Jeremy ‘Jel’ Bearder with Sophie Ellis-Bextor

FROM sofa-surfing to rubbing shoulders with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, a former army man says he “owes everything” to the Royal British Legion, and is now embarking on a 300-mile cycle to give back.

Jeremy “Jel” Bearder, from Finsbury Park, hopes to raise more than £5,000 for the charity that turned his life around as he bikes from London to Paris next month. Mr Bearder joined the army when he was just 16, serving in Germany, Cyprus and Canada.

“It was an amazing time, a treasured time,” he said. “We were working in Germany when the Berlin wall came down and I remember driving along the autobahn and seeing all these small eastern European vehicles, full up with stuff on the roofs.”

After he left the Royal Horse Artillery in 1991, Mr Bearder got married and became a carer for his wife. But 18 years later, a breakdown in his marriage left him homeless.

Mr Bearder in the army aged 17

He told the Tribune: “I wanted to go on this training course to be a fitness instructor but I couldn’t afford it. Burt from Civvy Street, a branch of the RBL, made an appointment with me and came round to see me. He asked what I needed, funding, expenses, accommodation. He said, ‘Don’t worry I’ve got you, you will get your course paid for.’ I wouldn’t have the life I have today without it.”

Five-hundred pounds in funding from the RBL later, Mr Bearder got a job as a coach for British Military Fitness where he led sessions in Finsbury Park, Clissold Park, and Alexandra Palace.

He now owns his own company, London Outdoor Fitness, and says his coaching style has shifted.

“I’ve gone away from the shouty, shouty bootcamp style,” he said. “I’m not the sergeant major, shouty scary.”

Mr Bearder’s military experience has even opened up avenues to more glamorous forms of work, as he has taken up the role of a military adviser to hit shows and blockbuster films including The Crown, Day of the Jackal, The Monuments Men and Idris Elba’s new Netflix venture Hijack.

Mr Bearder with Tess Daly

He said: “The director and the cast say what they want and you say ‘it’s not really done like that’, and you make it work for camera without it being too far from the truth. I was the military adviser for Churchill’s funeral on The Crown. I was the person giving the instructions, telling them how to move, calling out the commands. I was told it was better than the actual funeral!”

The former Army recruit counts George Clooney, Matt Damon, John Goodman, Bill Murray, and Brad Pitt among stars he has worked alongside.

He added: “From the RBL giving me 500 quid, I’ve ended up schmoozing with some of Hollywood’s biggest stars, amazing people.”

In the past decade, Mr Bearder has also led trekking and white-water rafting trips from Nepal to India, trained Tess Daly, and laid poppies at Westminster Abbey.

He said he would offer a free week of training to anyone now supporting his September cycle trip.

He added: “Since 2008, my life has become something different. From being a carer and in a fishbowl looking at the world go by, I have travelled the world, seen more countries in that time than in the 38 years before. That’s all thanks to the RBL.”

If you’d like to donate visit: https://royalbritishlegion.enthuse.com/pf/jeremy-bearder