personnel before deployment overseas.
John has been a resident expert on two series of Discovery’s “Dude, You’re Screwed’ (‘Survive That’ in the UK), putting his expertise to the test in some of the planet’s most demanding environments. Amongst others, John has survived the elements in Asian and Central American jungles, the Arctic Circle and the high altitudes of the Atacama Desert. John also appeared in Ed Stafford's latest TV series First Man Out, which aired on Discovery UK, USA and internationally in 2019. He also regularly works as a survival consultant on TV development projects. You can watch John's showreel here.
John's first book, How To Survive: Lessons for Everyday Life From The Extreme World, was published by Pan Macmillan in June 2019 and hit the no.4 spot in the Amazon bestsellers chart in its first week of publication. You can find out why Chris Evans described 'How to Survive' as a "brilliant, brilliant book" here (@ 8.38am). The book was published in paperback in July 2020, with John also penning a free e-book and additional chapter entitled 'How To Survive A Pandemic', which reached number 1 in the Amazon Short Reads chart. The US edition of 'How To Survive' was published by Countryman Press in January 2021 and more recently by CITIC Press in China.
In summer 2021, John was invited by Insider to use his expertise in cold water survival to review some of the most famous ocean survival scenes in film history. The resulting film has been viewed over 4 million times since its launch on YouTube. You can watch John's interview here.
In recent months, John has found a new unexpected niche reviewing survival-related computer games. Leading producer Frontier Developments hired John to share his expert opinion on their latest release Stranded: Alien Dawn, whilst IGN invited him to review the classic game The Forest, as well as a forthcoming reboot soon to be announced.
Alastair Humphreys
Alastair Humphreys is an adventurer, author, motivational speaker, filmmaker and photographer. After completing his Zoology degree at Edinburgh and a PGCE at Oxford, Alastair spent over four years cycling round the world, a journey of 46,000 miles through sixty countries and five continents. Since then, he has walked across southern India, rowed across the Atlantic, run six marathons through the Sahara, completed a crossing of Iceland and participated in an expedition in the Arctic. He has also trekked 1000 miles across the Empty Quarter desert and 120 miles round the M25 - one of his pioneering microadventures. In 2017, Alastair spent a month busking with his violin around Spain, in hommage to Laurie Lee's travels in 'As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning'.
Alastair is the author of 11 books in total, including Microadventures: Local Discoveries, Great Escapes (William Collins), a concept he devised which resulted in him being named a National Geographic Adventurer of the Year, and 'Grand Adventures', the follow-up title published to great critical acclaim. His previous brand partnerships include collaborations with The North Face, Samsung, komoot, Visit Britain, Molton Brown, Land Rover, Glenfiddich, Victorinox, Sea-Doo, Destination Canada, Cartier and Brancott Estate. He is also a proud ambassador for Alpkit and the star of Stowford Press' TV ad campaign.
Alastair is the host of the acclaimed podcast series 'Living Adventurously', which has enjoyed over 346,000 downloads to date and reached number 15 in the main Apple podcast chart.
You can watch Al's showreel here.
Henry Jeffreys
Henry Jeffreys initially worked in the wine trade before moving into publishing, where under the name Blake Pudding he was a founder member of the London Review of Breakfasts and contributor to the Breakfast Bible (Bloomsbury, 2013). Since 2010 he has been writing mainly about drink, books and popular culture under his own name, with articles featured in the Daily Telegraph, Time Out, the Spectator and Foxed Quarterly, amongst others. He was the wine columnist for The Lady magazine for three years and also the Guardian's regular drinks columnist, a contributing wine critic for the BBC Good Food Wine Club and a judge on the BBC Food & Farming Awards.
Henry's book Empire of Booze, a history of Britain told via the nation's penchant for alcoholic drinks, was published by Unbound in November 2016 to great critical acclaim, with rave reviews in the Guardian, Spectator and Daily Mail, amongst others. In spring 2017, it was voted Debut Drink Book of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Awards. Henry was invited to the USA to promote Empire of Booze and discuss Britain's 'special relationship' with alcohol, including an entertaining interview on CNBC, which you can watch here. Henry can be found blogging at Henry's World of Booze and he is currently the Features Editor for Master of Malt. His book The Home Bar was published by Jacqui Small in October 2018 and his Cocktail Dictionary in September 2020.
Henry has recently been voted Drink Writer of the Year at the Fortnum & Mason Food& Drink Awards 2022. His latest book 'Vines in a Cold Climate: The People Behind the English Wine Revolution' was published by Allen & Unwin on August 3rd 2023 to rave reviews, with Russell Norman describing it as "the best book on wine I've read."
(Photo credit: Edd Horder)
Leon McCarron
Leon McCarron is a Northern Irish adventurer, filmmaker, writer and motivational speaker. His expeditions include walking 3000 miles across China, filmed for the Nat Geo series Walking Home From Mongolia, and riding a bicycle 14,000 miles from New York to Hong Kong. His resulting book The Road Headed West was published by Summersdale in July 2014. Leon has also trekked 1000 miles across the Empty Quarter desert with fellow adventurer Alastair Humphreys and their feature-length film Into The Empty Quarter appeared on the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. Other adventures include exploring the route of the Santa Cruz River in Patagonia on horseback, travelling the length of the Karun River in Iran (resulting in the film 'Karun') and trekking along the peaks of the Balkans, in Kosovo, Montenegro and Albania.
Leon's most recent book 'The Land Beyond: A Thousand Miles On Foot Through The Heart of the Middle East', was published by I.B. Tauris in September 2017 and documents his expedition experiences through Israel, Palestine, Jordan and the Sinai Peninsula. It resulted in a highly successful UK and US tour and was shortlisted for the Adventure Travel Book of the Year Award at the Edward Stanford Travel Writing Awards 2018. Leon was also the 2017 recipient of the RGS's prestigious Neville Shulman Challenge Award. Leon's latest book 'Wounded Tigris: A River Journey Through the Cradle of Civilisation' will be published by Corsair in April 2023.
Leon has recently presented three acclaimed documentaries, the first of which, How To Save A Tribe, launched on YouTube's Real Stories channel, whilst 'Dufferin: Adventures in High Latitudes' and The Unknown Prime Minister & Me aired on BBC 1 and BBC2 NI. He will also shortly be appearing as a guest contributor across three episodes of Reza Pakravan's forthcoming series Hidden Frontiers: Arabia on Discovery Channel US.
In 2019, Leon undertook a major expedition project documenting ancient hiking trails in remote parts of China, where he'll be returning in 2024. You can watch Leon's showreel here.
Amanda Owen
Amanda Owen is a shepherdess, mother to nine children, a passionate photographer and a Sunday Times bestselling author. Seen by millions on C5's Our Yorkshire Farm and ITV's The Dales, Amanda and her family live a life that has almost gone in today's modern world, one ruled by the seasons and their animals. Home is Ravenseat, a 2000 acre hill farm at the head of Swaledale in North Yorkshire, one of the highest, most remote places in England.
Amanda's first book 'The Yorkshire Shepherdess' (Sidgwick & Jackson), was published in April 2014, offering an honest, inspiring account of her transformation from Huddersfield townie to rural sheep farmer. The paperback of her second book 'A Year In The Life Of The Yorkshire Shepherdess', published in spring 2017, headed straight to number 2 in the Sunday Times charts, spending 5 weeks in the top 10. Amanda's third book Adventures of the Yorkshire Shepherdess, was published in June 2019 and reached the no.4 spot in the Sunday Times Bestsellers chart, whilst fourth book Tales From The Farm, published in March 2021, entered the chart at no.4 in its first week of release. The book is a collection of Amanda's regular monthly columns as featured in the Dalesman, who also publish Amanda's successful calendar, which was a huge hit with Amanda's followers in 2022. Amanda's fifth book 'Celebrating the Seasons: Farming, Family and Delicious Recipes to Share' was published in October 2021 and quickly became a Sunday Times top 10 bestseller, entering the chart at no.3 before becoming one of the top 10 bestselling non-fiction titles of the whole year.
Amanda and her family regularly appeared on Channel 5 in their very own documentary series, Our Yorkshire Farm, which attracted over 3.7 million viewers, making it C5's highest rating show of the past seven years. Other TV appearances include co-presenting ITV's Summer On The Farm with Alan Titchmarsh and Angellica Bell, 'The Yorkshire Shepherdess Family Feast' cookery strand on This Morning, New Lives In The Wild on C5, as a roving reporter on Springtime on the Farm and This Week On The Farm, as well as a regular guest on ITV's Countrywise. Amanda has also taken part in BBC's Masterchef as a guest judge and as a panellist on R4's Museum of Curiosity. Her appearance on BBCFour's Winter Walks in November 2021 received widespread critical acclaim from the public and TV reviewers alike. Amanda's latest series Amanda Owen's Farming Lives, in which she immerses herself in the working lives of 6 very different UK farms to explore the challenges they face, is currently airing on More4 and has attracted more than double the channel's slot average.
You can find out more about Amanda’s day-to-day family life and the joys and challenges of farming on her popular twitter feed @amandaowen8 and on IG at @yorkshireshepherdess. You can also watch a clip of Amanda here.
Raven Owen
Raven Owen is currently a full-time postgraduate student at York St. John’s University, working towards an MSc in Biomedical Science after achieving a Class I (First) in the same discipline in the summer of 2022. Raven is a familiar face on British TV screens, having regularly appeared with her family over the past decade on shows such as Countrywise (ITV), The Dales (ITV), Ben Fogle’s New Lives In The Wild (C5) and Our Yorkshire Farm (C5). She has also appeared in brand campaigns for the likes of Burberry and Boden.
When she’s not studying, Raven still regularly mucks in at her family’s 2000 acre hill farm at Ravenseat, North Yorkshire, one of the highest and most remote places in England. Raven first developed her passion for animals, science and biology due to her rural upbringing, giving her invaluable experience at an early age to a whole host of farming practices, from birthing lambs and milking cows to vaccinating sheep, as well as experiencing the natural cycles of life and the seasons on a busy working farm.
Throughout the success of Our Yorkshire Farm, Raven has remained dedicated to education and her enthusiasm for learning. Her current medical research focusses on oncology and ways of improving chemotherapy drugs. Her longer-term goal is to study for a PHD. Over the past few years Raven has also spent time volunteering in NHS hospitals and helped to support Covid 19 vaccine centres, managing vaccination stations and directing admissions.
With a passion for all things equine, Raven likes to spend her spare time horse-riding across the stunning wild moorland around her rural home. Raven also loves to share this keen interest with her siblings, teaching her younger brothers and sisters how to ride and care for both horses and fell ponies.
Raven is an accomplished cook and baker, using her culinary skills to help support the Ravenseat family business and running the catering services provided at the farm. She also has a flair and active interest in fashion, fabrics, textiles and interior design, which will come in very handy for a forthcoming project we can’t yet reveal.
Over the past 3 years Raven has built up an audience of 38k on her Instagram page @ravanelly_123, sharing stories and content about her family farm, medical research and student life with her loyal following.
Lutfi & Ruby Radwan
When Ruby and Lutfi Radwan bought a plot of land in Oxfordshire as first generation farmers 18 years ago, their aim was to provide healthy wholesome food for their family of five children and create a space where they could live in harmony with nature. From this good intention their story began and Willowbrook Farm is now a flourishing multi-generational concern involving the whole Radwan family.
The Radwans firmly believe it is their duty to take seriously the role of stewardship (Khalifa), to produce food naturally and sustainably (Tayyib) – and to be grateful for the food we receive (Halal). In practice this means they adopt a responsible and holistic approach to all aspects of food production, from the farm to fork.
In October 2020, the Radwans appeared as regular contributors on the first series of Alan Titchmarsh's Sunday daytime show 'Love Your Weekend' on ITV (clip available upon request). Eldest daughter Asiyla also appeared in the first series of BBC2's My Unique B&B, which aired in March 2021.
In February 2022, the Radwan family appeared in the latest series of 'Ben Fogle's New Lives in the Wild', in which Ben spent a week immersing himself in family and working life at Willowbrook Farm. The programme beat both BBC and C4 in its slot and received rave reviews. They have also recently appeared on Jimmy Doherty's popular podcast On Jimmy's Farm and the BBC World Service's Green Islam.
You can find out more about Willowbrook's inspiring work and the farm they built from scratch at www.willowbrookfarm.co.uk. You can also discover more about their motivations in the beautiful short film The Humble Farmer.
Pip Stewart
Pip is an adventurer, writer, presenter and trained meditation instructor. A self-proclaimed hippy at heart, with a passion for health and wellbeing, Pip is a firm believer that connecting with people and the great outdoors is good for the soul. Pip studied History & Politics at Oxford University and subsequently lived and worked in Asia for five years as an anchor and reporter in Hong Kong and Malaysia, producing travel multimedia stories for the Telegraph, BBC, CNN and South China Morning Post, amongst others.
Pip’s journey back to Britain in 2013, to take up the role of Adventure Editor for Red Bull Online, was an epic year-long 10,000 mile biking trek, starting in Kuala Lumpur and taking in 26 countries. In 2016, Pip’s passion for travel took her on a 3000 mile cycle, boat and small plane journey exploring Brazil and Peru and raising awareness of the environmental issues in the region. From the mouth of the Amazon River in the Atlantic, finishing in Lima at the Pacific, Pip documented the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest and its devastating effect on the local indigenous communities. The journey resulted in a six-part documentary series, ‘Transamazonica’, which aired globally. You can watch the trailer here.
In 2018, Pip completed a major expedition canoeing the length of the Essequibo river in Guyana, from source to sea. A world first. More recently she accompanied the Royal Marines on their Norway 75 expedition, visited Japan on a spiritual retreat as part of JNTO's latest tourism drive and fronted AIB's latest brand campaign in Dublin. Pip also embarked on a major speaker tour with the RGS and RSGS sharing her experiences of the Amazon, both of which received rave reviews.
Pip's zest for life and the great outdoors has attracted the interest of multiple brands and in recent years she has collaborated with the likes of Craghoppers, BMW, Burt's Bees, Merrell, Honda, Bailey and Tourism Ireland, to name but a few. As the proud mother of Willow and Finn, Pip is an enthusiastic advocate of family travel and adventure and she can regularly be seen on Instagram with her husband Charlie promoting the benefits of exploring nature with your children at a young age.
Pip's debut book, Life Lessons from the Amazon, was published by Summersdale in September 2021. The audiobook, narrated by Pip herself, was published by WF Howes in December 2021. She is currently working on her first book for children.
The Last Overland
In 1955, six young men set out to make history by being the first to drive 19,000 miles overland from London to Singapore. Many had tried, all had failed. But after six months of hard slog this team finally made it, and a young BBC producer, David Attenborough, commissioned a TV series to share their incredible adventure with a post-war-weary British public. The book written about the journey – The First Overland – has never been out of print, and has inspired generations of adventurers since.
Many years later, (now Sir) David paid tribute in a special programme to mark “this wonderful journey”. It was an endeavour he was sure “could not be made again today.” Attenborough’s words planted a seed in the mind of 87 year old Tim Slessor, one of the surviving ‘First Overlanders’, who was determined to prove otherwise. In 2019, backed by a team from across the world, Tim finally got his chance.
Now a major four-part documentary series on All4 and accompanying book published by Michael O'Mara, The Last Overland has been called “the mother of all road trips”, an audacious, madcap and heart-warming adventure undertaken by Alex Bescoby and his team across 23 countries and 21,000 kms in a temperamental 64 year old Land Rover. Alex's book has recently been shortlisted for the 2023 Edward Stanford Travel Book of the Year Award, with the paperback to be published on July 6th 2023.
Wolfsong Media negotiated both the book deal and the distribution deal for the series, along with some of the sponsorship for the expedition itself. This incredible project which has spanned nearly five years from inception to paperback publication is one we remain immensely proud to have been involved in throughout.
Levison Wood
Levison Wood is an explorer, photographer, broadcaster and best-selling author. After studying History at Nottingham, Levison attended Sandhurst and served as an Officer in the British Parachute Regiment, including Operation Herrick 8 in Afghanistan. Levison’s journalism has taken him to Iraq, Syria, Pakistan, North and South Sudan, most of Sub-Saharan Africa, India, Nepal and South East Asia, with his resulting work featuring in the Times, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and National Geographic, amongst others. His long-standing brand collaborations have included partnerships with IWC, Belstaff, Oliver Sweeney and Leica, as well as recent campaigns with the likes of Bosch, Experience AlUla and Kia.
In late 2014, Levison completed a 9 month expedition walking the length of the Nile, which aired as a four-part series on Channel 4 and Animal Planet in spring 2015. This was followed by 'Walking The Himalayas' (5 x 60', C4) in 2016 and both 'Walking The Americas' and 'From Russia To Iran' (4 x 60', C4) in 2017. Lev's accompanying books 'Walking The Nile' and 'Walking The Americas' have been Sunday Times bestsellers, whilst 'Walking The Himalayas' was voted Adventure Travel Book of the Year at the Edward Stanford Awards. In spring 2017, Lev embarked on a sell-out 23 date theatre tour 'An Evening With Levison Wood' across the UK, followed by further dates in spring 2018. His fourth book 'Eastern Horizons', about his experiences hitchhiking from England to India as a 22 year-old, was published in November 2017 and also shortlisted for the Adventure Travel Book of the Year Award 2018.
In 2018, Lev returned from another epic expedition, a 5000 mile circumnavigation of the Arabian peninsula, taking in 13 countries from Iraq to Lebanon. His resulting book Arabia: A Journey Through The Heart of the Middle East was published in the UK in November 2018, accompanied by a major theatre tour, Journeys Through The Badlands & Beyond. Lev's 'Arabia' documentary series aired on Discovery UK and across the globe to great critical acclaim. The series was nominated for Best Documentary Series at the Broadcast Awards 2020. You can watch a short taster here.
Lev's most recent TV series pre-pandemic was 'Walking with Elephants', which aired on Channel 4 in May 2020, with his accompanying book The Last Giants published by Hodder. In Autumn 2022, his series 'Expedition Borderlands with Levison Wood and Ash Bhardwaj' aired on Discovery India to rave reviews.
In June 2021, Lev published his most personal book yet. The Art of Exploration reveals the lessons Lev has learnt on the road over the past 15 years of travel through over 100 countries. February 2022 saw the release of Lev's latest book Escape From Kabul, which he co-authored with fellow army veteran Geraint Jones.
Lev is also the author of Incredible Journeys, a children's book beautifully illustrated by Sam Brewster, which was published by Wren & Rook in June 2019. His first photography book Encounters, which showcases a selection of his remarkable photography from his travels and expeditions to date, was published by Ilex Press in September 2020. He is also the curator and editor of the adventure anthology Endurance, which was published by Head of Zeus in August 2022 and was one of Stanford's Top 5 bestselling books of last year.
Lev's latest major TV series Levison Wood: Walking With... aired on Channel 4 in August 2023. Travelling to Namibia in search of desert lions, Greenland to encounter polar bears and Borneo to discover the elusive orangutans, both Lev and the series were praised for shining a light on the plight of endangered animals across the globe. The series is being distributed internationally by Drive.