Frank Gardner OBE

Frank Gardner is the BBC's award-winning fulltime Security Correspondent, reporting for TV, radio and online on issues of both UK and international security. In 2004 he was shot six times at close range by Al-Qaida gunmen while filming in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but survived with major injuries. He is an Arabist with a degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Exeter University. He served for six years as an Infantry officer in 4th(V) Bn The Royal Green Jackets before working in the Gulf then becoming the BBC's Middle East Correspondent in Cairo. He has reported firsthand on terrorism and security from around the Middle East, notably Saudi Arabia and Yemen, as well as Afghanistan, Pakistan, the US, Guantanamo Bay and the Horn of Africa.

He was awarded the OBE by HM The Queen in 2005 for services to journalism, awarded Honorary Doctorates of Laws by Nottingham, Staffordshire, Exeter, East Anglia, Open and London Universities, the McWhirter Award for Bravery, Spain's El Mundo Prize for International Journalism, the UAE's Zayed Medal for Journalism, voted Person of the Year by the UK Press Gazette and 2011 Journalist of the Year in the European Diversity Awards. He is a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his Sunday Times bestseller 'Blood and Sand', reprinted in 2014, describes his 25 years of Middle Eastern experiences. A keen skier and scuba diver, he has been elected President of the Ski Club of Great Britain.