Ben Fogle brings his Call of the Wild tour to Yorkshire

BEN Fogle can’t resist a challenge - and the TV adventurer has certainly undertaken a few over the years.

He has run the Marathon des Sables – dubbed the “toughest footrace on Earth” – across the Sahara where temperatures can exceed 50°C; he has rowed across the Atlantic Ocean, travelled to the South Pole on foot and come face to face with some of the most feared predators on the planet.

Over the past 15 years, Fogle has established himself as a familiar face on our TV screens, whether it’s hosting genteel animal programmes, or trekking across some of the most inhospitable places on earth.

He’s never been one to shirk a challenge and he will be talking about this as well as his numerous adventures and escapades in his Call of the Wild tour which lands in Yorkshire next month. “I have done talks before but this is going to be a little more theatrical, it’s a way of sharing my life and adventures with the audience,” he says.

But while the likes of Bear Grylls or Ranulph Fiennes come across as born adventurers, Fogle was something of a shrinking violet as a child. “I was a shy little boy, I failed my exams at school and I was terrible at sport. I was rejected by all the drama schools and I didn’t get the grades I needed to become a vet and follow in my father’s footsteps. I didn’t really amount to much,” he says.

His career in the arts thwarted, he enrolled as an officer in the Royal Navy Reserve, becoming a midshipman. After four years in the Navy he went to live in South America, working in an orphanage in Ecuador and then on a turtle conservation project on the Mosquito coast, in Honduras.

It proved to be a transforming experience for Fogle. “The year I spent travelling across South America was key for me, it helped me gain self-confidence,” he says. It also unleashed his inner adventurer.

Fogle first came to the public’s attention on the BBC reality show Castaway in 2000, which followed a group of people marooned on a remote island off Scotland. This opened the door to a television career that has 
seen him presenting everything from Crufts and Countryfile, to swimming with crocodiles and running across deserts.

If his CV makes eclectic reading, it is born out of innate curiosity and a desire to learn about different things. One of his greatest challenges was attempting to tackle the Atlantic Rowing Race a decade ago.

Seasoned yachtsmen spend three years training mentally and physically for the gruelling 2,550-nautical mile race from the Canary Isles to the West Indies. But Fogle and his rowing partner, Olympic gold medallist James Cracknell, had just three months to prepare for what is widely regarded as the world’s hardest rowing race.

Fogle had not rowed since his schooldays but he conquered his fears and met the challenge head on. Not that he is immune to fear. “A couple of years ago I did a programme for the BBC where I went swimming with Nile crocodiles in Botswana. We had safety experts with us but that was still without doubt the most terrifying experience of my life.”

He admits he probably wouldn’t do something like that again, but at the same time he believes we all need to take more risks.

“A lot of people become complacent and don’t want to step out of their comfort zone. But if you take risks you can achieve so much more. I believe taking risks has made me a better person, it’s made me more open-minded and given me a better perspective on life.”

Ben Fogle is appearing at Sheffield Student Union on October 13, 0114 222 8777; the Victoria Theatre, Halifax, on October 15, 01422 351 158; and Leeds University Union on October 16, 0871 220 026.