17 Facts About Dick Strawbridge

The third of seven children of Jennifer and George Strawbridge, a worker in the oil industry in the Middle East and Far East, "Dick" Strawbridge was born in Burma, then raised and educated in County Antrim, Northern Ireland.

Dick Strawbridge attended Ballyclare High School from 1971 to 1976.

Dick Strawbridge received a commission in the British Army in 1979, after attending Welbeck DSFC and Sandhurst.

Dick Strawbridge joined the Royal Corps of Signals in January 1980.

Dick Strawbridge was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for his distinguished service in Northern Ireland.

Dick Strawbridge was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1999, and left the army in November 2001.

Dick Strawbridge has appeared as an engineering and environmental expert on various television programmes, including Scrapheap Challenge.

Dick Strawbridge first appeared as a contestant on the team Brothers in Arms who became series champions and later, he became the main presenter replacing Robert Llewellyn.

Dick Strawbridge has appeared on three series of It's Not Easy Being Green for BBC Two, the six-part BBC Two series Crafty Tricks of War of which he was the main presenter, Planet Mechanics, and as a regular guest presenter on Coast.

Dick Strawbridge began his career in television as the 'Yellow Team Leader' for six episodes in the first series of Scrapheap Challenge.

Dick Strawbridge took over from Robert Llewellyn as the main presenter.

Dick Strawbridge appeared as a regular team captain in the US series, Junkyard Mega-Wars.

Dick Strawbridge starred in The Big Idea, in which he tested out amateur inventions, and he featured in the short series The Re-Inventors, a series of five, hour-long programmes commissioned by the UK digital channel UKTV History and first broadcast through the week of 11 December 2006.

Dick Strawbridge was the main presenter and lead engineer on the project.

Dick Strawbridge had founded the Vintage business in London about 10 years earlier; it was relocated to the couple's chateau in the Pays de la Loire region of France in 2015.

Dick Strawbridge was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from Plymouth University in 2010.

Dick with James Strawbridge are the authors of Preserves, a book in the "Made at Home" series published by Mitchell Beazley in 2012.