Martina Navratilova, tennis player extraordinaire, took women’s tennis to a new level with her speed, determination and agility. She won the Wimbledon women’s singles title a record nine times and has been described by many as “the greatest singles, doubles, and mixed doubles player who’s ever lived”. In all, Martina has won 18 Grand Slam singles titles, 31 Grand Slam women’s doubles titles (an all-time record), and 10 Grand Slam mixed doubles titles; in total she has won 59 Grand Slam titles. She still plays at all the Grand Slams where she takes part in the legends doubles.
Martina has been described as honest, feisty, self-deprecating, courageous, controversial and a Rennaisance woman. She’s always told it from the heart, never flinching from an unpopular comment or cause if she believes it to be right. She is a global icon for lesbian and gay rights and is, as she describes it herself, a citizen of the world. In 2014 Martina married her long-time partner Julia Lemigova. They live in Miami with their two daughters and many animals.
Charity Work
When not playing tennis, Martina is involved with various charities that benefit animal rights, underprivileged children, LGBT rights and the environment.
Public Speaker
She is an extremely accomplished speaker and we get outstanding feedback each time she does an event. She is very happy giving a serious keynote – and she is able to speak without notes or a teleprompter. She is passionate and usually you can’t hear a pin drop in the audience they are so captivated by her. She has spoken at huge conferences and the end clients are always high end big corporates, with one of her latest speaking engagements being at the BNP Paribas Sustainable Future Conference in Singapore.
Her latest topic to engage audiences with is ‘Disruption and Futurism’, but whatever she talks about, she weaves her own life and career into these very current themes.
You can also listen to an example of her speaking to HSBC on Diversity through
You can also hear her latest interview on the Late Late Show on:
Books
In 2006, she wrote ‘Shape Your Self’ – a guide to health and fitness. In 1985 Martina released an autobiography, co-written with New York Times sports columnist George Vecsey, titled ‘Martina’ in the US and ‘Being Myself’ in the rest of the world. In 1982 she has also co-written a tennis instruction book with Mary Carillo titled ‘Tennis My Way’. She later co-wrote three mystery novels with Liz Nickles: ‘The Total Zone’ (1994); ‘Breaking point’ (1996); and ‘Killer Instinct’ (1997).
TV and Broadcasting
Martina now spends her time between being at home and broadcasting as a presenter/commentator for the BBC, Tennis Channel and BT Sport. She also travels the world extensively giving speaking engagements on a variety of issues and taking part in other corporate activities.
Christy is a relatively fresh face on the wildlife TV presenting scene since filming a new series with the Discovery Channel earlier this year. Previous to that she has been co-ordinating projects for the ‘Orangutan Foundation UK’ in the jungles of Borneo and began her film endeavours producing and presenting a documentary on the primates of Borneo. Thoroughly assimilated into the local life and culture and speaking fluent Indonesian, she posts regular video updates of her adventures and keeps a diary of the progress of the baby baboons she cares for.
Christy’s love of nature and wildlife was nourished by her upbringing in South Africa. She qualified as an advanced open water diver and went to the islands of Fiji where she took part in a conservation effort to save the reef. This trip inspired her to increase her knowledge and credentials by studying zoology at the University of Wales in Swansea, where she achieved a 2.1 BSc Hons degree and a first for her dissertation on the social behaviour of captive black Colombian spider monkeys.
Her passion for primates led Christy to the Trentham Monkey Forest, where she worked as a researcher for Roehampton University on a grooming behaviour study of Barbary macaques.
A post as an educational speaker at the London Aquarium helped Christy to develop her natural talent for imparting information in an informal but inspirational manner to young audiences. Her first-hand knowledge of conservation issues and animal behaviour, together with a great sense of fun, mean that her reputation as an ideal guest speaker is growing fast.
Biologist and trained diver, Miranda is a resident wildlife expert on BBC One’s The One Show, having presented natural history stories, ranging from robotic ants to rare dolphins, from all around the country for the last six years. She is a regular on BBC One’s Inside Out and one of the original members of the Coast team exploring Great Britain’s shoreline from top to toe, revealing fascinating tales of marine life.
As well as natural history Miranda also specialises in history and archaeological programmes including Channel 4 series Wreck Detectives, BBC2 series Hidden Treasure and the UKTV History production Time Trail.
Other recent credits include BBC Two’s Big British Wildlife Revival and guest appearances on Pointless Celebrities, Ready Steady Cook and Celebrity Masterchef. As a lover of classical music and accomplished musician herself, Miranda was chosen to co-present the BBC Proms in 2010.
Miranda is also busy on radio with contributions to BBC Radio 4’s Costing the Earth, Living World and Tweet of the Day. She regularly writes articles on tourism and leisure for national newspapers and magazines and is the author of two books, Miranda Krestovnikoff’s Best British Beaches and Scuba Diving.
Her enthusiastic style and extensive knowledge of archaelogy, history, wildlife, diving, conservation and environmental issues make Miranda a popular choice as host and guest speaker for many organisations including the National Geographical Society, the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and the UK and Scottish Dive shows. She enjoys motivating young people to share her love for nature and the environment, visiting schools, universities and clubs. Recently, she hosted the London launch of Love your National Parks.
Miranda is currently President of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Patron of Whale and Dolphin Conservation, Patron of Alderney Wildlife Trust, Founding Friend of the Canal & River Trust and heavily involved with other charities including The National Trust, The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust, The Marine Conservation Society and Sustrans.
Described by the BBC’s Mark Thompson as being “Part of the history of television” Benedict is best known for being the first to record his arduous and treacherous exploits without a TV crew. His technique has been to sink into remote communities, placing himself in the hands and at the mercy of these people and their environment, learning to survive from them alone. By single-handedly capturing his experiences on film he has created ground breaking, spontaneous and authentic programming. He says “To me exploration isn’t about conquering natural obstacles, planting flags… It’s not about going where no one’s gone before in order to leave your mark, but about the opposite of that – about making yourself vulnerable, opening yourself up to whatever’s there and letting the place leave its mark on you.” This Autumn, Benedict will be touring UK theatres and sharing his exhilarating tales and his life as an explorer.
Recently, Benedict has attracted global media attention after his latest solo expedition to the heart of Papua New Guinea encountered a string of devastating obstacles. Benedict’s aim had been to reach the remote Yaifo community, who befriended him when he made first “outside contact” with them as a very young man 30 years ago. Having tackled the notorious Central Range, Benedict then found himself trapped in an area of forest where local communities were at war. Already suffering from both malaria and dengue fever, he then faced a series of freak storms. A multi-national search-and-rescue mission was launched – and Benedict at last extracted by helicopter. These days a family man with three young children, Benedict himself believed to the end that he would, as ever, somehow find a way out. Footage of Benedict’s expedition is expected to broadcast in 2018.
Previous to this, Benedict also re-visited Papua New Guinea along with BBC Security Correspondent Frank Gardner for BBC TWO’s Birds of Paradise: The Ultimate Quest to fulfil Gardner’s childhood dream of seeing Birds of Paradise and to be re-united with the community he last saw three decades ago. In 2013 Benedict was included in the Daily Telegraph’s list of Britain’s “Great Explorers” – the only other living adventurer being Sir Ranulph Fiennes.
His presenting work includes the major eight-part reality epic Expedition Africa (2009) for the History Channel, Unbreakable (2008) for Channel Five, and Travellers’ Century (2008) for BBC4. His six BBC series include Skeleton Coast, Edge of Blue Heaven, Last of the Medicine Men and Ice Dogs. Recently, Benedict presented Adventures for Boys: The Lost World of Ryder Haggard, and was an expert contributor for BBC2’s Extreme Dreams.
Benedict has written two bestsellers, his 10 books include The Faber Book of Exploration and Into the Abyss. He has written numerous articles for magazines and newspapers, and is a hugely popular corporate motivational speaker. Benedict inspires and invigorates a variety of audiences by skillfully translating his ‘against the odds’ survival for the global corporate ‘jungle’. In 2010 Benedict became a trustee and member of council of the Royal Geographical Society.
Aaron “Bertie” Gekoski is currently filming in Borneo, presenting the series Borneo from Below that charts life behind the scenes at one of the top dive destinations on Earth.
Far from being a regular explorer alpha male, Bertie’s path into the world of adventure wasn’t the usual one. He used to own a model agency in London, before ditching his three-step skin care regime, “swapping one type of shark for another” and following his dreams to become “the next David Attenborough, but with gills.”
Bertie’s work has taken him on undercover missions to Namibia to expose their annual seal cull; to live with rural shark fishing communities in Mozambique; to Madagascar’s sacred forests in pursuit of the ‘tortoise mafia’; to Zimbabwe where he trained as an anti-poaching ranger, and more. He has continued to explore these issues through film and has shot documentaries on shark finning in Mozambique and another on Zimbabwe’s elephant crisis.
His work, primarily covering the areas of diving, wildlife, travel and conservation, has been instrumental in bringing important issues on the natural world to a wider public. His articles and stunning images have appeared in over 40 publications worldwide including National Geographic Traveller, BBC Wildlife magazine, Men’s Health, FHM, Travel Africa, Africa Geographic and more. He is also a regular contributor to multiple international dive magazines.
Whilst he has covered some difficult subject matters his perkiness, sense of fun and failure to take himself too seriously, can throw light on even the darkest of situations.
Aaron presents Borneo From Below, the weekly online dive and photography show, produced by world-leading underwater production company Scubazoo.
Adam’s latest book, The Book of Humans: The Story of How We Became Us is due for release this September and re-examines what sets us apart in the animal kingdom. Adam’s previous book, A Brief History of Everyone Who Ever Lived is the story of the whole of human history, retold with DNA as a text, everyone and everything from Neanderthals to serial killers, from redheads to race, dead kings to plague, evolution to epigenetics. Richard Dawkins described it as ‘well-written, stimulating and entertaining. What’s more important, he consistently gets it right.’ Adam’s first book, Creation (Penguin 2014), was about the origin of life on Earth, and the future of life in the era of genetic engineering, synthetic biology and spider-goats. Creation was shortlisted for the Wellcome Book Prize 2014.
Adam is the presenter of the flagship science programme on BBC Radio 4, Inside Science, as well as The Curious Cases of Rutherford and Fry, and a host of other Radio 4 documentaries on subjects ranging from the inheritance of intelligence, MMR and autism, epigenetics, human evolution, astronomy and art, science and cinema, scientific fraud, and the evolution of sex. He’s also a regular guest on the Infinite Monkey Cage with Brian Cox and Robin Ince.
On television he’s written and presented many documentaries, including The Beauty of Anatomy – a five-part series for BBC4 (2014) on the story of anatomical art. Horizon: Playing God (BBC2, Jan 2012) on genetic engineering and synthetic biology (winner of Golden Dragon Awards, Shanghai, 2012); The Gene Code (BBC4, Apr 2011), and The Cell (BBC4, Sept 2009) – a three-part series charting the story of biology- (winner Best Documentary at the ABSW awards (2010) & listed in the Daily Telegraph’s list of 10 Classic science programmes.)
Adam’s background is in genetics and evolution. He did a PhD at the Institute of Child Health and Great Ormond St Hospital, studying the role of genes involved in the development of the eye. He worked at the science journal Nature, during which time he launched and presented the award-winning Nature Podcast, and produced and directed many short films, including a music video tribute to the retiring Space Shuttle. As a result, he has an Erdos-Bacon-Sabbath number of 15. Adam has also worked on many films as scientific adviser.
He lectures extensively at UCL, where he has an Honorary Fellowship, and in public all around the world, including prestigious events such as the Douglas Adam’s Memorial Lecture, the British Humanist Association’s Darwin Day Lecture, The BFI, the Hay Festival, and the Cheltenham Literary and Science Festivals. He co-authored a study on the effects of video games on adolescents and violence in 2016.
Most recently, Saba completed her second UK tour following her latest 10 part series with the BBC – This Wild Life that was broadcast on BBC Two. Filmed over a period of six months, this fascinating observational-documentary followed Saba and her family as they move to the remote north of Kenya to run a high-end eco-lodge called Elephant Watch Camp, and continue with their conservation work at Save the Elephants in Samburu National Reserve. As the engaging presenter of an earlier three part BBC series about Samburu, The Secret Life of Elephants, broadcast to more than 4.2 million viewers, Saba became well known as the face of her father’s charity, Save the Elephants.
Born and raised in Kenya by her zoologist father and author mother, her total immersion in African culture and wildlife, together with a first class degree in Social Anthropology, made her a compelling and knowledgeable presenter on the BBC’s hugely successful Big Cat Diaries and Wild series. She has also produced, directed and presented a wide variety of programmes for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet, winning multiple awards for Heart of a Lioness and Saba and the Rhino’s Secret. Her documentary series Unknown Africa shone a light on the African continent with features on Angola, the Comoros Islands and the Central African Republic.
Saba was also a popular presenter on the BBC Holiday programme, taking viewers to adventurous, exotic locations like Brunei, Ethiopia, Papua New Guinea and Antarctica.
Having served as a trustee of Save the Elephants for a decade, and tirelessly committed to the conservation of African wildlife and the rights of its traditional people, Saba’s passion and insight make her a captivating and animated public speaker. She has spoken worldwide on topics ranging from animal consciousness and biodiversity to HIV and peace negotiations in Kenya, and is a regular guest speaker at the Royal Geographical Society where she is a Fellow.
Gordon will be embarking on his nationwide UK theatre tour this autumn and has most recently been on our screens with the BBC series Animals with Cameras and Reindeer Family and Me at the end of 2017.
Before this, Gordon presented the highly acclaimed Tribes, Predators and Me, Elephant Family And Me and Life in the Snow on BBC One and Life in Polar Bear Town and Tribes, Predators and Me on BBC Two.
Gordon also tried something very new in another series called Into the Wild where he takes celebrities such as Alastair Campbell, Dermot O’Leary and Sara Cox amongst others up and close with Britain’s beautiful wildlife.
Gordon’s other recent productions include Super Cute Animals for BBC One, Gorilla Family and Me, The Snow Wolf Family & Me, the highly acclaimed BBC Two series The Polar Bear Family & Me and The Bear Family & Me, for which he received a Royal Television Society award for his presenting work. He has also recently featured as a guest presenter on BBC Two’s Winterwatch, the countryside series with which he has had a long association, both in front of and behind the camera.
After 20 years filming wild and wonderful creatures in remote areas of the planet, Gordon Buchanan has a reputation for relishing dangerous and tough assignments. He has taken part in challenging expeditions and adventures around the globe including South America, Asia, Africa, Papua New Guinea, Russia and Alaska, always with a view to raising awareness of the fragility of the world’s endangered species and habitats.
Notable among his recent TV credits are Wild Burma, The Dark: Nature’s Nighttime World, Land of the Lost Wolves, Lost Land of the Tiger, Lost Land of the Volcano and Lost Land of the Jaguar. Gordon also contributed to numerous award-winning BBC, Discovery and National Geographic wildlife programmes and documentaries, resulting in an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Stirling in recognition of his outstanding services to conservation and wildlife filmmaking. He has also won the Glenfiddich Spirit of Scotland award in the environment category.
As a public speaker, Scottish born Gordon Buchanan is a spellbinding storyteller who can captivate an audience with his fund of wild and wonderful tales about the natural world, while at the same time educating and informing on topical issues.
One of television’s busiest presenters, BAFTA award-winning wildlife expert Steve Backshall has been passionate about the wild world ever since he could crawl. Steve has most recently appeared on our screens in Deadly Dinosaurs and Monster Mountain for CBBC, as well as guest presenting Springwatch on BBC Two.
Steve’s previous credits include the hugely successful Wild Alaska Live (BBC One, PBS) and Hedgehog A&E (Channel 5). Steve received critical acclaim for his canoeing expedition of one of the world’s wildest rivers, the Baliem in New Guinea, for Down The Mighty River with Steve Backshall (BBC Two). Previous to this, Steve was on our screens in the two-part series Extreme Mountain Challenge (BBC Two) and Fierce (ITV). In 2016 Steve co-presented the hugely successful series Big Blue Live (BBC One, PBS) live from Monterey, California . He also completed an expedition to Venezuela on behalf of the BBC as well a set of performances on Strictly Come Dancing (BBC One). Steve also fronts the CBBC Deadly series’, travelling the world to film Deadly Pole to Pole, Deadly 60, Live and Deadly, Deadly 360, Deadly on a Mission and most recently, Backshall’s Deadly Adventures. In 2011 Steve was recognised with a BAFTA award for The Best Children’s Television Presenter for his work on Deadly 60, as well as the series itself being honoured with a BAFTA for The Best Factual Series.
Steve’s extreme adventures also include being part of the Lost Land of the Tiger, Lost Land of the Volcano and the Lost Land of the Jaguar (BBC One). He made the first decent into an unexplored sinkhole for the Emmy Nominated epic Expedition Borneo (BBC One) and trekked to the heart of America’s most inhospitable terrain for Expedition Alaska (Discovery). Closer to home, Steve has presented Britain’s Lost World, Extreme Caving, Inside Out, The One Show, The Nature of Britain and The Really Wild Show.
Steve is also a prolific author, having published 13 books. His most recent novel, Shark Seas, is the fourth in his children’s adventure series The Falcon Chronicles which so far comprises of Tiger Wars, Ghosts of the Forest and Wilds of the Wolf. He has also produced non-fiction; Looking for Adventure chronicles Steve’s expeditions in New Guinea and Mountain is an account of his most breath-taking climbing adventures.
Steve is a proud ambassador for The Scouts and the Get Outside champion for Ordinance Survey. Steve has also released an exciting new range of outdoor gear for kids with Mountain Warehouse.
Following the success of Steve’s Wild World Live UK Tour, Steve completed his Deadly 60 Live Tour of Australia. Steve is hugely popular with young television audiences who are both terrified and delighted to watch his encounters with extraordinary and inspiring predators. This success lead to Deadly Days Out, a BBC series of events bringing live animals to locations across the UK as well as several sell out tours; the biggest single day had an estimated 14,000 people and over the last few years Steve has talked live to over 300,000 people. Steve is an old-fashioned action hero whose leisure pursuits include mountaineering, kayaking, scuba diving, martial arts and endurance running, which together with his unsurpassed wildlife knowledge, make him a compelling and motivational speaker for a multitude of audiences.
Having presented Operation Wild for BBC One in 2014, vet Steve has rarely been absent from British TV screens since his talents were spotted at Bristol Veterinary School and he was chosen to appear in BBC One’s highly popular documentary series Vets School and Vets in Practice.
Most recently, Steve guest presented Big Week at the Zoo on Channel 5. His other recent ventures include Trust Me I’m A Vet, Panda Babies, Animal Kingdom, Safari Vet School and Nature’s Newborns for ITV, Britain’s Big Wildlife Revival for BBC One and The Wonder of Dogs for BBC Two. He has also frequently appeared on the Alan Titchmarsh Show as the in-house vet.
Still working as a small animal vet in the family run practice in Cheshire, Steve moves easily between the world of domestic pets and the wider world of wild animals across the globe. He presented major wildlife series for the BBC such as Steve Leonard’s Ultimate Killers, Steve Leonard’s Extreme Animals and Incredible Animal Journeys as well as appearing with Kate Humble in The Hottest Place on Earth. He also co-presented the famously successful series of BBC One’s Orangutan Diary.
Steve revels in sharing his close encounters with spectacular and exotic species and is much in demand as an entertaining and motivational speaker not only for organisations like the National Geographical Society but also for schools and smaller conservation groups. He is also a fervent supporter and active fundraiser for a number of charities close to his heart, including the PDSA, the UK’s largest veterinary charity, Wildlife Vets International, Painted Dog Conservation which helps the survival of African wild dogs and Dog A.I.D. which works with the pets of disabled people.
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