James May's Great Explorers: Captain Cook
01:00 am - 02:30 am, Monday, March 23 on 5SELECT (46)
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About this Broadcast
Captain Cook
Captain James Cook was the last explorer in the age of sail - and one of the busiest, charting one third of the globe. His voyages brought huge advancements in navigation, biology, and geography, and in Britain he is generally thought of as a hero - but in other parts of the world, that's not the story. James May examines how this studious and serious son of a farmer broke through the class ceiling to become the greatest naval captain of his age
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Documentary
News/Current Affairs
Cast & Crew
James May
(Presenter)
Catrina Lear
(Series producer)
Will Daes
(Executive producer)
Tom Whitter
(Director)
More Information
Did You Know..
James May
(Presenter)
Born:
January 16, 1963
in
Bristol
Best Known For:
Being Captain Slow on Top Gear.
Early-life:
James Daniel May was born on January 16, 1963, in Bristol. He has a brother and two sisters. He attended school in Rotherham with Life on Mars star Dean Andrews before heading to Lancaster University to study music. After graduating, May made ends meet in a series of jobs, including working in a hospital. During a stint with an engineering company, he produced a leaflet and liked what it involved, so applied for a job as a magazine sub-editor. He then worked for Autocar, but was fired after inserting a 'secret' message in the text.
Career:
May's TV career began in 1998 with the Channel 4 series Driven, which ran for four years. In 1999, he landed a presenting role on BBC's Top Gear before it was axed due to low ratings. He rejoined the revamped version of the show in its second series. Other projects for the BBC have included Oz and James's Big Wine Adventure, James May's 20th Century, James May's Big Ideas, James May's Man Lab, and James May's Toy Stories.
Quote:
On his sex-symbol status: 'Perhaps they look at me in the way that I might look at a slightly tacky Jaguar XJS, and think 'that's potentially not bad, maybe I could improve that'.'
Trivia:
Away from TV, he has written columns for several publications and penned the books May on Motors and Notes from the Hard Shoulder.
Catrina Lear
(Series producer)
Will Daes
(Executive producer)
Tom Whitter
(Director)
