66 articles
As you can imagine I have been swamped with all sorts of people asking me about Azi Ahmed. And before you ask “No woman has ever attempted selection.” So this whole story is being blown out of control by Azi who is selling a story which is based on twisted truth in an attempt to […]
Note: This is part of a series. You can read part one here. The next morning, bright and early, we fetched up at the spread where we were booked in for boar hunting. Waiting for us were two good ol’ boys: Eric, the ranch owner, and Orlando, who would be acting as our guide. Over […]
Author’s note: I know the title of this series is “Big Phil’s War,” but this is a little bit of a diversion to explain how I got into the filmmaking business in the first place. It’s all about hunting in the good old US of A, so I’m sure there’s plenty here to keep you reading! Editor’s […]
Note: This is part of a series. You can read part one and part two here. For several weeks, I’d been working on a film about foreign fighters who were taking themselves off to Syria and Iraq, but the truth was, it seemed like a lifetime. Anyone who has served in the military will tell you that […]
Note: This is part two of a series. You can read part one here. When I got back from seeing the No Surrender motorcycle club in Holland, I set about tracking down a foreign fighter or two who planned on volunteering to fight ISIS in Syria and Iraq. I had been asked to make a documentary for Sky […]
Read part one here. Choosing a hotel for me is like selecting a harbour area or forward operating base in the bush. There are lots of considerations and checks to be made before I go firm. You would not just bowl on out there and try and find something blind if you had the choice. […]
My last trip abroad took me to Turkey, and although it’s not the most dangerous place I’ve ever been, there is a threat there and it is severe. To prepare for my journey there, I took several steps, from packing my hand luggage to utilize in an emergency, to carrying out counter surveillance while at the airport. […]
A lot of people have been asking me about the film I made for Sky Atlantic – Big Phil’s War: Fighting ISIS – how it came about and whether there will be another one? To answer the last question first – yes, but getting these things together is hard, so you’ll have to wait a […]
This is a story of two completely different organisations that are worlds apart in their outlook and morality. I’ll provide a brief description of each and see if you can work out which one is trying to call the shots over the other. The first is our own Royal British Legion. The Legion as we […]
I can’t believe that it was just over a year ago that I was on frontline against Islamic State in both Syria and northern Iraq making a documentary (Fighting IS: Big Phil’s War) that was shown on Sky Atlantic. I’ll be telling a few more stories from that trip but this week. For now I […]
One of the things I did when preparing to fight the Navy SEALs for our ‘Remembrance Day Rumble’ to raise money for charity was do a bit of reading up on US naval history. I’m a land combat man myself and I’ll admit I don’t know much about life on the ocean waves – but […]
The hills was a means to an end. A painful means to an end, but nonetheless, just there to say I had enough endurance to get around the trees.