The Sir Ranulph Fiennes Event
A much-praised after dinner and motivational speaker (voted delegates’ favourite speaker at the 2007 Institute of Directors Convention) – Sir Ranulph spoke to CPM management and guests at this years prestigious event The Institute of Directors (West Midlands) Annual Lecture and Dinner 2008 held at The Aston Villa Conference Centre in Birmingham on Thursday evening 13th November.
As the world’s greatest living explorer his challenges have relied on teamwork and leadership skills and he has repeatedly and consistently demanded every ounce of personal skill, energy, fitness and determination from all those taking part. There is simply no better person to inspire us to succeed. How lucky we are to hear him and learn of his adventures!
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wickham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE – better known as Sir Ranulph Fiennes was born in 1944.
On finishing his military career he turned his attention to the world of exploration. A series of extraordinary ventures followed, including an expedition up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and one to Norway’s Jostedalsbre Glacier the following year. Between 1979 and 1982 he embarked on the challenge that made him a household name in the UK when, accompanied by Charles Burton, he completed the Transglobe Expedition. The pair journeyed around the world on its polar axis using surface transport only, covering 52,000 miles and becoming the first people to have visited both poles.
In 1992 he led the expedition that discovered the lost city of Ubar in Oman, and the following year he returned to the ice when he teamed up with nutrition specialist Dr Mike Stroud to become the first people to cross the Antarctic unaided. The journey of 97 days is the longest in south polar history.
In 2003, the pair attempted the extraordinary feat of completing seven marathons in seven days on seven continents. Their route took in Patagonia in South America, followed by a race in the Falklands Islands (“Antartica”), and then on to races in Sydney, Singapore, London and Cairo before arriving in New York to complete the final leg of his running odyssey.
In 2005, and despite a lifelong fear of heights, Fiennes reached 28,500 ft in an attempt to climb Everest, before coming down to earth a little by joining the Victoria Falls Expedition, which celebrated the 150th Anniversary of David Livingstone’s discovery of Victoria Falls.
In March 2007 Fiennes undertook a personal challenge to climb the Eiger by its much-feared north face, raising £1.5m for The Marie Curie Cancer Care Charity in the process.
In 1993 for human endeavour and for service to charity he was awarded the OBE – his expeditions have raised £5m for good causes.
He holds the Sultan’s Bravery Medal for his services in the Omani Army among many honours, titles and recognitions of his achievements. A writer of books both fiction and non-fiction, he was once described as a modern day Captain Scott. He belives that he might more closely resemble Captain Oates.