Phil Campion

Adopted from birth, I was brought up in Southampton where it all started to go wrong from an early age. My old man vanished and the old lady went round the bend looking after my sister and I. Not managing to contain my behaviour I was expelled from every school I went to and I ended up living in a bedsit at the age of fifteen whilst working on a youth training scheme. Then came the biggest turning point of my life; joining the British Army, aged 17. I absolutely loved it. I was cap badged as a Royal Hampshire and was soon doing belt fed trips of Northern Ireland. I then managed toWhen we were amalgamated into the PWRR I decided it was time I made a move into the big leagues and have a bash at selection. I passed on my first attempt and joined D Squadron, 22 SAS pass the All Arms Commando course with the Royal Marines as well as the rigorous P Company course.After five years and a few operations under my belt, I moved on. By this time I’d had a few encounters with the ‘head shed’ and was being offered big money on the outside. I left in 2001 and went straight to Afghanistan for three years on the circuit. From there I went to Iraq, Israel and on to Gaza. After I had done The Middle East to death (not literally), I went to Africa. I operated in the gold mines of the west to the oil fields of Sudan before piracy kicked off and I started riding the waves through the pirate waters of Goa and the Indian Ocean. To make ends meet between the trips I would work as a bodyguard for various celebrities and I even invented a digital dogtag for both military and civilian applications called UTAG.Nowadays I'm writing books, presenting TV and making my way round a different circuit; after dinner speaking. However, my past always seems to catch up with me - my first documentary for Sky had me on the frontline, head-to-head in a firefight.