Ted Simon (born 1931) is a British travel writer noted for circumnavigating the world twice by

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike; uni (if one-wheeled); trike (if three-wheeled); quad (if four-wheeled)) is a lightweight private 1-to-2 passenger personal motor vehicle Steering, steered by a Motorcycle handlebar, handlebar from a saddle-style ...

. He was raised in London by a German mother and a Romanian father.

Early career

After studying chemical engineering at

Imperial College Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a cultural district in South Kensington that included museums ...

he began his newspaper career in Paris with the ''Continental Daily Mail''. Back in England, whilst undertaking National Service with the RAF he founded ''Scramble'', a magazine for recruits, which caught the attention of

Arthur Christiansen Arthur Robin Christiansen (27 July 1904 – 27 September 1963) was a British journalist, and editor of Lord Beaverbrook's newspaper the ''Daily Express'' from 1933 to 1957. Christiansen was born in Wallasey, Cheshire to Louis Niels Christia ...

, redoubtable editor of the ''Daily Express'', and worked in

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a street in Central London, England. It runs west to east from Temple Bar, London, Temple Bar at the boundary of the City of London, Cities of London and City of Westminster, Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the Lo ...

for ten years. He eventually became Features Editor of the ''Daily Sketch'', and shortly before that paper was amalgamated with the ''Daily Mail'' in 1964 he left to found and edit a man's magazine, ''King'', which survived for three years. He moved to France and contributed to various English newspapers and magazines, including ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' and ''

Nova A nova ( novae or novas) is a transient astronomical event that causes the sudden appearance of a bright, apparently "new" star (hence the name "nova", Latin for "new") that slowly fades over weeks or months. All observed novae involve white ...

''. His first book, ''The Chequered Year'', or "Grand Prix Year" (U.S. 1972), was an account of the 1970 Formula One season.

First circumnavigation

In late 1973, sponsored by ''

The Sunday Times ''The Sunday Times'' is a British Sunday newspaper whose circulation makes it the largest in Britain's quality press market category. It was founded in 1821 as ''The New Observer''. It is published by Times Newspapers Ltd, a subsidiary of N ...

'', Simon began travelling around the world on a 500 cc

Triumph Tiger 100 The Tiger 100 (T100) was a standard motorcycle first made by the British motorcycle company Triumph in 1939. Production ceased when the Triumph factory was destroyed by German bombing in 1940 during World War 2, but recommenced in 1946. Seve ...

motorcycle. For four years he travelled over through 45 countries. Most accounts from his trip are detailed in his book, ''

Jupiter's Travels ''Jupiter's Travels'' is a book by Ted Simon which narrates his four-year journey through 126,000 km across 45 countries on a Triumph Tiger 100 500 cc motorcycle from 1973 to 1977. His book was first published in English in 1979. ''Ju ...

'', while some of the book's gaps are filled in its follow-up, '' Riding High''. His books and long distance riding inspired the actors

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his services to drama and ...

and

Charley Boorman Charley Boorman (born 23 August 1966) is a British television presenter, travel writer and actor. A motorbike enthusiast, Boorman has made four long-distance motorcycle rides with his friend Ewan McGregor, documented in '' Long Way Round'' (20 ...

in their 2004 journey from London to New York on motorcycles (''

Long Way Round ''Long Way Round'' (''LWR'') is a British television series and book documenting the journey of Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman from London to New York City on motorcycles. They travelled eastwards through Europe and Asia, flew to Alaska, a ...

''), during which they arranged to meet Simon in

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

After the first circumnavigation

In 1980, married with one son, he moved to Northern California, became active in organic farming and consumer supported agriculture, and wrote the book ''The River Stops Here: Saving Round Valley, A Pivotal Chapter in California's Water Wars''. He went on to write '' The Gypsy in Me'', which details his search for his mother's and, particularly, his father's roots in Eastern Europe. This time he mainly walked and caught public transport between

Kaliningrad Kaliningrad,. known as Königsberg; ; . until 1946, is the largest city and administrative centre of Kaliningrad Oblast, an Enclave and exclave, exclave of Russia between Lithuania and Poland ( west of the bulk of Russia), located on the Prego ...

and Romania. This was not long after the

Communist Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, di ...

regimes in Russia, Poland, Ukraine and Romania had fallen.

Second circumnavigation

In 2001, Simon started a new motorcycle journey, this time on a modified BMW R80GS, that roughly followed the same route as his 1973 trip. He was around 70 years old at that time and completed the journey in three years. His new book, ''Dreaming of Jupiter'', detailing this journey, was released in March 2007.

Notes

References

External links

Jupitalia - Ted Simon's official website

''The Ted Simon Foundation'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Simon, Ted Living people Alumni of Imperial College London English male journalists English non-fiction writers 1931 births Long-distance motorcycle riders Motorcycle touring writers Motoring journalists English male non-fiction writers English people of Romanian descent Writers from London British travel writers 20th-century British travel writers