Simon Reeve (UK television presenter)

Simon Reeve (born 1972) is a British author and TV presenter. Based in London, he specialises in international terrorism, conflict resolution, and making travel documentaries in little-known areas of the world. Reeve is the "New York Times" bestselling author of "The New Jackals" (1998), "One Day in September" (2000) and "Tropic of Capricorn" (2007). He has received a One World Broadcasting Trust Award for an "outstanding contribution to greater world understanding." [ [http://www.owbt.org/old%20site/awards2005/Winners2005.htm oneworld media awards 2005 ] ]

Biography

Reeve was born and raised in west London. He has said his childhood holidays were usually in Dorset, England, and that he rarely went abroad until he started work. [ [http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2005/may/01/observerescapesection Tales from my travels: Terrorism expert Simon Reeve | Travel | The Observer ] ] After leaving school Reeve took a series of jobs, including working in a supermarket, a jewelry shop, and a charity shop, before he started researching and writing in his spare time while working as a postboy at a British newspaper. Reeve then conducted investigations into subjects such as arms-dealing, nuclear smuggling, terrorism and organised crime before he began studying the 1993 World Trade Center bombing just days after the attack. Reeve's research formed the basis for his book "The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism". Published in the UK and USA in the late 1990s, "The New Jackals" was the first book on bin Laden. Classified information cited by Reeve detailed the existence, development, and aims of the terrorist group al-Qaeda. The book warned that al-Qaeda was planning huge attacks on the West, and concluded that an apocalyptic terrorist strike by the group was almost inevitable. It has been a "New York Times" bestseller [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A01E6DE1F39F93BA25752C1A9679C8B63&scp=6&sq=simon+reeve&st=nyt] , and in the three months after the 9/11 attacks it was one of the top three bestselling books in the United States. [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page17/page17.html] After the 9/11 attacks Reeve became a regular commentator and reference source on the emerging terror threat. [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/2800297.stm] He has been quoted in "The New York Times" warning that al-Qaeda was moving "far beyond being a terrorist organization to being almost a state of mind. That’s terribly significant because it gives the movement a scope and longevity it didn’t have before 9/11.” [ [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/11/world/europe/11qaeda.html?scp=1&sq=simon+reeve&st=nyt Scale and Detail of Plane Scheme Recall Al Qaeda - New York Times ] ]

Reeve followed "The New Jackals" with a study of the 1972 Munich massacre called "One Day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God"', published in 2000 by Faber & Faber. The book detailed the siege and the massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes and officials were killed by Black September, the global recriminations, and the launch of an Israeli revenge mission. [ [http://www.abc.net.au/foreign/s220350.htm Foreign Correspondent - 22/08/2000: Interview with Simon Reeve ] ] The accompanying documentary film of the same name won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature and was screened in cinemas around the world. The book was described by "The New Yorker" as 'highly skilled and detailed...it’s a page-turner'.

After the attacks of 9/11 Reeve began making travel documentaries for the BBC in obscure or troubled parts of the world. After vomiting blood and being diagnosed with malaria on a journey around the Equator, he became an ambassador for the Malaria Awareness Campaign. [ [http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article1777238.ece A real globe-trotter - Times Online ] ] [ [http://www.malariahotspots.co.uk Malaria information and the prevention of malaria - Malaria Hotspots ] ]

Simon Reeve is the older brother of award-winning photographer James Reeve [http://www.fiftycrows.org/photoessay/reeve/bio.php] , former winner of the Nikon/"Wanderlust"/"The Independent" International Professional Travel Photographer of the Year Award [http://www.shootandscribble.com/jr/biog.html] , who has been recognised by the National Portrait Gallery Portrait Prize and "the Observer" Hodge award for his work in Afghanistan. [ [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/hodgeaward/story/0,,1272952,00.html Frame academy | Special reports | The Observer ] ]

Television

Tropic of Capricorn

Tropic of Capricorn is a four-part 2008 BBC documentary series in which Reeve tracked the southern edge of the tropics region around the world. The series, and the accompanying book, also written by Reeve, outlined his journey through southern Africa, Madagascar, Australia and across South America. Reeve crossed the Andes mountains, the Namib, Kalahari and Atacama deserts, found giant rats detecting landmines in Mozambique and was forced to eat penis soup by Madagascan royalty. He met miners scrabbling for gems in dark, dangerous tunnels and a British anthropologist fighting to save forest communities in South America. He also went hunting with a tribe of former cannibals, travelled the equivalent of half-way up Everest, ate dried caterpillars, grilled llama, sheep eyes, and searched for wild honey in the forests of northern Argentina. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/capricorn/default.stm BBC NEWS | Programmes | Capricorn ] ] Reeve described the journey as his "greatest challenge". [ [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page6/page22/page22.html Capricorn ] ] Tropic of Cancer is currently scheduled for 2009.

Equator

Equator is a three-part BBC documentary first broadcast in September 2006 in which Reeve followed the Equator around the world. Among the places he visited were some of the most dangerous regions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Colombia. "The Radio Times" described the Equator series as 'an extraordinary journey…revelatory…thrilling and thought-provoking…hits us with jaw-dropping facts…eye-opening…delivers a string of revealing snapshots'. The series was the Silver Award winner at the 2007 "Wanderlust" Travel Awards. [ [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page6/page5/page5.html Equator ] ] Reeve contracted malaria while filming this series. [ [http://www.malariahotspots.co.uk/beenThere_vid5.asp Been there, Been bitten - Case study Simon Reeves ] ]

Places That Don't Exist

Places That Don't Exist was Reeve's 2005 award-winning five-part series on breakaway states and unrecognised nations, broadcast on BBC2 and broadcasters internationally. Among the countries Reeve visited for this series were Somaliland, Transniestria (where Reeve was detained for 'spying' by the KGB [http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2004/sep/07/russia.television1] ), Nagorno-Karabakh, Ajaria, South Ossetia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, Somalia, Moldova, Taiwan, and the former Soviet republic of Georgia. [ [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page6/page7/page7.html Places That Don't Exist ] ]

House of Saud (also broadcast as: "Saudi: The Family in Crisis")

A one-off BBC2 and BBC World documentary filmed inside Saudi Arabia, written and presented by Reeve. The journey took Reeve across Saudi Arabia, from the cities of Jeddah and Riyadh to the vast Empty Quarter desert. Participants ranged from Saudi princes and Islamic militants, to teenage girls and Osama bin Laden's former best friend. It was broadcast in 2004. [ [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page6/page3/page3.html House of Saud ] ] [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/3866191.stm BBC NEWS | Programmes | This World | Saudi: The Family in Crisis ] ]

Meet the Stans

A four-part BBC Two and BBC World series on Central Asia, written and presented by Reeve. The series took Reeve from the far north-west of Kazakhstan, by the Russian border, east to the Chinese border, south through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the edge of Afghanistan, and west to Uzbekistan and the legendary Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. It was broadcast on the BBC in 2003, and internationally during 2004 and 2005. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/3143462.stm BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Meet the Stans ] ] [ [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page6/page18/page8/page8.html Guardian Article ] ] [ [http://www.cbc.ca/correspondent/feature_04-12-20.html CBC: Correspondent - December 20, 2004 ] ]

Bibliography

"The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism". The book was published in the U.S. and UK in 1998 and 1999.

"One Day in September: the full story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and the Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God"',

* cite book
date = 6 February 2008
title = Tropic of Capricorn
last = Reeve
first = Simon
publisher = BBC Books
id = ISBN 9781846074400

References

Further reading

* Simon Reeve - [http://www.shootandscribble.com Website]
* [http://www.shootandscribble.com/sr/page17/page17.html Biography]
* BBC - Tropic of Capricorn - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/capricorn/default.stm Information and interview]
* BBC - Equator - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/equator/ Information and interview]
* BBC - Places That Don't Exist - [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/this_world/4491059.stm Information] [http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcfour/documentaries/features/places-that-dont-exist.shtml Interview]
* "Wanderlust" magazine - [http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/detail.php?page_id=310&type_id=7 Interview]
* USA Today - [http://www.usatoday.com/community/chat/1114reeve.htm Interview]
* "The Observer" - [http://observer.guardian.co.uk/travel/story/0,6903,1474113,00.html Interview]
* "The Independent" - [http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/my-life-in-travel-simon-reeve-439520.html Interview]
* "The Times" - [http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/body_and_soul/article1777238.ece Health interview]
* Fan Website - [http://tv.groups.yahoo.com/group/simon_reeve_group/]