Education
In 1988, he went to Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in English Literature.
Actor journalist teacher translator
In 1988, he went to Gonville & Caius College at the University of Cambridge, where he studied for a degree in English Literature.
Born in Tunbridge Wells to Peter and Sally (née Cooper) Appleton, the younger of two sons, Alistair was raised in Hampshire. He earned ten O-levels and three A-levels at Street John"s College, Portsmouth. On graduating with a 2.1, Appleton left the United Kingdom for Poland, where he took to writing poetry and helped to edit a children"s anthology, as well as teaching at the University of Gdansk.
He later taught English in eastern Germany and worked as a translator and journalist for Deutsche Welle television Appleton broke into television with Deutsche Welle, and eventually became the frontman of the channel"s youth current-affairs show, Heat.
He has also hosted several television specials, including The Proms. Appleton also did some acting, including a role in Football players" Wives, during 2002.
In 2005 he completed, The Manitoba Who Drank the Universe, a short documentary on the entheogen ayahuasca. Since 2007 he has been the presenter on Escape to the Country for British Broadcasting Corporation Two.
He is also the regular host of the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment"s late night concert series The Night Shift at London"s South Bank.
Since 2004 Appleton has run an organisation promoting therapeutic mindfulness. In 2008 Appleton began studying for an Master of Arts in psychotherapy alongside his television commitments, His studies complement his long-standing commitment to mindfulness meditation which he teaches across the world. In January 2016 he appeared on British Broadcasting Corporation One"s Celebrity Mastermind, where he came joint second with 21 points.
Appleton is openly gay, and came out at university.
In an article in Gay Times, however, he admits he only fully accepted his sexuality when he lived in Poland and Germany. He is also founding chairman of the Shoreditch Morris Dancing Society.
Appleton speaks four languages: English, French, German and Brazilian Portuguese as well as a little Polish.
