Julian Harold Hudson (born 9 January 1970) is an English archaeologist,

television producer A television producer is a person who oversees one or more aspects of a television show, television program. Some producers take more of an executive role, in that they conceive new programs and pitch them to the television networks, but upon acce ...

and presenter, best known for presenting the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

series '' Escape to the Country.'' He also frequently presents sections of the environmental documentary series '' Countryfile'' on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

Early life

Hudson was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

, in

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, in 1970. He is the son of Pam and Cliff Hudson. He was brought up in a Bed and Breakfast hotel run by his mother for 40 years, in the former village of Lexden, now a suburb of Colchester. His father was a mechanical engineer and a technical director at E. H. Bentall & Co in the large village of Heybridge in the Maldon District of Essex, frequently working abroad. Hudson attributes his conversational style of presentation to his experience from a young age of meeting people at the bed and breakfast from many different backgrounds and nationalities.

Education

Hudson was educated at two

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

s: at Colchester High School and later Ipswich School, in the

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

, where he boarded from the age of eleven. After school, he studied Field Archaeology at Lampeter University (renamed the ''University of Wales, Lampeter'' in 1996), in the town of Lampeter in

Ceredigion Ceredigion (), historically Cardiganshire (, ), is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the West Wales, west of Wales. It borders Gwynedd across the River Dyfi, Dyfi estuary to the north, Powys to the east, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire t ...

in south west

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

, followed by military training at RMA Sandhurst in

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. He later took a master's degree in Archaeology at

Durham University Durham University (legally the University of Durham) is a collegiate university, collegiate public university, public research university in Durham, England, founded by an Act of Parliament (UK), Act of Parliament in 1832 and incorporated by r ...

. He attended Durham from 1994-1995 and was a member of

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

Life and career

After initially briefly pursuing a career as an army officer, Hudson moved into TV production in 1996, focusing on historical programmes. Working initially for

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel, known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery, is an American cable channel that is best known for its ongoing reality television shows and promotion of pseudoscience. It init ...

, he then moved to

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''

Time Team ''Time Team'' is a British television programme that originally aired on Channel 4, Channel 4 from 16 January 1994 to 7 September 2014. It returned in 2022 on online platforms YouTube and Patreon. Created by television produce ...

,'' BBC 2's ''

Horizon The horizon is the apparent curve that separates the surface of a celestial body from its sky when viewed from the perspective of an observer on or near the surface of the relevant body. This curve divides all viewing directions based on whethe ...

,'' and three military history series for the BBC's Richard Holmes. After becoming lead presenter on ITV Meridian's ''The Making of England,'' and making '' Have I Been Here Before?'' with Phillip Schofield, he developed and produced the series ''Revival'' for ITV, which gained a

Royal Television Society The Royal Television Society (RTS) is a British-based educational charity for the discussion, and analysis of television in all its forms, past, present, and future. It is the oldest television society in the world. It currently has fourteen r ...

nomination. Since 2007, he has been one of the main presenters on BBC's '' Escape to the Country''. He was the initial presenter on BBC One's ''Britain's Empty Homes'', fronting the first series from January 2010 to February 2012. He presented the ten episodes of ''Defenders of the Sky'' for the History Channel H2 in 2015. Hudson contributes regularly to Countryfile Magazine and to Homes & Gardens magazine. An article published in 2022 indicates that he is a "regular contributor to BBC Radio Wales". He also authored the book "Walled Gardens". In August 1994 he graduated from

Royal Military Academy Sandhurst The Royal Military Academy Sandhurst (RMAS or RMA Sandhurst), commonly known simply as Sandhurst, is one of several military academy, military academies of the United Kingdom and is the British Army's initial Commissioned officer, officer train ...

and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Reserve, specifically in the Royal Monmouthshire Royal Engineers. According to a June 2022 report, he was "assigned to 77 Brigade – a combined Regular and Reserve unit".

President, Campaign for the Protection of Rural Wales, (CPRW)

In 2015 Jules Hudson became President of CPRW, a Welsh national charity that aims to secure the protection and enhancement of the country's landscapes and environment. He has entered enthusiastically into work of the charity and in November 2015 re-launched the Best kept village competition for

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

. It is hoped that this will evolve into a competition covering all of Wales.

Personal life

Hudson lives in

Herefordshire Herefordshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England, bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh ...

with his wife Tania and son, Jack. The presenter says that he is a "keen countryman and craftsman" who "spends his spare time renovating his period home and garden in Herefordshire and rescuing old furniture".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hudson, Julian 1970 births Living people Alumni of University College, Durham Alumni of the University of Wales, Lampeter British archaeologists English television presenters Graduates of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst People educated at Ipswich School Royal Engineers officers 21st-century British Army personnel Military personnel from Colchester Military personnel from Herefordshire Army Reserve (United Kingdom)