Sir Ranulph Fiennes was, with Charles Burton, the first man to reach both poles by surface travel and, with Mike Stroud, the first to cross the Antarctic Continent unsupported. In the 1960s he was removed from the SAS Regiment for misuse of explosives but, joining the army of the Sultan of Oman, received that country’s Bravery Medal on active service in 1971. He is the only person yet to have been awarded two clasps to the Polar medal for both Antarctic and the Arctic regions. Fiennes has led over 30 expeditions including the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth, and in 2003 he ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in aid of the British Heart Foundation,3½ months after a massive heart attack.

In 1993 Her Majesty the Queen awarded Fiennes the Order of the British Empire (OBE) because, on the way to breaking records, he has raised over £16 million for charity. He was named Best Sportsman in the 2007 ITV Great Briton Awards and in 2009 he became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Everest, raising a total of £6.3m for Marie Curie Cancer Care. The Coldest Journey in 2014 raised $2million for Seeing is Believing.

He has written 22 books, the latest Cold came out in 2013 and his latest book Agincourt was published in September 2014.

Awards

French Parachute Wings 1968,
Dhofar Campaign Medal 1968,
Sultan of Oman’s Bravery Medal 1970, Man of the Year 1982,
Livingstone Gold Medal Royal Scottish Geographical Soc 1983,
Gold Medal NY Explorers Club 1984, Fndr’s Medal RGS 1984,
The Polar Medal 1984 with Bar 1995 by HM the Queen (first wife was first female recipient),
ITV Award for event of the decade 1990,
Explorers Club (Br Chapter) Millennium Award for Navigation 2000,
Oldie of the year 2004; Hon DSc Loughborough Univ 1986,
Univ of Plymouth 2011; Hon Dr: Univ of Central England (Birmingham) 1995,
Univ of Portsmouth 2000,
Univ of Glasgow 2002,
Univ of Sheffield 2005,
Abertay University (Dundee) 2007,
Plymouth 2011,
University of Glamorgan 2012,
University of Chester,
Director of Science (Hon) 2014

Books

Nineteen books including the UK bestseller (Times and Telegraph) in 1991The Feather Men, and in 2003 the top selling biography (Times) of Captain Scott. His latest book My Heroes was published in 2011. Also in 2011

The Feather Men was released as a major motion picture Killer Elite(www.killerelite.com). COLD was published in 2013 and his latest bookAgincourt came out in September 2014.

Picture Credit; John Cleare