WORLD traveller Simon Reeve would rather face heavy gunfire in Somalia than perform to his Dunfermline audience this autumn.

Rest assured, it’s nothing personal.

Despite having stared down the barrels of assault rifles in war zones, the idea of delivering his first ever theatre tour gives him the fear.

“It’s daunting, but I’ll embrace it,” he told Press:ON.

“I think the notion of appearing in front of your fellow humans, on stage, is a fairly terrifying prospect.

“Part of me would find it easier to be on a frontline in Mogadishu or somewhere ludicrous, facing imminent death, than the good folk of Dunfermline.”

Although he emerged from school with “no real qualifications”, he’s managed to visit more than 120 countries, taking in breathtaking vistas and experiences that he’ll share at the Alhambra Theatre on October 12.

Known for his BBC travel documentaries, he’s under no illusion that the career he enjoys was acquired through persistence and risk-taking following a dark period in his life.

Reeve underwent mental health counselling in his teenage years after he was turned down from job after job, admitting he nearly became a “suicide statistic”.

He continued: “I regret getting into that state but if I hadn’t hit that low, maybe I wouldn’t have reached where I am today?

“I was bumbling along, drinking too much, getting into trouble and not making enough of my teens. I do regret that.

“It’s hard to look back on that time in my life.”

He was desperate for opportunities to escape that delicate time and grasped the chance to become a postboy at the Sunday Times with both hands.

Initially tasked with lugging sacks of mail around, confidence in him grew from senior staff and in time he was entrusted with tracking down two South African neo-nazi terrorists, at the age of 18.

It sparked his fascination and curiosity with terrorism, leading to Reeve penning The New Jackals, the first book written on Osama bin Laden, in 1998.

His world began to open up and, having captured memories he’ll never forget from the likes of Bangladesh, Greenland and Madagascar since, he offered words of wisdom to today’s youth.

He said: “Whatever you do, don’t make a safe move. You can do that later in life.

“When you’re young, you have less responsibilities.

“You have more imagination and ideas, so go and cultivate your wildest thoughts and follow those passions.

“You’ve got to be taking chances, pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and doing things your grandparents probably wouldn’t approve of.

“Try things that you know, in your heart, you want to do.

“For goodness sake, don’t do something because you think you should. Do it because every bit of your heart is telling you to try it.

“If you want to go and see the world, just go and do it. It’s never been safer, or easier, or more possible.

“There’s never a perfect bank balance to make it happen, but you can make your way around the planet on limited resources."

Reeve added: “I think younger generations now are told to be sensible, build your future now and do the right thing early.

“If you can’t go wild now, when on earth can you? Take the chances when you can.

“I can’t stress enough how much I would encourage others not to get lulled into the idea that travelling is simply about lying beside a swimming pool.

“You should do everything you can to rack up incredible memories.

“I know that’s difficult, and who the hell am I to say it?

"But, you’ll never have the same level of experiences and memories from sitting beside a swimming pool than you’ll have from pushing yourself out of your comfort zone.

“A holiday with your mates is memorable for great reasons, but it doesn’t challenge you in a way other adventures would.

“Existing is fragile. Do we avoid all risk? No, of course we can’t. We shouldn’t believe every warning we hear or listen to the fears.

“We should push ourselves to take risks. 

"There’s a thousand options out there. It can be hard now to choose where you go. The menu is almost too long."

But he does add this nugget: “My advice is that you either follow your heart, or you have a party.

“You invite your friends together and you centre the party around one idea: you’re going to throw a dart at a map, and then you just bloody go to wherever it lands!

“You then have a quest. The journey is the story.

“Getting there can be the most memorable part of the experience.

“I think people have forgotten that.”

An Audience with Simon Reeve starts at 7.30pm on Friday, October 12.

Show tickets can be bought via the Alhambra box office.