Simon Dring
Encyclopedia
Simon Dring is an award-winning foreign correspondent, television presenter and producer. He's worked for Reuters, the Daily Telegraph of London, and BBC
Television and Radio News and Current Affairs.
, Norfolk
, England. He was expelled from boarding school in Woodbridge for swimming naked in the River Ouse. He later studied at King's Lynn Technical College. In 1962, aged 16, he left home to travel overland to India.
In the 1970s and 1980s, as a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph newspaper and BBC Television News, Dring reported from South-East Asia, covering events in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe.
with Bob Geldof
, the biggest mass-participation sporting event ever held.
, the first private terrestrial TV channel in Bangladesh, as managing director in 1997. The station was closed down in 2002 when Dring and three other executives were charged with fraud.
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
Television and Radio News and Current Affairs.
Early life and education
Dring grew up in FakenhamFakenham
Fakenham is a town and civil parish in Norfolk, England. It is situated on the River Wensum, some north east of King's Lynn, south west of Cromer, and north west of Norwich....
, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England. He was expelled from boarding school in Woodbridge for swimming naked in the River Ouse. He later studied at King's Lynn Technical College. In 1962, aged 16, he left home to travel overland to India.
Journalism
Dring got his first media job in 1963, working as a proofreader for the Bangkok World newspaper in Thailand. In 1964 he went to Vietnam, working as a war correspondent for Reuters - their youngest ever foreign correspondent.In the 1970s and 1980s, as a correspondent for the Daily Telegraph newspaper and BBC Television News, Dring reported from South-East Asia, covering events in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Europe.
Sport aid
In 1986, Dring designed and produced Sport AidSport Aid
Sport Aid was a charitable event held on May 25 1986, raising $37m to support famine relief in Africa, and is the sporting event with the most participants in history....
with Bob Geldof
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon "Bob" Geldof, KBE is an Irish singer, songwriter, author, occasional actor and political activist. He rose to prominence as the lead singer of the Irish rock band The Boomtown Rats in the late 1970s and early 1980s alongside the punk rock movement. The band had hits with his...
, the biggest mass-participation sporting event ever held.
On The Road Again
In 1992 Dring retraced his 1962 journey for BBC Radio 4 as "On The Road Again" In 1994 he made the journey again for an 8-part TV series of the same name for BBC television and the Discovery Channel. A book was also published in 1995 by BBC Books "On The Road Again: Thirty Years On The Traveler's Trail To India".Ekushey Television
Dring joined Ekushey TelevisionEkushey Television
Ekushey Television is a private terrestrial channel in Bangladesh,. Official transmission began on April 14, 2000, after a very short time of transmission it became the voice of the nation and the most popular TV channel in Bangladesh through its news and other innovative programs...
, the first private terrestrial TV channel in Bangladesh, as managing director in 1997. The station was closed down in 2002 when Dring and three other executives were charged with fraud.