Ahead of their 19,000km trip, BBC World takes a look at The Last Overland team, whilst also reflecting on their inspiration for the trip, the original 1955 journey ‘First Overland’
The New Paper (Singapore) : Rousing send-off for team journeying overland from Singapore to London
British student Nathan George grew up listening to his grandfather's stories about driving from London to Singapore with his friends in 1955.
Inside Hook (USA): How the world has changed since the First journey in 1955
On September 1st, 1955 six college students from the U.K. set out from London in two “normal 86-inch wheelbase Land Rover station wagons.” Six months later, they arrived in Singapore, completing an historic journey, officially known as the Oxford and Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition, that would come to be known as The First Overland. On Sunday, August 25th, 2019 — almost 64 years later to the day — one of those two vehicles set off to make the journey once again, this time in reverse.
Straits Times (Singapore): Nostalgic send-off for members of overland trip - The Straits Times - 09.08.19
A sprightly 87-year-old retired documentary maker and an animated 31-year-old film-maker held court on Wednesday at the quaint Grenadier pub in a back lane near London's Hyde Park Corner, where they spoke enthusiastically of their upcoming adventure - a road trip from Singapore to London.
Cambridge University (UK): Alumni recreate legendary 1950s overland expedition
Thailand Daily News (Thailand): Welcome to the historic journey THE LAST OVERLAND... อ่านต่อที่ - 11.08.19
Financial Times (China): An epic overland expedition — at the age of 87
The Straits Times (Singapore): Team to recreate historic overland trip between S'Pore and UK
Financial Times (UK): An epic overland expedition at the age of 87
We were delighted to be featured in the Financial Times weekend edition on June 14th, take a look here.
CNA (Singapore): The Last Overland Expedition unveiled in Singapore
After almost a year of preparation, the Grammar Productions team were delighted to unveil our latest, and greatest adventure: The Last Overland. Joined by our supporters - Singapore Tourism Board, AKE Group, Jaguar Land Rover APAC and Klareco Communications - we revealed the plans for our historic 10,000 mile road journey to the world media. You can see a TV report from Channel News Asia on the launch here.
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Tim Slessor
Tim Slessor was born in England in 1931. His father was an officer in the Royal Navy’s Air Arm; consequently Tim spent most of his pre-war boyhood in Malta – the then home-base of the RN’s Mediterranean fleet. But in June, 1940, when his father (along with over 1,500 others) was lost in the sinking of the carrier, HMS Glorious and her two escorting destroyers, his mother took him back to her home country of Australia. Those wartime years “down under” were, Tim recognizes even today, very formative. In late 1945, with the War over, he and his mother eventually returned to the UK.
At 18, after completing a very English middle-class education, Tim chose to do his military service in the Navy, specifically in the Royal Marine Commandos. Indeed, after a year “in the ranks” he was commissioned as a Lieutenant, and then posted to an active service unit in Malaya – fighting communist terrorists. As he later wrote, “In the jungle, one grows up quickly”. In late 1952, with his service completed, he took up the minor scholarship he had earlier gained at Cambridge University. Three years later, he graduated with a degree in Geography. During his last year, he and a friend put together a six-man expedition; they aimed to become the first people to drive all-the-way-overland (in two early Land Rovers) from Europe to Singapore. A number of people had already tried – and failed. Suffice it to say that, after a long and, at times, difficult journey of 12,000 miles, the Cambridge crew succeeded. Their films were later shown on both the BBC-TV and NBC. And Tim’s book, “First Overland”, in its day a minor best seller, is still, after 63 years, in print; indeed – it’s now in its seventh edition. A critic reckoned it, “The best travel book I’ve ever read”. Tim’s reaction? “I wasn’t just proud; I was highly conceited – still am!”
In 1957, he joined the BBC as a documentary trainee. In subsequent years, as he became more experienced (and a presenter/director) he travelled the world and won several awards both in the UK and US; he is particularly proud of a citation from the Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma – for a five part-series on the American West. Indeed, in 1965, he quit the BBC (after a minor spat “with an idiot boss”) and migrated with his wife and their two little small children to a small college in Chadron – a remote but wonderful cow-town in north-west Nebraska. He taught English and Journalism. Later, the family moved east to Syracuse, NY where, for two years, he worked for the local PBS station (WCNY-TV).
Eventually, the family returned to the UK; Tim went back to the BBC where he joined a team making a 13-part documentary series about the UK – shot entirely from a helicopter. He particularly recalls filming an 800 miles aerial journey from the Scilly Isles to remotest Shetland. Later he made the BBC’s five-part tribute to Australia on the occasion of that country’s bi-centenary (1788-1988). He also became a bit of a specialist on documentaries about the US; amongst many other assignments in those parts, he worked on Alistair Cooke’s 13-part NBC/BBC series about the history of the US. He eventually wound up in a largely administrative/executive role as the number two in the BBC’s general documentary department. He retired in 1990 in order, as he says, “to get back to the sharp end – to actually be making documentaries again”. He filmed from the Himalayas to the Arctic, from the Out-Back to the Sahara.
Since then he has written two more books. The first, “Lying in State”, is a heavily researched polemic questioning Britain’s Ministry of Defense for a series of nine “official” cover-ups and deceptions – ranging, for example, from the 20-year denial of Gulf-War Syndrome to the true circumstances behind the loss of his father’s ship back in 1940. His other book, “Out West”, continues his fascination with the many veined story of the American West; one critic reckoned that, “Western histories – a crowded field. But this is as good as they get – and it’s by a Brit!” Again, Tim says, “I’m not just proud; I’m highly conceited!”
Finally, as he likes to comment, “I get back to Nebraska and Wyoming as often as I can afford. But if I had enough cash, I’d surely have a private jet and commute two or three times a year between London and Buffalo, Wyoming – God’s own country”. A problem is that, at 88, I can’t get the necessary travel/health insurance”.
Even more finally, Tim is not long returned from a journey to the Chatham Islands. They are on the far side of New Zealand. Check them out on a globe; from Britain, one cannot go any further – without coming back. Which, he says, is why he went there.
VisionAutomotriz (Mexico) : The Last Overland Expedition reaches the finish line in London and is welcomed by a new Defender to celebrate his achievements
The Last Overland, el equipo que recrea la famosa expedición Oxford y Cambridge al lejano oriente de 1955, concluyó su viaje desde Singapur hasta Londres, durante su recorrido hizo una visita a las instalaciones de fabricación de Jaguar Land Rover en Nitra, Eslovaquia. En ese lugar, el Nuevo Defender se encontró cara a cara con su antecesor “Oxford”, un Land Rover Serie I. El Primer Ministro eslovaco Peter Pellegrini, junto con el Director Ejecutivo de Manufactura de Jaguar Land Rover, Grant McPherson estuvieron presentes para darles la bienvenida al equipo de Nitra.
Qingdao (China): Experience a new generation of Land Rover Defender style visits to Land Rover factories
2019年12月5日，斯洛伐克尼特拉——1955年，来自牛津大学与剑桥大学的学生们共同组队，驾驶路虎系列I从英国伦敦出发，历经6个月成功抵达新加坡，完成了路虎首次横跨远东的壮举。时隔半个多世纪，由来自英国、法国、美国、比利时、印度尼西亚和新加坡的8位探险家组成的“The Last Overland”探险队，正展开一场从新加坡到伦敦的远征，以致敬当年的创举。近日，该探险队在旅程中拜访了位于斯洛伐克西部城市尼特拉的捷豹路虎全新工厂。
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JLRXJA (China): Experience the new generation of Land Rover Defender style
1955年，来自牛津大学与剑桥大学的学生们共同组队，驾驶路虎系列I从英国伦敦出发，历经6个月成功抵达新加坡，完成了路虎首次横跨远东的壮举。时隔半个多世纪，由来自英国、法国、美国、比利时、印度尼西亚和新加坡的8位探险家组成的“The Last Overland”探险队，正展开一场从新加坡到伦敦的远征，以致敬当年的创举。近日，该探险队在旅程中拜访了位于斯洛伐克西部城市尼特拉的捷豹路虎全新工厂。
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Dubai Global News (Dubai): The Last Overland Expedition arrives at Land Rover’s manufacturing site in Slovakia and comes face-to-face with the New Defender
Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 8 December 2019 – The Last Overland, a team reversing the famous 1955 Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition continues its journey from Singapore to London with a visit to Jaguar Land Rover’s manufacturing facility in Nitra, Slovakia.
SgCarmart (Singapore): The Last Overland expedition reaches London
Having crossed 23 countries from Singapore to London, the eight-member expedition team has successfully recreated one of the most historic automotive events of the 20th century - The Oxford & Cambridge Far Eastern Expedition (The First Overland), undertaken from 1955-1956.
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Autosportwereld (Belgium): THE LAST OVERLAND ARRIVES IN BRUSSELS
This afternoon around 12 noon the convoy of The Last Overland arrived at Autoworld in Brussels. The last stop before arriving in London on December 14. The adventurers had no less than 18,000 KM on it and drove through 23 countries.
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The Last Overland UK Arrival Party - Land Rover Road Trip
CARGlancer (Ukraine): Last Overland Travelers Visited Land Rover’s Plant to Meet a Defender
The Last Overland Expedition, traveling from Oxford and Cambridge to Singapore, and from there to London, has visited the plant in Nitra (Slovakia), where the legendary Land Rover Defender is manufactured.
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Roverparts (UK): The Last Overland Comes Home
After 100 days on the road, the Last Overland expedition is returning to London on Saturday, December 14th, with "Oxford," the same iconic Series 1 86” Station Wagon that completed the “First Overland” expedition in 1955-56.
The story began when “Oxford,” the Series truck that was used on the original trip, was recovered from the remote Atlantic island of St. Helena, where it had been resting as a pile of parts for years, partially buried in the dirt. The truck had been used for the first-ever drive from London to Singapore, then ended up living on the outpost. In 2017, it was repatriated to Britain on one of the last voyages of the classical passenger-cargo ship RMS St. Helena, and restored by Yorkshire Land Rover enthusiast Adam Bennett.
In December 2018, Bennett shipped the vehicle from Southampton, England to Singapore, in preparation for a group driving it back to London, a reverse of the first leg of the First Overland expedition. In late August, the team flagged off from Singapore, beginning a journey of 10,000 miles with the 64-year-old Oxford and two 2010s-era Defenders, a 90 and 110.
