14 Incredible Facts About Sir Ranulph Fiennes That Make Him The Most Badass Human Ever

Some people do not retire until death.

Ranulph Fiennes is one of them. Even at 71, he is still running marathons across continents. And it’s not like he is not bothered by problems of old age. He has plenty of those and more. But he still wants to keep pushing boundaries of what a normal human being can do and explore.

If you thought Bear Grylls was badass, Ranulph Fiennes’ adventures make Bear Grylls look like an amateur!

1. Ranulph Fiennes started his career in the British Army special forces – SAS

In SAS, he specialised in demolitions. Obviously.

 

2. And he used his expertise to plan to blow a dam up in his village. The dam was built as a set for the movie ‘Dr. Dolittle’

Why? Because he thought that the dam looked ugly in the beautiful English village. And the people in the village complained about it too.

His plan was discovered and sniffer dogs were used to capture the saboteurs, but he even evaded them.

He was discharged from the SAS but the army decided to keep him because he was too valuable.

 

3. He didn’t like serving in the British army, so he went and helped set up Oman’s national army and became a hero there too

He trained their army for 7 years and conducted many risky but successful missions deep into enemy territory. He risked his life for a country he wasn’t born and for his services he was decorated for exceptional bravery by the sultanate.

He decided to retire from the army after his service to Oman. He became an explorer after his military career.

 

4. He is the first and only person to circumnavigate the whole planet through both the north and south pole.

It was called the Transglobe Expedition. They started from Greenwich and then went to the South Pole and then in the next 14 months they traveled to the north pole and then to Greenwich to complete the full globe expedition.

He traveled the whole way using only surface vehicles – no air travel.

 

5. He even discovered a lost city of Iram in Oman. A true explorer indeed.

6. In 1993 he became the first man to WALK across the whole continent of Antarctica, unsupported. It took him just 93 days.

He had a nutritionist companion to help him cross the continent on foot.

 

7. The next time he tried to do the Antarctic walk solo because you know it’s a walk in the park.

But he had a kidney stone attack and had to delay it.

But fear not, it did not deter him from trying other dangerous things.

 

8. He attempted to walk through the north pole solo too but he suffered from frostbite on his left-hand fingers. He cut his fingers himself when the hospital bill was too high.

Because he could not bear the pain he decided to cut off his own fingers with a hacksaw.

 

9. He suffered a severe heart attack and 4 months later he ran 7 marathons in 7 continents in 7 days for the British heart foundation.

He had a double bypass surgery but that did not deter him.

 

10. After 2 unsuccessful and unlucky attempts to scale Mount Everest, he finally did it in 2009, as a 65-year-old man.

 

11. Because of his impressive achievements he was even considered to play James Bond in the movies.

But in the end, Roger Moore got the role.

 

12. He doesn’t explore through all these dangers just for fun. He has raised millions of dollars for charities

This includes ‘Marie Curie Cancer Charity’, ‘Seeing is Believing’, a charity for avoidable blindness, and for the ‘British Heart foundation’.

 

13. He also ran a 156-kilometer ultramarathon through the Sahara desert. He was 71 when he accomplished it.

 

14. And rightfully, Guinness Book Of World Records has named him “The World’s Greatest Living Explorer”.

How does he do it?

“There’ll be a voice in my head saying I’ll have a heart attack, I’ll get hyperthermia, I’ve got a family, it’s stupid to carry on. That sort of wimpish voice tries to appear logical, finding reasons for stopping. You have to fight it. I’ve had it so many times.”

Ranulph Fiennes wishes for a younger body. He has said that if he was any younger, he would be exploring the oceans and even outer space.

With his unbelievable record, we believe him 100%.

Fact Sources – The Guardian, BBC

Inspired by a post on Quora