Into the Unknown: David Beckham’s motorcycle diary

Too old to play in the World Cup, Becks sets off for the jungle. But is he really tired of fame?

David Beckham in the Amazon
(Image credit: BBC Youtube channel)

Few men could be better placed to reflect on the nature of modern celebrity than David Beckham. Yet fewer still could spend so long on camera while providing so little in the way of insight.

'Into the Unknown' is built on an odd, paradoxical premise. Frustrated by the impositions of fame, Beckham and two old friends set out by motorbike to visit the Yanomami people, deep in the Amazonian jungle. They have no television and little contact with the outside world, and Beckham is confident that they will neither know nor care who he is.

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Holden Frith is The Week’s digital director. He also makes regular appearances on “The Week Unwrapped”, speaking about subjects as diverse as vaccine development and bionic bomb-sniffing locusts. He joined The Week in 2013, spending five years editing the magazine’s website. Before that, he was deputy digital editor at The Sunday Times. He has also been TheTimes.co.uk’s technology editor and the launch editor of Wired magazine’s UK website. Holden has worked in journalism for nearly two decades, having started his professional career while completing an English literature degree at Cambridge University. He followed that with a master’s degree in journalism from Northwestern University in Chicago. A keen photographer, he also writes travel features whenever he gets the chance.