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Conor Woodman

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Conor Woodman
Born (1974-03-21) 21 March 1974 (age 50)
Galway, Ireland
EducationKing Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys
King Edward's School
Alma materUniversity of Manchester
Occupation(s)Author, director, television presenter
Employer(s)National Geographic, Channel 4, BBC, Radio 4
Spouse
​
​
(m. 2014; sep. 2017)​
Websitewww.conorwoodman.com

Conor Thomas Patrick Woodman[1] (born 21 March 1974) is an Irish author and broadcaster best known as the host of Scam City and Around the World in 80 Trades.

Career

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Woodman is a former financial analyst turned investigative journalist, author and filmmaker. He has written and reported from many parts of the world on a variety of social concerns, ranging from gangs and organised crime, to slavery and smuggling.[2]

Books and writing

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In 2009, he published his first book, The Adventure Capitalist,[3] chronicling his experiences trading his way around the globe. His second book, Unfair Trade: The Truth Behind Big Business, Politics and Fair Trade[4] was published in 2011. Unfair Trade was long-listed for the 2012 Orwell Prize.[5] Woodman's third book, Sharks: Investigating The Criminal Heart of the Global City was published by September Publishing in March 2017.[6] Meth Road : A life-and-death investigation following the world's most destructive narcotic to Australia was published by Allen & Unwin in 2023. [7]

Woodman has also written for several newspapers and magazines including The Guardian, TNT, Wanderlust, Conde Nast and Wexas Traveller.[2]

Matt Mason novels

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In Dec 2020, Hodder & Stoughton announced that Woodman will co-author a series of novels with his collaborator and friend, Channel 4's SAS: Who Dares Wins host, Billy Billingham. The novel Call to Kill is the first in a series featuring SAS soldier Matt "Mace" Mason and was published in May 2021.[8]

The second Matt Mason novel, Survive to Fight was published in June 2022 to widely favourable reviews.[9]

Television

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In 2009, Woodman presented the Channel 4 travel and adventure series Around the World in 80 Trades.[10] The 4-part series is based on his book, The Adventure Capitalist.

From 2012 to 2014, Woodman hosted two series of the National Geographic Channel show Scam City, in which he travels to various popular cities around the globe and reveals the darker side of tourism.[11] Scam City was nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award in 2014[12] and in 2015 for Best Factual Series at the Canadian Screen Awards.

Woodman presented two-part ITV series Hunting the Doorstep Conmen in 2013.[13] In October, he presented Exposure: Britain's Booming Cannabis Business for ITV, part of the channel's award-winning Exposure strand.[14]

In 2015, Woodman reported on three episodes of BBC1's flagship consumer affairs show Watchdog.[15][16]

In August 2016, it was announced that Woodman would host an eight-part series for Channel 4 and History Channel Canada entitled Hunting Nazi Treasure. The first season aired on History Channel Canada in October 2017.[17] He appeared alongside The Monuments Men Foundation's Robert M. Edsel in the program which ended in 2018.[18]

Films

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In 2014, Woodman produced and directed his first feature documentary film, True Appaloosa. The film follows Scott Engstrom, an Appaloosa horse breeder, to Kyrgyzstan as she tries to track down a horse that she thought looked like an Appaloosa while watching the TV show Around the World in 80 Trades. Engstrom believed that DNA from the horse might be able to prove that the true source of the North American Appaloosa horse was Asia and not Europe as the history books claim.[19] In January 2015, a 60-minute version of the film was transmitted on the BBC to critical acclaim.[20] The feature-length documentary premiered at the Sun Valley, Idaho Film Festival in March 2015.[21]

In October 2015, Woodman's dramatic short film Jester[11] premiered at the Sunscreen West Film Festival in Los Angeles.[22]

Radio

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Woodman regularly reports back on his travels for the BBC current affairs show From Our Own Correspondent and is also a guest presenter on Radio 4's Costing the Earth.

Personal life

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Conor Woodman was born in Galway, Ireland, on 21 March 1974. He is the son of Ciaran Woodman (1954–2015),[23][24] a cancer epidemiologist, and Miriam Woodman; he is the elder brother of Ciaran Woodman, Jr.

Woodman moved to Birmingham, England, at the age of eight. He attended King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys and King Edward's School, Birmingham.[25] He later graduated from The University of Manchester.

In 2014, Woodman married English actress and playwright Phoebe Waller-Bridge. The couple announced their separation and divorce filing in 2017.[26]

Bibliography

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  • Woodman, Conor Around the World in 80 Trades – The Adventure Capitalist; London: Pan Macmillan, 2009
  • Woodman, Conor Unfair Trade: How Big Business Exploits the World's Poor and Why It Doesn't Have To; London: Random House, 2011
  • Woodman, Conor Sharks: Investigating The Criminal Heart of the Global City; London: September Publishing, 2017
  • Woodman, Conor, Billy Billingham Call to Kill; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2021
  • Woodman, Conor, Billy Billingham Survive to Fight; London: Hodder & Stoughton, 2022
  • Woodman, Conor, Meth Road; Sydney: Allen & Unwin, 2023

References

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  1. ^ "Mr C.T.P. Woodman and Ms P.M. Waller-Bridge - Engagements Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk. Archived from the original on 27 September 2016. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Broadcasting Clients | ROAR Broadcasting". rearglobal.com. roarglobal.com. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  3. ^ Woodman, C. (2009). Around the World in 80 Trades. Pan Macmillan UK. ISBN 9781743034712. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  4. ^ Woodman, C. (2012). Unfair Trade: The shocking truth behind 'ethical' business. Random House. ISBN 9781446473016. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  5. ^ "Long Lists | The Orwell Prize". theorwellprize.co.uk. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  6. ^ "Sharks: Investigating the Criminal Heart of the Global City - September Publishing". September Publishing. Retrieved 8 January 2018.
  7. ^ "Meth Road by Conor Woodman".
  8. ^ "Hodder gets 'Who Dares Wins' host Billingham's debut novel | The Bookseller". www.thebookseller.com. Retrieved 24 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Survive to Fight by Billy Billingham". 7 June 2022.
  10. ^ "Around the World in 80 Trades (TV Mini-Series 2009) - IMDb". imdb.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  11. ^ a b "Jester (2015) Short, Comedy, Drama - IMDb". imdb.com. 2015. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  12. ^ "Broadcast Digital Awards 2014". broadcastdigitalawards.co.uk. Archived from the original on 20 June 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  13. ^ "Current Affairs | Commissioning". itv.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  14. ^ "ITV Exposure finds torture and coercion in Britain's home-grown cannabis industry". www.itv.com. ITV News. 14 October 2013. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  15. ^ Laws, Roz (21 January 2015). "Birmingham TV presenter Conor Woodman reveals all about his search for a rare horse". www.birminghammail.co.uk.
  16. ^ "Holiday Scams - Conor Woodman explains how to stay safe from scam artists and thieves". www.bbc.co.uk. 18 June 2015. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  17. ^ Franks, Nico (11 August 2016). "Canuck, UK nets hunt Nazi treasure". www.c21media.net. Retrieved 10 April 2017.
  18. ^ "Monuments Men Foundation I Television". MonumentsMenFdn. Archived from the original on 6 July 2007.
  19. ^ "New film explores theory around ancient origins of the appaloosa horse". horsetalk.co.nz. 5 September 2014. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  20. ^ Raeside, Julia (22 January 2015). "Up the Women review – could it be the Dad's Army of the suffragette movement?". www.theguardian.com.
  21. ^ "True Appaloosa". survalleyfilmfestival.org. Archived from the original on 15 February 2015. Retrieved 15 February 2015.
  22. ^ "Sunscreen West Film Festival". ssffwest.com.
  23. ^ "Mr C.T.P. Woodman and Ms P.M. Waller-Bridge - Engagements Announcements - Telegraph Announcements". announcements.telegraph.co.uk.
  24. ^ Watts, Geoff (2015). "Ciaran Bernard John Woodman". The Lancet. 385 (9986): 2458. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(15)61130-8. PMID 26122062. S2CID 44564444.
  25. ^ Laws, Roz (2012). "Beaten by robbers in strip club scam; TV detective tells of ordeal to expose holiday crimes". thefreelibrary.com. Retrieved 23 January 2015.
  26. ^ Logan, Elizabeth (31 December 2017). "Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Husband Conor Woodman Are Divorcing".
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