Ade Adepitan
Television presenter, Paralympian, and Journalist
Ade is a Television Presenter, Journalist, Children’s Author and Wheelchair Basketball Paralympian.
At fifteen months old Ade contracted Polio, which left him with limited movement in his legs. Taught to walk with iron callipers, when he was 12 years old two physiotherapists intervened when they spotted Ade being pushed in a shopping trolley by his friends. They introduced Ade to wheelchair basketball, where he fell in love with the sport. Ade documents his story in his children’s books, Cyborg Cat- Rise of the Parsons Road Gang and Cyborg Cat and the Night Spider. All proceeds go to Children in Need.
Ade’s wheelchair basketball team took Bronze at the Athens 2004 Paralympics and Gold at the 2005 World Cup. He’s hosted countless sporting events including the BAFTA award-winning coverage of the 2012, The 2014 Sochi Winter Games, The IPC Athletics, The Channel 4 Anniversary Games, The 2016 Invictus Games and the 2016 Rio Paralympics. Ade co-hosted The Superhumans Show with Alex Brooker.
Ade’s presenting career ranges from CBBC’s Xchange to Channel 4’s Unreported World and the BBC’s Travel Show. Earlier this year he released the four-part BBC documentary Africa with Ade Adepitan. He’s a patron of the charity Go Kids Go, a supporter of the NSPCC and WheelPower Charity, and an Athlete Ambassador for Right to Play.
For Comic Relief Ade’s travelled to Ghana and taken part in the Disabled Motoring UK Alps Challenge. He trekked through Nicaraguan rainforests, deserts, rivers and over mountains for ground-breaking documentary Beyond Boundaries, showcasing people with disabilities taking on major challenges.
Ade’s done various work with Rotary International and the Gates Foundation, supporting the End Polio campaign. He took part in a basketball match with MPs and GB wheelchair basketball at Trafalgar Square to help raise awareness and money to end polio.
For the last three years he has co-presented Children in Need, helping raise more than £50 million for charity.
The most important thing I’ve learnt in life is to never lose your sense of wonderment, empathy, or adventure. Dream big and fight as hard as you can to make those dreams come true.