'Cavalier' polar explorer got icy opposition
The cavalier attitude of the polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes meant his earliest adventures were opposed by the Government and the most famous names in the field.
A Foreign Office file released by the National Archives after 30 years reveals the animosity he aroused as he planned the Transglobe expedition that made his name.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ tenacity led him to take on the elements but won him few friends at the outset
Sir Wally Herbert, the first man to walk to the North Pole, and Sir Vivian Fuchs, leader of a Trans-Antarctic expedition in 1955-58 and director of the British Antarctic Survey were among his critics.
In 1976 Sir Ranulph, 32, a captain in the 21st SAS Regiment, planned to lead a team to the North Pole and follow that with a round-the-world trip along the Greenwich Meridian, crossing both polar ice caps.
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A Foreign Office file released by the National Archives after 30 years reveals the animosity he aroused as he planned the Transglobe expedition that made his name.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes’ tenacity led him to take on the elements but won him few friends at the outset
Sir Wally Herbert, the first man to walk to the North Pole, and Sir Vivian Fuchs, leader of a Trans-Antarctic expedition in 1955-58 and director of the British Antarctic Survey were among his critics.
In 1976 Sir Ranulph, 32, a captain in the 21st SAS Regiment, planned to lead a team to the North Pole and follow that with a round-the-world trip along the Greenwich Meridian, crossing both polar ice caps.