My most VALUABLE mission yet

Former Marine and SAS: Who Dares Wins star Jason Fox delves into the fascinating stories behind some of history's remarkable military artefacts for new television series Battle Treasures, starting tomorrow. JAMES RAMPTON gets a sneak preview of its most prized objects

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DURING his 20 years in the Marines and the Special Boat Service, Jason Fox had a military career that almost defies belief. Drugs lord Pablo Escobar’s personal hitman put a gun to his head; he was caught up in a helicopter crash; and he was pinned down in a ferocious gun battle, where his 30-man team were cornered by more than 200 enemy fighters — “one of the lads died straight away,” recalls the star of SAS: Who Dares Wins, today.

Jason, who held the rank of sergeant, was part of an SBS squad dealing with counter-terrorism, hostage rescues, counterinsurgency and counternarcotics. The elite soldier specialised in explosives and jungle survival. And in the course of his two decades in the Special Forces, he also handled an astonishing variety of powerful weapons.

All of which makes “Foxy”, as he is known to millions, the perfect person to present Sky History’s new series, Battle Treasures.

Launching tomorrow night, the six-parter tells the stories behind some of the rarest and most remarkable military artefacts ever discovered. The items come from one of the world’s largest private military collections owned by renowned military history expert Bruce Crompton, Jason’s co-presenter.

Ahead of the first episode, Jason invited me to see some of the treasures housed inside Bruce’s enormous barn at his farm in Suffolk. The collector is, according to the telly adventurer, “the Indiana Jones of army surplus... Someone who could probably kit out an entire division from his own garage”.

Jason’s role on Battle Treasures is to provide unrivalled insights into how to use the historical weapons and he’s on charismatic form as he talks me through some of the highlights: a lavatory from Adolf Hitler’s state apartment; one of only five “Dambuster” Bouncing Bombs still in existence; a First World War trench pump deployed at Ypres; a cannonball from the HMS Victory; the fuselage of a Douglas C-47 Dakota; and Winston Churchill’s bath.