Conor Woodman
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Conor Thomas Patrick Woodman (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

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.


Books and writing

In 2009, he published his first book, ''The Adventure Capitalist'', chronicling his experiences trading his way around the globe. His second book, ''Unfair Trade: The Truth Behind Big Business, Politics and Fair Trade'' was published in 2011. ''Unfair Trade'' was long-listed for the 2012
Orwell Prize The Orwell Prize, based at University College London, is a British prize for political writing. The Prize is awarded by The Orwell Foundation, an independent charity (Registered Charity No 1161563, formerly "The Orwell Prize") governed by a boa ...
. Woodman's third book, ''Sharks: Investigating The Criminal Heart of the Global City'' was published by September Publishing in March 2017. Woodman has also written for several newspapers and magazines including ''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'', ''
TNT Trinitrotoluene (), more commonly known as TNT, more specifically 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, and by its preferred IUPAC name 2-methyl-1,3,5-trinitrobenzene, is a chemical compound with the formula C6H2(NO2)3CH3. TNT is occasionally used as a reagen ...
'', ''
Wanderlust Wanderlust is a strong desire to wander or travel and explore the world. Etymology The first documented use of the term in English occurred in 1902 as a reflection of what was then seen as a characteristically German predilection for wandering ...
'',
Conde Nast Conde may refer to: Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune Linguistic ''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Count ...
and ''Wexas Traveller''.


Matt Mason novels

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


Television

In 2009, Woodman presented the
Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
travel and adventure series ''Around the World in 80 Trades''. The 4-part series is based on his book, ''The Adventure Capitalist''. From 2012 to 2014, Woodman hosted two seasons 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. ''Scam City'' was nominated for a Broadcast Digital Award in 2014 and in 2015 for Best Factual Series at the
Canadian Screen Awards The Canadian Screen Awards (french: link=no, Les prix Écrans canadiens) are awards given for artistic and technical merit in the film industry recognizing excellence in Canadian film, English-language television, and digital media (web series) p ...
. Woodman presented two-part ITV series ''Hunting the Doorstep Conmen'' in 2013. In October, he presented ''Exposure: Britain's Booming Cannabis Business'' for ITV, part of the channel's award-winning '' Exposure'' strand. In 2015, Woodman reported on three episodes of BBC1's flagship consumer affairs show ''
Watchdog Watchdog or watch dog may refer to: Animals *Guard dog, a dog that barks to alert its owners of an intruder's presence * Portuguese Watch Dog, Cão de Castro Laboreiro, a dog breed * Moscow Watchdog, a breed of dog that was bred in the Soviet ...
.'' 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. He appeared alongside The Monuments Men Foundation's Robert M. Edsel in the program which ended in 2018.


Films

In 2014, Woodman produced and directed his first feature documentary film, ''True Appaloosa''. The film follows Scott Engstrom, an
Appaloosa The Appaloosa is an American horse breed best known for its colorful spotted coat pattern. There is a wide range of body types within the breed, stemming from the influence of multiple breeds of horses throughout its history. Each horse's colo ...
horse breeder, to
Kyrgyzstan Kyrgyzstan,, pronounced or the Kyrgyz Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Kyrgyzstan is bordered by Kazakhstan to the north, Uzbekistan to the west, Tajikistan to the south, and the People's Republic of China to the ea ...
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. In January 2015, a 60-minute version of the film was transmitted on the BBC to critical acclaim. The feature-length documentary premiered at the Sun Valley, Idaho Film Festival in March 2015. In October 2015, Woodman's dramatic short film ''Jester'' premiered at the Sunscreen West Film Festival in
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
.


Radio

Woodman regularly reports back on his travels for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
current affairs show '' From Our Own Correspondent'' and is also a guest presenter on Radio 4's '' Costing the Earth''.


Personal life

Conor Woodman was born in
Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...
, Ireland, on 21 March 1974. He is the son of Professor Ciaran Woodman (1954–2015), a cancer epidemiologist, and Dr. 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 , established = , closed = , type = Grammar school;Academy , president = , head_label = Headteacher , head = Russell Bowen , r_head_l ...
and
King Edward's School, Birmingham King Edward's School (KES) is an independent day school for boys in the British public school tradition, located in Edgbaston, Birmingham. Founded by King Edward VI in 1552, it is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Bir ...
. He later graduated from
The University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
. In 2014, Woodman married English actress and playwright
Phoebe Waller-Bridge Phoebe Mary Waller-Bridge (born 14 July 1985) is an English actress and screenwriter. She is best known as the creator, head writer, and star of the BBC sitcom ''Fleabag'' (2016–2019), which was based on her one-woman show of the same name. ...
. The couple announced their separation and divorce filing in 2017.


Bibliography

*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


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Woodman, Conor 1974 births Living people People educated at King Edward VI Camp Hill School for Boys People educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham 20th-century travel writers Irish travel writers People from Galway (city)