The Accidental Adventurer - Couverture rigide

Ben Fogle shot to fame as the star of the BBC's first attempt at reality television, Castaway, in 2000. The son of actress Julia Foster and vet Bruce Fogle, his life has never been exactly ordinary. As well as taking part in many of the toughest physical challenges on earth, he has found himself competing in the World Championships of morris dancing, stinging-nettle-eating and crabbing. He is a Knight of the Kingdom of Sealand and President of the Hedgehog Preservation Society.

Ben has presented numerous programmes including the BBC's Animal Park, Countryfile, Wild in Africa, Wild on the West Coast, Crufts, One Man and His Dog, The Secret of Scott's Hut and three series of the hit adventure show Extreme Dreams. He is a special correspondent for NBC, an ambassador for WWF, Médecins Sans Frontières and Tusk, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and the President of the Campaign for National Parks. He lives in London with his wife Marina, their two children Ludo and Iona, and their dogs Maggi and Inca.

Ben Fogle's life to date has been action-packed to say the least. He has rowed across the Atlantic, walked to the South Pole, run the Sahara and skated across Sweden. He has encountered remote tribespeople in deepest Papua New Guinea, caused a Boeing 747 to dump £100k of fuel before making an emergency landing in Sao Paolo, and been mistaken for Prince William on numerous occasions. He has chased a tarantula round his back garden, survived a flesh-eating tropical disease that required two months of chemotherapy and been bitten by a rabid dog.

So how did a cripplingly shy, geeky, perennially homesick boy end up doing all this? Ben's still not entirely sure himself, but this glorious book tells his story and will undoubtedly strike a chord with anyone who puzzles about their life, and how to live it differently.

This is not just another tale of derring-do for its own sake. Rather it's a book about defying expectations, conquering shyness, battling laziness and, just occasionally, winning.