Biography
Ade Adepitan MBE is a TV presenter, Paralympic medallist, journalist and father to two, Bolla and Zayla.
Born in Lagos Nigeria and raised in East London, Ade survived polio as a youngster after he began to lose the use of his legs at just 15 months old.
Ade’s work has taken him across the globe, including most recently to Kenya for BBC’s Our Changing Planet, charting our worlds most threatened ecosystems. He went undercover with C4’s Dispatches, reporting foreign affairs for Unreported World and fronted BBC Two Series, Climate Change: Ade on the Frontline. In a C4 documentary, Ade Adepitan: Journey of my Lifetime, Ade returned to his birthplace Lagos to investigate Nigeria’s polio endemic. Ade’s story sparked support on Twitter from Bill Gates who invited Ade to speak at the Global Vaccine Summit: We Changed History in 2020, the year in which Nigeria – the last country in Africa to do so – officially declared the country free from wild poliovirus. It was a milestone for Ade’s continued work alongside the Global Polio Eradication Initiative to end poliovirus globally.
He’s a well-respected co-host on Children in Need’s annual live appeal show and has hosted countless sporting events including his BAFTA award winning coverage of the 2012 Paralympics on C4, co-hosted with Clare Balding. In 2023 he was awarded the RTS Award for Best Sports Presenter for his work on the 2022 Winter Paralympics for C4- he was described by the judges as a “broadcaster of genuine insight and charisma.”
An exceptional public speaker and live host, Ade supports charities including Amnesty International, Unicef and NSPCC and delivers motivational speeches to schools, charities, and businesses around the world. His sporting achievements include a Bronze in The Athens Paralympics, Silver in the European Championships and Gold in The World Championships; he also received an MBE in 2005 and was awarded Honorary Doctorate from Loughborough University in 2006 and the University of East London in 2010.
Ade has released four children’s books based on stories from his childhood, as a Nigerian kid with a disability growing up in East London during the ‘80’s. His debut book series follows a superhero character called Cyborg Cat, and they call centre around the same messaging “We can all be superheroes, no matter who we are or where we’re from.” 100% of the proceeds from Ade’s second book were donated to Children in Need.
