Ian Cross

Ian was born in Melbourne, Australia and grew up in Canberra. He began his professional career there as a cadet journalist for The Canberra Times before moving into local radio and then the BBC and ABC. Ian’s media career in newspapers, radio and television spans 45 years and three continents – the United States, his native Australia, and the UK where he now lives with his wife and two children. For three years he was European Correspondent for ABC-TV, then in 1988 he produced the Beyond Tomorrow science series for Fox Networks in the United States.

Ian is the Managing Director of Pilot Productions, the television company he founded in 1988, headquartered in London and with a sales office in Los Angeles. Specialising in factual programming, in particular travel, Ian has been the Executive Producer of 600+ hours of quality television including 17 series of the multi-award winning adventure travel series, Globe Trekker ,which ran for 25 years and to 248 episodes, and food and travel series’, Planet Food and World Café. More recently Ian has executive produced a number of the history series including Empire Builders, Ottomans versus Christians and A Short History of the Moors. He has also hosted the five part mini series The Lost World of Joseph Banks and one offs, Wellington versus Napoleon: Aftermath of Waterloo and Ottomans versus Venetians. In 2020 Ian produced and directed three mini series, Ultimate Blitzkrieg: WW2 Battle of Crete, Hope and Fear: How Pandemics Changed the World and A Short History of the English Garden. He is currently working on a manual for media students based on his long career in the industry, a second series of Empire Builders and an immigration series, Diaspora Nation, based on the extensively researched Pilot Guides Study Guides.

Ian is a fairly recent convert to the pleasures of golf; he took up the game in 1994 upon turning 40-years-old and soon became a keen aficionado of the sport. He is the host of Adventure Golf, which completed  its third series in 2019. Ian believes golf is a perfect recreation for men of his age as it’s not too strenuous, very healthy, and great stress-busting for the busy executive.

Ian is a handicap 18 golfer who prefers to lead a nomadic-cum-jet-setting golfing life; he has no home club but enjoys playing the game internationally – particularly in Northern France and links golf in Scotland and Ireland.

Ian’s dream trip would be to take a year out to travel the four corners of the world, Phileas Fogg inspired, to play the world’s best golf courses, and explore the most exotic regions and their cultures at a leisurely pace – notably the Pacific Islands, Middle East and the little explored parts of Latin America

ABOUT – Ian Cross is a fairly recent convert to the pleasures of golf; he took up the game in 1994 upon turning 40-years-old and soon became a keen aficionado of the sport.