The man labelled as the world’s ‘greatest living explorer’ and the only person ever to have conquered both polar ice caps and the Everest summit gave a talk at The Manchester Grammar School (MGS) this evening, to inspire pupils and students in their future pursuits.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes gave an hour-long talk and Q&A session, allowing students to learn more about his enticing career in exploration, with four-decades worth of anecdotes. He also teased the audience with details of his new book, Fear.
He inspired them with tales of his gruelling regime, citing his motivation as those around him. He said: “I’ve been very lucky in my career to have never explored solo. For 20-years prior to him falling ill, I was fortunate enough to have completed by expeditions with my partner Charlie Burton and in more recent years with Sir Mike Stroud. His experience as a doctor comes very much in handy!”
Sir Ranulph was also keen to demonstrate to students that they shouldn’t give up: “My favourite expedition was the discovery of the Lost City of Ubar,” he added. “We’d visited the region for 26 years to unearth this city and, spurred on by the news that NASA was using satellite technology to also try and locate it, we were determined to complete our mission. Safe to say in November 1992 we found the city; now the largest archaeological site in Arabia.”
The audience was surprised to learn that Sir Ranulph has a fear of heights – but told them not to be deterred by any fears of their home. He continued: “At home I will send my wife up a ladder so I don’t have to face it. On many of my expeditions I’ve been worried about getting vertigo, so one of the team advised me on combatting it by telling me not to think about things happening below – which helped.”
At the end of the successful talk, MGS’ Assistant Head of Events, Outreach and Charities – Viv Horsfield – said: “We have established such a fantastic events programme at this School, engaging with globally-renowned business people, sporting figures and eminent cultural leaders.
“We were delighted to host Sir Ranulph and it was an honour for our boys to hear stories from such a world-renowned explorer. I would like to thank Sir Ranulph for giving our pupils, students and staff so much motivation with his inspiring words.”
