Nicholas Crane

For the neo-Nazi skinhead, see Nicky Crane.

Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an English geographer,[1] explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004 he has written and presented four notable television series for BBC Two: Coast, Great British Journeys, Map Man and Town.

Early life and education

Crane was born in Hastings, East Sussex, but grew up in Norfolk. He attended Wymondham College[2] from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner to Anglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.[3]

In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle, which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration.[3]

Career

In 1986 he located the pole of inaccessibility for the Eurasia landmass travelling with his cousin Richard; their journey being the subject of the book Journey to the Centre of the Earth. In 1992–93 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres from Cape Finisterre to Istanbul. He recounted the trip in his book Clear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe which won the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997, and made a television self-documentary of the journey: High Trails to Istanbul (1994).

His 2000 book Two Degrees West described his walk across Great Britain in which he followed the eponymous meridian as closely as possible. More recently he published a biography of Gerard Mercator, the great Flemish cartographer.

Together with Richard Crane he was awarded the 1992 Mungo Park Medal[4] by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys in Tibet, China, Afghanistan and Africa.

In 2007 he completed a series called 'Great British Journeys'. In eight parts the series consisted of eight people who explored Great Britain and made a contribution to society born of the exploration. Each episode lasts one hour. The explorers are:

In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside with Richard Girling, Sue Clifford, Richard Mabey and Bill Bryson as part of CPRE's annual Volunteers Conference.[5]

He presented a series about British towns broadcast in August 2011 and May–June 2013.

He was elected President of the Royal Geographical Society in 2015 .

He is currently working on a 12,000-year historical geography of Britain.

Personal life

He married Annabel Huxley in 1991. They live in north-west London and have three children.

Books

Television

References

  1. ↑ "Discover your Coast Experts:The Team". www.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 2011-07-27.
  2. ↑ "Prominent ex-pupils". www.wcremembered.co.uk. Retrieved 2010-02-17.
  3. 1 2 "Nicholas Crane re-discovers Anglia Ruskin University". Anglia Ruskin University. Retrieved 2009-09-02.
  4. ↑ RSGS Awards
  5. ↑ CPRE Sussex Review, Spring 2008

External links

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