This is an accepted version of this page Simon Peter Richie Calder (born 25 December 1955) is a freelance English travel journalist and broadcaster.

That same year, after the USSR sent nuclear warheads to Cuba, Calder's parents decided that with Gatwick Airport only two miles away they were in the line of a potential Soviet target.

[4] After university, Calder briefly taught mathematics in Crawley before getting a job as a radio engineer with the BBC in London.

[8] At The Independent Calder introduced his strapline "The man who pays his way", reflecting his unwillingness to accept gifts from the travel industry.

[17] In 2006, Calder travelled more than 5700 miles by rail across Russia from Moscow in the west to Vladivostok in the east, on the Trans-Siberian Railway.

[18] Calder has travelled to more than 120 countries[19] and lists Northern Ireland, Yorkshire and Hadrian's Wall in Northumberland among his favourite places to visit.