Robert Penn (born 1967)^[1] is a British writer, photographer and broadcaster. He is a frequent columnist in UK national newspapers and has written widely on such subjects as cycling, travel, British woodlands and life in the Brecon Beacons, Wales.^[2][3][4]

Penn was born in Birmingham and grew up in Wales and London ^[5] before studying history at the University of Bristol.^[6]

He has cycled around the world and across Wales in the dark.^[7][8]

His latest book, Slow Rise: A Bread-Making Adventure was published by Particular Books/Penguin in February 2021. His book, The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees was BBC Radio Four 'Book of the Week' in December 2015.^[9] His other books include The Wrong Kind of Snow – a survey of the British obsession with the weather, co-authored with Antony Woodward – and It's All About the Bike, which documents his worldwide search for the perfect custom bike, while narrating the social history of the bicycle. It's All About the Bike was a Sunday Times bestseller in the UK; it has been translated into thirteen languages.

Television

In 2010, he wrote and presented the television documentary Ride of my Life: the Story of the Bicycle, based on his book It's All About the Bike, which was broadcast on BBC4 and BBC2.^[10] In 2012, he presented the six-part series Tales from the Wild Wood^[11] for BBC4, about British woodlands.

In 2013, he cycled 1,200 km through the heart of the Amazon rainforest with former England cricket captain Andrew Flintoff for the two-part Sky1 documentary Flintoff's Road to Nowhere.^[12]

In 2014, he travelled round Britain in a fish and chip van with Flintoff, making a six-part series for Sky1. "Lord of the Fries" was broadcast in February and March 2015.^[13] The second series, Flintoff Fries Again was broadcast on Sky 1 in February and March 2016.

Publications

• 2021 - Slow Rise: A Bread-Making Adventure (Particular Books. ISBN 978-0241352083)
• 2015 - The Man Who Made Things Out of Trees (Particular Books. ISBN 978-1846148422)
• 2010 – It's All About the Bike: The Pursuit of Happiness on Two Wheels (Particular Books. ISBN 978-1-84614-262-8)
• 2008 – The Celtic Trail: The Official Guide to National Cycle Network Routes 4 and 47 from Fishguard to Chepstow (Pocket Mountains Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9554548-6-8)
• 2007 – The Wrong Kind of Snow: The Complete Daily Companion to the British Weather, with Antony Woodward (Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-93787-7)
• 2005 – A Place to Cycle: Amazing Rides from Around the World (Conran Octopus. ISBN 978-1-84091-391-0)
• 2004 – The Sky is Falling on Our Heads: A Journey to the Bottom of the Celtic Fringe (Sceptre. ISBN 978-0-340-82752-9)