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News and Views |
CONTACT : me via info@benedictallen.com
FORTHCOMING ABSENCE ON “UNBREAKBALE”
Filming of the new series
Unbreakable has been delayed – I’ll be away from 19th April til the
end of June (more-or-less) , so won’t be able to sign books/photos or write
any personal letters or messages during this time, I’m afraid. Books and
DVDs will continue to be dispatched in my absence, however. 10/4/08
NEW LECTURE
SERIES
I’ve coupled up with an exciting organisation, ALL ELECTRIC PRODUCTIONS,
which facilitates talks and performances (01730 829081, www.allelectricproductions.co.uk)
and hope to produce an exciting and very different series of talks – starting
on Saturday 28th June (at the Guildhall, Grantham). The new
poster should give
something of the flavour: 10/4/08
Unbreakable?
I’ll be away from 19th April to 20th June (approx.) filming
a big telly series in which eight extremely fit individuals are pushed to their
physical and mental limits over the course of a couple of months. One of my interests
(for obvious reasons) is what it is that helps any of us keep going, when up
against it. This is a chance for me to find out by observing others in all manner
of conditions. These eight rather brave (and robust I do hope) people will first
be taken off around the world to be tested in varied terrain – jungle,
desert, Arctic, or wherever else we (me, the medical officer Fiona Ramsden, and
various specialists) think might push these characters, make them “dig
deep” as they say. A key pre-requisite for me is that the results won’t
be “fixed,” i.e. manipulated, for TV – we are simply putting
into place whatever tests we think might induce our eight volunteers to rise
to the occasion, or be defeated. These are not “needy” characters,
celebrities hoping for a come back. My role is to get in there with the “subjects” – motivate
them, nurture them along, find out what is going through their heads – and
apply even more pressure to those I (and the redoubtable medic Fi) think can
take more.
The resulting TV series, UNBREAKABLE, will be aired some time
later in the year, at least in theory – perhaps the Autumn – on Channel
5.
31/3/08
Benedict not at home.
I’ll be away (filming the Unbreakable
series, see above) all of April and May, and the first week in June. I
will not be able to sign books and cards to particular individuals during this
time – but
books (signed without a dedication) and DVDs will be available as normal. 14/3/08
Calling Ms Tucker!
I’ve been sent a cheque by a Ms Alison Tucker, for two
DVDs (Edge and Medicine Men) – but no address or contact number. Please
contact my office again, so that I can send the goods.
Shorter Walk In the Hindu
Kush.
I
thought that fans of Eric Newby might enjoy this photo I took during my trip
into the Hindu Kush in the footsteps of the travel writer for the series Travellers
Century. It’s of Badah Khan - one of Eric Newby’s guides – discovered
still alive and well fifty years later! (And despite all that’s happened
to Afghanistan since… Russian tanks still litter the Panjchir Valley).
The
second picture – taken hastily - is of two children perched on a mud roof,
behind them the valley leading into Mir Samir, the objective of Eric Newby and
Hugh Carless in their Short Walk in The Hindu Kush classic.
The series Travellers Century is still awaiting a broadcast date – hopefully it’ll be out this Autumn (BBC 4). 14/3/08
DVD price reduction!
I have now (at last!) paid off the production costs of
the various DVDs, and am reducing their price – see DVD page. It’s
very complicated to offer an automatic price reduction for multiple orders, and
I’m afraid I’m keeping the system simple – albeit with reduced
prices. On the other hand, those who’ve already purchased a VHS from me
are now eligible for a free DVD replacement. As usual, write to info@benedictallen.com
10/12/07
Sorry for DVD order delays!
Many apologies to all those who placed orders
for DVDs in my absence (in the Russian Arctic) and the subsequent delay in you
receiving them. Something went wrong in my Base Camp – either the newborn
baby or the move to Bristol might be to blame but I fear it’s down to my
lack of efficiency… I’ll pop on my bike this afternoon and post
the backlog. Thanks for your understanding. Rest assured,
regarding Christmas orders: I’m scheduled to be around til the New Year at least, and will
ensure all further orders are dispatched immediately. 7/12/07
Return from the
Arctic!
It took our helicopter three attempts to extract our party - the anthropologist
Florian, director Tom, translator Guy and myself from the tundra. We only just
got out, as a snow storm closed in - and were worried the pilot might give up.
Worryingly, he was being paid not in cash but in reindeer meat, which we had
plenty of – we joked at the time that perhaps the pilot that day was a
vegetarian or even Vegan (hitherto unheard of by me in the Russian Far North)
and not so concerned about extracting us from the snows.
It was a very rewarding
trip – three weeks in total, which was rather short, but none-the-less
a very precious time to be able to spend with the Nenet reindeer herders. Hopefully,
the material we gathered will be part of a BBC series on the Arctic- we are trying
to clear through some of the preconceptions and myths about the place. Here in
the Russian tundra, for example, the Nenets – though living what looked
like a very traditional existence - found themselves sharing the tundra with
various oil company explorers. Pipes were cutting across the tundra, gas flares
lit the day and night skies; huge installations were being installed. Yet the
Nenets saw the oil developments as an opportunity to sell their meat and gain
better access to health care and transport. This is the new frontier, the fastest
developing oil zone in the whole of Russia. Ignati, our host in the Nenet camp,
was remarkable I thought, for his belief in the future of his people out there.
The oil would be gone one day, sooner or later, but “as long as the sun
comes up over the tundra, the Nenets and their reindeer will continue out here.” Ironically,
the sun was actually barely above the horizon now – the start of the long
Arctic winter.
There
are other threats to the Nenets, in particular the warm temperatures and erratic
weather – part and parcel of climate change, it
would seem. It was sometimes minus 25 Celsius, which seemed amply cold to me,
but occasionally neared zero – when the temperatures should perhaps have
been more like minus 40 or so. The higher and less reliable temperatures affect
the annual slaughter of their reindeer- the fear is that the meat might not stay
fully frozen. Here are a couple of photos – I apologise
that they are of me, not the Nenets. I’ll remedy this in due course,
but only returned last night, and these are the only ones I have at present.
7/12/07
BREWHOUSE THEATRE POSTPONEMENT
Despite what was
promising to be a lovely big audience, a long standing other commitment by me
to film in the Arctic for the BBC means the talk has to be re-scheduled to Friday
16th May. I do apologize
to anyone who might be disappointed or inconvenienced by this. I try so hard
never to cancel or postpone talks, even when other exciting or lucrative offers
come my way – this clash though was entirely unexpected and the decision
not entirely in my hands. I’ll try to make it up to the audience somehow – more
on this in due course… 15/11/07
Arctic: On Saturday I’m heading off to the Arctic – a Russian outpost called Naryan-Mar, north of the Arctic Circle. Presently temperatures are reportedly dropping by 5 degrees Celsius a day, and I should arrive in time to see the sun dip below the horizon, not to rise again until next Spring. The aim of the trip is to record and investigate what’s happening in the tundra at an extraordinary time in the Arctic’s history. Never has the Far North seen such human interest – as the ice threatens to melt, waterways are opening up, and various nations are competing to exploit the natural resources (principally gas and oil) to be found out there. I’ll visit a Nenet reindeer camp, see how they are coping with these challenges, and also talk to an oil company active in the region, which is looking to co-operate with the Nenets – who have an abundance of reindeer meat that the oil company needs and that they wish to sell. Hopefully, this filming stint will become part of a bigger series for BBC 4/BBC 2. 15/11/07
Arctic absence – delay in signing books: Because of my absence in the Arctic, there’ll be a delay in me signing any books or cards I’m afraid. I’m returning on 7th December, still in time for Christmas orders. 15/11/07
Travellers Century: Still no scheduled broadcast date for this series – on the great travel writers of the last century. My guess is Spring 2008. 15/11/07
Survival in the House of Commons: Stephen Corry, director of Survival International, the charity which helps indigenous people defend their rights, recently kindly invited me to a reception at the House of Commons to welcome Davi Kopenawa Yanomami, an indigenous leader from the Amazon, and help press for support of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tribal Peoples, and in particular the government’s support for convention “169” of the International Labour Organisation, which is the most important international law for tribal peoples. Davi gave a moving and poetic speech about the damage done through the centuries to the Amazon forest environment, and its decimated peoples – including his own. Awkwardly, the Brazilian Embassy then insisted on a “right of reply,” a spokesman telling us that the Brazilian government was listening to these concerns, and was “already acting on them.” That aside, it’s important that our own government acts on this matter – for more on this and other core issues on indigenous peoples, see www.survival-international.org 17/11/07
I’m giving a talk at the RGS entitled (rather excitingly) The Naked Explorer. It’s in aid of The Railway Children charity - I’m at last honouring a longstanding promise to help this wonderful charity which works to help street children around the world. I don’t think I’ve actually promised to strip off for the event: I’m talking about my approach to exploration - going off without conventional backup (satellite phone, GPS, western companions...).The talk is, as the Railway Children website puts it, “by arguably our most authentic adventurer is about trekking in genuine jeopardy across the Amazon, the Arctic and New Guinea.” Please click on the link: www.railwaychildren.org.uk
NEXT TV SERIES:
I’m safely back from Afghanistan, and various other
places, thus completing the various filming stints for the series Traveller’s
Century.
Though the title may change, the three part TV series – for broadcast initially on BBC 4 – is looking at the great travel-writers, who seem to have occupied the “golden years” of travel, ie between the era of exploration and the present era of mass tourism. During this time, the 20th century, it was safe enough to venture far from home and follow your own impulses, without the sponsorship and baggage of a formalised expedition. In the series I ask why the British are apparently so keen on travelling “overseas” - and on travel writing? For better or worse, the Brits completely dominate the literature – you’ll note that even Bill Bryson, though an American, writes for a UK not US audience. Go into a bookshop in France, Germany, the States or China and you will not find nearly the same range or quantity of travel books as here. Is this to do with the Brits coming from an overcrowded island that we are trying to escape? Are we just tying to understand or justify our place in the world, because we’re aware we are just a small, offshore nation? Is it due to the residue of the Empire? Are we trying to evade the shackles of a class-ridden society? Eric Newby (Short Walk In the Hindu Kush, Slowly Down the Ganges) seemed to me to represent best the spirit of the great amateur – the idea of simply packing your bags and setting off (without the expertise of the specialist explorer) to seek adventure. Laurie lee, (As I Walked Out One Midsummer Morning) who I also devote an episode to, seems to come from a very different tradition, that of the poetic traveller, the wandering minstrel or troubadour. Finally, I examine Patrick Leigh Fermor, (A Time of Gifts) whom many feel is the greatest living travel-writer, and who comes from the Byronic tradition of the errant scholar; a synthesis between the man of action and intellectual.
The series is due for broadcast in Autumn this year, 2007. 11/7/07
INTO THE ABYSS is now out in paperback, Faber and Faber. I don’t sell copies, but if you want me to write a message to insert into a copy for a friend, or want an inscription on your copy and can be bothered to send it to me (with stamps to cover the cost of posting it back, please!) send it to my office address: 72 York Road, Montpelier, BRISTOL, BS6 5QF UK. 11/7/07
INTO THE ABYSS is due out in paperback this summer 4/5/07
HINDU KUSH
I’m
off to Afghanistan tomorrow – in the footsteps of Eric Newby (whose memorial
service was yesterday), as part of the BBC 4 series I’m presenting and
writing on the great travel writers. His 1956 journey became immortalised as
A Short Walk In The Hindu Kush; I’ll be retracing the journey of Eric and
Hugh Carless, as they struggled up the Panjchir Valley to climb Mount Samir.
Ironically, it’s one of the few places in the world which is less visited
by travellers now than half a century ago – for obvious reasons. 4/5/07
MAD WHITE GIANT is currently out-of-print.
It is (in theory)
being reprinted at present by the publisher, Faber and Faber 17/01/07
HAPPY NEW YEAR
I was actually rather sick over the New Year – because I was on the QU
2, crossing the notorious Bay of Biscay, as part of a lecture engagement, during
rough seas. So much for me being a “rough, tough, explorer” - I felt
I wanted to die! Give me Colombian hitmen in the Amazon any day… 17/01/07
TRAVELLERS’ CENTURY
Work is now on progress on this series for BBC
4. This will keep me fairly busy for the first part of 2007: I hope to launch
out on an expedition in the latter half. But we shall see… 17/01/07
Adventure For Boys: The Lost Worlds Of Rider Haggard.
If it’s of interest,
I’m the presenter of this documentary on the author
of King Solomon’s
Mines and She - showing on BBC 4 at 21:00, 27 December 2006.
As a child I was
inspired by Haggard’s thrilling tales of intrepid explorers searching Africa
for lost worlds and hidden treasures. In this programme I share my love of Haggard’s
writing with – as the press release goes – “a host of famous
fans including Jonathan Ross, Fay Weldon, Ian Duncan Smith, John Mortimer, Ekow
Eshun and John Sessions.” 19/12/06
Twentieth Century Travel writers.
In
early 2007 I’ll be making a three part series for
BBC 4 on the greatest British travel writers – concentrating on Eric Newby, Patrick Leigh Fermor
and Laurie Lee. It’s rather early days for this project, but hopes to cover
the gulf between the great era of Exploration, and the present era of Mass Tourism.
19/12/06
ICEDOGS DVD – OCCASIONAL FAULT. It appears that there’s been a problem with some of the Icedogs dvds. They are now all checked – or rather, tried out, briefly – before dispatch. But please let me know if you have trouble with this or any other DVD and I’ll replace them as soon as I can.27/10
INTO THE ABYSS: I’ve been unable to find time to place an extract of the Into the Abyss book on this site, as yet. Apologies. I’ve been heavily involved in other things, including, of course, promoting the book. Hope to post something soon. 27/10
RIDER HAGGARD TV Programme. Presenting I’m involved in the making of a programme for BBC 4 – the life of Rider Haggard, the Victorian author who wrote huge bestsellers in his time – notably King Solomon’s Mines, and She. These have highly influential in the way that adventure stories have been told through the years – shaping such rip-roaring cinema tales as the Indiana Jones films and Star Wars. 27/10
BOOK PREVIEW: an excerpt from the new book, INTO THE ABYSS: explorers on the
edge of survival, will be posted on the website shortly! 29/8/06
NEW BOOK!! : Publication of the latest book Into the Abyss will be 2nd November 2006 – though copies should be available before hand. This book is based on the BBC TV series ICEDOGS – but also examines the nature of survival, how certain people are able to keep marching on into a blizzard when there seems to be no hope. Indeed, how any of us summon up the will to keep on going, when our world has fallen apart. An extensive tour has been arranged – I hope to meet some of you, indeed ALL of you, around the country! 12/07/06
DVDs are now available of each of the four main TV series – but not of The Bones of Colonel Fawcett, nor of my other programmes. See elsewhere on the site… 31/1/06
ICEDOGS BOOK : publication of the “Siberian book” by Faber and Faber is set for November 2nd this year. HOWEVER the actual title still isn’t decided! It will not be “Icedogs” because the book is about more than me and my efforts to train my ten heroic dogs, as was captured in the TV series. It’s about survival – what we find in ourselves to keep going, when at times of disaster and despair there might seem, on the face of it, to be so little hope… 31/1/06
Motivating : I’ve just returned from giving a motivational speech to Deutsche Bank in Frankfurt, and before that, a speech in France for to Intel (the people make the Pentium processor chip for computers). Both audiences come from very different worlds to me, but I never cease to be amazed by how similar the corporate world is to the jungles I have passed through over the years. Leaving aside jokes about “headhunters, ” there is in both faraway tropical jungle and urban jungles a need to adapt to changes circumstance, a need to band together, and a need to be aware that this highly competitive jungle is too big to fight. It must be embraced.
7/10/05
DVDsat last !!! I hope to have DVDsavailable for most of my programmes in the near future, though they have to be produced by hand on a non-profit basis because of copyright reasons.
7/10/05
Happy Helmsley visit : Recently I gave a speech to the good people of Helmsley (and neighbours). It was a lovely event for me at least – not just because of the friendly audience, but because the next morning I had the chance to go out for a hike in the North York Moors. Wonderful up there.
7/10/05
ANOTHER CHANCE TO SEE:
UKTV will be repeating
two of my series:
Last of the Medicine Men
Monday 15th to Thursday 18th August at 8pm.
The
Bones of Colonel Fawcett Monday 22nd to Thursday 25th August at 8pm.
7/7/05
GAP
SHOW
The Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme kindly invited me to open the Gap
Show at Wembley Conference Centre last week – the thrust of my speech was
that the time after school is incredibly precious, a time to step aside from your
family, friends and the social values you’ve been steeped in, so that you
might decide what you want from your life. “CONTROL YOUR DESTINY OR SOMEONE
ELSE WILL” are the words written over my desk – and a Gap Year, it seems
to me is a great chance for anyone young to define his or her destiny.
7/7/05
Wish
you were there!
I’ve been away again, writing an article for the
Mail-on-Sunday on southern Africa for the 150 th anniversary of David Livingstone
coming across the “Victoria Falls.” I felt very much invigorated, especially
given the chance to go by foot through the bush between elephants and so on. Also
paddling on the Zambezi between rather territorial hippos… Of course, Livingstone
– who, amongst other things, was attacked by a lion - had it rather rougher..
25/3/05
MEETING THE RELATIVES:
Last
week I was in Borneo, visiting orang-utans and their home deep in the forest.
It was an exciting and rewarding journey – the orangs are, needless-to-say,
under threat from deforestation, and this was a chance to see orphans being prepared
for life again in the wild. Once I was patron of a charity walk organised by the
Orang-utan Foundation, so the visit to see their work in the Tanjong Puting National
Park gave me an extra thrill.
Our relatives, these orangs, transfixed me – characters like Princess, a mother who was released to the wild many years ago, and now has had four children – the latest little Percy who hung permanently from her fur. For the first eight years of their lives, orangs are inseparable from their mothers – that’s longer than any species, including human. They need this time to learn which leaves and fruits are edible, where to find them, and at what time of year. As adults they live a largely solitary existence, and roam large areas of jungle: if we can save them, then we will save their forests.
My thanks to the Orang Foundation and Discovery Initiatives (an inspiring
and ecologically aware travel company that set the excursion up, and which I would
unhesitatingly recommend for trips to see snow leopards, gorillas, and much else
besides.) Soon I’ll write an article in the Mail-on-Sunday on this short
trip of mine, and the orangs - these our precious arboreal first cousins.
17/2/05
MISSED ME?!
I’m speaking at the Outdoor Adventure
Show on Sunday February 20th 11.30 – see Events page. (Not to be confused
with the recent Travel and Adventure show, also in Olympia).
1/2/05
I’m
still being rather reclusive, writing the Icedogs book, articles etc, I’m
afraid.
11/1/05
HOWEVER THE FORUM is more active than
ever, and you might be interested in having a peek! I do occasionally post messages
there and do read all messages – though be aware that I receive up to 50
emails a day, and as all messages to the Forum also get copied to my In Tray they
do sometimes get lost among the bureaucracy. Current discussions include classic
railway journeys, the ethics of filming so-called “tribal people,” best
places to visit on the planet… To register with the Forum, see the link above.
11/1/05
TRIBE
I’m constantly asked what I
think of Tribe, a BBC 2 series currently showing. (BBC 2, Monday nights, 9pm).
I think its not altogether my place to comment, but two newspapers have now rung
me, trying to get me to say its an example of BBC (a) “dumbing down”
and (b) of the BBC now being especially “unethical”. Afterall, it’s
a far cry from Under the Sun, the old BBC strand. Anyway, let me just say : although
there were misgivings about the series, at the RGS and even among BBC producers,
mainly centring on the intrusion of a crew among remote so-called “tribal”
people for only superficial visits and observations (the shoots were only of a
few weeks), however, I think the presenter comes over as warm and sensitive and
articulate. This is obviously not anthropology and not exploration – one
reviewer likened it to a “Blue Peter Special” – but I’m pleasantly
surprised. Worth a look, certainly – see what you think.
11/1/05
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