Early life
Simon Reeve was born and raised in Acton, West London. He attended his local comprehensive school, and although he didn’t flourish there academically, he did enjoy the walk in each day as he would often see the 70s/80s cult British TV series Minder being filmed around the streets where he lived. After unimpressive A-level results, he took a string of unrewarding jobs, including running a charity shop and working in a supermarket.
Press
Although his only experience of working with the press was doing a paper round as a youth (he delivered around 10,000 papers around the streets of London and spent his hard-earned wages on a ghetto-blaster stereo when he was 14), he eventually landed a job on the British newspaper The Sunday Times as a post boy.Investigations
The young Simon spent his days sorting the newspaper’s mail and his nights carrying out research for the chief investigative reporter. Whilst undergoing this extra-curricular writing and sleuthing, he discovered the existence of two foreign terrorists on the run in the UK. This led to him conducting investigations for the newspaper into a range of subjects including terrorism, arms-dealing, nuclear smuggling and organised crime.Terrorism
When the World Trade Centre in New York City was attacked in 1993, Simon started to look into the incident just hours after it occurred. These investigations resulted in his first book, The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism. The publication became a New York Times bestseller, and was the first to discuss the activities of Osama Bin Laden and Al Qaeda, and warned the west that the latter was planning attacks which would almost certainly conclude in an apocalyptic strike.Munich
He also penned the book One Day in September: the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God', which told the story behind the killing of members of the Israeli Olympic team by the militant group Black September, and the subsequent revenge operation mounted by Israel. The book accompanied the 2000 Oscar-winning documentary film of the same name.Travel
After the prediction made in The New Jackals was borne out by the destruction of the Twin Towers in New York City on September 11th, 2001, the world’s writers began to focus on terrorism reporting. Simon started to look at travel writing and as a result, he’s been to many corners of the Earth, including places that don’t even exist - or rather places that don’t enjoy worldwide diplomatic recognition - such as South Ossetia and Trans-Dniester.Belt up
The programme Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist won Simon a One World Award for an ‘outstanding contribution to greater world understanding’. His own number one rule to avoid danger and stay safe is simply, though - always wear a seatbelt.Globe trotter
He wasn’t always a globe-trotter, discovering far-flung destinations - as a child, he rarely strayed out of the British Isles. The Reeves enjoyed family holidays in Studland Bay, Dorset each year, and Simon hadn’t been any further abroad than France and Switzerland until after the age of 19.Malaria
Simon was diagnosed with malaria after vomiting blood whilst filming the BBC series ‘Equator’ in Gabon, West Africa. He became incoherent and as a result of this experience, he became an ambassador for the Malaria Awareness Campaign.Luxuries
He has said that his greatest travel luxuries are a Leatherman (a multi-tool instrument like a Swiss army knife) and an iPod, which he tries to persuade taxi drivers to listen to instead of their own crackly car radios!Promo Banner