From little ideas to big ideas

If you’ve ever noticed that funny little © Riding High notice in my books and webTV content and wondered what the hell is that – A surf club? A pony trekking service? Male escorts? – well now’s the time to end the suspense: it’s the name of my company. Originally I established Riding High Ltd to run my writing work through when I returned to the UK in 2008. And now my baby has grown. From now on I’ll now be developing TV series and formats for network and international broadcasters along with book content for traditional and independent publishing. I’ll be doing this solo, with creative partners and for clients. It’s also the company I’ll run any science development work through (more on that in later posts for now it’s all a little hush-hush).

I’ve set up a new website to go with this new feel for the company (It’s needs a couple of design tweaks of course, don’t they all). We’re based in the north east of England and work locally, nationally and internationally with a track record across Europe, the Middle East and North America. You can find out more here: www.ridinghigh.co.uk. And if you have any media or deception ideas you’d like to discuss we’d love to hear from you.

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Explorer of the Month

I’m proud to announce the Explorer of the Month column by yours truly for the fantastic Explorers Connect website. Each month I’ll be interviewing explorers – in the modern sense of the word – to find out what makes them tick, how they do what they do and their scariest and best moments. It inspires me when I meet and talk to these daring people and I hope it will inspire you.

Dave Cornthwaite: The nicest dare-devil in exploration.

 

 

 

 

Victor Boyarsky: Life on top of the world.

 

 

 

 

Bert Poffe: Why you don’t always need to be the fastest or first.

 

 

 

 

 

If you’d liked to be interviewed for the column drop me a line on the contact page and I’ll let you know what’s involved and see about fitting you into the schedule.

 

Enjoy!

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Become an explorer – this weekend.

RGS LogoWanna be Bear Grylls, Ray Mears or Ranulph Fiennes? Then it’s time for Explore, the annual fieldwork and planning weekend at the Royal Geographical Society in London on the 18th through 20th of November.

It’s an amazing opportunity to meet those who’ve just come back from expeditions, those about to go, and those just working up the courage. You’ll find inspiration, like minds, planning sessions for your trip and opportunities to raise money, film it, talk to potential sponsors or take part in someone else’s adventure. Everything from tracking whales to discovering the 21st Century equivalent of the Galapagos islands to solo expeditions across land, ice, and sea and outreach with the remote cultures, it’s all there to be had, you’ve only get there.

For full itinerary of speakers and workshops, go here: Explore 2011.
Even better yet, join the society and receive monthly updates on expeditions you could take part in and change your life forever.

Remember to drop me a line when you do!

This year’s Explore weekend will be chaired by explorer and broadcaster Paul Rose, Vice President of the Society, who will also be on hand to provide advice.

Speaker topics include; an expedition across Iceland to study remote glaciers, environmental fieldwork in Mozambique studying giant elephant shrews, and journeying the length of the Amazon River. The full Explore 2011 programme (PDF), including speakers and topics is available to download, along with our media release (PDF).

The weekend begins with a Friday night lecture by the Atlantic Rising team – 2009’s recipients of the RGS-IBG/Land Rover ‘Go Beyond’ Bursary – who undertook a 28,000 mile journey to discover how climate change is affecting communities around the edge of the Atlantic Ocean.

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The Intangibles – Bedu Heritage of Wadi Rum

Here’s a taster of some of the work I’ve been doing with the Bedouin Heritage Project. A fantastic pilot scheme to benchmark what UNESCO classes as ‘intangible heritage’ and the cultures that are rapidly disappearing.

You can watch the videos below on NatGeoAdventure and read more about the project here. Enjoy.

The Intangibles

Part One: Survival
With the Bedouin Heritage Project we meet the Zilabia boys and the problems they face as the Bedu population leaves the desert. They take us deeper into the desert to meet tribesmen and find out how they collect water. 

The Intangibles: Bedu of Wadi Rum

Part Two: The Camel Races
A very different perspective riding alongside the controllers at break-neck speeds. Hold onto your seats!

The Intangibles: Wadi Rum Camel Races

For more info see The Bedouin Heritage Project.

Fancy a trip to Wadi Rum? Visit Jordan Tracks.

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