ADVENTURER and author Ben Fogle has been speaking about his encounters with animals as he promotes his new book.

The 38-year-old visited St Francis’ College in Letchworth GC to talk about The Accidental Naturalist in front of a 300-strong audience.

The Countryfile presenter, who has raced across the Sahara Desert, rowed across the Atlantic and made it to the North Pole, was joined last Friday by actor and theatre director Joanna Cherry on stage who acted as an interviewer.

Speaking to the Comet before the talk, Mr Fogle said: “The first book, The Accidental Adventurer, is about how these adventures have shaped my life and all the challenges I’ve done to date. This book is the prequel to that, how I grew up surrounded by animals and my life with them through my career.

“I’ve been lucky to have all sorts of unusual encounters, be it penguins in Antartica, great white sharks across the coast of California or crocodiles in Africa. A lot of people think of me as an adventurer but animals and wildlife are still my great passion.

“I’d probably describe myself as a writer – this is my sixth book. I love the process of writing and I find it really cathartic.”