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Ranulph Fiennes Biography & Facts

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes () and sometimes as Ran Fiennes, is a British explorer, writer and poet, who holds several endurance records. 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 reached the summit of Mount Everest. According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world's greatest living explorer. 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 Windsor, Berkshire on 7 March 1944, nearly four months after the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. Whilst commanding the Royal Scots Greys in Italy Fiennes' father trod on a German anti-personnel S-mine and died of his wounds eleven days later in Naples on 24 November 1943. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Fiennes' mother was Audrey Joan (died 2004), younger daughter of Sir Percy Newson, Bt. Fiennes inherited his father's baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes baronet, at his birth. 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. 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. Offended by the construction of an ugly concrete dam built in Wiltshire by 20th Century Fox for the production of the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, Fiennes attempted to destroy the dam but the police foiled the plan. Fiennes had to pay a large fine and he and a co-conspirator were dismissed from the SAS. He was initially posted to another cavalry regiment but was eventually permitted to return to the Royal Scots Greys. Fiennes spent the last two years of his army career seconded to the army of the Sultan of Oman. At the time, Oman was experiencing a growing communist insurgency supported from neighbouring South Yemen. After familiarisation, he commanded the Reconnaissance Platoon of the Muscat Regiment, seeing extensive active service in the Dhofar Rebellion. He led several raids deep into rebel-held territory on the Djebel Dhofar and was decorated for bravery by the Sultanate. After eight years' service Fiennes relinquished his commission on 27 July 1971. Expedition leader Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an expedition leader. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970. A notable trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook between 1979 and 1982, when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis, using surface transport only. Nobody else has ever done so by any route before or since. As part of the Transglobe Expedition, Fiennes and Burton completed the Northwest Passage. They left Tuktoyaktuk on 26 July 1981 in an 18 ft open Boston Whaler and reached Tanquary Fiord on 31 August 1981. Their journey was the first open boat transit from West to East and covered around 3,000 miles (2,600 nautical miles or 4,800 km), taking a route through Dolphin and Union Strait following the south coast of Victoria Island and King William Island, north to Resolute Bay via the Franklin Strait and Peel Sound, around the south and east coasts of Devon Island, through Hell Gate and across Norwegian Bay to Eureka, Greely Bay and the head of Tanquary Fiord. Once they reached Tanquary Fiord, they had to trek a further 150 miles via Lake Hazen to Alert before setting up their winter base camp. In 1992 Fiennes led an expedition that discovered what may be an outpost of the lost city of Iram in Oman. The following year he joined nutrition specialist Mike Stroud to become the first to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported; they took 93 days. A further attempt in 1996 to walk to the South Pole solo, in aid of the Breast Cancer Campaign, was unsuccessful due to a kidney stone attack and he had to be rescued from the operation by his crew. 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 all the fingers on his left hand, forcing him to abandon the attempt. On returning home, his surgeon insisted the necrotic fingertips be retained for several months before amputation, to allow regrowth of the remaining healthy tissue. Impatient at the pain the dying fingertips caused, Fiennes cut them off himself with an electric fretsaw, just above where the blood and the soreness was. Despite suffering from a heart attack and undergoing a double coronary artery bypass operation just four months before, Fiennes joined Stroud again in 2003 to complete seven marathons in seven days on seven continents in the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge for the British Heart Foundation. "In retrospect I wouldn't have done it. I would not do it again. It was Mike Stroud's idea". Their series of marathons was as follows: 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 Santiago, Chile. However, bad weather and aeroplane engine trouble caused him to change his plans, running the South American segment in southern Patagonia first and then hopping to the Falklands as a substitute for the Antarctic leg. 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 .... Discover the Ranulph Fiennes popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Ranulph Fiennes books.