Britain’s Lost Battlefields: Who is Rob Bell?
Rob Bell is an engrossing presence on historical documentaries. Now the engineer brings his enlightening style to a Sky HISTORY series about iconic battles.
Image: Rob Bell (R) is revisiting some of history's most iconic conflicts in 'Britain's Lost Battlefields' | Britain's Lost Battlefields
Rob Bell has been a regular on TV screens since presenting the BBC Two series Engineering Giants in 2012. With his engineering expertise, he has filmed insightful documentaries on the merits of various physical structures, from bridges to lighthouses.
However, you might not have realised how eagerly he has also pushed himself to his physical limits. This has included mastering the ‘777’ challenge of running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days.
So, Rob Bell can doubtless relate to the brave men of history who have achieved similarly remarkable feats of endurance on the battlefield. It’s just one reason why Rob is now hosting Britain’s Lost Battlefields, where Sky HISTORY revisits such iconic clashes as Bannockburn and Bosworth Field.
Rob Bell’s early life
Rob Bell was born in 1979 in the Buckinghamshire county town of Aylesbury. His family took him to Paris at the age of nine. He was still living in the French capital when, as a teenager, he considered becoming a student at the University of Bath.
With Rob’s mother having encouraged his burgeoning interest in engineering, it was the natural choice of subject to study for his degree. Nonetheless, by his own later admission, he was still somewhat directionless at this stage of his life.
In 2024, he reflected that any future career plans he had were along the lines of ‘some kind of engineering job’. In the meantime, he secured his place to study a Master’s degree in Mechanical Engineering with French.
Rob Bell’s career before TV came calling
Rob remained indecisive about his future career path even after graduating. ‘I ended up working in project management and business development for a public-funded sustainability agency in London for eight years,’ he later recalled.
At the age of 32, Rob finally sought a career counsellor’s advice to figure out what to do over the longer term. It eventually dawned on Rob that his future lay in broadcasting. Since then, he has produced content for various outlets - including the BBC, Channel 5 and Travel Channel.
Where has Rob Bell’s TV work taken him?
Two shows Rob participated in for the Travel Channel showed off his physical prowess. In the 2013 series Man Vs World, Rob made various point-to-point journeys while purposefully avoiding using any engine-reliant mode of transport.
It was in the 2015 series Monster Marathon Challenge that Rob revealed how he passed the ‘777’ test. The feat saw him running marathons in various cosmopolitan cities across the world, including London, Singapore and Sydney.
When Rob Bell turned his attention to history
There’s definitely a strong history theme woven through much of Rob’s filmography. His interest in the past was evidenced early in his broadcasting career, such as with the BBC programmes The Science of D-Day and Tank Men.
The former analysed the science behind the D-Day landings, while Tank Men commemorated 100 years since the first use of tanks in battle. Rob Bell has also presented Channel 5 documentaries on other historical subjects, including famous ships and the 19th-century engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Rob Bell has further enhanced his pedigree as a history presenter by working alongside historians who have made their name in this line of work. In 2017, he joined Dan Jones and Suzannah Lipscomb on a Channel 5 documentary about the Great Fire of London.
What to expect from Britain’s Lost Battlefields
With every battle, there are combatants, tactics and turning points. With the Sky HISTORY series Britain’s Lost Battlefields, Rob Bell gets into the nitty-gritty of many of the country’s most historically significant conflicts.
Those featured include the Battle of Bannockburn, where Robert the Bruce steered the Scots to victory over the English in 1314. Another episode of the series is dedicated to Boudicca, the Celtic queen who braved the threat of the Romans in 60/61 AD.
All the while, Rob Bell speaks to historians to get the real deal (or at least as close to it as possible) on these battles. How much did they really live up to the long-established myths? Do certain military leaders deserve more (or less) credit than posterity has bestowed upon them?
As a man who routinely embraces an active lifestyle himself, Rob Bell can provide revelatory insight into what fighters of these bygone ages went through. His engineering background also helps him to scrutinise the kinds of weaponry, like swords and spears, these troops had at their disposal.
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