Levison Wood
| Levison Wood | |
|---|---|
| Born |
Levison James Wood 5 May 1982 Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England |
| Residence | London, England |
| Occupation | Military officer, explorer, photographer and journalist |
| Website |
www |
|
Military career | |
| Allegiance |
 United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
 British Army |
| Years of service | 2005–2010, 2016 – present |
| Rank | Major |
| Service number | 564688 |
| Unit |
Parachute Regiment 77th Brigade |
| Battles/wars | |
Levison James Wood (born 5 May 1982)[1] is a British Army officer and explorer. He is best known for his extended walking expeditions in Africa and Asia; Over the course of nine months from 2013-2014 he undertook the first ever expedition to walk the entire length of the river Nile from Nyungwe Forest in Rwanda, beginning in December 2013. It was commissioned into a four-part documentary series for Channel 4 in the UK. He also wrote a Sunday Times bestselling book detailing the expedition, Walking the Nile. In 2015 he walked the length of the Himalayas from Afghanistan in the west to Bhutan in the east. He has also undertaken numerous other overland journeys including a foot crossing of Madagascar and mountain climbing in Iraq. He documents his journeys through books, documentaries and photography.
Life
Wood grew up in Stoke-on-Trent, receiving his education at Painsley Catholic College [2] before obtaining an honours degree in History at the University of Nottingham. He was commissioned as an officer into the Parachute Regiment on 13 April 2006[3] where he spent a number of years, serving in Afghanistan in Helmand, Kandahar and Zabul. Wood was promoted to Captain on 13 October 2008.[4] He left the army in April 2010 taking up a career in journalism and photography and has become a best selling author. He has extensive experience in travel and exploration in over 80 countries, in 2011 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Wood acts as patron and ambassador for a number of charities including the Tusk Trust and the ABF The Soldiers' Charity.[5] Wood recently rejoined the army, serving as a reservist Major in the 77th Brigade.[6]
Walking expeditions
The expedition to walk the length of the Nile was inspired by explorers John Hanning Speke, Richard Francis Burton, David Livingstone and Henry Morton Stanley.[7] Wood was accompanied by numerous guides, journalists (including Matthew Power) and friends along the different stages of the route. The expedition was commissioned into a television programme for Channel 4 that aired in January 2015 and Wood detailed the trip in his book Walking the Nile. Power died during the programme due to a diagnosis of severe heatstroke.
In 2015, he embarked on another challenge: to walk the length of the Himalayas from Afghanistan to Bhutan, filming a documentary series and writing another book about the experience, published in January 2016.[5][8]
References
- ↑ Levison Wood [Levisonwood] (5 May 2015). "What a place to spend a birthday!" (Tweet). Retrieved 26 December 2015 – via Twitter.
- ↑ Hermione Eyre (8 April 2015). "Tough guy: Levison Wood on walking the Nile and being ten times tougher than Bear Grylls". London Evening Standard. Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 57994. p. 7379. 20 May 2006.
- ↑ The London Gazette: (Supplement) no. 58912. p. 19637. 16 December 2008.
- 1 2 "Biography". Levison Wood official website. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
- ↑ Brown, Larisa (13 March 2016). "TV heartthrob dubbed '10 times tougher than Bear Grylls' rejoins army as major in new elite force the 77 Brigade". Daily Mail. Retrieved 9 May 2016.
- ↑ James Meikle (14 November 2013). "Briton to walk length of the Nile on 4,250-mile trek from Rwanda to Egypt". Retrieved 26 December 2015.
- ↑ "Channel 4 tracks Levison Wood Walking the Himalayas". Channel 4. 26 August 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.