Having spent an evening listening to Sir Ranulph Fiennes at Aberdeen’s Music Hall on Friday night, it is abundantly clear that the celebrated adventurer should have been dead for some time now. The incredible feats of bravery, physical endurance and downright stupidity he has voluntarily put himself through are staggering, and should probably have seen him locked up for his own good. But that would have denied a packed audience the chance to hear this inspiring individual recount tales of record-breaking polar expeditions, near-death experiences and winning a race with Nasa to discover a lost city.
From the moment he took to the stage, Sir Ranulph had the audience hanging on his every word with his wonderfully dead-pan delivery and masterful comic timing. This was to be a talk full of laughter as well as fascinating anecdotes from his colourful military career, which saw him arrested for attempting to rob a bank and blow up a dam to stop a Hollywood movie being shot, to his record-breaking feats of endurance.
He spoke very fondly of Scotland, having served in the Royal Scots Greys, and endeared himself to the listening public as he displayed pictures from some of his numerous expeditions around the globe. The photo of the little Jack Russell that accompanied him on his circumpolar expedition was a lovely touch as Sir Ranulph explained that he is the only dog to have “peed on both Poles”.
As at home on the stage as he clearly is in the wild, the former Etonian spoke at length about his loyal team and the incredible amount of hard work that goes into planning one of his adventures. He clearly has a great amount of respect for those who work with him, but isn’t one to suffer fools. This man is forthright and a pragmatist, which you would have to be to have achieved all he has.
He is rightly known as the world’s greatest living explorer, and it isn’t difficult to see why. This truly was a fascinating and entertaining evening in the presence of a great man.