Ben Fogle’s love of travelling and adventure started young, going on a gap year to Ecuador after school, where he worked in an orphanage teaching English. He then took a second year to go to the Mosquito Coast of Honduras and Nicaragua, where he worked on a turtle conservation project. During this time, he also became a midshipman in the Royal Navy Reserve, serving as an officer delivering aid to war-torn Bosnia and Croatia.
His first foray into television was on BBC’s Castaway, in which he was marooned on an island in the Outer Hebrides for a year as a social experiment. He has since presented numerous programmes including Animal Park (2000-), Countryfile (1988-) New Lives in the Wild (2013-), Extreme Dreams (2006-2009), Harbour Lives (2014), Through Hell and High Water (2007), Wild in Africa (2001), Wild on the West Coast (2010), One Man and his Dog (1976-), Country Tracks (2011), a Year of Adventures (2012) and Storm City (2014).
Ben Fogle | Documentary Presenter
Ben is also a go-to presenter and narrator for documentaries. In 2010 he narrated Prince William’s Africa for Sky1, Secrets of Scott’s Hut (2011) where he and a team ventured across the Antarctic to preserve Captain Scott’s hut and artefacts and Swimming with Crocodiles (2012) for BBC2. He has produced films about naval history and the RNLI, the Falklands, and the Scottish Isles, Chernobyl and the British coast.
In 2008, while filming a series of Extreme Dreams in Peru, he contracted leishmaniasis, a parasitic disease, which left him bedridden for three weeks. He was treated at London’s Hospital for Tropical Diseases, and this led him to explore other diseases prevalent in the world. Therefore in 2010, he presented a documentary called Make Me a New Face for BBC2 about the facial deforming disease Noma, which was prevalent in Africa at the time.
Ben predominantly works for UK channels BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5 and National Geographic, but he also works for US channel NBC as a special correspondent. Thanks to his extensive broadcasting career, Ben has travelled to over 200 places, including East Timor, St Helena, Nepal, Kenya, Zambia, the Arctic Circle, Uganda, Pitcairn, Sri Lanka, Fiji, Maldives, Tanzania and Morocco.
Ben Fogle | Author
Not content with being behind and in-front of the camera, Ben is also a very successful author, having written a range of bestselling non-fiction and children’s fiction books including Race to the Pole: Conquering Antarctica in the World’s Toughest Endurance Race (2009), The Accidental Adventurer: The True Story of my Wilderness Years (2011) and The Teatime Islands: Adventures in Britain’s Faraway Outposts (2004).
He is also the co-writer of the popular children’s series Mr Dog which includes editions such as Mr Dog and the Seal Deal (2019), Mr Dog and a Deer Friend (2020) and Mr Dog and the Kitten Catastrophe (2021). He also writes for publications The Sunday Telegraph, The Daily Telegraph, The Independent, Evening Standard, The New York Times, Sunday Times, Glamour Magazine and Mail On Sunday’s LIVE.
Ben Fogle | Charity Ambassador
Ben is a patron and ambassador for a number of charities personal to him, including Child Bereavement UK (their son was stillborn in 2014), WWF, Médecins Sans Frontières, Centrepoint, Royal Geographical Society, Cosmic Charity, Hearing Dogs for the Deaf, The Royal Parks Foundation, The British Hedgehog Preservation Society, Tusk, UN Environment Patron of the Wilderness
Ben is a key sailor, runner, swimmer, boxer and cyclist. In 2004, he ran the Marathon Des Sables, a 251km ultramarathon across the Sahara Desert and swam from Alcatraz to San Francisco. He has his Ocean Yachtmaster and coastal skipper certificates and is a qualified dinghy sailor; he has his NAUI scuba licence and is fluent in Spanish.
Ben Fogle | James Cracknell Adventures
In 2005-2006, Ben competed in the Atlantic Rowing Race in “Spirit of EDF Energy” alongside another Great British Speaker, Olympic rower James Cracknell. The 3,000-mile race took them just under 50 days to complete, and they came second in the pairs and in fourth place overall. They teamed up again, with Dr Ed Coats, to take part in the inaugural “Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race”. Six teams raced across the Antarctic Plateau to commemorate the race of 1911 between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott.
The team took 18 days to complete the 770km race, coming second overall. The two then paired together in 2009 to cycle a 423-mile rickshaw challenge from Edinburgh to London, taking 60 hours, to raise money for the Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen and Families Association. In 2013, they teamed up for their final expedition, which was across the Empty Quarter of Oman.
Ben Fogle | Mount Everest
In 2018, Ben summited Mount Everest, completing the climb over a six-week period. A documentary on the challenge by CNN was aired the same year to highlight environmental issues around mountains. In 2007, the BBC series that followed Ben and Cracknell’s boat race, Through Hell and High Water, won them a Royal Television Society Award.
Ben Fogle | Public Speaker
A well-loved broadcaster and adventurer of many talents, Ben has brought the far and wide reaches of our planet onto our TV screens. With charm, wit and professionalism, Ben has won over the nation and makes a brilliant addition to any event.
Ben Fogle | Speaking Topics
– Leadership and Teamwork
– Peak Performance
– Overcoming Adversity
– Risk Consideration
– Event Hosting and Presenting
– Adventure and Exploration
Ben Fogle can also be booked for voiceovers here.
