A former Royal Marines officer who worked for Nelson Mandela on the peace process in South Africa, he left the services in 1996 to pursue a career in leading expeditions. Having achieved a First Class Honors degree in marine biology, over the next decade he circumnavigated the globe four times on various projects, leading multi-national teams in some of the most demanding environments on earth. Notable expeditions included an anti poaching project in the high montane grasslands of the Nyika Plateau in northern Malawi, the discovery of a sunken city off the coast of Tamil Nadu in India, and an (successful) attempt to find and photograph a rare crocodile species in the mountain pools of the Raspaculo Basin in Central America. In 2002 he was awarded the Bish Medal by the Scientific Exploration Society for his services to exploration.
His television career began when he won Channel Four’s Superhuman competition in 2004. Since then he has presented series and documentaries for the BBC, Channel Five, The Discover Channel, The National Geographic Channel and the History Channel.
The three Great Escape Series for BBC2 saw Monty and his much loved four legged companion Reuben live on the west coast of Scotland (2008), the Outer Hebrides (2009) and the west coast of Ireland (2010). After Ireland, Monty went out to Australia to film the award winning “Great Barrier Reef” for the BBC’s Natural History Unit. Monty spent most of 2011 living and working as a fisherman in Cornwall, filming the highly acclaimed “Fisherman’s Apprentice with Monty Halls” for BBC2 which tells the story of the threats facing the livelihood of the small fleet fishing industry in the UK.
2013 saw Channel 5’s series “Monty Halls Diving Adventures” following Monty and a team of deep dive experts on four international expeditions looking to answer some of the great riddles that remain unanswered in underwater exploration.
In 2014 Monty has been filming a new series for Discovery, which will go out next year as well as running the Great British Diving Expedition around the UK. Monty has been leading small teams of divers to remote areas of the UK to sites rarely, if
ever dived before. These expeditions have been filmed (not for broadcast) and the last one for this year is to dive the Monach Islands in the Outer Hebrides. This will be to witness the greatest aggregation of grey seals in Europe. 20,000 grey seals - a tenth of the world’s population - come ashore to mate, to fight, and to feed. It is a scene like no other in the Europe, as massed ranks of seals of all ages establish territories on the beaches, and the dunes.
Monty is patron to The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society, Help for Heroes, Rugby for Heroes, Shark & Coral Conservation, The Shark Trust, Coral Cay Conservation, Go Commando, Dumfrieshire and Cumbrian Greyhound Rescue, and is an Honorary Ambassador to the Galapagos Conservation Trust.
He continues to run expeditions and diving trips when he has the time between speaking engagements and filming projects. He has written six books, mainly on diving and the marine environment as well as "Beachcomber Cottage" for the first “Great Escape” series and “Great Irish Escape” for the third series. His latest book "The Fisherman’s Apprentice" documents his time in Cornwall with some wonderful photography (to accompany the BBC series of the same title). Monty writes a monthly column for Outdoor Fitness Magazine and Diver and from next month Powerboat and Rib as well as monthly blogs for Simply Scuba and Simply Hike.
His hobbies include playing the guitar and playing rugby - both to a mind bogglingly low standard. In the latter he has two shot knees, no pace, and doesn't like tackling and yet remains resolutely optimistic concerning his call up to the national squad.
Monty lives with his partner Tamsyn, daughters Isla & Molly, Reuben, ducks and chickens in Dartmouth
Monty continues to explore ‘Lost Worlds’ into 2015 by
- diving for a lost spitfire off Newfoundland
- running a diving project in Komodo, Indonesia
- leading a team along the coast of Natal, South Africa following the magnificent iconic event in the marine global calendar that is The Sardine Run. Vast shoals of sardines mass along this stretch of coast creating a frenzy of feeding activity attracting whales, dolphins and sharks in their thousands.
