He’s an extremely well-travelled man who has experienced every climate and terrain on earth from the African rainforest to the tip of the planet.

But all roads are now leading to Woking for James May – albeit solo as he brings his Explorers: The Age of Discovery tour to New Victoria Theatre next Tuesday, September 30.

The charismatic Top Gear and Grand Tour star will take the audience on a journey through the remarkable history of world exploration from the ice age to space exploration in an interactive show. It’s also the first time he’s taken to the stage alone so he’s both nervous and excited about standing solo before a live crowd.

“I think they’ve tried to spread the venues out across the country and without choosing anywhere too big, because obviously I’m not that popular,” pondered May on why his nationwide tour is beginning in Woking.

“I suppose Woking is correctly positioned and famous, of course, for its good-humoured populus.”

The show has been around a year in the making with James citing the end of the Grand Tour and his own era of exploration for the move.

James said: “The Grand Tour and Top Gear before it took us all over world and I did things like cross the spine of Africa and visit the North Pole.

“But we weren’t really explorers, as these things were already known and understood.

“In the last few years I’ve started to read about the people who did this for the first time. There was a time when someone walked over a hill and saw Lake Victoria and nobody from Europe knew it was there.

“I started thinking about that and the mentality, which is what this show is about really, and what drove them.

“It’s sort of inexplicable because it was all extremely hazardous and they had to be very tough, very resourceful and very brave because it was dangerous.

“Disease, starvation, getting stabbed to death if you were Captain Cook, just disappearing without trace, scurvy – it was dodgy business.”

May believes exploration is an imperative and insists there will be moment when someone has a potter around Mars. Going further is a different kettle of fish – “I don’t see how we can do the Star Trek thing,” he says, with the pub owner devoting a good chunk of the show to space.

One explorer he speaks lovingly about is Captain Cook, because he was a “bit of a nerd” and seemed personable, although sadly there’s no link between the seafarer and his Top Gear monicker.

He said: “I’m a fan of Captain Cook because he was full of self doubt, and you can see that in his diary entries.

“I like extreme nerdiness and I think Captain Cook had it.

“As for Captain Slow, I think the script editor of Top Gear came up with that originally and I don’t know why I’m a captain. It’s not a bad rank to be, mind.”

For tickets and more details visit https://shorturl.at/3hYfi