Michael O’Mara takes to the road in Land Rover expedition with Bescoby  

Michael O’Mara has secured The Last Overland: Singapore to London, The Return Journey of the Iconic Land Rover Expedition from Alex Bescoby.  

Senior commissioning editor Jo Stansall acquired world English rights from Jo Cantello at Wolfsong Media. It will be published on 29th September 2022 and will tie in with a four-part documentary series launching on All 4, distributed through Entertainment One, this autumn.  

“After Alex’s determination and dedication in getting The Last Overland expedition and documentary series off the ground, we’re delighted to be working with Michael O’Mara, so that Alex’s remarkable experiences and this historic team endeavour can now also be shared with readers across the world”, Cantello said. 

The Last Overland recounts the “remarkable” story of Bescoby’s journey to recreate the First Overland expedition made by Tim Slessor and his team in 1955, part of the Oxford and Cambridge Far Easter Expedition. The 13,000 mile journey was originally documented in the "Travellers’ Tales" series produced by David Attenborough and in Slessor’s book The First Overland (Signal Books). Inspired by Attenborough’s comment that it was a journey "I don’t think could be made again today", Bescoby set about contacting the 87-year-old Slessor and together they planned a recreation of the original trip with the aim of bringing the original “Oxford” Land Rover home from Singapore to London.  

Bescoby embarked on the “mother of all road trips” in 2019 and his book recounts his "trip of a lifetime”, investigating how the world has changed since the original journey whilst exploring family ties and the “Land Rover religion”.  

Stansall commented: “Alex is a fantastic storyteller, and his personal motivations for taking on this epic journey, together with his passion for adventure and love of history make this a very special read. The parallels as well as the stark differences between the Last Overland and the original journey undertaken by Tim Slessor and the team over sixty years ago are fascinating to understand, and Alex’s honest and engaging account of this life-changing expedition makes us feel as though we’re along for the ride!” 

Bescoby added: “Over 60 years ago, the First Overland captivated a nation. For the first time it brought countries like Iran, Nepal and Burma onto British screens, which before then had only been names on a map. Setting out in the same old car six decades later, we found so much of the world they drove through has faded and gone. But we soon learned the draw of a mad adventure is eternal!”