Buy
Simon's latest book
here:
Simon Reeve was born and raised in west London. For those interested, Simon went to a local comprehensive, where he was an unspectacular student. He did not get a scholarship to Oxford University, or even Uxbridge College, and at the end of his schooling he was thrown out onto the cobbled streets of the great metropolis and left to forage for work and food.
After a series of terrible jobs, including working in a supermarket, a jewellery shop, and a charity shop, Simon finally found gainful employment as a postboy at a national newspaper. Still in his teens, he sorted the mail during the day, and began researching and writing in his spare time. His 'big break' came when he found two foreign terrorists on the run in the UK, and he began conducting investigations for the newspaper into subjects such as arms-dealing, nuclear smuggling, terrorism and organised crime.
In 1993, Simon began studying the first World Trade Center attack just hours after the bombing. While investigating the background and origins of those responsible for the 1993 terrorist strike, Simon discovered more terror attacks were being planned by a disparate group of militants connected to the bombers - a group now commonly called al Qaeda.
Over the next few years, Simon traced and interviewed 'Afghan Arabs' and close friends and supporters of Osama bin Laden, along with senior FBI, CIA, and Asian intelligence officials. Simon had clandestine meetings with spies and militants in tea houses, car parks and burger bars, was followed by secret agents from at least two countries, and worked undercover in disguise while searching for a former Lebanese arms smuggler. Traveling across three continents, Simon obtained classified documents and evidence detailing the existence, development and aims of the most dangerous terrorist organisation in modern history.
Simon's research and conclusions formed the basis of his first book The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism. Published in the UK and USA in the late 1990s it was the first book in the world on bin Laden and al Qaeda. The New Jackals warned al Qaeda was planning huge attacks on the West, and concluded an apocalyptic terrorist strike by the group was almost inevitable. It was a New York Times bestseller, and in the three months after the 9/11 attacks was one of the top three bestselling books in the United States.
Simon's next book was One Day in September: the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God'. The movie of the same name, narrated by the actor Michael Douglas, won the Oscar for best feature documentary.
Simon Reeve was born and raised in west London. For those interested, Simon went to a local comprehensive, where he was an unspectacular student. He did not get a scholarship to Oxford University, or even Uxbridge College, and at the end of his schooling he was thrown out onto the cobbled streets of the great metropolis and left to forage for work and food.
After a series of terrible jobs, including working in a supermarket, a jewellery shop, and a charity shop, Simon finally found gainful employment as a postboy at a national newspaper. Still in his teens, he sorted the mail during the day, and began researching and writing in his spare time. His 'big break' came when he found two foreign terrorists on the run in the UK, and he began conducting investigations for the newspaper into subjects such as arms-dealing, nuclear smuggling, terrorism and organised crime.
In 1993, Simon began studying the first World Trade Center attack just hours after the bombing. While investigating the background and origins of those responsible for the 1993 terrorist strike, Simon discovered more terror attacks were being planned by a disparate group of militants connected to the bombers - a group now commonly called al Qaeda.
Over the next few years, Simon traced and interviewed 'Afghan Arabs' and close friends and supporters of Osama bin Laden, along with senior FBI, CIA, and Asian intelligence officials. Simon had clandestine meetings with spies and militants in tea houses, car parks and burger bars, was followed by secret agents from at least two countries, and worked undercover in disguise while searching for a former Lebanese arms smuggler. Traveling across three continents, Simon obtained classified documents and evidence detailing the existence, development and aims of the most dangerous terrorist organisation in modern history.
Simon's research and conclusions formed the basis of his first book The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism. Published in the UK and USA in the late 1990s it was the first book in the world on bin Laden and al Qaeda. The New Jackals warned al Qaeda was planning huge attacks on the West, and concluded an apocalyptic terrorist strike by the group was almost inevitable. It was a New York Times bestseller, and in the three months after the 9/11 attacks was one of the top three bestselling books in the United States.
Simon's next book was One Day in September: the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God'. The movie of the same name, narrated by the actor Michael Douglas, won the Oscar for best feature documentary.
More recently, Simon has been travelling around
little-known regions of the world for a series of
television documentaries.
In Meet the Stans, a four part series on Central Asia broadcast on BBC2 and BBC World during 2003 and 2004, Simon travelled 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.
During Summer 2004 the BBC2 and BBC World documentary House of Saud showed Simon traveling around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah, to the isolation of the Empty Quarter desert.
For the five-part BBC2 series Places That Don’t Exist, broadcast in 2005, Simon travelled to and through a group of unrecognised nations – countries so obscure they don’t officially exist. Among the destinations visited were Somaliland, Transdniestria, Nagorno-Karabkh, Ajaria and South Ossetia.
In June 2005 Simon and Series Producer Will Daws won an award from the One World Broadcasting Trust for Places That Don’t Exist, for making an "outstanding contribution to greater world understanding". They were very pleased.
In 2006 Simon travelled around the world for the BBC series Equator, The journey took Simon around the region with both the richest biodiversity, and perhaps the greatest concentration of human suffering. Among the countries visited were Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesian Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil.
In 2007 Simon travelled around the Tropic of Capricorn for a BBC TV series and book. The Capricorn journey started in Namibia, and took Simon through Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
Simon says his main professional motivation is a fascination with interesting stories, and a basic desire to learn more about issues and subjects that matter, whether that be the emergence of a new terrorist organisation, the personal story of a stateless refugee, or the problems of an apparently obscure country. "Thanks to globalisation, events, issues and problems in far-off countries can have a direct impact on the cozy lives of those of us lucky enough to live in the West," he says. "So why don't we try to find out a little bit more about those issues, and try to resolve them - before they become major problems for all of us?"
In Meet the Stans, a four part series on Central Asia broadcast on BBC2 and BBC World during 2003 and 2004, Simon travelled 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.
During Summer 2004 the BBC2 and BBC World documentary House of Saud showed Simon traveling around the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from the cities of Riyadh and Jeddah, to the isolation of the Empty Quarter desert.
For the five-part BBC2 series Places That Don’t Exist, broadcast in 2005, Simon travelled to and through a group of unrecognised nations – countries so obscure they don’t officially exist. Among the destinations visited were Somaliland, Transdniestria, Nagorno-Karabkh, Ajaria and South Ossetia.
In June 2005 Simon and Series Producer Will Daws won an award from the One World Broadcasting Trust for Places That Don’t Exist, for making an "outstanding contribution to greater world understanding". They were very pleased.
In 2006 Simon travelled around the world for the BBC series Equator, The journey took Simon around the region with both the richest biodiversity, and perhaps the greatest concentration of human suffering. Among the countries visited were Gabon, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Indonesian Sumatra, Borneo and Sulawesi, the Galapagos Islands, Ecuador, Colombia and Brazil.
In 2007 Simon travelled around the Tropic of Capricorn for a BBC TV series and book. The Capricorn journey started in Namibia, and took Simon through Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique, Madagascar, Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.
Simon says his main professional motivation is a fascination with interesting stories, and a basic desire to learn more about issues and subjects that matter, whether that be the emergence of a new terrorist organisation, the personal story of a stateless refugee, or the problems of an apparently obscure country. "Thanks to globalisation, events, issues and problems in far-off countries can have a direct impact on the cozy lives of those of us lucky enough to live in the West," he says. "So why don't we try to find out a little bit more about those issues, and try to resolve them - before they become major problems for all of us?"
Interviews, chats and other stuff with Simon:
The Observer
l
Wanderlust travel mag 1
l
Wanderlust travel mag 2
l
BBC website
My Life in Travel
l
My Week In Media
l
My Life In Media
Sunday Telegraph interview
l
Simon's Travel CV at
Wanderlust
see
the award-winning photography of James Reeve, Simon's
brother,
here.
He's very good.
