Ben Fogle Interview

Ben Fogle Interview: Written by Chloe Randall

Ben Fogle is an awardwinning broadcaster and adventurer. He has written 9 Sunday Times best-selling books and is the United Nations Patron of the Wilderness. Nerve spoke to him about his adventures and what he is still hoping to achieve…

From a young age, Ben knew he wanted to do something out of the ordinary. Growing up with a famous mother, Julia Foster, and a father who is a vet, we asked what Ben wanted to do when he was younger.

“A kind of vet, an animal rescuer was the dream. My dad is still a practicing vet. I used to spend my afternoons after school watching Dad operate on animals and it was fascinating and inspiring and I wanted to fix animals myself. On one hand there was that and

then with a mother who was a very famous actress at the time, I’d come back and I’d have tea with Michael Caine.

It was very normal but it also meant that when Mum went off to the theatre I spent afternoons in her dressing room watching the excitement of the stage and fake buckets of blood when she was doing Shakespeare plays and I think I also wanted to do that because it looked so exciting so I think that’s where my aspirations came from.”

Due to not meeting the academic grades for vet school and not pursuing acting, Ben didn’t follow directly in his parents’ footsteps.

The year of 2000 saw the launch of Ben’s television career when he appeared on the BBC’s Castaway, a social experiment reality show where Ben was on a Scottish island for

a year living a very simplistic lifestyle.

When asked what it was like to leave the island, Ben said: “I think leaving the island wasn’t entirely different to leaving university.

“It’s the end of a big chapter in your life. The island was only a year which is a long time compared to the three or four years you spend at university.” Since then, Ben has rowed across the Atlantic, climbed Mount Everest and visited over 200 places. For a man who has done it all, does he have any other goals he’d like to achieve? “I’ve got lots of goals but I don’t have a bucket list. I notice what people can do and I’ll often read about someone who has paddled down the Amazon or swam three times across the channel and it’s always noted and I think those things are always lodged in the back of my mind.”

On a final note, Ben gave some advice to all the people out there who might be stressed with university work, dissertations or people who are suffering from stress in general. “There are so many things to distract you that are much harder than when I was a student.

“I think it is about decluttering and clearing your environment and just having fun and to enjoy it. I’m very much an advocate for don’t just focus on the academia.

“Bournemouth University will hate me saying that but it is just as much about the socialisation and the social interactions as it is about the learning. But it is about trying to quieten down those outside noises.” N

New Year New You?

By now every student from here to Inverness will have been inundated with the annual trend of #newyearnewme. Regardless of which social media platform you’re partial to, there is no avoiding this yearly obsession founded on the unyielding social pressures to change things about ourselves.

The scope of the hashtag in online communities has arguably contributed to, or even perhaps facilitated, the superficial nature of the published content it tags. We know that a post on social media is not an accurate indicator

25 | nervemedia.org.uk Written by Emily Dudley

of a person’s entire character or lifestyle but we also know that what we curate on social platforms reinforces the persona we emanate in online spaces and, unfortunately in the digital age, this image is often considered paramount.

Let’s make this clear. You don’t need to change a thing about yourself for anyone else or for a fleeting internet trend, especially changes to your outward appearance. We are all works in progress, growing and developing who we are as people, but can we omit the myth that it happens on one specific night per year at the toll of 12am. The turn of a new decade can’t compel an instantaneous transformation into our ideal selves yet every year we hope for it and are disappointed when we don’t meet those impossible selfimposed expectations by the end of January.

So forget the whole concept. Maybe it works for some people, but the rhetoric can be largely negative. Perhaps instead of a resolution, make a small, manageable, wellintentioned adjustment. If you want a kick-start, here are just some examples which double up as good deeds (remember that being kind to yourself 100% counts as a good deed).

Make Time for People

Family and friends are important to us all and we are all guilty of taking them for granted. Call a relative on your commute in between lectures, give a friend in need a hug, buy a stressed-out coursemate a coffee and offer a helping hand. Make their day and yours that little bit more cheerful.

Be More Eco-Conscious

Our planet is in severe danger now. If you don’t recycle, start today. Turn off lights. Be conscious of water usage. Invest in a heated blanket (they’re fab). Reduce your carbon footprint.

There’s not enough words or time to list the various ways you can positively contribute to your community or your planet. If you only help one person, that’s plenty.

Get Proactive

No, this isn’t your typically futile “get fit, eat healthy” (if you hate the gym, don’t go). Instead this example is an encouragement to engage in some social or political activism. If you struggle to find passion or purpose check out campaigns surrounding a social cause you’re interested in and get involved.

Make Healthy Choices

Whether they be mental, physical or emotional, start prioritising yourself and your well-being. Students can have it just as tough as any other community so never feel like your stresses are invalid.

Wanting to develop yourself isn’t a crime, but a new year doesn’t demand it. If you have to make a resolution, let it be something realistic and proactive rather than an unachievable goal. Be kind to yourself and others and have a wild 2020. N

AJ & Curtis Pritchard

AJ & Curtis Pritchard have been gracing our television screens for the last few years and are hugely popular with all types of audiences. Strictly Come Dancing pro AJ and younger brother/Love Island 2019 finalist Curtis are now setting off on tour together with their latest show AJ Live and are even stopping off in Bournemouth! Nerve were luckily enough to catch up with the pair before they hit the road.

What can fans expect from AJ Live? AJ: What is great about this show is that it’s live entertainment. All the stuff you love about Strictly plus much more. You get all the dance styles from street to commercial and contemporary.

Curtis: The pyrotechnics, the fireworks, you name it, it’s in the show, so it’s going to be action-packed, in your face, right on stage. And we’re brothers so you are going to find out a lot of our banter, a lot about us, a lot about our journey and having fun really.

Are you excited to be coming to Bournemouth?

AJ: We are very excited to come to Bournemouth because we always used to compete on the other side of the Pavilion in the ballroom, so [we’ve got] many memories from when we were kids.

Curtis: That’s where we used to perform, where we were running around when we were

little, where we were dancing around and now we are going to be there doing our own actual show together which will be incredible.

It’s your first show on tour together. What do you think life on the road will be like?

AJ: Some problems we will face on the road is that I like to be very clean and Curtis is not so clean. I like to be very early and Curtis likes to arrive just on time.

Curtis: That’s lies! Everything he said, it’s the opposite, swap everything around and that’s what it really is!

You were in the competitive dancing world when you were younger. Were you competitive against each other?

AJ: We were always competitive, whatever it may be, from playing football, to dancing to who can get to the front of the queue first. Even go-karting, it was always about winning. Winning is the way forward, second is the first to lose, that’s what I say!

AJ, if you weren’t in a relationship, would you want to go on Love Island? AJ: I don’t know if I could deal with Love Island. I would love the sunbathing and relaxing but I think being on camera all that time, that’s a lot. I know Strictly’s on camera on lot but you are even filmed when you are in bed on Love Island! I couldn’t deal with that. Curtis: I could not watch AJ on Love Island.

And who would be your dream Strictly partner?

AJ: Oooh for me, it’s always going to be the Queen, a waltz with the Queen, a little sit down, it’s just perfect, I can see it now. I wouldn’t even have to sweat would I?

Curtis: That’s an incredible answer, I’d quite like a dance with the Queen!

AJ Live will be at the Bournemouth Pavilion on 20 th March and tickets are available through the venue directly. N