A SOLD-OUT City Hall was the venue for a three-hour audience with journalist, author and television presenter Simon Reeve last Friday night (October 5).

The show was a mix of stories, pictures, video clips, and even a peak inside his suitcase for his travel essentials.

Reeve says he makes television shows “about travel and adventure, with issues, mixing the light and dark”, and the same can be said for this show which is part of a nation-wide tour.

One of the most surprising stories Reeve recalls is how, as a young journalist at The Times, Reeve began researching al-Qaeda as a result of the 1993 attacks on the World Trade Centre. His book, The New Jackals, was the first book ever written on al-Qaeda, and concluded that an apocalyptic terrorist strike by the group was almost inevitable. After the September 11 attacks in 2001, Reeve became a regular commentator on the emerging terror threat on American television a clip of which was shown during the show.

The ‘dark’ side of Reeve’s show include a revealing story about how he was suicidal after losing his job as a teenager, but was saved and inspired by a trip to Glencoe in Scotland, as well as trips to war-torn countries like Libya and Somalia.

In part two, Reeve moved on to discussions about the environment, a subject close to his heart, his new series Mediterranean, on Sunday nights on BBC2, and took a 20 minute Q&A session.

So, after all of these countries visited, and all of the situations Reeve found himself in, what was the worst for him? The Great Celebrity Bake Off in 2013.

BENJAMIN PAESSLER