Comments on: Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes

Fiennes, Ranulph Fiennes

quin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:17:03 -0800

Meet Sir Ranulph Fiennes, the World's Greatest Living Explorer...

By: quin

quin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:17:44 -0800

And so much more; in addition to his Transglobe and Pentland South Pole Expedition, he has run seven marathons on seven continents in seven days, (after having double bypass heart surgery four months earlier), cut off two of his toes with a saw after frostbite had damaged them beyond repair, blown up a dam because it offended him, raced on Top Gear, and at one point was considered as Sean Connery's replacement as James Bond (which he didn't get because his hands were too big and he 'had a face like a farmer'). He is also an author with over 13 books published, an Order of the British Empire recipient, and a philanthropist who's expeditions have raised over £5 million for charities. In other words, he's about as fascinating and tough as they get.

By: mckenney

mckenney — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:23:12 -0800

And he was totally the best thing about Schindler's List.

By: liam

liam — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:30:36 -0800

A year ago, the Victoria Falls Expedition.

By: YoBananaBoy

YoBananaBoy — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:30:44 -0800

But, he has never seen the elusive Jaguar Shark.

By: drinkcoffee

drinkcoffee — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 12:55:00 -0800

mckenney -- according to the IMDB, Ralph and Sir Ranulph are cousins! The things you learn.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:10:03 -0800

He went on Top Gear to do the "Star in a reasonably-priced car" lap, and Clarkson had him talking about all he had done in his life. Actually what he cut off were the top part of two fingers that had gone gangrenous from frostbite, but the remarkable thing is that he did it at home, in a garden shed -- his doctor had wanted him to keep the dead bits for a few more weeks before operating, for some reason or other. I couldn't help thinking that he is the toughest badass guy who ever lived.

By: Skorgu

Skorgu — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:24:51 -0800

Fantastic post, thank you.

By: quin

quin — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:34:40 -0800

Crap clevershark, you are right. I hadn't watched the whole Top Gear interview in a while and for some reason, got it stuck in my head that it was his toes. I was just amazed that with the exception of the 7x7x7 link, no one had ever really mentioned his exploits on MeFi before.

By: clevershark

clevershark — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:43:03 -0800

He's missing a couple of toes as well -- they fell off in the bath. (I'm not kidding) All this makes me think that he wouldn't necessarily have been a very good James Bond, because he's too much the real thing to just play the character in a movie...

By: stbalbach

stbalbach — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 13:54:07 -0800

I'd never heard of him. The British tradition of exploring the poles goes back to the early 19th C - after the Napoleonic Wars there was a large class of veteran seaman and soldiers with nothing to do so they sent them off to explore the Poles. Sir Franklin being the most infamous. Then it became tied up in Colonialism and patriotic duty, knighthoods were awarded etc.. it is quaint now in a post-colonial world that has been fuly explored.

By: Bravocharlie

Bravocharlie — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 14:03:37 -0800

Ranulph is related to Ralph, right?

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 15:50:20 -0800

Third cousins, BC.

By: asok

asok — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 16:28:40 -0800

Round and round we go.

By: I Am Not a Lobster

I Am Not a Lobster — Wed, 06 Dec 2006 19:35:26 -0800

Well, he's no Kris Kristofferson. I hear he can't even carry a tune.