Hugh McManners is a regular Special Forces hero. But like all SAS or SBS soldiers - he'd rather keep it under his beret.

Hugh was born in Oxford, the eldest son of Cannon John McManners FBA, the Regius Professor of Ecclesiastical History. He was brought up in Australia, in Tasmania and New South Wales, and was educated at several schools including Sydney Church of England Grammar School and Magdalen College, Oxford.

He joined the army in 1972, went to Sandhurst and was commissioned into the Royal Artillery, passing the Commando course and entering the 29 Commando Regiment. He saw active service in Cyprus in 1974 during the Turkish invasion of the north of the island.

In 1975 the Army sponsored him to read Geography at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University, where he gained blues in Boxing and Modern Pentathlon, and a M.A. On leaving Oxford Hugh was posted to the Royal Marines at Poole and trained as a paratrooper, arctic warfare specialist, military diver and small boats expert, before setting up the Army's jungle warfare training school in Belize, Central America.

In 1982, he fought in the Falklands War with the Special Boat Squadron (SBS) and was awarded a 'Mention in Despatches'. Still hungry for adventure Hugh joined a ten-man British Army expedition to climb the World's third highest un-climbed mountain, The Crown a 7,400m peak in the Chinese Karakoram. He was able to compare the dangers of climbing to those in battle and assess the individual-versus-team demands of both.

He saw active service in Armagh, Northern Ireland, was then posted to Germany in charge of an artillery battery and following this tour retired achieving the rank of Major at the age of 37.

Now as a 48 year old, this retired major is no octogenarian with a handlebar moustache - but a young motivated leader, a brilliant soldier and great communicator who has developed a reputation as a masterful and inspirational speaker. Already this year he has carried out engagements in UK and Europe including the Keynote speaker for the NATO Psychological Operations Conference in Brussels and his After Dinner audiences have included the Faculty of Building.

Hugh's last project was co-presenting a series for BBC2's Bare Necessities which ran for two series and is still to be seen on BBC Gold. Two teams were dumped for a week somewhere extreme with nothing but a few bare necessities (blanket, knife, rope, pot, rice, flint) - and maybe a hammock, machete or somethiing suitable for the particular terrain - which included Thai desert islands, Spanish mountains, Mexican jungles, Barbudan caves and Canadian lakes. They were grouped in occupations - a team of nurses versus a team of estate agents, police versus stockbrokers, builders and computer geeks, doctors and cabbies, vicars and bookmakers....... Hugh was the man the two/three person teams loved to hate, the stern "cruel but fair" judge, as they struggled for five days to win a luxury holiday - as opposed to the extra 24 hours in hell that awaited the losers.

Today Hugh has a relatively quiet life as an author of books ranging from his military and climbing experiences to survival training. He has written and produced several documentaries for the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 also radio programmes. And is now the Defence correspondent for The Sunday Times. But of the many faces of this man, Hugh only feels truly at home when he's playing "rock music.." in his band.