Wissenswertes

On 28 May 2005 Ben's first child, Sam Shephard, was born, followed on 24 January 2007 by another boy, Jack James Shepherd. He named his second son after his favourite TV hero, Jack Bauer, star of hit US series 24: Twenty Four (2001).

Ben took his wife on the Orient Express to Venice for their wedding anniversary.

Ben has broken four Guinness World Records and, over the past ten years, he has completed 14 marathons, run across the UK twice and climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.

Ben is a West Ham fan and loves anything to do with sport. He kite surfs, wake boards and plays rugby, football and golf with mates from London and school.

On Thursday 27 November 2014, Ben took part in a challenge live on Good Morning Britain in celebration of the 2014 series of ITV's 'I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here'. He managed to hold six fish eyes in his mouth at once, but was seen covering his face with his hand as he tried desperately not to vomit. Although he appeared to subsequently spit the eyes out, he did in fact manage to swallow them all.

He is a graduate of Birmingham University. He met his wife Annie Perks there - she is now a marketing executive.

He has one brother, Toby (b. 1970), who works in pharmaceuticals and one sister, Alex (b. 1973), who is in marketing.

His favourite place in Britain is Cornwall.

The first record he ever bought was Do They Know It's Christmas? by Band Aid.