Ken Hames

Major Ken Hames (Rtd) is a British former Special Air Service's officer, presently a motivational speaker and specialist television presenter.

Biography

Hames grew up in a British Army family, where his father had served in a series of regiments and battles before retiring to become a farmer.citeweb|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/tvradio/beyondboundaries/profiles/ken.shtml|title=Beyond Boundaries - Ken Hames|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2008-04-22] Hames was beaten by his father and would hide himself away, and admits he joined the Army at aged 17 to get further away.

Army career

Hames joined the British Army in 1973 as junior soldier. After serving in West Germany as a tank driver, he was selected to attend the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in 1975, returning to serve as a Platoon Commander in Germany with the British Army of the Rhine. [citeweb|url=http://www.normanphillips.co.uk/ken_hames_bio.htm|title=http://www.normanphillips.co.uk/ken_hames_bio.htm|title=Ken Hames|publisher=Norman Phillips|accessdate=2008-04-22] Hames joined the Parachute Regiment, before serving on an exchange program with the Royal Marines Commandos, with whom he served as a Captain in the Falklands War and was at the liberation of Port Stanley. After the Falklands, he suffered for a period with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. After returning to service, he was one of the last guards of former Nazi Rudolf Hess at Spandau Prison in then West Berlin. Hames then joined the Special Air Service, where after a period of service he commanded Britain’s anti-terrorist team for one year. Hames then rejoined the active part of the unit, and served in the First Gulf War. [citeweb|url=http://www.kenhames.com/html/biography.htm|title=Ken Hames - Biography|publisher=Ken Hames|accessdate=2008-04-22]

Post-Army

After 25 years service, Hames retired from the Army in 1998 and now lives in Bristol. Becoming an expedition leader and motivational speaker, he came to note of a television producer and became involved in various adventure themed programs. Following a debut on "Battle Stripes" for Sky TV in 2000, Hames designed and presented Channel 4's "Desert Darlings," and in October 2002 Hames filmed the follow on in Namibia with couples who attempted to cross the Namib Desert.

After becoming involved in production and camp design for the first series ITV1's "I'm a Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here!," Hames became involved in children's televion with "Bring it On," and "Hero Factor" for the Discovery Channel. Hames filmed "SAS Battles" for Five; and most recently "Beyond Boundaries," "Mission Africa" and "Ex-Forces and Homeless" all for the BBC.

References

External links

* [http://www.kenhames.com Ken Hames - personal website]