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Nicholas Crane | |
|---|---|
 Crane (in red coat, with bicycle) filming inSalisbury, 2006 | |
| Born | (1954-05-06)6 May 1954 (age 71) Hastings, East Sussex |
| Occupation | Geographer explorer broadcaster |
| Nationality | British |
| Subject | Travel |
Nicholas Crane (born 6 May 1954) is an Englishgeographer,[1]explorer, writer and broadcaster. Since 2004 he has written and presented four television series forBBC Two:Coast,Great British Journeys,Map Man andTown.
Crane was born inHastings, East Sussex, but grew up inNorfolk. He attendedWymondham College[2] from 1967 until 1972, then Cambridgeshire College of Arts & Technology (CCAT), a forerunner toAnglia Ruskin University, where he studied Geography.[3]
In his youth he went camping and hiking with his father and explored Norfolk by bicycle, which gave him his enthusiasm for exploration.[3]
In 1986, whilst travelling with his cousin Richard, he located thepole of inaccessibility for theEurasia landmass; their journey became the subject of the bookJourney to the Centre of the Earth. In 1992–93 he embarked on an 18-month solo journey, walking 10,000 kilometres fromCape Finisterre toIstanbul. He recounted the trip in his bookClear Waters Rising: A Mountain Walk Across Europe which won theThomas Cook Travel Book Award in 1997, and made a television self-documentary of the journey:High Trails to Istanbul (1994).
His 2000 bookTwo Degrees West described his walk across Great Britain from north to south, in which he followed the eponymousmeridian as closely as possible. In 2003 he published a biography ofGerard Mercator, the greatFlemish cartographer.
Together with Richard Crane, he was awarded the 1992Mungo Park Medal[4] by theRoyal Scottish Geographical Society for his journeys inTibet, China,Afghanistan and Africa.
In 2007 he completed a series calledGreat British Journeys. In eight parts the series consisted of eight people who explored Great Britain and made a contribution to society born of the exploration. Each episode lasts one hour and the series was accompanied by a book.[5]
In November 2007 he debated the future of the English countryside withRichard Girling,Sue Clifford,Richard Mabey andBill Bryson as part ofCPRE's annual Volunteers Conference.[6]
He presented a series about British towns broadcast in August 2011 and May–June 2013.
He has served as a visiting professor atAnglia Ruskin University which presented the former student in 2012 with the award of Honorary Doctor of Science.
He was President of theRoyal Geographical Society from 2015 to 2018, a post now occupied byNigel Clifford.[7]
In 2016 he publishedThe Making Of The British Landscape: From the Ice Age to the Present, a 12,000-year historical geography of Britain.[8]
Crane lives inPrimrose Hill in northwestLondon with his wife; they have three children.[9]
