If you want your audience to be both entertained and inspired, Ranulph Fiennes is your man. He tells with humour how, from inauspicious beginnings and false starts, he reached the pinnacle of his chosen profession. He won through against international rivals through hard work, enormous commitment, lateral thought and teamwork to achieve goals considered impossible. Aside from being a world-class speaker, he is excellent at Q&A.Described by the Guinness Book of Records as the “World’s greatest living explorer”, he has led 22 major expeditions to remote regions all over the world, including both Poles. He was the first explorer completely to cross the Antarctic continent unsupported. In 2009, aged 65, he climbed to the summit of Mt Everest, the oldest Briton to do so.
To date, he has raised over £14.2 million for UK charities through his expeditions. In 1993 he was awarded the OBE by Her Majesty The Queen for “Human endeavour and charitable services.”
In December 2012, Ran started on his longest and toughest expedition aiming to raise over $10 million for the charity Seeing Is Believing www.thecoldestjourney.com Forced by frostbite to withdraw, for the safety of his colleagues, he remains in very close contact with his team.
His expeditions include the first polar circumnavigation of Earth, the discovery of the lost Arabian city of Ubar, the first hovercraft ascent of the longest river in the world, the first crossing of Antarctica and the Arctic Ocean, the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic Continent and the Land Rover 7x7x7 Challenge (7 complete marathons in 7 continents in 7 days).
Sir Ranulph was educated in South Africa and at Eton. He served with the Royal Scots Greys, the SAS and the Sultan of Oman’s Army. From 1984-1992, he was the Personal Representative (Europe) of Doctor Armand Hammer, Chairman of Occidental Oil. His many awards include The Sultan’s Bravery Medal, the Royal Geographical Society’s Founder’s Medal, the Gold Medal of the New York Explorer’s Club, the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society and Honorary University Doctorates.
In 1987 the Queen awarded Sir Ranulph and his wife Ginny the Polar Medal. Ginny was the first woman ever to receive this award. Sir Ranulph is the only person ever awarded a double Clasp for both Polar regions. In June 2005, Sir Ranulph failed to reach the summit of Mt Everest but – typically – says this taught him many lessons to use in the future. In 2009, he succeeded, becoming the oldest Briton to do this. In May 2007 he won the “Greatest Britons” 2007 Sport Award.
Ranulph Fiennes has published more than 12 books including The Feather Men (UK and Commonwealth Number 1 bestseller), Mind Over Matter (another UK Best Seller), Living Dangerously and Captain Scott (2003), which received critical acclaim from polar experts and was named the best-selling biography of that year by The Sunday Times. His latest book is COLD: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth (2013)
Clients including BT, JP Morgan, Amway, IBM and British Airways have booked him as their after dinner speaker for top-level managers and to speak at their companies’ conferences.