What’s On: An evening with adventurer Levison Wood

Adventurer brings his stories to Fife

Levison Wood has been chased by crocodiles and hippos, shot at by gunmen, fallen off mountains, been arrested multiple times and met the Dalai Lama and George Clooney.

He’s venturing into Fife next Friday for a not-to-be-missed event at Dunfermline’s Alhambra Theatre.

The best-selling author, photographer, TV presenter and reluctant pin-up made his name in 2014 by walking the length of the Nile, and the following year trekked from Afghanistan to Bhutan across the Himalayas.

Another expedition saw him tackling a 1,800-mile walk through Central America, passing through the notorious Darien Gap and encountering “plenty of gangsters”.

Last summer he journeyed through one of the most contentious regions in the world – from Russia to Iran.

And late last year he fulfilled a lifelong ambition to circumnavigate the Arabian peninsula starting in Iraq and finishing in Lebanon.

“For those who come to see me in Dunfermline, I’ll talk about my expeditions, what inspired me along the way, and how I went from being in the Parachute Regiment to forging a career as an explorer,” says Levison. “I’ll talk through the challenges and pitfalls and will share some stories from ‘behind the scenes’ that don’t make it onto the TV.

“I hope I’ll inspire people to go on their own adventures and make people laugh and challenge their perceptions of places.”

Born in Staffordshire, Levison completed three Duke of Edinburgh awards before hitchhiking through southern Africa, India and Nepal during his gap year prior to studying history at Nottingham University.

Joining the army as an officer in the British Parachute Regiment, he served in Afghanistan fighting against Taliban insurgents in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul in 2008.

And as director of Secret Compass, he led pioneering world-first trips into countries including Afghanistan, Kurdistan and Madagascar.

He’s a massive fan of Scotland, although not of the Highland midge.

“If you can cope with that, you can cope with anything!” he laughs. “But Scotland is an amazing country.

“My dad used to take me all over the Highlands as a kid and I think that’s where I got a lot of my adventurous spirit.

“We’d come up in the school holidays and later, when I was a student, I’d do a lot of walking.”

Levison is also partial to a tipple of “good single malt whisky”, sometimes with a dash of water. He’s never been to Dunfermline and says he hopes to have a chance to explore the area before the show.

Levison Wood.