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

motorcycle A motorcycle (motorbike, bike, or trike (if three-wheeled)) is a two or three-wheeled motor vehicle steered by a handlebar. Motorcycle design varies greatly to suit a range of different purposes: long-distance travel, commuting, cruisin ...

. 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 (legally Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom. Its history began with Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, who developed his vision for a cul ...

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

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was n ...

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 Sunday editions, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group, Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. ...

'' and '' Nova''. 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 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 News UK, wh ...

'', Simon began travelling around the world on a 500 cc Triumph Tiger 100 motorcycle. For four years he travelled over through 45 countries. Most accounts from his trip are detailed in his book, '' Jupiter's Travels'', while some of the book's gaps are filled in its follow-up, '' Riding High''. His books and

long distance riding Long-distance riding is the activity of riding motorcycles over long distances, both competitively and as a pastime. A goal of long-distance riding is to explore one's endurance while riding a motorcycle, sometimes across several countries. Non ...

inspired the actors

Ewan McGregor Ewan Gordon McGregor ( ; born 31 March 1971) is a Scottish actor. His accolades include a Golden Globe Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the BAFTA Britannia Humanitarian Award. In 2013, he was appointed Officer of the Order of the British ...

and Charley Boorman in their 2004 journey from London to New York on motorcycles ('' Long Way Round''), during which they arranged to meet Simon in

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 millio ...

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 ( ; rus, Калининград, p=kəlʲɪnʲɪnˈɡrat, links=y), until 1946 known as Königsberg (; rus, Кёнигсберг, Kyonigsberg, ˈkʲɵnʲɪɡzbɛrk; rus, Короле́вец, Korolevets), is the largest city and ...

and Romania. This was not long after the

Communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a ...

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

Jupiter's Travellers
''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 travel writers