| Synopsis |
In a lecture full of twists and surprises John takes us to Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Iran, countries which he says "are in the news for all the wrong reasons". Starting in Beirut, he unraveled a picture quite different from the news stories as he followed a winding route via the Euphrates, the Caucasus and the Valleys of the Assassins to finish on the Persian Gulf. He met a spectacular variety of people - Druze, Maronites, Arabs, Kurds, Armenians, Azeris and both Shi'ite and Sunni Iranians - and found families and whole communities working together to survive the harsh climate and political strife. John says that Iraq was fascinating of course, but it was the people of Iran who made the trip really unforgettable. They must be the most warm and generous in the world. For days on end he was hardly allowed to buy any food or drink. Worryingly he managed to get arrested in the holy city of Qom, but luckily was let off and continued south through the desert to the Gulf island of Qeshm, a rocky no-man's-land that doesn't seem to have changed much since Marco Polo was there in 1271. |
| Profile |
John is a regular Wilderness Lecturer and his talks to us have confirmed his reputation as "one of Britain's greatest tellers of travelers' tales". He was among the first people of our generation to retrace the Silk Road across Asia, and one of the first Westerners to explore the Central Asian republics after the break-up of the Soviet Union. More recently he has mapped the source of the Mekong and walked the 1,600-mile 'Royal Road of the Incas' through the Andes of Ecuador and Peru. In 2006 he turned his attention to the Sahara Desert, and joined a camel caravan carrying salt for 450 miles from the mines of Taoudenni to Timbuktu.
People are always at the centre of John's story-telling. His Radio 4 programmes have won him several appearances on Pick of the Week and one on Pick of the Year. But it's for his thought-provoking talks and spellbinding photos that people know him best. He has lectured to over 1,000 audiences in five countries, and is a holder of the Royal Geographical Society's Ness Award for popularising geography and the wider understanding of the world.
www.pilk.net
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