RANULPH FIENNES AND EXMOOR
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Feinnes, who prefers to be simply addressed as ‘Ran’, was born in 1944. His father of the same name died before he was born, killed in action in the Second World War at Monte Cassino. On his birth Ranulph inherited his father's baronetcy. The young man determined from the outset that his only ambition was one day to command his father's old cavalry regiment, the Royal Scots Greys. Not long after his birth his mother moved the family to South Africa where Ranulph lived until he was sent to Eton at the age of 12.
He served with the Royal Scots Greys, when he became the youngest captain in the British Army, a post for which he was unqualified. As a result he joined the SAS, where he specialised in demolition. He was, however, expelled for blowing up an ugly concrete dam built by a US film company in Castle Combe, reputedly the prettiest village in England. He returned to the Royal Scots Greys before being seconded to the Army of the Sultan of Oman in 1968. The next year he led the British Expedition on the White Nile, which gave him a taste for exploration. In 1970 he saw active service during the Dhofar Rebellion and was awarded the Sultan of Oman's Bravery Medal. In the same year he married his wife, Virginia, ‘Ginny’. She lived at Lodsworth in Sussex, where she was a neighbour of Ranulph during his schooldays at Eton. They spent much of their married life at Lodsworth. Ginny suggested that Ranulph should use his Army training to pursue adventures for corporate sponsors, and they soon found themselves travelling up the Nile before launching Westward Ho! Adventure Holidays. Ranulph said: "I used the only thing that the army had taught me, which was teaching soldiers canoeing and climbing and skiing and that sort of stuff. The only way of making a living out of that was basically to do expeditions."
Described in 1984 as the "World's Greatest Living Explorer" by the Guinness Book of Records, his expeditions around the world include Transglobe (the first surface journey around the world's polar axis) 1979/82, during which Ranulph and Charles Burton became the first people ever to reach both Poles by surface travel; North Polar Unsupported Expedition (furthest north unsupported record) 1986; Anglo Soviet North Pole Expedition 1990/91; co-leader of the Ubar Expedition, which in 1991 discovered Ptolemy's long-lost ‘Atlantis of the Sands’, the frankincense centre of the world; leader of the Pentland South Pole Expedition, which achieved the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic Continent and the longest unsupported polar journey in history, 1992/93. Sir Ranulph's expeditions have raised over £4.2m for the Multiple Sclerosis Society and £1.9m for Breakthrough Breast Cancer. In 1993 he was awarded an OBE for 'human endeavour and charitable services'.
In 1984 Ginny moved with Ranulph to Exmoor to raise a herd of 200 pedigree Aberdeen Angus cattle and a flock of 100 black Welsh Mountain sheep, turning herself into a highly proficient hill-farmer. At 1,400ft, their farm at Greenlands near Exford had no electricity when they arrived and is one of the highest working farms in the South West. Ginny’s cattle, traditional but not old-fashioned, are sought after by breeders all over the UK and have won many awards at major cattle shows. Over the years some of the neighbours died and they acquired more grazing land, some near Dulverton, and the farm has grown from 70 acres to about 170 acres. Ranulph has become very attached to the farm and says that he would not want to sell it. He has become much respected in the Exmoor area. He does a two-and-a-half hour run from his home every day. During this he often picks up litter and during the Foot and Mouth crisis in 2001 helped in a campaign to tidy up Exmoor. Ginny was much interested in wildlife and they long hoped to create habitat suitable for the re-introduction of grey squirrels.
Sir Ranulph’s first book was published in 1970 and since then he has written 12 further works including his autobiography Living Dangerously (1987), The Feather Men (UK Number One Bestseller 1991), Atlantis of the Sands (1992), Mind Over Matter (a harrowing account of his Antarctic expedition 1993), Fit For Life (1998), Beyond the Limits (2000), The Secret Hunters (2001) and Captain Scott (best-selling biography of 2003). His crime thriller The Sett, published in 1996, has been turned into a Hollywood film. Many of these works were written on Exmoor. Ranulph described his 34-year marriage as his 'greatest single achievement'. Ginny was the inspiration behind many of his expeditions and books. She spent many months in the 1960s researching for Ranulph's travel books on Arabia, Africa and the Rocky mountains. After a commission for her to write about life in Oman, she organised four expeditions with Ranulph to locate the lost frankincense city of Ubar, in Dhofar. This quest was finally successful in the early 1990s, two decades after their search began. As Ranulph's fiancée in 1968, she managed to get an interview with Britain's top literary agent, George Greenfield. She arrived at the meeting with bleeding knees, having slipped down steps, and Greenfield was so impressed by her that he agreed to take Ranulph's first book unseen. She was even base leader in missions to Africa, Arabia and the polar regions and earned her own Polar Medal.
When Ginny died suddenly of stomach cancer Ranulph was devastated. In order to fill the 'black void' in his life he threw himself into a gruelling lecture tour and it was at one of his talks that he met Louise Millington, a horse trainer from Cheshire, and the couple married shortly afterwards. They now have a daughter, Elizabeth and shuttle between Exmoor and Louise’s house in Cheshire.
In 2000, Ranulph attempted to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole. His sleds fell through thin ice, and he was forced to haul them out by hand – leading to severe frostbite. Three months after a near-fatal heart attack and double bypass operation in 2003, he joined Dr Mike Stroud to set a record by running seven marathons on seven continents in seven days in the 7x7x7 Challenge for the British Heart Foundation (BHF). He also attempted an Everest bid for the BHF in 2005, narrowly failing after having heart trouble near the summit. At the age of 63, and only two years experience of climbing, suffering from vertigo, a heart condition and having had all of his fingers on one hand amputated at the half knuckle, he set off to climb the north face of the Eiger, which he achieved after a five day ascent.
Ranulph is often away from Exmoor lecturing. The explorer has kept up a punishing schedule and his diary is usually full. As a ‘motivational speaker’ he is popular with both UK and European audiences. By drawing the analogy between nature's most dangerous and difficult challenges and day-to-day business challenges he demonstrates how the same qualities are crucial to success in all walks of life. By way of relaxation he returns to Exmoor, which has become his home. He says: “My favourite view is of the remoter parts of Exmoor. They’re a bit on the bleak side but the colouring and light you get there I’ve never seen anywhere else. Up on top you can go for 16 miles and not see anything man-made and yet you’re in the south of England.”