Simon Calder was born on 25 December 1955 and is a freelance UK travel journalist and broadcaster.
22 Facts About Simon Calder
2.
In 1962, Calder joined the Woodcraft Folk and travelled with the group to the Lake District.
3.
That same year, after the USSR sent nuclear warheads to Cuba, Simon Calder's parents decided that with Gatwick Airport only two miles away they were in the line of a potential Soviet target.
4.
The school he attended, Thomas Bennett in Crawley, compulsorily taught Russian, which Simon Calder comments was not useful on regular school and family trips to France.
5.
Simon Calder's first job was a cleaner for British Airways at Gatwick and later as a security guard.
6.
Simon Calder began writing budget travel guidebooks during this period, starting with the Hitch-hiker's Manual: Britain.
7.
Simon Calder later studied for a degree in mathematics at the University of Warwick, while indulging his love of hitchhiking around Europe.
8.
Simon Calder wrote several books and series of guides including the Traveller's Survival Kit series and Backpacks, Boots and Baguettes.
9.
Simon Calder became travel correspondent for The Independent in 1994 and shortly afterwards began presenting for BBC 2's Travel Show alongside Penny Junor until the programme ended in 1999.
10.
Simon Calder then contributed to several BBC 1 shows, including Perfect Holiday and Departure Lounge.
11.
Simon Calder presented the final film in the last edition of the long-running Holiday programme in 2007.
12.
Simon Calder's articles have featured in many publications including Conde Nast Traveller, The Evening Standard, High Life, and the trade publication Travel Trade Gazette.
13.
Simon Calder continues to contribute to various BBC programmes, including as the 'Global Guru' on BBC News' The Travel Show and on Rip Off Britain.
14.
Simon Calder is a presenter of short films, and as an expert providing advice to consumers.
15.
Simon Calder presented The Travel Show, a weekly travel phone-in on the London talk radio station LBC, for four years until April 2012.
16.
Simon Calder has a weekly podcast called "You Should Have Been There" and he regularly tweets travel information on @SimonCalder.
17.
Simon Calder is the nephew of the Scottish writer and critic Angus Calder and educationalist Isla Calder.
18.
Simon Calder has two daughters was born on in 2000 and 2003 and and lives in London.
19.
In 2006, Simon Calder travelled more than 5700 miles by rail across Russia from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east, on the Trans-Siberian Railway.
20.
Simon Calder has travelled to more than 120 countries and lists Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland among his favourite places to visit.
21.
In 2012 Simon Calder won the Outstanding Achievement and Broadcast Journalist of the Year at the 2012 Travel Press Awards and the News Journalist of the Year for Print at the 2012 Business Travel Journalism Awards.
22.
Simon Calder won the 2011 Christmas edition of Celebrity Mastermind, with Concorde as his specialist subject.