“Driven to turn this fantasy into reality, I discovered some waters within cycling or lift-cadging distance that were rumoured to hold these mythical beasts”

Jeremy Wade, Somewhere down the Crazy River, 1992

Jeremy Wade is a writer and TV presenter with a special interest in rivers and freshwater fish, who has been travelling (mostly solo) to the world's remoter rivers for over 25 years.

He has a degree in zoology from Bristol University and a postgrad teaching certificate in biological sciences from the University of Kent, and has worked as a secondary school biology teacher.

He grew up in south-east England, on the banks of the Suffolk Stour, where his fascination with the underwater world began - and the desire to always see "what's around the next bend". His first overseas trip was to the mountain rivers of India in 1982, and since then he has increasingly spent his time tracking down large and little-known fish in rivers around the world - particularly in the Congo and Amazon rainforests.

"I don't see myself as a particularly expert angler," he says. "But what I am able to do is get into the kinds of places where outsiders don't normally go, with enough energy left to put a line in the water. Teaming up with local fishermen is vital to success, and what's great about this approach is that you get to see beneath the surface of diverse human cultures too."

In between catching fish (or, on some journeys, not catching fish), he has also caught malaria, been detained as a suspected spy, narrowly escaped drowning, been threatened at gunpoint, and survived a plane crash.

In 1992 he co-wrote (with Paul Boote) 'Somewhere Down The Crazy River' - a book that is considered to be one of the classics of angling literature. He has also written on travel and natural history for publications including The Times, Guardian, Sunday Telegraph, The Field and BBC Wildlife magazine.

During his career he has achieved a number of notable 'firsts'. These include filming a large mystery creature in an Amazon lake (dubbed 'the Amazon Nessie' by BBC Wildlife magazine), and getting the first underwater footage (with cameraman Rick Rosenthal) of the 'Giant Devil Catfish' in India.

His first TV series, Jungle Hooks, filmed in 2002 for Discovery Europe, was one of the most-watched shows on multichannel TV when it was released, and has since been seen by audiences around the world. River Monsters, his most recent series, has achieved the highest ever audience figures in the history of Animal Planet. A second season of River Monsters will be broadcast in 2010.

When not camped beside a remote river, Jeremy lives in Somerset, England, in the countryside near Bath.