FROM THE ARCHIVES A Look back at some of the people we have featured in the Marshwood Vale Magazine
September 2005
Living Dangerously In September 2005 Fergus Byrne spoke with Sir Ranulph Fiennes He was the youngest captain in the British Army and a member of the elite SAS regiment. He went on to lead over 30 expeditions, including the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth and the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic continent. He was awarded the OBE for human endeavour and charitable services and after a heart attack in 2003 he ran seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. His home in the West Country, though often bathed in good old British drizzle, is a far cry from the sub-zero temperatures that Sir Ranulph Fiennes has endured in an already extraordinary life.
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ir Ranulph Fiennes is one of the world’s top inspirational and motivational speakers and he will be speaking at St Anthony’s Leweston near Sherborne at the end of September. Part of a series of talks organised by Minnie Churchill, Wendy Hannam and others, the evening promises to be an entertaining journey through tales of adventure, as well as source of inspiration to anyone lucky enough to attend. Sir Ranulph has been described by the Guinness Book of Records as the ‘World’s Greatest Living Explorer’. His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales called him, ‘mad but marvellous’, and the chief executive of the multinational conglomerate Unilever said after hearing him speak, “I have attended a number of keynote speeches to the UK Marketing Forum. We have had top-level business leaders, the best educationists, knights of the realm and American gurus. None of them approached your address to us in range, content or inspiration. On rare occasions, something happens
22 The Marshwood Vale Magazine September - 2 2020 Tel. 01308 423031
that one feels will live in memory for years to come and your address to us emphatically fits into this category.” Born in England in 1944 and brought up in Africa, he joined the Scots Greys before moving to the elite SAS regiment. He is said to have been dismissed from the regiment for blowing up a section of the film set of Doctor Dolittle in Castle Coombe in Wiltshire. After a period with the Sultan of Oman’s forces, where he won the Sultan’s Bravery Medal, he began leading the expeditions that would make him a household name. Today Sir Ranulph Fiennes is an inspiring speaker, tirelessly working to raise money for various charities. He has raised millions of pounds for Multiple Sclerosis and Heart Disease and has inspired many with debilitating illnesses to persevere through difficult times. Although to many he is an effective icon of bravery, a need to inspire is not something that drives him. Referring to some of his most recent adventures he told the Marshwood Vale: “I took part in the Everest trip and the 7x7x7 marathons for a number of different
