Ben Fogle

Infobox person
name = Ben Fogle


imagesize = 200px
caption = Fogle at BBC Gardeners' World Live 2008.
birth_name = Ben Fogle
birth_date = Birth date and age|1973|11|3|df=yes
occupation = Television presenter
parents = Julia Foster
Bruce Fogle
website = http://www.benfogle.com/

Ben Fogle (born 3 November 1973) is an English television presenter, adventurer and former television reality show participant.

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. He took a year off from school and worked in an orphanage in Ecuador. Upon his return he read Latin American Studies 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" and embarking upon a successful media career. In 2006 he married Marina Hunt, co-founder of Kasimira party organisers whom he met whilst walking his black Labrador Retriever, Inca.

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. Billed as a bold experiment for the new millennium, the castaways built a sustainable self-sufficient community from scratch.

The castaways, including eight children, reared their own cattle, sheep, pigs, and chickens, and built an environmentally sound infrastructure including a wind turbine, hydro-electric dam, waterless urinals and long drops.

Living in turf covered eco pods, the castaways built a school, a slaughterhouse and erected poly tunnels to grow produce in the less than temperate Outer Hebrides.

Unlike subsequent reality television, the castaways filmed themselves. The series made by Lion Television for the BBC had an initial audience of nearly nine million.fact|date=March 2008

Presenting

Fogle has since become a regular television presenter for the BBC, hosting "Crufts", "One Man and His Dog", "Countryfile", "Extreme Dreams", "Animal Park", "Wild on the West Coast" and "Wild in Africa". He has also reported for "Inside Out", "Heaven and Earth", and "What Are We Like" with Jo Brand.

port

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, the pair had their boat fully capsized by huge waves, the experience left Fogle in a state of shock at the thought of his partner drowning whilst he was still inside the boat. 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 an RTS award in 2007.

He has also completed the six day Marathon des Sables for the World Wide Fund for Nature across convert|160|mi|km of the Sahara Desert and the Safaricom Marathon in Kenya for the TUSK Trust. Fogle beat "Eastenders" actor Sid Owen in a three round charity boxing match for "BBC Sport Relief" under the training of Frank Bruno.

Fogle is an ocean yachtmaster with a sailing world record for the Portsmouth-Cork route. [Jo Taylor. [http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/news/?article=22442 Ben Fogle wins inaugural Big V Race from Portsmouth to Cork] . "Yachts and Yachting.com". 13 July 2006. Retrieved 17 May 2008.]

outh Pole

Fogle has teamed up with James Cracknell once again along with an, as yet, unannounced third celebrity team mate, as [http://www.teamqinetiq.com Team QinetiQ] to take part in the inaugural South Pole Race, the first in 97 years, since the great Norwegian-British race between Roald Amundsen and Robert Falcon Scott. The route will cover nearly convert|600|km|mi and take up to two months across one of the least hospitable environments on Earth.The team will be competing for Great Britain against an international line up of teams including New Zealand, Norway, Italy, Russia and the USA. The race will be filmed and is due to be aired in 2009.fact|date=March 2008

Writing

He has written three 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.fact|date=March 2008 It was short listed for the W H Smith's people's award for Best Travel Book.fact|date=March 2008

He has also written "Offshore" published by Penguin in 2006 in which he travelled around Britain [ [http://www.amazon.co.uk/review/R317TY6M7RW0E0/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm Amazon.co.uk: Joseph Haschka's review of Offshore: In Search of an Island of My Own ] ] in search of an island of his own. He visited the Kingdom of Sealand and attempted to invade Rockall in the North Atlantic. He most recently published the "Crossing", published by Atlantic books and co-written with Cracknell followed their Transatlantic rowing bid.

Fogle 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.

Fogle is the President of the Campaign for National Parks [http://www.cnp.org.uk/press_release/17-07-07.html] , an ambassador for the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Tusk and a keen supporter of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and Hearing Dogs for Deaf People and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He was awarded an honorary doctorate of letters by the University of Portsmouth in 2007.fact|date=March 2008

Countryfile

He has appeared on the rural affairs programme alongside John Craven since 2001 during which time he has 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 Essex, the alternative Scottish games, world tin bath racing on the Isle of Man, bog snorkelling and the Man versus Horse race in Wales, Tough Guy, cheese rolling, morris dancing, burning barrels in Devon, Up Helly Aa in Shetland, furry dancing in Cornwall and the world crabbing championships in Walberswick, Suffolk.In 2008 Ben took part in the World Coal Carrying Championships in Gawthorpe, West Yorkshire finishing in a respectable 22nd place.

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.

Television presenting credits

* "Crufts" (2006, 2007 & 2008)
* "The Sand marathon" (2004]
* "Wild on the West Coast" (2007)
* "Wild in Africa" (2005 & 2006)
* "One Man and His Dog"
* "Countryfile" (2001-)
* "Animal Park" (2002-)
* "Big Screen Britain" (2003)
* "Death by Pets" (2003)
* "Sport Relief 2004" (2004)
* "Through Hell and High Water" (2006)
* "Cash in the Attic"
* "Extreme Dreams With Ben Fogle"

References

#

cite web
last = Phillips
first = Liz
title = Ben Fogle: Me and my money
publisher = Daily Mail
date = 29 June 2006
url = http://www.thisismoney.co.uk/home/article.html?in_article_id=410303&in_page_id=1
#

External links

* [http://www.benfogle.com/ Official website]
*
* [http://www.atlanticrowingrace.co.uk/ Atlantic Rowing Race]
* [http://www.2meninaboat.com/ 2 Men in a Boat]
* [http://www.virtualhebrides.com/articles/castaway_2000/ben.htm Ben Fogle and Castaway 2000]
* [http://www.trekforceworldwide.com/ben_fogle/ Trekforce Worldwide assistance with Extreme Dreams]

Persondata
NAME = Fogle, Ben
ALTERNATIVE NAMES =
SHORT DESCRIPTION = British television presenter and adventurer who is one of the few people to build a successful career after being a television reality show participant.
DATE OF BIRTH = 3 November 1973
PLACE OF BIRTH =
DATE OF DEATH =
PLACE OF DEATH =