Frank Gardner

His father and mother, Robert Neil Gardner (1922–2010) and Evelyn Grace Rolleston (1923–2014), were both diplomats, and when he was six he moved from the UK to the Hague in the Netherlands.

In 1951, while second secretary at the British Embassy in Czechoslovakia, his father was expelled from the country for espionage activities after an incident in a prohibited military area where he was shot at.

His grandfather was physician John Davy Rolleston.

Educated at Saint Ronan's School, and Marlborough College, Gardner was pushed by his teachers into taking up biathlon, which enabled him to travel to Austria to train with the British Army biathlon team.

When he was 16, Gardner met the Arabian explorer Sir Wilfred Thesiger, and was invited to the explorer's home in Chelsea.

Partly as a result – and partly reasoning that knowing the Arabic language would make him employable in that part of the world – he was determined to study Arabic.

In his gap year Gardner saved up by working in a brick factory then went backpacking from Morocco to Istanbul.

He then travelled to Manila in the Philippines, to go hiking in the mountains of Luzon.

Francis Rolleston Gardner (born 31 July 1961) is a British journalist, author and retired British Army Reserve officer.

He is currently the BBC's Security Correspondent, and since the 11 September attacks on New York has specialised in covering stories related to the War on Terror.

Gardner was born on 31 July 1961.

He returned to study at the University of Exeter, graduating in 1984 with a Bachelor of Arts (BA Hons) in Arabic and Islamic Studies.

Gardner was commissioned on 23 May 1984 as a second lieutenant (on probation).

On 30 September 1984, he transferred from the general list to the 4th Volunteer Battalion, the Royal Green Jackets, as a second lieutenant (on probation) and was given seniority from 23 May 1984.

His commission was confirmed and his rank of second lieutenant was dated to 23 May 1984 with seniority from 23 May 1982.

Gardner worked as a marketing manager for Gulf Exports from 1984 to 1986 and in trading and sales for Saudi International Bank from 1986 to 1990.

He was promoted to lieutenant on 30 September 1985, with seniority from 23 May 1984.

He was promoted to captain on 1 October 1990, with seniority from 1 February 1989.

He worked for five years for Robert Fleming Bank from 1990 to 1995, becoming Director of Middle East.

He had a nine-year career as an investment banker.

On 11 November 1993, Gardner was appointed a captain in the Regular Army Reserve.

Gardner joined BBC World as a producer and reporter in 1995, and became the BBC's first full-time Gulf correspondent in 1997, before being appointed BBC Middle East correspondent in 1999.

In 1995 he left banking and joined BBC World as a producer and reporter.

He returned to the Territorial Army on 24 April 1997, serving in the Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps.

He became the BBC's first full-time Gulf correspondent in 1997, setting up as a freelance stringer in Dubai.

In 1999 Gardner was appointed BBC Middle East correspondent in charge of the bureau in Cairo, but travelled throughout the region.

After the 11 September attacks on New York, Gardner specialised in covering stories related to the War on Terror.

On 6 June 2004, while reporting from Al-Suwaidi, a district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Gardner was seriously injured in an attack by al-Qaida gunmen, which left him partially paralysed in the legs.

On 6 June 2004, while reporting from Al-Suwaidi, a district of Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, notorious for extremism, Gardner was shot six times and seriously injured in an attack by al-Qaida gunmen.

His colleague, Irish cameraman Simon Cumbers, was shot dead.

Of the bullets which hit Gardner in his torso (others passed through his shoulder and leg) one hit his spinal nerves and he was left partially paralysed in the legs and since then has used a wheelchair.

The pair had continued filming for more than half an hour, against the advice of Gardner's official Saudi Arabian government minders.

The Saudi government promised compensation but they have never paid.

He returned to reporting for the BBC in mid-2005, using a wheelchair or a frame.

He has written two non-fiction works as well as a series of novels featuring the fictional SBS officer-turned MI6 operative Luke Carlton.

After 14 surgical operations, seven months in hospital and several months of rehabilitation, he returned to reporting for the BBC in mid-2005, using a wheelchair or a frame.

Despite his injury, he still frequently reports from the field including places like Afghanistan and Colombia but usually comments on top stories from a BBC studio.

He was promoted to major in the Territorial Army on 1 July 2006, and retired on 30 July 2021.

In September 2012, he revealed that Queen Elizabeth II had been upset some years earlier that Abu Hamza al-Masri could not be arrested.

One of the gunmen who shot Gardner and Cumbers, Adel al-Dhubaiti, was captured and executed by Saudi authorities in January 2016.