Frank Gardner in Cambodia

Frank Gardner returns to Exeter

Frank Gardner OBE (Arabic and Islamic studies, 1984) is returning to the University of Exeter on 24th May to give a talk about his life and his new book, Far Horizons, about unusual journeys to ususual places.

Frank Gardner is the BBC’s award-winning fulltime Security Correspondent, reporting for TV, radio and online on issues of both UK and international security. In 2004 he was shot six times at close range by Al-Qaeda gunmen while filming in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but survived with major injuries. He is an Arabist with a degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from University of Exeter and he worked all over the Gulf before becoming the BBC’s Middle East Correspondent in Cairo. He has reported firsthand on terrorism and security from around the Middle East, notably Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US, Guantanamo Bay and the Horn of Africa. He has given evidence to various UK Parliamentary Committees on the conduct of the War on Terrorism. He was awarded the OBE by HM The Queen in 2005 for services to journalism, awarded Honorary Doctorates of Laws by Nottingham, Staffordshire, Exeter, East Anglia and Open Universities, the McWhirter Award for Bravery, Spain’s El Mundo Prize for International Journalism, the Zayed Medal for Journalism, the AMI Ability Media International award and voted Person of the Year by the UK Press Gazette. He is also 'Winner of BBC Celebrity Mastermind session 2010'. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his Sunday Times bestseller ‘Blood and Sand’, describing his 25 years of Middle Eastern experiences, was published by Transworld in 2006. His new book, Far Horizons, about unusual journeys to unusual places, was published in paperback in 2010.

For more information on Frank Gardner's talk please visit our event pages.

Date: 2 March 2011