Brian Milton

Brian Milton is a pioneering adventurer and Guinness World Record holder for the First Circumnavigation by Microlight. His epic journey is best described by Sir Chris Bonington as, “ dogged bloody-minded tenacity, a man taking huge risks, fighting his fear and at times just about everyone around him. It was a great adventure.” Indeed, Brian’s journey was no easy feat, it was wrought with many challenges, surprises, and conflicts that pushed him to the brink. In his speaking engagements, Brian goes into great detail describing the inspiring events of his journey most eloquently.

Brian’s adventure 'career started in the 1960s when he spent nine weeks 'on the road', jumping freight trains and sleeping under bridges in the USA, ending with six weeks 300 miles inside the Arctic Circle as a dish washer. Brian did this to earn enough money to get back to San Francisco and start his journalism career on the San Francisco Examiner. At 26, he began his second genuine adventure, where he drove a 1937 Austin 7 Ruby, called Alexa across the Sahara Desert and down through the Congo to marry a girl at the other end of Africa.

Brian has spent ten years as a BBC Radio Journalist and programme Editor and 15 years on TV, some of which was as a presenter. It was, however, his newspaper journalism that proved to be very beneficial for his future circumnavigation endeavour. In 1997, Brian worked for the London Financial News and wrote a column called Ruling Passions, which put him into close contact with very wealthy powerful people. This allowed him to get in touch with Prince Philipp of Liechtenstein, who would later agree to sponsor his world flight, on the condition that he can accompany him on a microlight on the day of the launch. Brian agreed and on the day of the launch, he was accompanied by 25 fellow microlight enthusiasts carrying VIPs, journalists, and the Prince.

His inspiration for the journey was the legendary Phileas Fogg and pioneers Ross and Keith Smith, Wally Shiers and Jim Bennett whose 1919 journey, he emulated in 1988 when he flew a microlight aircraft from London to Sydney. During that early flight, he was wrecked on a Greek Island and fell into the Persian Gulf in the middle of the Iran/Iraq war. In 1998, Brian left on his epic world flight with his co-pilot Keith. They would average 5 hours and 52 minutes of flight time, going at 58 mph and covering 337 miles a day. During the journey, Brian was jumped by a MIG 21 in Syria, he lost his marketing budget and conflict with his co-plight led to him flying solo for part of the journey, among other fascinating stories. It’s also worth mentioning that Sir Richard Branson offered a million-dollar prize to race him, something Brian turned down.

Upon completion of the journey, Brian was awarded the Seagrave Trophy and won the highest award from the Royal Aero Club, the Britannia Trophy. Kay Burley made a special half-hour program and Sky TV carried full coverage of the flight. Sir Chris Bonington also dedicated a whole chapter in his seminal book Quest for Adventure, where he made a comparison between Brian’s journey and the 1953 conquest of Everest and Sir Wally Herbert’s walk across the Arctic Ocean in 1968/69. Now Brian has been approached by Hollywood producer Niels Juul, who has taken interest in his book Global Flyer with the intention of making a film based on it. It is likely that acclaimed actor Hugh Bonneville will star in the film which will be directed by Chris Foggin. With such an amazing story to share Brian will capture the attention of the audience with his fascinating anecdote.