Sir Ranulph Fiennes Bt OBE
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wickham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE is a British explorer and holder of several endurance records. He was the first man to visit both the North and South Poles.
Fiennes was born in England shortly after his father, Lieutenant Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykham-Fiennes, 2nd Baronet, was killed in action in World War II. He lived in South Africa until he was 12, returning to be schooled at Eton, after which he joined the British Army.
Fiennes was born in England shortly after his father, Lieutenant Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykham-Fiennes, 2nd Baronet, was killed in action in World War II. He lived in South Africa until he was 12, returning to be schooled at Eton, after which he joined the British Army.
First man
to visit
both North
and South
poles
Sir Ranulph is the third cousin of Hollywood film actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes, and is a distant cousin of Britain's royal family. He was on the shortlist to replace Sean Connery in the role of James Bond (despite having little acting experience) but was rejected on meeting Bond producer Cubby Broccoli, who said he had "a face like a farmer's".
Fiennes served eight years in the British army, first with his father's regiment the Royal Scots Greys and later on secondment to the Special Air Service, where he specialised in demolitions. Offended by the construction of a concrete dam built for a film production of Doctor Dolittle at Castle Coombe, Wiltshire, Fiennes demolished the dam and was discharged from the SAS.
Following his service in the British Army, Ran Fiennes served in the private army of the Sultan of Oman.
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an explorer. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbre Glacier in 1970. Perhaps his most famous trek was the Transglobe Expedition that he undertook from 1979 until 1982. Fiennes and Charles Burton journeyed around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covering 52,000 miles and becoming the first people to have visited both poles.
In 1992 Fiennes lead an expedition that discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman. The following year he joined with nutrition specialist Mike Stroud to become the first to cross Antarctica unaided. Their journey of 97 days is the longest in south Polar history.
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 frostbite to the tips of several fingers, and impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes removed them himself (in his garden shed) with an electric saw.
Despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double heart by-pass operation just four months previously, Fiennes joined up with Stroud again in 2003 to carry out the extraordinary feat of completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
In 2007 he was winner of the award for Britain’s Greatest Living Sportsman and in May 2009, after two near misses he successfully climbed Mount Everest.
The author of seventeen books in fiction and non-fiction, Sir Ranulph Fiennes was appointed OBE in 1993 "for Human Endeavour and for charitable services"- his expeditions have raised almost £14 million for good causes. In 1995 he was awarded the Polar Medal, and he is the only person ever to receive a bar to this award, having visited both poles.
Fiennes served eight years in the British army, first with his father's regiment the Royal Scots Greys and later on secondment to the Special Air Service, where he specialised in demolitions. Offended by the construction of a concrete dam built for a film production of Doctor Dolittle at Castle Coombe, Wiltshire, Fiennes demolished the dam and was discharged from the SAS.
Following his service in the British Army, Ran Fiennes served in the private army of the Sultan of Oman.
Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an explorer. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbre Glacier in 1970. Perhaps his most famous trek was the Transglobe Expedition that he undertook from 1979 until 1982. Fiennes and Charles Burton journeyed around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covering 52,000 miles and becoming the first people to have visited both poles.
In 1992 Fiennes lead an expedition that discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman. The following year he joined with nutrition specialist Mike Stroud to become the first to cross Antarctica unaided. Their journey of 97 days is the longest in south Polar history.
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 frostbite to the tips of several fingers, and impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes removed them himself (in his garden shed) with an electric saw.
Despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double heart by-pass operation just four months previously, Fiennes joined up with Stroud again in 2003 to carry out the extraordinary feat of completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents.
In 2007 he was winner of the award for Britain’s Greatest Living Sportsman and in May 2009, after two near misses he successfully climbed Mount Everest.
The author of seventeen books in fiction and non-fiction, Sir Ranulph Fiennes was appointed OBE in 1993 "for Human Endeavour and for charitable services"- his expeditions have raised almost £14 million for good causes. In 1995 he was awarded the Polar Medal, and he is the only person ever to receive a bar to this award, having visited both poles.
