Neil Oliver’s fascination with daring deeds has led him to champion the RNLI – and he’s been in deep water himself a few times, as he tells Rory Stamp

With his rich Scots accent and long black hair, broadcaster, writer and archaeologist Neil Oliver is well known for bringing historic tales of drama and bravery to life. When he was filmed experiencing a crew training session at The Lifeboat College, though, it was the actions of young, modern day lifesavers that particularly struck a chord with him. ‘Young people get a really bad press sometimes,’ he says, ‘and I think some newspapers would have us believe that people in their teens and early 20s are selfish, not selfless. But I trained with a group of young people who give up their own time to train for rescues and carry them out. They stand in readiness to save people they’ve never met before. That’s heart warming and reassuring.’

Neil’s experiences at the College were broadcast in January during a report on BBC TV’s The ONE show, when he declared that he was the RNLI’s ‘number one fan’. It was one of many television programmes that have utilised Neil’s presenting skills. Having qualified as an archaeologist in the late 1980s and worked as a print journalist in the 1990s, his passion for unearthing fascinating stories was first seen on our television screens when he copresented Two men in a trench in 2002. The popular series recounted the brave acts of British soldiers, from the Battle of Bannockburn in 1314 to the Second World War.

Today Neil is best known as the charismatic lead presenter of the BBC’s Coast series. Thanks to his enthusiasm and vigour, nuggets of fascinating history from around our shores have captivated millions. So, what’s the secret of his success? ‘I think it’s because I come at history like Joe Public would. I’m not an academic historian – I’m interested in it as an archaeologist,’ says Neil. ‘We’re a nosey bunch. I don’t dig up gold and jewels, I dig up the rubbish of ordinary people. That’s how you uncover these amazing stories that show what life was like. That’s what I’m drawn to, and that’s what I think people find particularly interesting.’

Filming Coast led Neil to meet several lifeboat crews – and one such encounter was completely unplanned. Neil and the television crew recreated and filmed a cricket match that used to be played annually at Goodwin Sands, 4 miles off the Kent coast. The sandbars there have claimed the world’s largest concentration of shipwrecks and, when they tried to revive the sporting tradition, it looked as if Neil and the production team might be the latest casualties of the area known as the ‘widowmaker’. Their sandy pitch suddenly began to disappear beneath the waves and, just at the wrong moment, their boat broke down.

‘It was a classic case of thinking that we had taken all the right precautions, but when the tidecame in and the boat wouldn’t start, we were stranded,’ recalls Neil. The film crew radioed for help and Ramsgate and Walmer lifeboats were launched to the rescue. ‘If you see a breakdown vehicle arrive when you’re stuck at the side of a road, you feel relieved,’ Neil points out. ‘Well, when I saw that orange lifeboat livery come into view, it was that relief times a million! The arrival of the lifeboat doesn’t just mean you get to go home, it means you’re going to live. We lost all the cameras and kit to the sea. If it wasn’t for the lifeboats, that could have been us too.’ The BBC later made a donation to the RNLI in return for the lifeboats’ help. ‘It was such an efficient rescue,’ adds the father of two from Renfrew.

Neil’s latest projects include presenting a television series on Scottish history and writing a book to be published by Michael Joseph in May: Amazing tales for making men out of boys. ‘I’ve always been interested in people who, when required, give more of themselves than they may have thought possible in order to help someone else. These are people who are prepared to put themselves in harm’s way to do a great deed,’ says Neil, adding that Grace Darling – the young woman who received an RNLI Gallantry Medal for her lifesaving deeds in 1838 – is an example of such a person.

‘That story has stayed with me since childhood – a story of bravery during a time when women weren’t usually thought of as lifesavers. She underlined the fact that all people are capable of acts of great bravery, regardless of gender or age. I think stories like this, of real-life bravery, are better than fiction.’