One of the world’s most renowned adventurer-explorers is heading to Manchester

One of the world’s most renowned adventurer-explorers is visiting Manchester later this year as part a brand new tour of the UK.

Benedict Allen hit the headlines last year whilst on a solo expedition to Papua New Guinea, filming his journey to visit a community he had befriended thirty years earlier.

He failed to turn up for a scheduled flight to Hong Kong, prompting his friends and family – and eventually the world media – to become concerned for his wellbeing.

Travelling with no mobile phone for contact or GPS, Benedict was eventually located and brought back from the tribal warzone by helicopter. He had been battling malaria and dengue fever.

In this brand new show, Benedict – famous for ingratiating himself with indigenous communities during his journeys – will tell the whole unvarnished truth of this adventure and showing extracts of the film from the expedition which he will be releasing later this year.

Telling tales from his extraordinary career, Benedict will reminisce with never-before-seen material from his travels across the globe from deserts to jungles, and even icefields.

Often cited as the last of the classical explorers, Benedict is the only person known to have crossed the Amazon Basin at its widest.

He believes that we all have an inner adventurer and that the Golden Age of exploration lies not behind us, but ahead.

Benedict encourages people of all ages to look for adventure near and far from home. He talks passionately about the nature of risk taking – both in our lives and in our own minds, urging us all to take up the most impossible-seeming challenges in our lives.

His six series for the BBC include Travellers Century, Skeleton Coast, Edge of Blue Heaven, Last of the Medicine Men and Ice Dogs.

He also recently presented Adventures for Boys: The Lost World of Ryder Haggard and was a contributor for BBC Two’s Extreme Dreams.

He has written two best-sellers amongst his ten books, which include The Faber Book of Exploration and Into the Abyss. He has written numerous articles for newspapers and magazines and is a hugely popular corporate motivational speaker. In 2010 he became a trustee and member of council of the Royal Geographical Society.

“This is a hugely exciting venture for me,” said Benedict. “I can’t wait to travel the UK and share my experiences of some of the most testing, but also wonderfully inspiring, corners of the globe.”

Royal Northern College of Music, 22 October 2018. Tickets go on sale on Friday 9 February 2018. For tickets click here.