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There could be no more appropriate host for this year's Northern Star Business Awards than a man who has inspired the nation with his tenacity and success.

Ben Fogle was an adventurer even before he became a household name when he and 35 others were marooned for a year on Taransay in the Western Isles for the BBC series Castaway 2000.

He is now an acclaimed author, writer and television presenter but it is for his sporting exploits he is perhaps best know.

On his website the first one he lists is beating actor Sid Owen in a three round charity boxing match for BBC Sport Relief but while for a commendable cause it is perhaps the least demanding of his achievements.

He set the British pairs record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean in 49 days with oarsman and double gold Olympic medalist James Cracknell. More recently it took Ben and his wife Marina just 49 hours to set the world record for sailing from Portsmouth to Cork.

They married in 2006 having met in a park as they walked their dogs.
He has completed the Marathon Des Sables, a 160 mile, six day, self sufficient race across the Sahara Desert, the Safaricom Marathon in Kenya, the Bupa Great North Run, the London Marathon, Tough Guy, Man versus Horse and the Royal Parks half marathon.

Last year he suffered ill health after being struck down by a flesh-eating bug while filming Extreme Dreams for the BBC in Peru but recovered enough to complete the inaugural Amundsen Omega 3 South Pole Race, a 500 mile foot race across the Antarctic to the South Pole.

However that took its toll and he suffered a relapse and required more chemotherapy.

But for that he would have been arriving at the Northern Star Awards fresh off a horse after completing a 1000km horseback race across the Mongolian desert. However he was forced to withdraw.

Taransay aside, Ben is no stranger to Scotland and is looking forward to his visit to Aberdeen to host the Northern Star Business Awards and says the teamwork which has been instrumental in the success of his adventures is equally applicable to business.

"I think that teamwork plays a crucial role in the business world. With different opinions and ideas it is important to work together for the best results.

"I love Scotland. My grandfather was Scottish and I spent many holidays on the island of Eigg in the Inner Hebrides. I think the Western Isles of Scotland are the most beautiful place I've ever been."

The son of actress Julian Foster and broadcast vet Bruce Fogle he was educated in Dorset but went on to study Latin American Studies at the University of Costa Rica and University of Portsmouth, where he enrolled as an officer in the Royal Naval Reserve.

Ben spent several years in Latin America working on a turtle conservation project on the Mosquito coast of Honduras and working in an orphanage in Ecuador before volunteering for Castaway.

"I owe an awful lot to my Castaway experience," he said. "I sometimes wonder where I would be if I hadn't spent that memorable year on Taransay. I like to think I would be doing something adventurous, but who knows? "