Blood and Sand: And Ireland - Tapa blanda

On 6 June 2004, Frank Gardner and cameraman Simon Cumbers were in a quiet suburb of Riyadh, filming a piece on Al-Qaeda when they were confronted by Islamist gunmen. Simon was killed instantly. Frank was brought down by a shot in the shoulder, then the leg. As he lay in the dusty street, a figure stood over him and proceeded to pump 4 more bullets into him at point blank range Blood & Sand is the story of a man who was left for dead but - and against all odds - survived. And not only did Frank Gardner survive but, drawing on his journalistic calling, he has given us an extraordinary, terrifying account of the whole, literally life-shattering, experience - from what it's like to be shot to the excruciating months of recovery. But his book is more than about this one incident and its aftermath. It is about a journey that began 25 years ago with a chance meeting on a London bus with the veteran Arabian explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, who inspired in the young Frank what would become a lifelong passion for the Arab world. This abiding interest would lead him to travel throughout the Middle East, experiencing at first hand peoples, places and cultures that few have encountered - a co

Frank Gardner is the BBC's fulltime Security Correspondent, reporting for TV and radio on issues of domestic and international security, notably on Al-Qaeda-related terrorism. In June 2004 he survived an assassination attempt in Saudi Arabia. A fluent Arabist, with a degree in Arabic & Islamic Studies from Exeter University, he was previously BBC Middle East Correspondent based in Cairo and before that in Dubai. He has written for the Economist, Sunday Times, Daily Telegraph and Time Out and his travel writing has been published in The Best of Sunday Times Travel Writing. He was awarded an OBE in 2005 for services to journalism. Frank Gardner is married with two children and lives in London.