“He’s just such a lovely man…” “What a smashing, easy going, ordinary yet far from ordinary individual …”

People were describing a performer who at one stage nearly fell off the stage in his enthusiasm. That performer was no other than Charley Boorman, well known to everyone for his hugely successful television series and books, Long Way Round, Race to Dakar, Long Way Down and most recently, this time without his best friend Ewan McGregor, By Any Means.

The audience he was enthralling was a packed one at Alton Convent School’s newly completed Expressive Arts Centre, including guests from outside the school who joined in with enthusiasm. Charley Boorman started the evening by showing a video of his adventures. The big screen and cinema quality sound showcased the school’s new building and its facilities, but the live talk that followed was equally larger than life.

As he talked, without a script, with youthful, almost boyish, enthusiasm, what emerged was not only Charley Boorman’s passion for motorbikes but his passion for travel, adventure and just being alive. Here was a twenty first century explorer with a centre of concern not for himself, but for the welfare of others. Which is why he charged no fee and enabled the proceeds of the evening approximately £3500.00 to be shared between UNICEF and helping to fund the school’s charity work with children in India and on the sixth form’s annual pilgrimage to Lourdes.

Of the many - often hilarious - highlights, one has to be Charley’s description and physical re-enactment of the difficulties posed by the gruelling off-road endurance race to Dakar. He explained how he eventually came to withdraw through injury but is determined to try it again. This was not the talk of a boasting adventurer, but an account by a man of immense human warmth and modesty, an explorer, committed to his UNICEF cause, with a huge sense of fun. He could put himself down - he referred often to his best friend Ewan McGregor, whose film making success he rather ruefully compared to his own. (While McGregor made Moulin Rouge with Nicole Kidman, Boorman took up painting and decorating). Charley Boorman describes himself as actor, father and motorbike fanatic. Two words could be added, ones he never used of himself but were apparent, unspoken, at every stage to the audience – he was courageous and generous.

Richard Hoyes