2025 Host - Ben Aitken

Ben Aitken was born under Thatcher, grew to 6ft then stopped, and is an Aquarius. He was conceived by a nurse and a shipwright, grew up in Portsmouth, was in a boyband for a spell in the noughties, then worked as a carer throughout his twenties, all the while scribbling on the side. He is the author of six books: Dear Bill Bryson: Footnotes from a Small Island, wherein he followed Bill Bryson around the country for no good reason; A Chip Shop in Poznan: My Unlikely Year in Poland (a Times bestseller), wherein he worked in a fish and chip shop and travelled the country on a shoestring; The Gran Tour: Travels with my Elders ('Both moving and hilarious', Spectator), which involved six budget coach holidays with people much his senior, and is being made into a film; The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple (a Daily Mail Book of the Week), which involved moving in with an 85-year-old widow on the eve of a national lockdown; Here Comes The Fun, which investigates the serious business of having a laugh; and Sh*tty Breaks: A Celebration of Unsung Cities (Independent Book of the Month), which champions overlooked metropoles and argues that anywhere – like anyone – can be interesting and enjoyable if approached in the right fashion. He writes for The Guardian and The Times, was named Travel Writer of the Year at this year's Travel Media Awards, is an occasional lecturer at the University of Portsmouth, and is looking forward to a few shandies at The Eight Bells Inn.