Benedict Allen
Benedict Allen redefined the British tradition of exploring by pioneering the recording of expeditions for television – each journey captured without a filmcrew! The spontaneity and authenticity of each discovery are now part of television history – his 5 BBC series and 8 books document each extraordinary expedition: amongst them, Raiders of the Lost Lake, Skeleton Coast, Edge of Blue Heaven and most recently, Ice Dogs. Publications, other than his own expedition accounts, include Faber's 2002 Book of Exploration as well as last year's Into the Abyss, investigating what enables us to cope in extreme circumstances.
This year Benedict presents two new programmes for BBC4:- a series, Travellers’ Century as well as a documentary about the Victorian explorer Ryder Haggard. He also is an expert contributor in BBC2’s Extreme Dreams.
“Benedict is part of television history,” Mark Thompson, Director General, BBC
Benedict Allen pioneered the recording of arduous expeditions for television – something he did without an accompanying filmcrew - allowing millions of people for the first time to witness real discoveries taking place exactly as they happened. A graduate of Environmental Science (UEA), he is well known for his expeditions to far-flung corners of the globe, taking nothing with him to these communities – no equipment, maps or compasses, his technique has been to sink into remote communities, placing himself in the hands and at the “mercy” of these people and their environment, learning to survive from them alone. Few Westerners have spent so long isolated in so many potentially hostile natural environments.
Television Highlights
Documented in his five BBC Television series:-
• He has undergone a male initiation ceremony in New Guinea – the only non-tribe member to have undertaken the “Niowra” initiation ceremony, with initiates being beaten every day for 6 weeks to be made a man "as strong as a crocodile".
• With the help of Matses Indians he's crossed the Amazon Basin, a journey of almost eight months without the aid of maps or compass, making him the only white man to have ever completed the journey.
• He has lived with Aborigines in the Gibson Desert - arriving in Australia by canoe across the treacherous Torres Strait.
• His Video Diary, RAIDERS OF THE LOST LAKE, where he went in search of the “Wild Lake” of the Amazon, gained the highest viewing figures in the history of the format (5.6 million agg.)
• THE SKELETON COAST, telling the story of his arduous three and a half month walk, negotiating some of the highest sand dunes in the world, surviving freezing sea fogs and searing inland heat with reluctant camels (he had to train them himself having never ridden a camel before) travelling through the Namib Desert whose floor is littered with diamonds and where, to keep lions at bay during the night, it was suggested he light a fire only to risk Rhinos charging the flames.
• EDGE OF BLUE HEAVEN was about his five month journey with horses and camels through Mongolia; it tells an intimate account of Benedict’s breathtaking, 3,000 mile trek around the land of Genghis Khan - including a 1000 mile walk, taking 6 weeks alone with his camels through the Gobi Desert.
• MOMBASA TO THE MOUNTAINS OF THE MOON, a film for the BBC's Great Railway Journeys series – described by one critic as “a diamond in a sack of coal!” ; more recently THE BONES OF COLONEL FAWCETT, about his search for an explorer in the Mato Grosso, and a major BBC series and book LAST OF THE MEDICINE MEN, investigating shamans and witchdoctors around the world. Benedict completed a 1500 km trek through Siberia in the worst winter in living memory for his last BBC TV series ICE DOGS, which was released in March 2002, where training his own team of sledge dogs and suffering frostbite were a part of his daily routine.
Books
His journeys are depicted in his eight expedition books:- Mad White Giant (1985), Into the Crocodile Nest (1987), Hunting the Gugu (1989), Through Jaguar Eyes (1994), The Proving Grounds (1991), The Skeleton Coast: A Journey Through the Namib Desert (1997), Edge of Blue Heaven: A Journey Through Mongolia (1998) and Last of the Medicine Men (2000).
In 2002 Benedict published a huge and definitive anthology of explorers, The Faber Book of Exploration, which looks to become a standard work of reference. Since this publication Benedict has used his extraordinary experience of survival – he has been dubbed “a cat who has used up six of his nine lives” – to research into what enables us to cope in extreme circumstances:- the resulting book, Into the Abyss.,
Benedict has experience of surviving adversity across the remote world, second to none. He translates this knowledge and experience into the corporate world by delivering inspiring motivational speeches and helping others achieve their own personal targets.
“The points you made on teamwork and the power of the individual, plus your enthusiasm gave perfect motivation and start to our conference”
Chief Executive, Sericol Ltd
“We were enthralled by Benedict’s keynote presentation at the conference…Benedict scored by far the highest marks of all the presenters. He was described as inspirational, an excellent spirit lifter”
UK Marketing Manager, Progress Software Ltd
Recent clients have included Deutsche Bank, Intel, IBM, Price Waterhouse Coopers, GLP Care Ltd amongst others.