Ranulph Fiennes
Sir Ranulph Fiennes | |
---|---|
Born | Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes 7 March 1944 Windsor, Berkshire, England |
Alma mater | Mons Officer Cadet School |
Occupation(s) | British Army Officer; explorer and travel writer |
Spouses | |
Children | 1 |
Relatives |
|
Awards | |
Military career | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1963–1983 |
Rank | Lieutenant |
Service number | 474357 |
Unit |
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Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet
Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years, including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the Army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North Pole and South Pole by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest.
According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world's greatest living explorer.[1] Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as books on explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.
Early life and education
Fiennes was born in
After the war his mother moved the family to South Africa, where he remained until he was 12. While in South Africa he attended Western Province Preparatory School in Newlands, Cape Town. Fiennes then returned to be educated at Sandroyd School, Wiltshire and then at Eton College.
Career
Officer
After failing to gain entry into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Fiennes attended Mons Officer Cadet School.[6] After completing several months' training, on 27 July 1963 he was granted a short service commission in his late father's former regiment, the Royal Scots Greys. He was later seconded to the Special Air Service where he specialised in demolitions.[7]
Offended by the construction of an ugly concrete dam built in
Fiennes spent the last two years of his army career seconded to the army of the
Expedition leader
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an expedition leader. He led expeditions up the
As part of the Transglobe Expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the
In 1992 Fiennes led an expedition that discovered what may be an outpost of the lost city of
In 2000 he attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. The expedition failed when his sleds fell through weak ice and Fiennes was forced to pull them out by hand. He sustained severe
Despite suffering from a
- 26 October – Race 1: Patagonia – South America
- 27 October – Race 2: Falkland Islands – "Antarctica"
- 28 October – Race 3: Sydney – Australia
- 29 October – Race 4: Singapore – Asia
- 30 October – Race 5: London – Europe
- 31 October – Race 6: Cairo – Africa
- 1 November – Race 7: New York City – North America
Originally Fiennes had planned to run the first marathon on King George Island, Antarctica. The second marathon would then have taken place in
Speaking after the event, Fiennes said the Singapore Marathon had been by far the most difficult because of high humidity and pollution. He also said his cardiac surgeon had approved the marathons, providing his heart-rate did not exceed 130 beats per minute. Fiennes later said that he forgot to pack his heart-rate monitor, and therefore did not know how fast his heart was beating.
In June 2005, Fiennes had to abandon an attempt to be the oldest Briton to climb
In 2008 Fiennes made his second attempt to climb Mount Everest, getting to within 400 metres (1,300 ft) of the summit before bad timing and bad weather stopped the expedition. On 20 May 2009 Fiennes reached the summit of Mount Everest, becoming the oldest British person to achieve this. Fiennes also became the first person ever to have climbed Everest and crossed both polar ice-caps.
In September 2012 it was announced that Fiennes was to lead the first attempt to cross Antarctica during the southern winter, in aid of the charity Seeing is Believing, an initiative to prevent avoidable blindness. The six-man team was dropped off by ship at Crown Bay in Queen Maud Land in January 2013, and waited until the Southern Hemisphere's autumnal equinox on 21 March 2013 before embarking across the ice shelf. The team would ascend 10,000 feet (3,000 m) onto the inland plateau, and head to the South Pole. The intention was for Fiennes and his skiing partner, Dr Mike Stroud,[20] to lead on foot and be followed by two bulldozers dragging industrial sledges.[21]
Fiennes had to pull out of the Coldest Journey expedition on 25 February 2013 because of frostbite and was evacuated from Antarctica.[22][23]
Author
Fiennes' career as an author has developed alongside his career as an explorer: he is the author of 24 fiction and non-fiction books,[24] including The Feather Men. In 2003, he published a biography of Captain Robert Falcon Scott which attempted to provide a robust defence of Scott's achievements and reputation, which had been strongly questioned by biographers such as Roland Huntford. Although others have made comparisons between Fiennes and Scott, Fiennes says he identifies more with Lawrence Oates, another member of Scott's doomed Antarctic team.
Political views
Fiennes stood for the
Media appearances
As a guest on the British motoring television programme
According to an interview on Top Gear, Fiennes was considered for the role of James Bond during the casting process, making it to the final six contenders, but was rejected by Cubby Broccoli for having "hands too big and a face like a farmer", and Roger Moore was eventually chosen.[28] Fiennes related this tale again during one of his appearances on Countdown, in which he referred also to a brief film career that included an appearance alongside Liz Fraser.[29]
Between 1 and 5 October 2012, and again from 13 to 19 November 2013, Fiennes featured on the Channel 4 game show Countdown as the celebrity guest in 'Dictionary Corner' and provided interludes based on his life stories and explorations.
Most recently Fiennes was an expert guest commentator on the PBS documentary Chasing Shackleton which aired in January 2014. Fiennes makes a number of corporate and after dinner speeches.[30]
In 2019, Fiennes appeared in a three part National Geographic documentary Egypt with the World's Greatest Explorer (also titled Fiennes Return to Egypt) with his cousin and actor Joseph Fiennes that re-traced his first expedition in Egypt back in the 1960s.[31]
Personal life
Fiennes married his childhood sweetheart, and fellow adventurer, Virginia ("Ginny") Pepper on 9 September 1970. They ran a country farm estate on Exmoor, Somerset, where they raised cattle and sheep. Ginny built up a herd of Aberdeen Angus cattle while Fiennes was away on his expeditions. She was the first woman to receive the Polar Medal in recognition of her research work into VLF radio propagation. She also conceived, organised and participated in the Transglobe Expedition. The two remained married until her death from stomach cancer in February 2004.[32]
Fiennes embarked on a lecture tour, where in
On 6 March 2010, Fiennes was involved in a three-car collision in Stockport which resulted in minor injuries to himself and serious injuries to the driver of another car. He had been in Stockport to participate in the annual High Peak Marathon in Derbyshire as part of a veterans' team known as Poles Apart that, despite the freezing conditions, managed to win the veterans' trophy in just over 12 hours.[34]
In 2003, shortly after boarding a flight to Scotland from Bristol Airport, Fiennes suffered a heart attack and later underwent emergency bypass surgery.[35]
Fiennes is a member of the Worshipful Company of Vintners and the Highland Society of London and holds honorary membership of the Travellers Club.[36]
Awards and recognition
In 1970, while serving with the
He was the subject of This Is Your Life in 1982 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews.[38]
Fiennes was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1993 for "human endeavour and for charitable services":[39] in 2015 it was reported his expeditions have raised £16 million for good causes.[40]
In 1986, Fiennes was awarded the Polar Medal for "outstanding service to British Polar exploration and research."[41] In 1994 he was awarded a second clasp to the Polar Medal,[42] having visited both poles. He remains the only person to have received a double clasp for both the Arctic and Antarctica.
In the 2007
In May 2007, Fiennes received ITV's Greatest Britons Award for Sport beating fellow nominees Lewis Hamilton and Joe Calzaghe. In October 2007 Fiennes ranked 94th (tied with five others) in a list of the "Top 100 living geniuses" published by The Daily Telegraph.[44]
In late 2008/early 2009, Fiennes took part in a new BBC programme called Top Dogs: Adventures in War, Sea and Ice, in which he teamed with fellow Britons John Simpson, the BBC News world affairs editor, and Sir Robin Knox-Johnston, the round-the-world yachtsman. The team undertook three trips, with each team member experiencing the other's adventure field. The first episode, aired on 27 March 2009, saw Fiennes, Simpson and Knox-Johnston go on a news-gathering trip to Afghanistan. The team reported from the Khyber Pass and the Tora Bora mountain complex. In the other two episodes they undertook a voyage around Cape Horn and an expedition hauling sledges across the deep-frozen Frobisher Bay in the far north of Canada.[45]
In 2010, Fiennes was named as the UK's top celebrity fundraiser by
In September 2011, Fiennes was awarded an honorary
In December 2012, Fiennes was named one of the Men of the Year for 2012 by Top Gear magazine.[48]
In October 2014 it was announced that Fiennes would receive an honorary Doctorate of Science, from the University of Chester, in recognition of "outstanding and inspirational contribution to the field of exploration".[49]
On 14 July 2022, the documentary film Explorer was released, which focused on Fiennes and his exploits and includes both contemporary and archive footage.[50]
Ribbon | Description | Notes |
Baronet (Bt) | 1944 | |
Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) |
1993 | |
Polar Medal & Two Clasps | First clasp: 1986 Second clasp: 1994 |
Works
- A Talent for Trouble (1970). ISBN 978-0340128459.
- Ice Fall in Norway (1972). ISBN 978-0749319083.
- The Headless Valley (1973). ISBN 978-0340158722.
- Where Soldiers fear to tread (1976). ISBN 978-0340147542.
- Hell on Ice (1979). ISBN 978-0340222157.
- To the Ends of the Earth: The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to-pole Circumnavigation of the Globe (1983). ISBN 978-0877954903.
- Bothie the Polar Dog (1984). ISBN 0-340-36319-3(co-authored with Virginia Fiennes).
- Living Dangerously (1988), Time Warner Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-7515-0434-7.
- The Feather Men (1991), the book upon which the 2011 film Killer Elite is based.
- ISBN 0-7475-1327-9.
- Mind over Matter: The Epic Crossing of the Antarctic Continent (1994), Delacorte Press. ISBN 978-0385312165.
- The Sett (1997), Mandarin. ISBN 978-0749321611.
- Discovery Road (1998), TravellersEye Ltd. ISBN 978-0-9530575-3-5(with T. Garratt and A. Brown).
- Fit for Life (1999), Little, Brown & Co. ISBN 0-316-85263-5.
- Home of the Blizzard: A True Story of Antarctic Survival, Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84158-077-7 (by Sir Douglas Mawson, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Just for the Love of it: The First Woman to Climb Mount Everest from Both Sides (2000), Free to Decide Publishing. ISBN 978-0-620-24782-5(by Cathy O'Dowd, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Across the Frozen Himalaya: The Epic Winter Ski Traverse from Karakoram to Lipu Lekh (2000), Indus Publishing Company. ISBN 978-81-7387-106-1(by Harish Kohli, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- The Antarctic Dictionary: A Complete Guide to Antarctic English (2000), Museum Victoria Publishing, ISBN 978-0-9577471-1-1(by Bernadette Hince, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Beyond the Limits (2000), Little, Brown & Co, ISBN 978-0-316-85706-2.
- The Secret Hunters (2002), Time Warner Paperbacks. ISBN 978-0-7515-3193-0.
- Captain Scott (2003), Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-82697-3.
- Race to the Pole: Tragedy, Heroism, and Scott's Antarctic Quest (2005), Hyperion; reprint edition. ISBN 978-0786888580.
- Above the World: Stunning Satellite Images From Above Earth (2005), Cassell Illustrated, a division of the Octopus Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-84403-181-8(foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Moods of Future Joys (2007), Adlibbed Ltd. ISBN 978-1-897312-38-4(by Alastair Humphreys, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Extreme Running (2007), Pavilion Books. ISBN 978-1-86205-756-2(by Dave Horsley and Kym McConnell, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Travels with My Heart: The Essential Guide for Travellers with Heart Conditions (2007), Matador. ISBN 978-1-905886-88-3(by Robin Liston, foreword by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Face to Face: Polar Portraits (2008), The Scott Polar Research Institute with Polarworld, ISBN 978-0-901021-07-6(with Huw Lewis-Jones, Hugh Brody and Martin Hartley (photographer)).
- 8 More Tales from the Travellers: A Further Collection of Tales by Members of the Travellers Club, M. Tomkinson Publishing. ISBN 978-0-905500-74-4(with Sir Chris Bonington, Sandy Gall and others).
- Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know (2008), Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-95169-9.
- Mad Dogs and Englishmen: An Expedition Round My Family (2010), Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-0-340-92504-1.
- Running Beyond Limits: The Adventures of an Ultra Marathon Runner (2011), Mountain Media. ISBN 978-0-9562957-2-9(by Andrew Murray, introduction by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Killer Elite (2011), Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4447-0792-2 (previously published as The Feather Men).
- My Heroes: Extraordinary Courage, Exceptional People (2011), Hodder & Stoughton Ltd. ISBN 978-1-4447-2242-0.
- The Last Expedition (2012), Vintage Classics. ISBN 978-0-09-956138-5 (by Captain Robert Falcon Scott, new edition introduction by Ranulph Fiennes).
- Cold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth (2013), Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-47112-782-3.
- Heat: Extreme Adventures at the Highest Temperatures on Earth (2015). ISBN 1471137953.
- Agincourt: The Fight for France (2015), Pegasus. ISBN 978-1-60598-915-0.
- Fear: Our Ultimate Challenge (2016), Hodder & Stoughton. ISBN 978-1-473-61798-8.
- Colder: The Illustrated Story of Britain's Greatest Polar Explorer (2016). ISBN 9781471153556.
- The Elite: The Story of Special Forces – From Ancient Sparta to the War on Terror (2019). ISBN 9781471156618.
- Shackleton: A Biography (2021), Michael Joseph. ISBN 9780241356715.[51]
- Lawrence of Arabia (2023). ISBN 9780241450611.[52]
- Around the World in 80 Years: A Life of Exploration (2024). ISBN 9781399729758.
See also
Notes
- Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, but is known by the surname Fiennes.
References
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External links
- Ranulph Fiennes at IMDb
- In his own words (interview with WideWorld magazine, pt1)
- In his own words (interview with WideWorld magazine, pt2)
- Interview with TIME Magazine
- Sir Ranulph Fiennes Agent – Guest Speaking Biography, Profile and Video
- Foreword by Sir Ranulph Fiennes of the book Fragile Earth
- Foreword to 'Beyond the Setting Sun- 6000 miles on foot for hospice' by Colin Skinner
- Sir Ranulph Fiennes Guest Speaking Details (Videos, Topics and Achievements) for Events and Conferences )
- Ranulph Fiennes's Profile London Speaker Bureau
- The National Portrait Gallery collection includes several bromide prints by Bassanofrom the years 1964 and 1966.
- Meeting the "Coldest Journey" Team at Crown Bay
- Patron of Educational Wealth Fund (2018)