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John Hudson with Julia Wheeler

From the darkest depths of a jungle cenote, to the top of a stormy Alaskan glacier, John Hudson’s sense of humour and everyday stoicism have won him many fans worldwide. He is the UK military’s chief survival instructor, designing and implementing the training of instructors in Land, Sea, and Extreme Environment Survival. Prior to joining the RAF as a helicopter pilot, John studied Product Design at Leeds College of Art.

John is a survival instructor, broadcaster, writer, public speaker and training consultant based in Cornwall UK, whose specialist work takes him to some of the most remote and extreme environments around the globe.

He has penned the joint services survival training manual, revised the RAF’s aide memoir found in all military aircraft survival packs and advised on the UK’s SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance & Extraction) training film, watched by all service personnel before deployment overseas.

John has also been a resident expert on two series of Discovery’s Dude, You’re Screwed (Survive That in the UK), putting his skills to the test in some of the planet’s most demanding environments. Amongst others, John has survived the elements in Asian and Central American jungles, the Arctic Circle and the high altitudes of the Atacama Desert. 

He is an elected Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society and his first book How to Survive: Lessons for Everyday Life from the Extreme World was recently released in paperback by Pan Macmillan on 28th May 2020.