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Sir Ranulph Fiennes

January 11, 2012 by · Comments Off on Sir Ranulph Fiennes 

Sir Ranulph FiennesSir Ranulph Fiennes, Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE born 7 March 1944, better known as Ranulph (Ran) Fiennes, is a British adventurer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer. Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest. According to the Guinness Book of World Records he is the world’s greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists.
Fiennes was born on 7 March 1944 in Windsor, Berkshire shortly after the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, commanding the Royal Scots Greys, who died of wounds on 24 November 1943. His mother was Audrey Joan, younger daughter of Sir Percy Newson, Bt. Fiennes inherited his father’s baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Baronet of Banbury, at his birth. Fiennes is the third cousin of actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes and is a distant cousin to the British Royal Family.

After the war his mother moved the family to South Africa, where he remained until he was 12. Fiennes then returned to be educated at Sandroyd School, Wiltshire and then Eton, after which he joined the British Army.

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