The man the Guinness Book of Records dubbed the “world’s greatest living explorer” was in Morayyesterday to share some of his incredible experiences with school pupils.
And for someone so well-versed in the art of isolation, Sir Ranulph Fiennes’s showed an effortless ability to captivate and inspire a youthful audience.
The adventurer told a packed auditorium of teenagers from Gordonstoun, Speyside High, Milne’s High, Forres Academy, Keith Grammar and Lossiemouth High about his trials and triumphs over the last 40 years.
He is the only man alive to have trekked around the earth’s circumpolar surface and, at the age of 65, became the oldest Briton to scale Everest.
He also hacked off his own frostbitten fingers with a power tool, ran seven marathons on seven consecutive days in seven continents following a heart operation and discovered the lost city of Ubar.
Yet, despite all his success and the 22 major expeditions he has led to some of the world’s most remote locations – including both poles – Sir Ranulph said his most rewarding achievement was “being happily married for 38 years” to his late wife Ginny.
He said: “She was brilliant. I was very lucky, and she was the biggest thing.
“Our expeditions used to start around the breakfast table. Ginny would come up with a plan for a new expedition. I would head to the library to do research. I would come back and tell her it was a stupid idea.
“Then she would get rather unhappy, and I would go back to the library.”
The Windsor-born explorer also spoke about the importance of motivation in life.
He said beating theNorwegian explorers was a huge incentive to keep breaking records, adding: “How we are motivated is the sum total of everything which has happened to us and how wereact to it.”
When asked if he had any regrets, he spoke about the death of his wife, and the fact it took 26 years to discover Ubar.
Sir Ranulph hasraised more than £16million for UK charities through his expeditions, and in 1993 he was made an OBE for his “humanendeavour and charitable services”.