Dwayne Fields
{{Short description|British television adventure traveller and speaker (born 1982)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name =
| honorific_suffix = FRGS
| image = Dwayne Fields in 2023 in Antarctica.jpg
| caption = Fields in 2023
| birth_name =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = Jamaica
| alma_mater = University of East London
| occupation = Television adventure traveller, presenter, and speaker
| years_active =
| website = {{url|https://dwayne-fields.com/}}
}}
Dwayne Fields {{post-nominals|country=GBR|FRGS}} (born October 1982) is a Jamaican-born British television entertainer, presenter and speaker. He travelled to the Magnetic North Pole.{{Cite web |last=O'Brien |first=Verity |title=Dwayne Fields |url=https://nationaloutdoorexpo.com/profile/dwayne-fields/ |access-date=29 October 2021 |publisher=National Outdoor Expo}}{{Cite web |title=Dwayne Fields – From Jamaica to the Arctic. An inspiring motivational speaker |url=https://www.performingartistes.co.uk/artistes/dwayne-fields |access-date=29 October 2021 |website=PerformingArtistes.co.uk}} The Scout Association appointed Fields to be its Chief Scout in 2024.{{cite news|url=https://www.bracknellnews.co.uk/news/national/24566591.adventurer-dwayne-fields-succeed-bear-grylls-new-uk-chief-scout/|title=Adventurer Dwayne Fields to succeed Bear Grylls as new UK chief scout|newspaper=Bracknell News|agency=PA News Agency|date=5 September 2024}}
Early life
Fields was born in Jamaica in 1982 and, from the age of six, grew up in Stoke Newington, north London.{{Cite news |last=Usborne |first=Simon |date=3 May 2021 |title=From gangland London to the wilds of Antarctica |url=https://www.ft.com/content/5a5b33f5-8826-46b4-b7e8-7f8d87dab338 |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=Financial Times}} He says that in his early life, he witnessed violent crime.{{Cite news |last=Scott |first=Caroline |date=13 October 2019 |title=A Life in the Day interview: the adventurer Dwayne Fields on being stabbed and the great outdoors |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/article/a-life-in-the-day-interview-the-adventurer-dwayne-fields-on-being-stabbed-and-the-great-outdoors-3frm8sr7g |access-date=11 November 2021 |work=The Times}}{{Better source|date=October 2024}} He holds a degree in Psychology and Business Management from University of East London.
Career
Fields says that he was inspired to visit the North Pole after watching a breakfast television article about Ben Fogle and James Cracknell looking for a third member to assist in their expedition of Antarctica. Though he was too late to apply, his enthusiasm for the project was noted and he was asked to recreate the 1908–1909 expedition by Robert Peary and Matthew Henson, which reached what was believed at the time to be the Geographic North Pole.
Fields has appeared as a guest on BBC's Countryfile and Springwatch with Chris Packham. On his Countryfile appearance, he said that he believed that some Black British people do not regard the countryside as "somewhere that's for them" and undertook his North Pole expedition to show that things are not necessarily impossible to achieve. He was one of the participant presenters on the series Welcome to Earth, and is currently presenting his own series, 7 Toughest Days,{{Cite web |last=Bedirian |first=Razmig |date=22 February 2023 |title=7 Toughest Days: Dwayne Fields's extreme survival stories in 'relentless' environments |url=https://www.thenationalnews.com/arts-culture/film-tv/2023/02/22/7-toughest-days-dwayne-fieldss-extreme-survival-stories-in-relentless-environments/ |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=TheNationalNews.com}} with National Geographic and Disney+.{{Cite news |last=Mistlin |first=Sasha |date=28 October 2021 |title=Dwayne Fields, the first black Briton to reach the north pole: 'I spotted this polar bear stalking us' |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/oct/28/dwayne-fields-first-black-briton-north-pole-polar-bear-young-people |access-date=29 October 2021 |work=The Guardian}}{{Cite web |date=April 2023 |title=Great Lives {{!}} Matthew Henson, Arctic explorer and pioneer |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001l2br |access-date=20 April 2023 |website=BBC Radio 4}}
He co-founded the WeTwo Foundation, which provides adventure opportunities for underprivileged young people; their inaugural trip to Antarctica was in November 2022. Fields was named an ambassador for The Scout Association in Stratford-upon-Avon,{{Cite web |title=Dwayne Fields |url=https://stratfordscouts.org.uk/ambassadors/82-dwayne-fields |access-date=29 October 2021 |website=stratfordscouts.org.uk}} and on 5 September 2024, The Scout Association appointed him to be its Chief Scout.{{Cite news |last=Batty |first=David |date=2024-09-05 |title='He champions the sense of belonging': Dwayne Fields named as UK chief scout |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/sep/05/dwayne-fields-named-uk-chief-scout |access-date=2024-09-05 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}
On Tuesday the 23rd July 2024, Fields was made Honorary Colonel and corps ambassador to HM Royal Marines alongside Olympian Victoria Pendleton.{{cite news|title=Olympian Victoria Pendleton and explorer Dwayne Fields named as Royal Marines 'ambassadors'| url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news/2024/july/24/240724-rm-honorary-colonels}}
In 2025, he co presented a search for the source of the nile with Ben Fogle on 5.
Awards
Fields was awarded the Freedom of the City of London in 2013.{{Cite web |last=Syma |first=Mohammed |date=14 October 2020 |title=Polar explorer from Hackney awarded freedom of the city of London for voluntary work |url=https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/polar-explorer-from-hackney-awarded-freedom-of-the-city-of-3440802 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210119221622/https://www.hackneygazette.co.uk/news/polar-explorer-from-hackney-awarded-freedom-of-the-city-of-3440802 |archive-date=19 January 2021 |access-date=11 November 2021 |website=Hackney Gazette}}
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- {{Official website}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fields, Dwayne}}
Category:Alumni of the University of East London
Category:Black British sportsmen
Category:21st-century Black British people
Category:British polar explorers
Category:British people of Jamaican descent
Category:Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
Category:Jamaican emigrants to the United Kingdom
Category:People from Saint Catherine Parish
Category:People from Stoke Newington