FEELING more at home in the trenches of war or visiting the world’s most dangerous jail in Honduras Simon Reeve will find himself in a new environment.

The journalist / adventurer is about to set out on his first theatre tour recounting tales from more than 15 years of travelling to the most remote and extreme corners of the planet.

The London-born writer got his break when he appeared on a four-part BBC Two series called Meet the Stans, where Reeve travelled from the far north-west of Kazakhstan, by the Russian border, east to the Chinese border, south through Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan to the edge of Afghanistan and west to Uzbekistan and the legendary Silk Road cities of Samarkand and Bukhara.

Now Reeve will take to the stage at the Anvil on Wednesday, 3 October where he aims to inspire and educate a new generation of explorers.

He said: “I’ve had some magnificent adventures and met some of the most inspiring people on the planet.

“So obviously I’ve got lots of tales from my travels, and this show is a tremendous opportunity to share them with audiences across the UK.

“There’s a lot that I see and film that never makes it into the programmes, so there’s also behind-the-scenes stories to tell and footage to show.”

Reeve added: “I’m very keen that people push themselves into unfamiliar territory. The world can seem a scary place, but it really isn’t.

“This is the golden age for travel. These days, ordinary people can have adventures that in the past only Kings and Queens could have dreamt of.”

Even though he is known for seeing the world, life wasn’t always jet setting to all corners of the globe for the 46-year-old.

“I grew up in tropical Acton in West London,” Reeve continued.

“My adventures were restricted to riding my BMX and my grandmother’s magical mystery tours. She would take my brother and me in her car when we were very little to explore exotic, unknown places like Hounslow. Sometimes we even got as far as Chiswick.

“I never stowed away on a plane. I never imagined I’d live the life I have today.”

During his time in the field Reeve has been arrested for spying by the KGB, electrocuted in a war-zone, protected by stoned Somali mercenaries and witnessed trench warfare in the Caucasus.

Reeve continued: “Travel teaches us that we should embrace life and not live it on our knees. It’s a wonderful and immediate way of pushing our buttons and exciting our senses. We have an enormous planet of seven billion stories and magnificent sights to see and incredible food to eat.”

From being chased by pirates, hounded by the Mafia and bombed by Columbian drug barons, Reeve has travelled through more than 120 countries and wants to share those stories with the people of Basingstoke.

An audience with Simon Reeve takes place on October 3.