To date, Simon has hosted and produced close to 10 travel series which include Tropic of Capricon, which brought him to the southern tropics and the award-winning series, Places That Don’t Exist which focused on unrecognised countries and garnered to rave reviews. A best-selling author, he has published three books, which include The New Jackals (often referenced as the very first tome on Osama bin Laden) and One Day in September (Outlining the Munich massacre during the 1972 Summer Olympics and its aftermath). The latter was even made into a documentary film and directed by Scottish director, Kevin Macdonald. The show went on to win an Academy Award for Documentary Feature in 2000.
You interviewed Osama bin Laden’s former best friend for House of Saudi: The Family in Crisis. But we cannot seem to identify him. Tell us more?
His name was Jamal Khalifa and besides being known as an owner of a fish restaurant, he was also a former best friend of Osama bin Laden. Jamal was involved against the fight against the Russians back then but turned his back on violent jihad after a few years. It seems that he and Osama were related by marriage though I cannot remember who married whose sister. However, he was killed by bandits when he was trying to set up a sapphire or emerald mine in
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