Simon Reeve (British TV presenter)
Simon Reeve (born 1972) is a British author and TV presenter. Based in London, he specialises in international terrorism, conflict resolution, and making travel documentaries in little-known areas of the world. He has been studying terrorist groups since the early 1990s. He is the author of The New Jackals and One Day in September.
Television
Meet the Stans
A four part BBC2 and BBC World series on Central Asia, written and presented by Reeve. The series took Reeve from the far north-west of Kazakhstan, by the Russian border, east to the Chinese border, south through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the edge of Afghanistan, and west to Uzbekistan and the legendary Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara. It was broadcast on the BBC in 2003, and internationally during 2004 and 2005, and on BBC World in 2006 on Weekend in the Danger Zone.
Places That Don't Exist
A two-parter made for the BBC, broadcast on BBC2 and BBC4, written and presented by Reeve. In this series, he brings to our attention "places that don't exist". He takes us to six break-away states, unrecognised by the rest of the international community, who consider themselves as countries in their own right, despite officially being part of their original country. The states featured are: Somaliland, Transnistria, Nagorno Karabakh, South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and surprisingly, Taiwan. The show was first broadcast in the August of 2005. Go here to find out more: link BBC 4 Places that Don't Exist
House of Saud
A one-off BBC2 and BBC World documentary filmed inside Saudi Arabia, written and presented by Reeve. Participants ranged from Saudi princes and Islamic militants, to teenage girls and Osama bin Laden's former best friend. It was broadcast in 2004.
Publications
The New Jackals: Ramzi Yousef, Osama bin Laden and the future of terrorism, published by Carlton in the UK and NUP in the U.S. The first book on bin Laden and al-Qaeda , this investigation warned al-Qaeda would launch 9/11-type terrorist attacks. Classified documents and evidence obtained by Reeve detailed the existence, development, and aims of al-Qaeda. The book was published in the U.S. and UK in 1998 and 1999. It has been a New York Times and international bestseller.[citation needed]
One Day in September: the story of the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre and Israeli revenge operation 'Wrath of God', published in 2000 by Faber & Faber. An account of the 1972 Munich massacre, in which 11 Israeli athletes and officials were killed by Palestinian kidnappers. The book covers the siege and massacre, the recriminations, and the launch of the Israeli Operation Wrath of God. The film of the same name won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature and was screened in cinemas around the world.
External links
- Simon Reeve's website
- Biography
- Wanderlust magazine - Interview
- USA Today - Interview
- The Observer - Interview
- BBC - Places That Don't Exist - Information and interview