Major Ken Hames is a British former Special Air Service's officer,highly rated motivational speaker and specialist television presenter.

Ken Hames is a real life action man who leads from the front. He has 25 years military experience under his belt, and is almost unique in having served in The Parachute Brigade, the Royal Marines and the Special Air Service. Ken’s operational experience is vast, ranging from guarding Nazi war criminal Rudolph Hesse, in Spandau Prison to the liberation of Port Stanley in the Falklands.

He is an accomplished Mountain Guide and skier and represented Great Britain in cross-country skiing.  He played rugby for the Combined Services, is an expert in the great outdoors in all survival disciplines and is a keen amateur opera singer

Following an impressive 25 year military career, Ken Hames has brought a unique slant to the many documentaries that he has created and presented for television.  Ken’s third series of ‘Beyond Boundaries’ was set in the Andes range in Ecuador and followed his highly acclaimed BBC1 documentary ‘Ex Forces and Homeless’ , his next broadcast series will be ‘Beyond Boundaries – Where Are They Now’.

Ken has created and presented series like, ‘Mission Africa’ - a 15 part series for prime time BBC1 where Ken took a group of young apprentice builders from the UK to Kenya to build the first eco lodge and game reserve to protect the endangered species that live there working closely with the Born Free Foundation. This was then handed over to the local Samburu tribe as a sustainable business that also protects the wildlife.

Ken created and is the expedition leader on the ground breaking ‘Beyond Boundaries’ series for BBC TV. This is now a successful brand with it’s own live event, bringing disabled people from all over the world together with their friends and families. Each series, Ken takes a different group of highly disabled people and motivates them to achieve seemingly impossible expeditions. He trains and inspires them into a team and the end result is life changing.  

‘Desert Darlings’ was broadcast on Channel 4 in spring 2003. Ken took couples across the Namib Desert, placing their sometimes fragile relationships under the extreme pressures of an expedition. His first series for Channel 4, was the award winning, ‘Jungle Janes’, where Ken’s challenge was to turn a group of British women, none of whom had any expedition experience, into a cohesive team fit enough to take on the gruelling jungles of Borneo.  It was enjoyed by millions who found this journey an inspiration. The first documentary was a television series, called ‘The Trek’ broadcast by Meridian.  In 1994, with the help of Diana, Princess of Wales, Ken was able to take twelve disadvantaged youngsters to the heart of Africa on a 500-mile trek over desert and mountainous terrain, The process transformed their lives and Ken still monitors their progress.

These documentaries have proved Ken’s extraordinary ability to inspire and motivate even the most unlikely candidates. His unique skills enable him to take any rabble of individuals and finish with a winning, cohesive team, using sound leadership and thorough training are just some of the tools he uses.  Ken is passionate about empowering people to transform their lives for the better.

Ken presented the highly praised series, ‘Greatest SAS Missions’ for Five in 2004, CBBC’s ‘Bring it On’, ‘Hero Factor’ for the Discovery Channel in 2002, ‘Battle Stripes’ for Sky in 2000, ‘Future Fighting Machines’ for the US in 2003, Channel 4’s ‘Shattered’ and ITV’s ‘Celebrity Fit Club’.  Ken was also involved from the earliest of stages in the design and development of ITV’s ‘I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here’.

What Clients Say

•    Thank you for your fantastic presentation. The feedback was excellent. People will not forget ‘Lead, follow or get out of the way’
Martin Goodman, Office of the Director – IBM

•    Your speech was an inspiration to our audience. You have given IGF members a renewed sense of motivation and desire to succeed.
Paul Foulkes Director of Global Financing IBM

•    Ken’s motivational style lifts people’s horizons.  He was an absolute inspiration to our delegates.
Carole Nicholl, Director  Lehman Brothers

•    Ken Hames is the master practitioner in the field of training and development.  He has the unique ability to inspire others to seek personal transformation and high achievement.
Diana, Princess of Wales

•    In his leadership master class Ken gave my senior managers a renewed sense of purpose and direction.  He is current, credible and inspirational and is particularly adept at getting results in a short timeframe.  I continue to use him to keep my leaders at the cutting edge.
Robert Ford CIO EMEA Microsoft Corporation

•    Ken inspired us all with his motivational conference programme and leadership master class.  We are looking forward to the next phase in our business development programme.
Simon Curry Director BT UK

•    Ken did a fantastic job for us and it was an inspiration to hear him talk and motivate our leadership team.  We look forward to his return.
Derek Hudson Vice President UK, British Gas

•    Wherever Ken goes the atmosphere changes significantly.  He is able to get results and does this with credibility as someone who is still out there ‘doing it’ so to speak.  He has a unique understanding of the pressures facing business today and delivers solutions that will help managers do better.
Jerry Hagan, Director GlaxoSmithKline

•    I give Ken 10 out of 10 for everything from how the audience reacted to the content of his talk. He really met our expectations and at the end of the presentation there was an audible ‘wow’ factor – it really hit the spot. Our clients really appreciated his enthusiasm for their project and the willingness to stay behind and become involved on an informal basis.
Chris Ball Senior Partner Penna PLC

•    Ken, Thank you so much for speaking at the Business Direct Forum, the feedback has been excellent. The Management team were really impressed and delighted. Your positioning was spot on and we were all grateful for the amount of time you took to understand our business and current challenges.
Vodaphone HQ, Management Meeting


•    We have now come to the end of our series of leadership workshops held during March and April and as one of the guest speakers on the workshops I would just like to say thank you for your time in talking to us recently your session was extremely interesting and the feedback from our leaders has been very positive.
Nigel Cann Station Director, British Energy