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Would you like to inspect the original subtitles? These are the user uploaded subtitles that are being translated: 1 00:00:26,133 --> 00:00:27,693 RAN: This is Transglobe. 2 00:00:27,728 --> 00:00:30,333 Cove Radio. Cove Radio. One, two, three, four, five. 3 00:00:30,368 --> 00:00:32,434 Five, four, three, two, one. 4 00:00:32,469 --> 00:00:35,569 (TALKING AND STATIC OVER RADIO) 5 00:00:46,219 --> 00:00:47,614 GINNY: One, two, three, four, five. 6 00:00:47,649 --> 00:00:49,220 Five, four, three, two, one. 7 00:00:49,255 --> 00:00:51,717 One, two, three, four, five. Five, four, three, two, one. 8 00:00:51,752 --> 00:00:53,719 (RADIO STATIC CONTINUES) 9 00:00:59,298 --> 00:01:00,825 GINNY: Uh, yes. Go ahead. 10 00:01:54,881 --> 00:01:57,750 (RADIO STATIC CONTINUES) 11 00:02:10,699 --> 00:02:13,832 (INDISTINCT CHATTER OVER RADIO) 12 00:02:32,820 --> 00:02:34,952 ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, 13 00:02:34,987 --> 00:02:37,889 the Guinness Book of Records Hall of Fame. 14 00:02:40,564 --> 00:02:43,796 The first man that we're inducting into the Hall of Fame 15 00:02:43,831 --> 00:02:47,569 dedicated his life to danger, adventure and exploration. 16 00:02:47,604 --> 00:02:51,309 Ladies and gentlemen, Sir Ranulph Fiennes. 17 00:02:51,344 --> 00:02:53,938 (APPLAUSE) 18 00:03:03,785 --> 00:03:05,015 TERRY WOGAN: He's been described 19 00:03:05,050 --> 00:03:06,720 as being something of an eccentric. 20 00:03:06,755 --> 00:03:07,952 MAN: A remarkable man 21 00:03:07,987 --> 00:03:10,922 you might call brave, driven, extraordinary, 22 00:03:10,957 --> 00:03:12,528 or just plain crazy. 23 00:03:12,563 --> 00:03:14,596 MAN 2: He's gone further than anyone's gone before, 24 00:03:14,631 --> 00:03:17,632 pushing the boundaries of what humans can do and understand. 25 00:03:17,667 --> 00:03:19,469 MICHAEL ASPEL: It's been a life of adventure. 26 00:03:19,504 --> 00:03:21,735 Parachuting onto a Norwegian glacier. 27 00:03:21,770 --> 00:03:24,474 Fighting a guerrilla war in Arabia and... 28 00:03:24,509 --> 00:03:26,938 SUE LAWLEY: He's navigated the White Nile in a hovercraft, 29 00:03:26,973 --> 00:03:29,039 spent three years travelling around the world 30 00:03:29,074 --> 00:03:30,073 through both Poles, 31 00:03:30,108 --> 00:03:32,482 discovered a lost city in Arabia, 32 00:03:32,517 --> 00:03:34,781 and recently nearly perished in Antarctica. 33 00:03:34,816 --> 00:03:36,453 JEREMY CLARKSON: Thrown out of the SAS, 34 00:03:36,488 --> 00:03:38,554 he's walked to the North Pole, run seven marathons. 35 00:03:38,589 --> 00:03:39,951 MAN 3: His level of fitness, 36 00:03:39,986 --> 00:03:41,953 endurance and competitive spirit 37 00:03:41,988 --> 00:03:43,790 puts him way above any sportsman. 38 00:03:43,825 --> 00:03:46,595 He is the greatest explorer this country's ever had. 39 00:03:46,630 --> 00:03:48,465 JEREMY PAXMAN: Frostbitten, half-starved 40 00:03:48,500 --> 00:03:49,631 and more dead than alive, 41 00:03:49,666 --> 00:03:51,600 the polar explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes 42 00:03:51,635 --> 00:03:53,096 tucked into a hearty breakfast. 43 00:03:53,131 --> 00:03:55,769 BRIAN HANRAHAN: One question everybody wants to know: 44 00:03:55,804 --> 00:03:57,001 "Why did you do it?" 45 00:04:09,587 --> 00:04:11,455 (PHONE LINE RINGS) 46 00:04:11,490 --> 00:04:15,591 The number you are calling does not accept unidentified calls. 47 00:04:15,626 --> 00:04:18,924 -The number you... -(DIALLING) 48 00:04:18,959 --> 00:04:21,630 (PHONE LINE RINGS) 49 00:04:21,665 --> 00:04:24,094 PRINCE CHARLES: Are you doing it now? 50 00:04:24,129 --> 00:04:26,437 I spoke to him on the telephone occasionally. 51 00:04:26,472 --> 00:04:28,131 See how things were going. 52 00:04:28,166 --> 00:04:31,607 But most of the time, I thought I'd never see him again. 53 00:04:31,642 --> 00:04:33,939 I kept saying, "You can't do it now. 54 00:04:33,974 --> 00:04:36,546 Don't you realise how old you are?" 55 00:04:36,581 --> 00:04:39,483 Anyway, it didn't stop him. 56 00:04:39,518 --> 00:04:41,881 MAN: Darling, are you OK for Matt 57 00:04:41,916 --> 00:04:44,620 to use our conversation in his film? 58 00:04:44,655 --> 00:04:45,951 WOMAN: I'm cleaning my teeth. Sorry. 59 00:04:45,986 --> 00:04:47,953 -MAN: Just cleaning her teeth. -(PHONE RINGS) 60 00:04:47,988 --> 00:04:49,559 She said she'll be out in a sec. 61 00:04:49,594 --> 00:04:52,958 RAN: Hello? Hi. 62 00:04:52,993 --> 00:04:55,565 WOMAN 2: There's nothing normal about Ran. 63 00:04:55,600 --> 00:04:58,436 In the context of the contemporary world, 64 00:04:58,471 --> 00:04:59,734 he is not a normal guy. 65 00:04:59,769 --> 00:05:01,604 (PHONE RINGS) 66 00:05:01,639 --> 00:05:04,937 WOMAN 3: He is the last great explorer. 67 00:05:04,972 --> 00:05:07,104 The man has become a myth. 68 00:05:09,009 --> 00:05:11,878 WOMAN 4: You only ever see explorer Ran, 69 00:05:11,913 --> 00:05:14,485 you never see the other side of it. 70 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:15,783 RAN: Hello? 71 00:05:17,589 --> 00:05:20,117 -Hello? -(RADIO CUTS OUT) 72 00:05:20,152 --> 00:05:23,824 BEAR GRYLLS: Tonight is going to be special. 73 00:05:25,223 --> 00:05:27,828 Ran has always managed to do things 74 00:05:27,863 --> 00:05:29,995 with a certain je ne sais quoi, 75 00:05:30,030 --> 00:05:31,502 a certain flair, 76 00:05:31,537 --> 00:05:37,035 that sets him apart from all of us mere mortals. 77 00:05:37,070 --> 00:05:38,806 Most of us aspire to run a marathon. 78 00:05:38,841 --> 00:05:40,808 RAN: They're like penicillin pills. 79 00:05:40,843 --> 00:05:43,448 (CHUCKLES) 80 00:05:43,483 --> 00:05:46,913 -What, aren't you feeling good? -Not confident. 81 00:05:49,984 --> 00:05:52,919 BEAR GRYLLS: And that is typical of Ran for you. 82 00:05:52,954 --> 00:05:56,560 Always further, always up, always beyond. 83 00:05:57,530 --> 00:05:59,629 Always that little bit better. 84 00:05:59,664 --> 00:06:03,699 To me he has always been the best. 85 00:06:03,734 --> 00:06:06,130 He's always been the leader. 86 00:06:06,165 --> 00:06:09,441 And he's always been my hero. 87 00:06:09,476 --> 00:06:11,674 Ladies and gentlemen, please do a warm welcome 88 00:06:11,709 --> 00:06:12,807 for the legend that is 89 00:06:12,842 --> 00:06:15,447 Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. 90 00:06:15,482 --> 00:06:17,581 (APPLAUSE) 91 00:06:30,827 --> 00:06:31,958 RAN: Thank you very much. 92 00:06:31,993 --> 00:06:34,895 I'm gonna be speaking, basically, 93 00:06:34,930 --> 00:06:38,195 on the topic of taking package holidays 94 00:06:38,230 --> 00:06:43,068 to weird areas with no scenery, 95 00:06:43,103 --> 00:06:45,510 with odd bunches of people. 96 00:06:45,545 --> 00:06:48,040 I ought to stress that I've been doing it 97 00:06:48,075 --> 00:06:49,844 for 32 years as a profession 98 00:06:49,879 --> 00:06:53,947 not because it's there, or because it's sort of romantic, 99 00:06:53,982 --> 00:06:57,786 but basically in order to pay the gas bill. 100 00:06:57,821 --> 00:07:00,657 (LAUGHTER) 101 00:07:03,189 --> 00:07:05,222 Right, we're going for it, yeah. 102 00:07:06,324 --> 00:07:07,631 Whoops. 103 00:07:08,601 --> 00:07:09,930 Done it. 104 00:07:11,967 --> 00:07:14,000 I drive a hell of a lot, yeah. 105 00:07:15,300 --> 00:07:17,773 You have to lecture. 106 00:07:17,808 --> 00:07:20,237 That is the only way an explorer can get paid 107 00:07:20,272 --> 00:07:23,240 for doing what he does, or she does. 108 00:07:23,275 --> 00:07:25,649 But there is always the worry 109 00:07:25,684 --> 00:07:28,751 that one might no longer be able to make an income. 110 00:07:31,723 --> 00:07:34,185 Hello, police. 111 00:07:34,220 --> 00:07:36,660 Get into gear, will you? 112 00:07:36,695 --> 00:07:38,992 -(CAR HORN BLARES) -Stop hooting. 113 00:07:39,027 --> 00:07:42,127 (WIND HOWLS) 114 00:07:55,813 --> 00:07:58,308 When he's got his work head on, 115 00:07:58,343 --> 00:08:02,048 he's very single-minded, he's driven. 116 00:08:02,083 --> 00:08:03,984 Nobody can say, "Ran, don't you think 117 00:08:04,019 --> 00:08:05,953 it'll be better to do it this way?" 118 00:08:06,989 --> 00:08:08,351 One time I said, "Why don't you 119 00:08:08,386 --> 00:08:10,254 just take a gun and shoot yourself 120 00:08:10,289 --> 00:08:12,223 in the middle of a field? 121 00:08:12,258 --> 00:08:14,632 It would be much less expensive 122 00:08:14,667 --> 00:08:17,767 and it would not involve so many people." 123 00:08:17,802 --> 00:08:20,033 (LAUGHS) 124 00:08:34,687 --> 00:08:37,050 MAN: I met him for the first time in the Arctic 125 00:08:37,085 --> 00:08:38,887 when we were about to set off. 126 00:08:41,056 --> 00:08:43,991 I'd kind of heard that he was really difficult 127 00:08:44,026 --> 00:08:48,666 in terms of knowing what he wanted and sticking to it. 128 00:08:50,428 --> 00:08:53,396 And he was the leader. 129 00:08:53,431 --> 00:08:56,938 Just as army units have leaders. 130 00:08:56,973 --> 00:08:58,401 Hello. 131 00:08:58,436 --> 00:09:00,744 -Hi. Mike? -Yeah. 132 00:09:00,779 --> 00:09:02,944 MIKE: I certainly didn't view it like that. 133 00:09:02,979 --> 00:09:05,716 You know, I just wouldn't even conceive 134 00:09:05,751 --> 00:09:08,378 of an expedition of two having a leader. 135 00:09:08,413 --> 00:09:10,655 It just goes quite beyond me. 136 00:09:21,899 --> 00:09:23,635 NARRATOR: The extravagant ambition 137 00:09:23,670 --> 00:09:25,703 of British explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes 138 00:09:25,738 --> 00:09:28,673 is to overcome the last great polar challenge, 139 00:09:28,708 --> 00:09:32,039 a totally unsupported trek to the North Pole. 140 00:09:36,309 --> 00:09:37,715 But once loaded 141 00:09:37,750 --> 00:09:39,442 with the 60 days' provisions for the journey, 142 00:09:39,477 --> 00:09:42,984 his sledge weighed nearly 400 pounds. 143 00:09:43,019 --> 00:09:45,987 And with the temperature below minus 50 centigrade, 144 00:09:46,022 --> 00:09:49,320 this was proving too much even for him to haul. 145 00:09:52,457 --> 00:09:53,863 MAN: Honestly, Ran, I can't see 146 00:09:53,898 --> 00:09:55,700 what on earth you can take out of this. 147 00:09:55,735 --> 00:09:57,328 RAN: I can take the spare radio battery. 148 00:09:57,363 --> 00:09:58,868 If we do that, what are we doing? 149 00:09:58,903 --> 00:10:00,298 We're compromising on safety. 150 00:10:00,333 --> 00:10:03,301 -That's the way we don't travel. -RAN: It's irresponsible? 151 00:10:03,336 --> 00:10:05,776 t is irresponsible. And we just don't work like that. 152 00:10:05,811 --> 00:10:07,712 With one battery, that's what you're doing. 153 00:10:07,747 --> 00:10:09,747 -What about one saw set? -One saw set? 154 00:10:09,782 --> 00:10:11,815 Again, what happens when the other one goes? 155 00:10:11,850 --> 00:10:12,981 You're absolutely stuck. 156 00:10:13,016 --> 00:10:14,411 -Yeah. -It's all compromise. 157 00:10:14,446 --> 00:10:17,953 RAN: Well, something has got to go. 158 00:10:17,988 --> 00:10:20,120 NARRATOR: Against the advice of his team-mates, 159 00:10:20,155 --> 00:10:25,059 he decides he will cut down his supplies from 60 days to 45. 160 00:10:28,328 --> 00:10:33,001 The thought of failure is impossible. 161 00:10:34,367 --> 00:10:36,268 He cannot fail. 162 00:10:41,176 --> 00:10:45,948 In athletic terms, he was really very special, 163 00:10:45,983 --> 00:10:47,345 and could have been 164 00:10:47,380 --> 00:10:51,184 an Olympic-standard endurance athlete. 165 00:10:56,862 --> 00:11:00,424 Ran's foot got frost bit a couple of days ago now. 166 00:11:00,459 --> 00:11:02,866 When he took his sock off tonight, 167 00:11:02,901 --> 00:11:05,396 part of the little toe came away. 168 00:11:05,431 --> 00:11:07,365 The toe could become infected 169 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:10,335 and the infection could spread to the foot 170 00:11:10,370 --> 00:11:12,172 which would be serious. 171 00:11:12,207 --> 00:11:13,503 I just keep saying to myself 172 00:11:13,538 --> 00:11:15,780 the old thing from Pilgrim's Progress 173 00:11:15,815 --> 00:11:19,344 which is, um, always a little further, 174 00:11:19,379 --> 00:11:21,049 even if it's only ten yards. 175 00:11:21,084 --> 00:11:23,150 That's what you're thinking of, that ten yards. 176 00:11:25,990 --> 00:11:30,091 We wanted to be first unsupported to the North Pole. 177 00:11:32,062 --> 00:11:33,765 If you got there second, 178 00:11:33,800 --> 00:11:37,164 you might as well not have done it. Simple. 179 00:11:59,617 --> 00:12:01,485 NARRATOR: Sixteen days after setting out, 180 00:12:01,520 --> 00:12:04,356 the Britons find that they're finally cut off 181 00:12:04,391 --> 00:12:06,127 from the Pole by open water. 182 00:12:06,162 --> 00:12:07,458 But it's been confirmed 183 00:12:07,493 --> 00:12:09,867 that they have reached closer to the North Pole 184 00:12:09,902 --> 00:12:12,771 than any other unsupported expedition. 185 00:12:17,910 --> 00:12:22,275 To have done the record of the furthest north unsupported, 186 00:12:22,310 --> 00:12:27,049 is nice to know for one's own point of view inside oneself. 187 00:12:27,084 --> 00:12:32,252 But the goal of the Pole, totally unsupported, 188 00:12:32,287 --> 00:12:37,587 must remain, for me, something which is sadly unattainable. 189 00:12:48,435 --> 00:12:53,141 Ran was so disappointed that he hadn't got to the North Pole, 190 00:12:53,176 --> 00:12:55,209 or that we hadn't, 191 00:12:55,244 --> 00:12:58,179 he went into complete decline. 192 00:13:01,415 --> 00:13:06,352 Probably the first time in Ran's mind he thought he had failed. 193 00:13:08,059 --> 00:13:11,390 To me, he's out there for the wrong reason. 194 00:13:11,425 --> 00:13:13,898 He's out there for what he thinks 195 00:13:13,933 --> 00:13:16,626 other people are gonna think of him. 196 00:13:18,564 --> 00:13:21,004 And it shouldn't be competitive. 197 00:13:24,273 --> 00:13:26,405 How insecure do you need to be 198 00:13:26,440 --> 00:13:29,375 to have to go around the fucking world 199 00:13:29,410 --> 00:13:33,247 to beat the rival, to feel good about yourself? 200 00:13:36,923 --> 00:13:39,891 That has to be driven by some sort of metric 201 00:13:39,926 --> 00:13:41,123 that was given to him 202 00:13:41,158 --> 00:13:44,192 by his parents or his peers or something. 203 00:13:45,998 --> 00:13:48,999 (BIRDS CHIRP) 204 00:13:52,037 --> 00:13:53,630 (COW MOOS) 205 00:13:53,665 --> 00:13:56,237 MAN: Quite peaceful up here, isn't it? 206 00:13:56,272 --> 00:13:59,174 Peaceful? Yeah, most of the time. 207 00:14:03,081 --> 00:14:09,481 The only thing that breaks the silence is moos or baas. 208 00:14:12,123 --> 00:14:14,189 Are you shaking? Ah. 209 00:14:15,324 --> 00:14:17,654 Got the tremors. 210 00:14:20,197 --> 00:14:26,069 Ginny put our ancestor pictures in this room 211 00:14:26,104 --> 00:14:29,501 going back to the 15th century, some of them. 212 00:14:30,669 --> 00:14:32,174 (COW MOOS) 213 00:14:33,606 --> 00:14:37,080 -Try and keep them straight. -(PICTURE RATTLES) 214 00:14:37,115 --> 00:14:40,248 Yeah, so that's, um, pretty much that. 215 00:14:41,680 --> 00:14:45,022 That's Dad. And obviously, as I go past my dad, 216 00:14:45,057 --> 00:14:47,189 I say, "Morning, Dad. Love you." 217 00:14:52,724 --> 00:14:54,592 (COW MOOS) 218 00:15:01,172 --> 00:15:08,177 Dad wrote this to my middle sister Celia, um... 219 00:15:08,212 --> 00:15:12,412 "From Lieutenant Colonel R Fiennes, Royal Scots Greys, 220 00:15:12,447 --> 00:15:18,682 Middle East Force, 14th of April, 1942." 221 00:15:18,717 --> 00:15:22,994 And he's done a little cartoon picture of his three daughters. 222 00:15:23,029 --> 00:15:26,492 Big sister Susan. Middle sister Celia. 223 00:15:26,527 --> 00:15:30,166 Little sister he called Judy but her name is Jill. 224 00:15:30,201 --> 00:15:34,500 He doesn't know that a son is on the way, of course. 225 00:15:34,535 --> 00:15:37,437 Four months before I was born, 226 00:15:37,472 --> 00:15:40,737 he trod on a mine and was killed. 227 00:15:42,114 --> 00:15:44,741 Mum brought me up on stories about him. 228 00:16:25,388 --> 00:16:29,027 My mum I really respected, very much indeed. 229 00:16:30,327 --> 00:16:32,657 She always saw the best side of everything. 230 00:16:34,463 --> 00:16:39,103 Her lovely husband died, was killed, suddenly, 231 00:16:39,138 --> 00:16:42,700 and she's got four children. Yeah, four children. 232 00:16:42,735 --> 00:16:48,508 And her very strong-minded mother-in-law, South African, 233 00:16:48,543 --> 00:16:50,543 says, "Right, now they're all dead, 234 00:16:50,578 --> 00:16:52,248 I want to go back and die 235 00:16:52,283 --> 00:16:55,317 back with all our relations in Cape Town." 236 00:16:55,352 --> 00:16:58,683 We got put on a ship, the four of us and Mum 237 00:16:58,718 --> 00:17:01,191 under domineering Granny, 238 00:17:01,226 --> 00:17:04,095 went out to South Africa. 239 00:17:07,925 --> 00:17:09,892 That is Granny. 240 00:17:09,927 --> 00:17:11,894 She looks at you, you know, her eyes, 241 00:17:11,929 --> 00:17:14,171 wherever you move around the room. 242 00:17:15,306 --> 00:17:17,240 (COW MOOS) 243 00:17:18,573 --> 00:17:21,640 Mum was bossed by her mother-in-law. 244 00:17:34,952 --> 00:17:37,920 We were out there for ten years. 245 00:17:37,955 --> 00:17:43,563 When Granny died, Mum took all of us back to the UK. 246 00:17:48,867 --> 00:17:53,309 I was brought up with an all-woman household. No men. 247 00:17:53,344 --> 00:17:57,676 I had three older sisters. No uncle, only aunts. 248 00:17:57,711 --> 00:18:01,251 No grandfathers, only grandmothers. 249 00:18:01,286 --> 00:18:03,352 No father, only Mother. 250 00:18:03,387 --> 00:18:05,156 I was spoilt rotten. 251 00:18:07,292 --> 00:18:12,262 Well, we first met when we were little kids. 252 00:18:12,297 --> 00:18:14,561 We got up to all sorts of things. 253 00:18:14,596 --> 00:18:19,863 The ground, land, was our playground, wasn't it? 254 00:18:19,898 --> 00:18:23,306 We were a couple of monsters, I suppose. (CHUCKLES) 255 00:18:23,341 --> 00:18:27,277 (♪ "ROLLIN' AND TUMBLIN'" BY ELMORE JAMES) 256 00:18:36,816 --> 00:18:41,720 RAN: We were known by the village as Tooth and Nail. 257 00:18:41,755 --> 00:18:45,691 PETER: We had all sorts of weapons that were handmade. 258 00:18:46,496 --> 00:18:48,232 Spears made from wood 259 00:18:48,267 --> 00:18:52,302 and the tip of the spear was sharpened to a point. 260 00:18:52,337 --> 00:18:55,932 And then we used to cut a tin up so it was metal tipped. 261 00:18:57,441 --> 00:18:59,375 We were always getting hurt. 262 00:18:59,410 --> 00:19:03,478 Me more than him probably, cos he was bigger than me. 263 00:19:03,513 --> 00:19:05,348 Why we're still alive I do not know. 264 00:19:05,383 --> 00:19:07,548 We should have been maimed, really. 265 00:19:21,762 --> 00:19:25,896 We both had that exploration thing in our blood, I suppose. 266 00:19:27,603 --> 00:19:30,307 And he took it all the way through. 267 00:19:41,012 --> 00:19:46,048 RAN: Since I was tiny, I thought I'd like to be like Dad. 268 00:19:46,083 --> 00:19:50,756 Commanding Officer of the Royal Scots Greys. 269 00:19:52,595 --> 00:19:54,463 And I really tried hard. 270 00:20:01,065 --> 00:20:05,804 I knew him really from Officer Cadets at Mons. 271 00:20:05,839 --> 00:20:08,741 He was about 19, I suppose. 272 00:20:08,776 --> 00:20:12,008 He wasn't somebody who enjoyed going to pubs and things. 273 00:20:12,043 --> 00:20:15,781 He'd rather be going to impossible places. 274 00:20:20,458 --> 00:20:22,326 It was a very good fun life 275 00:20:22,361 --> 00:20:25,054 because there were no wars going on. 276 00:20:25,089 --> 00:20:28,332 So, it was just the young people 277 00:20:28,367 --> 00:20:31,731 doing as much as they could to try and burn off energy. 278 00:20:33,669 --> 00:20:35,405 Some of the things he did 279 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:38,804 were a bit unconventional, you could say. 280 00:20:42,975 --> 00:20:45,107 He would always come up with crackpot ideas 281 00:20:45,142 --> 00:20:48,077 of going on expeditions and blowing up things. 282 00:20:50,653 --> 00:20:53,984 Whatever he got up to, it was great fun to follow. 283 00:21:01,092 --> 00:21:03,466 His troops loved him, 284 00:21:03,501 --> 00:21:06,029 but sadly, the Armoured Regiment in Germany 285 00:21:06,064 --> 00:21:07,635 was too boring for him. 286 00:21:09,573 --> 00:21:13,069 So he went off and joined the Special Air Service. 287 00:21:16,646 --> 00:21:18,382 RAN: I had just passed 288 00:21:18,417 --> 00:21:21,418 a demolitions course with the SAS. 289 00:21:21,453 --> 00:21:25,620 I had found that I was very good at blowing up the target 290 00:21:25,655 --> 00:21:27,688 with minimal stuff. 291 00:21:27,723 --> 00:21:30,493 And I happened to have a lot of explosives. 292 00:21:37,403 --> 00:21:40,734 I got a phone call from an old school friend. 293 00:21:40,769 --> 00:21:44,771 Castle Combe, the prettiest village in the UK, 294 00:21:44,806 --> 00:21:46,740 was being ruined. 295 00:21:46,775 --> 00:21:49,545 The company, called Twentieth Century Fox, 296 00:21:49,580 --> 00:21:51,712 were making a film in their lovely village, 297 00:21:51,747 --> 00:21:58,554 which involved turning the trout stream into a lake for filming. 298 00:22:01,856 --> 00:22:05,759 We started developing this completely loco idea. 299 00:22:05,794 --> 00:22:08,696 I mean, it was the stupidest idea ever. 300 00:22:10,997 --> 00:22:14,438 The artificial lake was protected by sandbags. 301 00:22:14,473 --> 00:22:17,067 The idea was to remove a sandbag. 302 00:22:18,741 --> 00:22:22,512 Next morning, when they went to start filming, 303 00:22:22,547 --> 00:22:26,483 the lake would have disappeared. (LAUGHS) 304 00:22:26,518 --> 00:22:30,949 To do this, it needed to have a diversion. 305 00:22:30,984 --> 00:22:34,557 Ran said, "OK, I'll get hold of the thunder flashes." 306 00:22:34,592 --> 00:22:37,219 MICHAEL: Ran then came up with this brilliant idea. 307 00:22:37,254 --> 00:22:39,661 He knew a guy, a photographer, 308 00:22:39,696 --> 00:22:42,598 and would be a frightfully good idea 309 00:22:42,633 --> 00:22:46,668 if he got the guy to come along and record this event. 310 00:22:48,067 --> 00:22:52,542 Well, we know what happens next. The guy does turn up. 311 00:22:52,577 --> 00:22:55,644 And do you know what, invites Plod to come along as well. 312 00:22:55,679 --> 00:22:59,516 And guess what. Guess what. They are arrested. 313 00:22:59,551 --> 00:23:00,814 (LAUGHS) 314 00:23:01,883 --> 00:23:03,212 WILLIAM: What we didn't know 315 00:23:03,247 --> 00:23:05,621 was that he didn't get just thunderflashes, 316 00:23:05,656 --> 00:23:08,822 he went off and got some actual explosives. 317 00:23:10,122 --> 00:23:13,123 MICHAEL: How it plays off is terrible. 318 00:23:13,158 --> 00:23:16,698 Old Etonian toffs playing "let's blow up a village". 319 00:23:19,571 --> 00:23:22,968 The punishment that was meted to him was mega. 320 00:23:25,104 --> 00:23:29,073 You know, he was not going to be a colonel of the Greys. 321 00:23:35,114 --> 00:23:37,950 (DISTANT SIRENS) 322 00:23:40,119 --> 00:23:44,726 RAN: I regret not having been able to do 323 00:23:44,761 --> 00:23:49,258 the thing that I only wished to do for 24 years. 324 00:23:50,767 --> 00:23:52,833 Be what my dad was. 325 00:23:55,035 --> 00:24:01,974 And when I failed, I eventually thought two fingers to life. 326 00:24:04,814 --> 00:24:08,013 I was on probation for six months. 327 00:24:08,048 --> 00:24:11,621 Thrown out of the SAS back to my own regiment 328 00:24:11,656 --> 00:24:13,722 who were still in Germany. 329 00:24:13,757 --> 00:24:15,691 (TANKS FIRING) 330 00:24:16,859 --> 00:24:20,795 I got fed up with endless moving around 331 00:24:20,830 --> 00:24:24,194 in 60-tonne monsters, 332 00:24:24,229 --> 00:24:27,835 but I had another three years in the army. 333 00:24:27,870 --> 00:24:32,741 And suddenly, at this stage of German boredom, 334 00:24:32,776 --> 00:24:36,811 I heard that volunteers could take on 335 00:24:36,846 --> 00:24:40,947 two-or three-year contracts with the army in Oman. 336 00:24:46,218 --> 00:24:49,153 (INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER) 337 00:24:51,025 --> 00:24:53,927 RAN: I volunteered. 338 00:24:53,962 --> 00:24:57,832 So did three or four other officers. 339 00:24:57,867 --> 00:25:01,572 They were described as being too valuable to the regiment, 340 00:25:01,607 --> 00:25:07,710 but my application was taken up immediately with joy. 341 00:25:19,218 --> 00:25:21,658 MAN: (IN ARABIC) 342 00:25:23,189 --> 00:25:26,993 RAN: (IN ARABIC) 343 00:25:34,068 --> 00:25:35,166 (MAN SPEAKS ARABIC) 344 00:25:36,675 --> 00:25:41,744 RAN: (IN ARABIC) 345 00:25:44,177 --> 00:25:46,276 AHMED: (IN ARABIC) 346 00:25:51,217 --> 00:25:52,986 RAN: My particular job 347 00:25:53,021 --> 00:25:56,726 was with 60 Arabs and Baluchis and no Brit. 348 00:25:59,324 --> 00:26:00,829 I would be called either Sahib 349 00:26:00,864 --> 00:26:03,062 or, if there were no other officers around, 350 00:26:03,097 --> 00:26:05,031 they'd call me... (SPEAKS ARABIC) 351 00:26:06,430 --> 00:26:08,397 I think it means John. 352 00:26:19,410 --> 00:26:23,082 Long time no driving in this sort of condition. 353 00:26:23,117 --> 00:26:28,692 I have to say that I just love it. 354 00:26:28,727 --> 00:26:31,387 The rougher the roads, the better. 355 00:26:34,425 --> 00:26:38,735 We were finding new roads in countryside like this 356 00:26:38,770 --> 00:26:41,397 and going up ramps, steep, steep ramps. 357 00:26:41,432 --> 00:26:43,872 And 30 of us, with axes and shovels, 358 00:26:43,907 --> 00:26:46,875 were making impossible bits possible. 359 00:26:53,081 --> 00:26:56,379 We were a happy family. 360 00:26:56,414 --> 00:27:01,153 It just was wonderful to be with these guys. 361 00:27:01,188 --> 00:27:04,189 Trusted by them and trusting them. 362 00:27:04,224 --> 00:27:06,994 They were wonderful human beings. 363 00:27:07,029 --> 00:27:12,065 We really just... I think the word is "clicked", just clicked. 364 00:27:15,367 --> 00:27:19,941 I think looking back, it's not popular... 365 00:27:19,976 --> 00:27:24,143 I wanted to fight the enemy, the Communists. 366 00:27:24,178 --> 00:27:29,247 They were out to crush Islam in Dhofar. 367 00:27:29,282 --> 00:27:31,480 (SHOUTING IN ARABIC) 368 00:27:31,515 --> 00:27:34,923 REPORTER: The Dhofar rebels are mainly Marxists. 369 00:27:36,421 --> 00:27:38,058 When the rebellion began, 370 00:27:38,093 --> 00:27:40,324 their aim was simply the overthrow 371 00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:42,425 of a mediaeval tyranny in Oman. 372 00:27:42,460 --> 00:27:44,735 Since then, the movement has the wider goal 373 00:27:44,770 --> 00:27:48,398 of sweeping away all the sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf. 374 00:27:48,433 --> 00:27:51,104 (SHOUTING IN ARABIC) 375 00:27:51,139 --> 00:27:54,338 RAN: Tribal leaders had their backs burnt 376 00:27:54,373 --> 00:27:56,010 and their eyes put out 377 00:27:56,045 --> 00:27:59,409 and pushed over cliffs to make an example of people 378 00:27:59,444 --> 00:28:05,415 who refused to switch from Islam to Marxism. 379 00:28:05,450 --> 00:28:08,154 (GUNFIRE) 380 00:28:08,189 --> 00:28:11,960 We were outnumbered. We were in enemy area. 381 00:28:11,995 --> 00:28:17,097 We were out-weaponed. It was a frightening affair. 382 00:28:25,503 --> 00:28:28,372 The main change I made when I arrived out here 383 00:28:28,407 --> 00:28:30,506 was to stop them moving by day. 384 00:28:38,615 --> 00:28:41,484 We became experts at night movement. 385 00:28:43,829 --> 00:28:47,259 That is why we were chosen for Operation Snatch. 386 00:28:51,364 --> 00:28:58,974 We had heard an enemy leader was going to come into Dhofar, 387 00:28:59,009 --> 00:29:04,111 and we had very good information where he was going to be. 388 00:29:04,146 --> 00:29:09,182 Ranulph was briefed on what to do and where to go and so on, 389 00:29:09,217 --> 00:29:11,217 but during the approach, 390 00:29:11,252 --> 00:29:15,155 we heard that actually, he was being set up. 391 00:29:16,422 --> 00:29:19,456 The leader wasn't going to be coming in at all 392 00:29:19,491 --> 00:29:23,361 and it was the other way round, they were gonna ambush us. 393 00:29:28,269 --> 00:29:34,075 I was asked to try and contact him because I had radio to him, 394 00:29:34,110 --> 00:29:37,606 and, uh, I couldn't get through. 395 00:29:43,383 --> 00:29:47,220 RAN: I settled down just beside the key track 396 00:29:47,255 --> 00:29:50,828 that these people would be coming in by in the morning. 397 00:29:54,064 --> 00:29:56,493 We had an hour left before dawn 398 00:29:58,167 --> 00:30:00,629 and I was looking through the bush like that, 399 00:30:00,664 --> 00:30:02,334 and they came along this way. 400 00:30:02,369 --> 00:30:09,473 I saw their political red stars and I said... (SPEAKS ARABIC) 401 00:30:09,508 --> 00:30:13,884 Sorry, um, "Hands up or you're dead." 402 00:30:13,919 --> 00:30:18,383 And the bloke swung his Kalashnikov round really fast, 403 00:30:18,418 --> 00:30:20,286 and I found my finger pressing the trigger. 404 00:30:20,321 --> 00:30:22,453 I'd never killed anybody that close. 405 00:30:22,488 --> 00:30:26,589 I mean, I've shot at lots of people in dust, rifle dust, 406 00:30:26,624 --> 00:30:30,098 along 600 yards away and all that, in ambushes, 407 00:30:30,133 --> 00:30:32,562 but not as close as this. 408 00:30:32,597 --> 00:30:34,663 You know, and seeing your face shot away 409 00:30:34,698 --> 00:30:37,435 and your nose pushed back into your brain and so on. 410 00:30:37,470 --> 00:30:40,405 And I was quite young, really, you know. 411 00:30:40,440 --> 00:30:42,440 And it affected me for a very long time. 412 00:30:47,953 --> 00:30:52,252 Not just in the week afterwards but months later. 413 00:31:05,102 --> 00:31:08,466 At that time, when all this was going on, 414 00:31:08,501 --> 00:31:11,139 I also had a good thing going for me. 415 00:31:12,307 --> 00:31:14,604 I knew that when I got back, 416 00:31:14,639 --> 00:31:16,045 I was gonna marry the girl 417 00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:18,344 who sort of steered me to an alternate. 418 00:31:22,185 --> 00:31:25,219 I had known Ran since I was nine and he was 12. 419 00:31:27,025 --> 00:31:28,222 We grew up together. 420 00:31:30,589 --> 00:31:32,655 We're really like brother and sister. 421 00:31:32,690 --> 00:31:34,690 To me it's, you know, probably the best way 422 00:31:34,725 --> 00:31:37,297 because you're friends as well as everything else. 423 00:31:38,729 --> 00:31:41,598 (CHILDREN CHATTER) 424 00:31:44,801 --> 00:31:47,571 RAN: She had two brothers. 425 00:31:47,606 --> 00:31:52,675 They asked my mother if her son, me, could go round for tea. 426 00:31:56,747 --> 00:32:00,254 We were playing with their electric trains in the attic. 427 00:32:02,093 --> 00:32:06,623 And I felt a pin in the back of my leg. 428 00:32:06,658 --> 00:32:10,231 Looked under the table, and there she was. 429 00:32:12,400 --> 00:32:15,302 I'd never seen a girl as a girl before, 430 00:32:15,337 --> 00:32:17,304 and I felt just wonderful. 431 00:32:17,339 --> 00:32:21,176 (♪ "BOOM BOOM" BY THE LORDS) 432 00:32:27,613 --> 00:32:31,813 RAN: The first thing you saw was very piercing blue eyes. 433 00:32:31,848 --> 00:32:34,750 The bluest. (CHUCKLES) 434 00:32:42,199 --> 00:32:45,629 I can remember telling him to get on and meet her 435 00:32:45,664 --> 00:32:46,828 instead of hiding in the bushes, 436 00:32:46,863 --> 00:32:48,731 and let her ride by on her horse, watching. 437 00:32:59,216 --> 00:33:01,084 He worshipped the ground she walked on. 438 00:33:01,119 --> 00:33:05,517 JEAN: Yeah, he did. And I think she did him, too. 439 00:33:07,092 --> 00:33:09,719 GINNY: We'd be sort of in the history class or something 440 00:33:09,754 --> 00:33:12,590 and Ran would suddenly appear at the window. 441 00:33:12,625 --> 00:33:14,262 I don't know how he got up there, 442 00:33:14,297 --> 00:33:15,692 must have been the drainpipe. 443 00:33:15,727 --> 00:33:17,265 He eventually got caught 444 00:33:17,300 --> 00:33:20,235 and was pulled in through the window and sent packing. 445 00:33:23,372 --> 00:33:25,636 RAN: Outside her house in Sussex, 446 00:33:25,671 --> 00:33:28,771 we used to leave secret letters in the tree. 447 00:33:31,116 --> 00:33:33,875 When you want to see me, 448 00:33:33,910 --> 00:33:39,089 leave a note hidden here. 449 00:33:39,124 --> 00:33:41,718 It's a tree stump with a gnarled hole in it, 450 00:33:41,753 --> 00:33:43,753 and it's still there. (CHUCKLES) 451 00:33:43,788 --> 00:33:45,557 MATT: And you keep it just there? 452 00:33:45,592 --> 00:33:50,199 Oh, no, I keep the bit of wood just there, not the tree. 453 00:33:50,234 --> 00:33:52,531 PETER: When he got together with Ginny, 454 00:33:52,566 --> 00:33:55,732 eventually, that was a load of trouble. 455 00:33:55,767 --> 00:33:58,834 Her dad went apeshit. 456 00:33:58,869 --> 00:34:01,441 RAN: Her father was not at all keen 457 00:34:01,476 --> 00:34:04,444 on me having anything to do with her. 458 00:34:06,217 --> 00:34:08,910 Ginny's father thought that the explosives 459 00:34:08,945 --> 00:34:10,417 had come from his quarry 460 00:34:10,452 --> 00:34:12,914 and that Ginny had pinched them and given them to me. 461 00:34:12,949 --> 00:34:18,227 And that the police would find this out and send her to prison. 462 00:34:18,262 --> 00:34:21,461 My father was convinced that Ran would be the death of Ginny 463 00:34:21,496 --> 00:34:27,335 because he was, you know, a mad, bad and dangerous-to-know boy. 464 00:34:27,370 --> 00:34:31,273 And little did he realise that she was worse. 465 00:34:31,308 --> 00:34:35,310 It was Ginny who was gonna dream up the wild expeditions. 466 00:34:35,345 --> 00:34:37,906 (♪ "CAN'T RUN BUT" BY PAUL SIMON) 467 00:34:59,204 --> 00:35:02,271 I don't think Ran could have done anything 468 00:35:02,306 --> 00:35:04,933 that he has done without Ginny. 469 00:35:04,968 --> 00:35:08,871 She certainly played a huge part in his career 470 00:35:08,906 --> 00:35:10,939 and in his happiness too. 471 00:35:10,974 --> 00:35:14,184 A lot of the time they were utterly penniless. 472 00:35:14,219 --> 00:35:17,880 He'd left the army with nothing. He had no job. 473 00:35:17,915 --> 00:35:19,585 And there was no money. 474 00:35:19,620 --> 00:35:22,258 She was always trying to think up things 475 00:35:22,293 --> 00:35:25,624 that Ran could do to make some money. 476 00:35:25,659 --> 00:35:27,989 RAN: Ginny got onto an actors' agency 477 00:35:28,024 --> 00:35:31,795 who wanted me to audition for James Bond. 478 00:35:31,830 --> 00:35:35,370 Got into the last six. Some other bloke got it. 479 00:35:35,405 --> 00:35:37,405 Roger Moore. 480 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:40,375 She kept him on track, got him organised 481 00:35:40,410 --> 00:35:45,479 and opened the doors to get a publisher for the first book. 482 00:35:54,952 --> 00:35:58,525 JILL: Ginny interpreted the world for him. 483 00:35:58,560 --> 00:36:02,265 She enabled him, and she'd move heaven and earth 484 00:36:02,300 --> 00:36:05,433 to make sure whatever needed to be done got done. 485 00:36:08,471 --> 00:36:11,868 RAN: Ginny realised that doing hot expeditions 486 00:36:11,903 --> 00:36:15,278 wasn't ever going to get sponsorship or media coverage. 487 00:36:18,415 --> 00:36:22,582 The media only wanted polar stuff. 488 00:36:22,617 --> 00:36:26,047 She decided that if one's gonna make any sort of income, 489 00:36:26,082 --> 00:36:29,787 we'd have to make a big entry into the polar fraternity 490 00:36:29,822 --> 00:36:33,296 with the most impressive journey she could think of. 491 00:36:49,446 --> 00:36:51,039 -Ah, Sir Ranulph. -Hello, Admiral. 492 00:36:51,074 --> 00:36:52,678 You all right? 493 00:36:52,713 --> 00:36:53,976 -Come in. -Good to see you. 494 00:36:54,011 --> 00:36:55,978 -You all right? -In time for some fodder? 495 00:36:56,013 --> 00:36:58,255 Food, yeah. Are you are you OK? 496 00:36:59,951 --> 00:37:01,687 (GROANS) 497 00:37:03,724 --> 00:37:05,922 -So... -How's the family? 498 00:37:05,957 --> 00:37:08,892 They're all right. They're fine. Yeah. 499 00:37:08,927 --> 00:37:11,301 Do you want anything with that? Ketchup or... 500 00:37:11,336 --> 00:37:14,062 -(SPEAKS GERMAN) -Ja? 501 00:37:14,097 --> 00:37:17,307 (SPEAKS GERMAN) 502 00:37:17,342 --> 00:37:19,804 OK. (SPEAKS GERMAN) 503 00:37:19,839 --> 00:37:22,906 -There you have it. -(SPEAKS GERMAN) 504 00:37:22,941 --> 00:37:25,414 -All right? -Yeah, great. 505 00:37:25,449 --> 00:37:29,044 This is just perfect. Well worth a five-hour journey. 506 00:37:29,079 --> 00:37:31,288 (LAUGHS) 507 00:37:36,361 --> 00:37:39,087 You haven't lost your touch, cookie. 508 00:37:39,122 --> 00:37:41,694 -(ANTON LAUGHS) -Very good. 509 00:37:43,929 --> 00:37:46,336 ANTON: Yeah, now I've got loads of stuff 510 00:37:46,371 --> 00:37:49,097 to show you in my little room, 511 00:37:49,132 --> 00:37:51,440 my archive room. 512 00:37:51,475 --> 00:37:53,442 That is a piece of history, that little globe, 513 00:37:53,477 --> 00:37:57,446 because that red line, your Ginny... 514 00:37:57,481 --> 00:37:58,612 Yeah. 515 00:37:58,647 --> 00:38:00,944 She drew what she thought was the best way 516 00:38:00,979 --> 00:38:04,585 of doing the first journey around Earth, vertically, 517 00:38:04,620 --> 00:38:06,653 with her crayon. 518 00:38:06,688 --> 00:38:08,424 I used to take her out from her school. 519 00:38:08,459 --> 00:38:11,053 That was her school globe of the world. Yeah. 520 00:38:18,832 --> 00:38:20,898 NARRATOR: No one had yet journeyed 521 00:38:20,933 --> 00:38:23,571 the Earth's surface along its polar axis. 522 00:38:23,606 --> 00:38:28,840 Encouraged by his wife Ginny, Ran Fiennes would try it. 523 00:38:30,173 --> 00:38:33,416 PRINCE CHARLES: It took seven years to prepare for 524 00:38:33,451 --> 00:38:36,617 and will take another three years to complete. 525 00:38:36,652 --> 00:38:37,783 When they return, 526 00:38:37,818 --> 00:38:41,050 the team will have walked, sailed, 527 00:38:41,085 --> 00:38:44,955 driven and skied more than 52,000 miles. 528 00:38:44,990 --> 00:38:47,562 It is an extraordinary adventure, 529 00:38:47,597 --> 00:38:51,962 and in my opinion, gloriously and refreshingly mad. 530 00:38:51,997 --> 00:38:53,832 CHRISTOPHER WENNER: This is a polar expedition 531 00:38:53,867 --> 00:38:54,965 with a difference. 532 00:38:55,000 --> 00:38:57,000 It's called the Transglobe Expedition 533 00:38:57,035 --> 00:38:58,474 because it means to go 534 00:38:58,509 --> 00:39:01,477 both to North and the South Poles in one journey. 535 00:39:01,512 --> 00:39:03,545 An expedition that sounds as if 536 00:39:03,580 --> 00:39:05,646 it's just come straight out of the pages 537 00:39:05,681 --> 00:39:07,582 of Boy's Own magazine. 538 00:39:07,617 --> 00:39:08,880 And for a team that's led 539 00:39:08,915 --> 00:39:11,685 by Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 540 00:39:11,720 --> 00:39:16,151 surely nothing is impossible, except perhaps his name. 541 00:39:17,220 --> 00:39:19,495 From a contemporary point of view, 542 00:39:19,530 --> 00:39:26,634 you could say that this is totally white privileged folly. 543 00:39:26,669 --> 00:39:30,704 There is something about him that I think makes a lot of us 544 00:39:30,739 --> 00:39:31,969 want to just hug him 545 00:39:32,004 --> 00:39:35,137 and then grab him by the collar and shake him. 546 00:39:35,172 --> 00:39:36,842 All in all, an incredible journey 547 00:39:36,877 --> 00:39:38,976 and one which is going to be shared by Ran 548 00:39:39,011 --> 00:39:41,682 and the others on the expedition by a dog. 549 00:39:41,717 --> 00:39:42,914 WENNER: He's Bothie. 550 00:39:42,949 --> 00:39:45,653 And he's a Jack Russell, and just 18 months old. 551 00:39:45,688 --> 00:39:49,151 And he's going to be the expedition's mascot. 552 00:39:49,186 --> 00:39:51,252 Good boy, Bothie. 553 00:39:51,287 --> 00:39:54,123 He didn't have big wealth to fall on. 554 00:39:54,158 --> 00:39:56,466 He had to raise every penny. 555 00:39:57,964 --> 00:40:02,065 Transglobe's, like, a $27-million operation. 556 00:40:02,100 --> 00:40:04,969 The fuel alone is off the chart. 557 00:40:05,004 --> 00:40:08,170 How can you do that? You can't do that. 558 00:40:08,205 --> 00:40:10,909 Well, he did it. 559 00:40:10,944 --> 00:40:13,549 REPORTER: More than 650 companies around the world 560 00:40:13,584 --> 00:40:14,781 made this possible, 561 00:40:14,816 --> 00:40:17,487 supplying goods and services. 562 00:40:17,522 --> 00:40:21,953 In some ways, Transglobe was like putting men on the moon. 563 00:40:21,988 --> 00:40:27,728 JEAN: Everything that they got was sponsored or scavenged. 564 00:40:27,763 --> 00:40:29,224 PETER: He's the world's best scavenger. 565 00:40:29,259 --> 00:40:31,094 JEAN: Yeah. 566 00:40:31,129 --> 00:40:34,834 RAN: Ginny and I started off with no money at all. 567 00:40:35,771 --> 00:40:37,133 So, as a married couple, 568 00:40:37,168 --> 00:40:43,810 our rule was "never pay anybody for anything at any time". 569 00:40:45,011 --> 00:40:47,044 We, or particularly Ginny, 570 00:40:47,079 --> 00:40:50,113 became very good at convincing people 571 00:40:50,148 --> 00:40:52,148 to give large sums of money 572 00:40:52,183 --> 00:40:56,086 in return for publicity for their company name. 573 00:40:56,891 --> 00:40:58,990 Quite simple, really. 574 00:41:01,599 --> 00:41:04,094 The whole principle of the expedition 575 00:41:04,129 --> 00:41:06,030 was that nobody got paid. 576 00:41:08,166 --> 00:41:09,638 That was the mantra. 577 00:41:09,673 --> 00:41:12,938 It was the thing that held it all together. 578 00:41:12,973 --> 00:41:15,941 Different people all willing to work for nothing 579 00:41:15,976 --> 00:41:18,009 for something they believed in. 580 00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:25,555 ANTON: This is the first letter that I received from you, 581 00:41:25,590 --> 00:41:27,722 do you remember, when I applied to join the expedition? 582 00:41:27,757 --> 00:41:29,691 -RAN: Amazing. -(CHUCKLES) 583 00:41:29,726 --> 00:41:32,991 "Dear Mr Bowring, thank you for your letter and your interest. 584 00:41:33,026 --> 00:41:36,324 We are looking for a qualified, honest, 585 00:41:36,359 --> 00:41:41,032 non-union, unpaid underlined crew. 586 00:41:41,067 --> 00:41:45,003 We are wanting to complete scientific work from the trawler 587 00:41:45,038 --> 00:41:46,202 during the expedition. 588 00:41:46,237 --> 00:41:48,743 We are not wanting photographers. 589 00:41:48,778 --> 00:41:53,044 Excuse this writing, but I'm on a v shaky train to York. 590 00:41:53,079 --> 00:41:56,311 Yours sincerely, Ranulph Fiennes, Expedition Leader." 591 00:41:56,346 --> 00:41:57,620 (LAUGHS) 592 00:41:57,655 --> 00:41:59,985 -Good heavens. -Yeah. 593 00:42:00,020 --> 00:42:01,118 -Ready? -Yeah. 594 00:42:05,861 --> 00:42:11,326 Ran is the hardiest, craziest, 595 00:42:11,361 --> 00:42:14,670 most insane person 596 00:42:14,705 --> 00:42:19,235 I have ever absolutely loved working for. 597 00:42:21,811 --> 00:42:23,745 My boss at the time said, 598 00:42:23,780 --> 00:42:26,748 "Ran's well known. He's a ruthless bastard." 599 00:42:26,783 --> 00:42:30,114 He chews up soldiers and spits them out. 600 00:42:30,149 --> 00:42:34,349 But he's successful because he's so driven. 601 00:42:34,384 --> 00:42:36,692 He never takes no for an answer. 602 00:42:39,994 --> 00:42:41,796 REPORTER: Strong winds and currents, 603 00:42:41,831 --> 00:42:43,061 combined with heavy loads 604 00:42:43,096 --> 00:42:44,260 had put too great a strain 605 00:42:44,295 --> 00:42:46,735 on the inflatable boats and their engines. 606 00:42:46,770 --> 00:42:48,803 RAN: What do you think it is, Jack? 607 00:42:48,838 --> 00:42:52,268 Breakdowns had become commonplace. 608 00:42:52,303 --> 00:42:54,974 RAN: Obviously you've got to have another sort of boat. 609 00:42:55,009 --> 00:42:58,010 This is what Ginny's, you know, all about. 610 00:42:58,045 --> 00:43:00,276 We're now two or three days behind the schedule 611 00:43:00,311 --> 00:43:01,310 instead of ahead of it. 612 00:43:01,345 --> 00:43:03,950 I asked her to get a Boston whaler, 613 00:43:03,985 --> 00:43:06,282 and that they might cost something like $13,000, 614 00:43:06,317 --> 00:43:08,020 to get big engines for them, 615 00:43:08,055 --> 00:43:10,352 but she mustn't spend any money on doing it, 616 00:43:10,387 --> 00:43:12,024 and she must do it within two weeks. 617 00:43:12,059 --> 00:43:13,421 After that, it was up to her. 618 00:43:13,456 --> 00:43:15,929 GINNY: Ran has decided to use an 18-foot Boston whaler. 619 00:43:15,964 --> 00:43:18,668 Problem is, we need an 18-foot Boston whaler. 620 00:43:18,703 --> 00:43:22,001 REPORTER: Within a week, Ginny finds a boat and a sponsor. 621 00:43:22,036 --> 00:43:25,334 RAN: ♪ Bowl of spaghetti 622 00:43:25,369 --> 00:43:29,338 ♪ All covered in cheese 623 00:43:29,373 --> 00:43:33,848 ♪ I lost my poor meatball 624 00:43:33,883 --> 00:43:36,785 ♪ When somebody sneezed 625 00:43:38,987 --> 00:43:40,756 Anton. 626 00:43:40,791 --> 00:43:44,023 Amazing seeing it back on the water again. 627 00:43:44,058 --> 00:43:48,060 Forty years you've looked after it. (LAUGHS) 628 00:43:51,428 --> 00:43:53,296 I can remember the trouble on the telephone 629 00:43:53,331 --> 00:43:55,771 trying to get them free of charge. 630 00:43:55,806 --> 00:43:58,136 Ginny did. She had a good voice. 631 00:43:58,171 --> 00:44:01,040 Good at what they call wheedling. 632 00:44:01,075 --> 00:44:02,404 (LAUGHS) 633 00:44:04,342 --> 00:44:06,980 (ENGINE STALLS) 634 00:44:07,015 --> 00:44:09,884 Whoops. Come on. 635 00:44:10,381 --> 00:44:12,722 (ENGINE STARTS) 636 00:44:12,757 --> 00:44:14,317 That's more like it. 637 00:44:40,983 --> 00:44:44,545 There's something about Ran that makes people... 638 00:44:44,580 --> 00:44:47,350 put their lives in his hands. 639 00:44:49,585 --> 00:44:52,091 You have that, that feeling that he will, you know, 640 00:44:52,126 --> 00:44:53,928 that he'll never let you down. 641 00:45:02,598 --> 00:45:06,270 He can talk to you in such a way 642 00:45:06,305 --> 00:45:08,404 that, I won't call it hypnosis, 643 00:45:08,439 --> 00:45:12,540 but you're mesmerised by what he's saying 644 00:45:12,575 --> 00:45:14,014 and all of a sudden, 645 00:45:14,049 --> 00:45:18,117 you just want to do these crazy things with him. 646 00:45:18,152 --> 00:45:20,581 PRINCE CHARLES: Benjamin Bowring, this is Cove Radio. 647 00:45:20,616 --> 00:45:21,989 Do you read me? Over. 648 00:45:22,024 --> 00:45:23,793 BOWRING: This is Benjamin Bowring. 649 00:45:23,828 --> 00:45:28,028 I have you loud and clear, Your Royal Highness. 650 00:45:28,063 --> 00:45:34,298 He wrote asking if I'd be at all interested in helping, and... 651 00:45:34,333 --> 00:45:35,970 I obviously met him after that 652 00:45:36,005 --> 00:45:38,038 because I'm a sucker for those sort of marvellous characters 653 00:45:38,073 --> 00:45:44,374 who are full of, you know, enthusiasm and ingenuity. 654 00:45:44,409 --> 00:45:47,377 The great British eccentrics really. 655 00:45:47,412 --> 00:45:50,578 And indeed he is one of life's great eccentrics. 656 00:45:50,613 --> 00:45:52,415 -Hip hip. -Hooray! 657 00:45:52,450 --> 00:45:54,384 -Hip hip. -Hooray! 658 00:46:01,657 --> 00:46:03,228 ANTON: Are we gonna play Boggle? 659 00:46:03,263 --> 00:46:05,263 JILL: Go on then. 660 00:46:05,298 --> 00:46:07,034 -ANTON: OK. -JILL: Right. 661 00:46:07,069 --> 00:46:09,036 ANTON: And what are we doing, 60 seconds? 662 00:46:09,071 --> 00:46:11,236 JILL: No, three minutes. Soft-boiled egg. 663 00:46:11,271 --> 00:46:12,567 ANTON: That's a long time. 664 00:46:12,602 --> 00:46:16,010 JILL: No, by the time you've written down 25 words... 665 00:46:16,045 --> 00:46:18,177 -ANTON: Twenty-five? -(LAUGHS) 666 00:46:18,212 --> 00:46:20,311 ANTON: Who can write down 25 words? 667 00:46:20,346 --> 00:46:22,412 I was thinking about two or three. 668 00:46:22,447 --> 00:46:23,985 ANTON: Exactly. 669 00:46:24,020 --> 00:46:25,283 Are we ready? 670 00:46:25,318 --> 00:46:28,385 -Three, two, one, go. -JILL: OK. 671 00:46:29,091 --> 00:46:30,552 ANTON: Oh, Lord. 672 00:46:30,587 --> 00:46:34,193 He cheats dreadfully at card games. 673 00:46:34,228 --> 00:46:38,032 Hates children winning, and is really good fun. Very good fun. 674 00:46:38,067 --> 00:46:39,902 -Ooh. -(ALARM CHIMES) 675 00:46:39,937 --> 00:46:42,135 -Gay. -RAN: Yes. 676 00:46:42,170 --> 00:46:43,631 Pan. 677 00:46:46,504 --> 00:46:48,603 Two, one, go. 678 00:46:53,951 --> 00:46:55,610 -Dent. -JILL: Yes. 679 00:46:55,645 --> 00:47:00,054 -Man, M-A-N. -Yeah, yeah. 680 00:47:00,089 --> 00:47:02,958 And then an umbrella, which is a gamp. 681 00:47:05,061 --> 00:47:06,588 -Beg your pardon? -(LAUGHS) 682 00:47:06,623 --> 00:47:09,129 -Mill. Did someone have mill? -JILL: Yes, I had mill. 683 00:47:09,164 --> 00:47:10,197 -Right. -JILL: What's a gamp? 684 00:47:10,232 --> 00:47:12,231 -ANTON: What is a gamp? -Look it up on your thing. 685 00:47:12,266 --> 00:47:13,628 We can't. 686 00:47:13,663 --> 00:47:15,564 -We haven't got a signal. -JILL: We haven't got a signal. 687 00:47:15,599 --> 00:47:18,237 ANTON: Is it an Eton word? 688 00:47:18,272 --> 00:47:21,372 -Is it slang? -RAN: People at Eton use it, 689 00:47:21,407 --> 00:47:23,242 but that doesn't mean no one else does. 690 00:47:23,277 --> 00:47:26,916 I mean, at my school a bicycle was a bincy. 691 00:47:26,951 --> 00:47:29,050 -RAN: A bintry? -ANTON: A bincy. 692 00:47:29,085 --> 00:47:31,514 We had very strange words in my school. 693 00:47:31,549 --> 00:47:36,123 If you were a sort of slave boy, you were called scum. 694 00:47:36,158 --> 00:47:40,292 Our lot went, "Boy!" 695 00:47:40,327 --> 00:47:41,997 I mean, for a long, long time 696 00:47:42,032 --> 00:47:45,627 and every little boy doing their prep or whatever had to run. 697 00:47:45,662 --> 00:47:47,596 And one got beaten by the senior boys. 698 00:47:47,631 --> 00:47:50,170 ANTON: You did. I did. 699 00:47:50,205 --> 00:47:52,073 It's always been said of that school, 700 00:47:52,108 --> 00:47:54,273 it gives the students tremendous confidence. 701 00:47:54,308 --> 00:47:57,177 They come out believing they can do whatever they want to. 702 00:47:57,212 --> 00:47:59,740 -That wasn't the case for you? -I was the opposite. 703 00:47:59,775 --> 00:48:04,481 When I went there, I think I had lots of cocky self-confidence. 704 00:48:04,516 --> 00:48:06,285 I lost all that. 705 00:48:10,291 --> 00:48:13,358 I was apparently a pretty boy aged 11, 706 00:48:13,393 --> 00:48:15,965 and they'd take the mickey. 707 00:48:17,133 --> 00:48:20,233 So-and-so has a crush on that pretty boy 708 00:48:20,268 --> 00:48:21,696 and all the rest of it. 709 00:48:21,731 --> 00:48:27,075 Having had only women who never bullied me, 710 00:48:27,110 --> 00:48:29,605 I didn't get good at being nasty back. 711 00:48:31,444 --> 00:48:32,509 MARK LAWSON: And the boxing 712 00:48:32,544 --> 00:48:34,181 was a direct response to the bullying. 713 00:48:34,216 --> 00:48:38,515 Yeah. It was, to being pretty, um... 714 00:48:38,550 --> 00:48:43,652 Trying to be aggressive and trying to be unpretty and big, 715 00:48:43,687 --> 00:48:45,588 boxing seemed to be the right answer. 716 00:48:45,623 --> 00:48:47,392 And it worked pretty well, I think. 717 00:48:52,795 --> 00:48:56,137 I don't think Ran likes to be put into a set-up 718 00:48:56,172 --> 00:48:59,008 whereby, "Here's a guy who went to Eton, 719 00:48:59,043 --> 00:49:01,538 he was an officer in the cavalry and he was in the military." 720 00:49:03,443 --> 00:49:06,675 REPORTER: Headed by Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 721 00:49:06,710 --> 00:49:11,482 Eton, the Royal Scots Greys and Special Air Service, retired. 722 00:49:11,517 --> 00:49:13,814 OLIVER: I remember in the very early days 723 00:49:13,849 --> 00:49:16,025 when we started doing interviews, 724 00:49:16,060 --> 00:49:17,323 Ran said to all of us, 725 00:49:17,358 --> 00:49:19,259 "For heaven's sake, don't mention you went to Eton 726 00:49:19,294 --> 00:49:21,492 or don't mention you went to a public school." 727 00:49:21,527 --> 00:49:23,725 -That one's good. -Yeah, there's six black. 728 00:49:23,760 --> 00:49:26,233 Six black, eleven blue and four red. 729 00:49:27,302 --> 00:49:29,038 Right, sleeping bags, two. 730 00:49:29,073 --> 00:49:30,732 OLIVER: Someone that's got a title 731 00:49:30,767 --> 00:49:32,437 and a triple-barrelled name, 732 00:49:32,472 --> 00:49:36,078 I mean, it's asking for trouble. (LAUGHS) 733 00:49:36,113 --> 00:49:39,675 -MAN: You're a knight and you... -Yeah, but I got born that way. 734 00:49:39,710 --> 00:49:42,216 You could have been born that way. 735 00:49:42,251 --> 00:49:43,679 No, we haven't got any money. 736 00:49:45,617 --> 00:49:48,288 OLIVER: The press really were pretty nasty to him 737 00:49:48,323 --> 00:49:49,718 on numerous occasions. 738 00:49:50,754 --> 00:49:51,852 He let it bounce off him 739 00:49:51,887 --> 00:49:54,063 but underneath, you could see the scars, 740 00:49:54,098 --> 00:49:56,428 if I can put it that way. 741 00:49:56,463 --> 00:49:59,497 RAN: If people immediately think, "Oh, he's a Sir," 742 00:49:59,532 --> 00:50:00,861 that puts my hackles up. 743 00:50:00,896 --> 00:50:03,501 I cross it out whenever I possibly can. 744 00:50:03,536 --> 00:50:05,668 I hate it, I really do. 745 00:50:05,703 --> 00:50:08,704 If you take a really good friend like Robin Knox-Johnston, 746 00:50:08,739 --> 00:50:12,147 he uses the Sir and he deserves it cos he earned it. 747 00:50:12,182 --> 00:50:14,413 I didn't earn a Sir at all. 748 00:50:14,448 --> 00:50:17,416 I got born with it cos my dad had been killed, 749 00:50:17,451 --> 00:50:19,847 and he got it because his dad had been killed. 750 00:50:19,882 --> 00:50:22,223 So, if you don't earn it, why use it? 751 00:50:22,258 --> 00:50:24,093 Ran Fiennes is fine by me. 752 00:50:35,304 --> 00:50:38,767 Ran's journeys and exploits 753 00:50:38,802 --> 00:50:43,409 are his way of trying to step out and go beyond. 754 00:50:44,742 --> 00:50:46,643 Come here, Ran. 755 00:50:46,678 --> 00:50:49,382 Ran, in terms of film-making, 756 00:50:49,417 --> 00:50:53,452 you're trying to look for some kind of psychological meaning 757 00:50:53,487 --> 00:50:54,684 behind what's going on, 758 00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:58,292 you're trying to find some kind of conflict. 759 00:50:58,327 --> 00:51:00,327 And there wasn't any. 760 00:51:01,495 --> 00:51:02,692 Because these people, 761 00:51:02,727 --> 00:51:05,299 they won't stoop down to saying, you know, 762 00:51:05,334 --> 00:51:08,599 "That motherfucker isn't holding up his part of the job. 763 00:51:08,634 --> 00:51:12,537 And I hope somebody kicks him in the balls till his nose bleeds." 764 00:51:12,572 --> 00:51:15,177 You know, those are the lines we're looking for, 765 00:51:15,212 --> 00:51:16,871 you're not gonna get 'em. 766 00:51:18,413 --> 00:51:20,908 -MIKE: Wait second. Hit it. -Got it. 767 00:51:22,978 --> 00:51:27,618 MIKE: And that was because Ran never bad-mouthed anybody. 768 00:51:27,653 --> 00:51:31,391 You couldn't make him disagreeable. 769 00:51:31,426 --> 00:51:34,163 He was always positive solving problems. 770 00:51:37,267 --> 00:51:39,597 And then I kept saying, "It's my fault. 771 00:51:39,632 --> 00:51:41,368 I'm doing something wrong. 772 00:51:41,403 --> 00:51:44,866 I'm not getting into these guys." 773 00:51:44,901 --> 00:51:46,802 And these guys, you don't get into 'em. 774 00:51:49,609 --> 00:51:52,181 You know, he's the classic old Brit guy. 775 00:51:53,613 --> 00:51:55,877 This guy is so classy, 776 00:51:55,912 --> 00:51:59,584 you don't know that there's anything even under the skin. 777 00:52:01,390 --> 00:52:04,424 You know, a piece of granite 778 00:52:05,559 --> 00:52:06,921 cut out of the same stuff 779 00:52:06,956 --> 00:52:09,594 from the skin all the way to the heart. 780 00:52:15,932 --> 00:52:18,834 (WIND HOWLS) 781 00:52:32,289 --> 00:52:35,884 The great thing is that they've achieved the Antarctic crossing. 782 00:52:35,919 --> 00:52:38,491 And that's a marvellous feather in their caps. 783 00:52:38,526 --> 00:52:41,956 I thought it was enough, that alone. 784 00:52:41,991 --> 00:52:46,928 But to go on and do the Arctic is real, uh, bravery, I think. 785 00:52:49,966 --> 00:52:52,934 The Arctic is a real challenge 786 00:52:53,838 --> 00:52:55,937 and they're not in any way 787 00:52:55,972 --> 00:52:59,941 accepting this next challenge lightly. 788 00:53:01,582 --> 00:53:04,583 I think this probably will be the most difficult. 789 00:53:11,955 --> 00:53:14,362 RAN: I got brought up with a religion, 790 00:53:15,497 --> 00:53:16,793 but it's not strong enough 791 00:53:16,828 --> 00:53:19,367 to deal with sort of gangrene and crotch rot 792 00:53:19,402 --> 00:53:21,303 and all of that sort of stuff. 793 00:53:23,736 --> 00:53:28,442 So I have to invent my own way of having a mental fight. 794 00:53:32,514 --> 00:53:36,285 And that is to say, people I respected most in my life, 795 00:53:36,320 --> 00:53:40,322 my father and my grandfather, are watching me, 796 00:53:40,357 --> 00:53:43,754 and I must not give in, I must not give in. 797 00:53:50,466 --> 00:53:53,995 I invite the ghosts into my head so that they are there 798 00:53:54,030 --> 00:53:57,900 and I do not want to let them down. Simple. 799 00:54:02,445 --> 00:54:07,283 When they said you shouldn't leave before February 28th 800 00:54:08,649 --> 00:54:11,617 because it's too dark to see properly 801 00:54:11,652 --> 00:54:14,818 and too cold to feel your toes, they were right. 802 00:54:14,853 --> 00:54:17,326 They were all right. 803 00:54:17,361 --> 00:54:20,329 What are we doing? We're cultivating arthritis. 804 00:54:25,666 --> 00:54:29,833 (INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER) 805 00:55:04,936 --> 00:55:07,376 (PHONE RINGS) 806 00:55:16,145 --> 00:55:18,112 MAN: Hello, Transglobe London. 807 00:55:20,149 --> 00:55:23,018 You're calling from Resolute Bay, yes. 808 00:55:25,759 --> 00:55:29,893 You have, yes. What is it, please? 809 00:55:29,928 --> 00:55:32,962 "My team has arrived at the North Pole." 810 00:55:32,997 --> 00:55:34,700 Thanks very much. 811 00:55:48,683 --> 00:55:52,718 RAN: 812 00:55:59,628 --> 00:56:04,125 GINNY: 813 00:56:11,508 --> 00:56:15,136 (BIG BEN CHIMES) 814 00:56:15,171 --> 00:56:17,578 At last they've done it. Thank goodness they have. 815 00:56:17,613 --> 00:56:19,712 It's something for the country to be proud of. 816 00:56:19,747 --> 00:56:21,142 It's a wonderful achievement. 817 00:56:21,177 --> 00:56:23,716 They got a lot of guts to go there, innit? 818 00:56:23,751 --> 00:56:26,147 -That's really kind of you. -Open it now. 819 00:56:28,052 --> 00:56:30,756 It's an egg. An Easter egg. 820 00:56:30,791 --> 00:56:32,659 Fantastic. 821 00:56:32,694 --> 00:56:34,727 WOMAN: I think they're very brave people. 822 00:56:34,762 --> 00:56:38,599 MAN: They're brave men, there's no doubt about it. 823 00:56:38,634 --> 00:56:42,603 I'd say they're brave, but they're still idiots. 824 00:56:45,608 --> 00:56:48,543 (CAR REVERSE BEEPING) 825 00:56:53,649 --> 00:56:55,484 RAN: I had 9,000 miles on the clock. 826 00:56:55,519 --> 00:56:58,245 It's now got 280,000 miles on the clock. 827 00:56:58,280 --> 00:57:00,049 And it's still doing wonderful. 828 00:57:07,091 --> 00:57:10,257 It has got hieroglyphics down both sides 829 00:57:10,292 --> 00:57:12,468 which make it sort of picturesque. 830 00:57:13,064 --> 00:57:15,933 (CAR BEEPS) 831 00:57:26,209 --> 00:57:29,815 (CAR BEEPS) 832 00:57:29,850 --> 00:57:32,081 So, we're on the lookout for exit signs, 833 00:57:32,116 --> 00:57:34,490 that is the most important thing. 834 00:57:35,724 --> 00:57:37,119 PETER: We call him Mondeo Man. 835 00:57:37,154 --> 00:57:39,858 -JEAN: Yeah. -He wears cars out. 836 00:57:39,893 --> 00:57:42,663 (JEAN LAUGHS) 837 00:57:42,698 --> 00:57:46,293 ANTON: I went driving with Ran last year I think it was. 838 00:57:46,328 --> 00:57:47,866 It was terrifying. 839 00:57:47,901 --> 00:57:50,737 He had one hand over one eye for some reason 840 00:57:50,772 --> 00:57:52,541 and was driving like that. 841 00:57:52,576 --> 00:57:54,576 (LAUGHS) 842 00:57:54,611 --> 00:57:57,942 PETER: Just went down Earls Court Road the wrong way 843 00:57:57,977 --> 00:58:00,681 and I thought, "Bloody hell!" you know. 844 00:58:00,716 --> 00:58:04,718 It was bum-clenching time. 845 00:58:04,753 --> 00:58:07,556 ANTON: He used to be sort of honestly, you know, 846 00:58:07,591 --> 00:58:08,854 military in his driving, 847 00:58:08,889 --> 00:58:11,824 but now he's sort of all over the place. 848 00:58:13,223 --> 00:58:15,223 (CAR HORN BLARES) 849 00:58:18,899 --> 00:58:21,295 RAN: Keeping awake is a problem, 850 00:58:21,330 --> 00:58:23,836 driving for ten hours at a time, 851 00:58:23,871 --> 00:58:26,839 sometimes longer, doing what I do. 852 00:58:26,874 --> 00:58:28,940 So what I do, basically, 853 00:58:28,975 --> 00:58:33,043 is I administer a wake-up, sort of like that, 854 00:58:33,078 --> 00:58:34,913 and it works maybe for half an hour 855 00:58:34,948 --> 00:58:36,343 and then you have to stop. 856 00:58:38,655 --> 00:58:43,724 But the hotels round here cost £300 for bed and breakfast. 857 00:58:43,759 --> 00:58:49,961 So at night time, one would go into a place like that, 858 00:58:49,996 --> 00:58:53,932 get your sleeping bag out, set your alarm clock 859 00:58:53,967 --> 00:58:56,330 and Bob's your uncle. 860 00:58:57,641 --> 00:59:00,070 I use the suits as curtains. 861 00:59:04,043 --> 00:59:08,243 (PHONE LINE RINGS) 862 00:59:10,984 --> 00:59:13,688 -Hello, mate. How are you doing? -MATT: Hey, Will. 863 00:59:13,723 --> 00:59:17,989 WILL: I've worked with Ran now probably about three years. 864 00:59:19,696 --> 00:59:24,732 The first time I met Ran, yeah, it was, uh, interesting. 865 00:59:26,197 --> 00:59:28,296 Whoops. 866 00:59:28,331 --> 00:59:30,364 I don't wanna run over a bicycle. 867 00:59:31,708 --> 00:59:33,400 WILL: I'd pulled up at the venue 868 00:59:33,435 --> 00:59:35,941 and I went to try and find where he was. 869 00:59:35,976 --> 00:59:41,012 From across the car park, I saw this half-naked old man 870 00:59:41,047 --> 00:59:44,114 bobbing up and down in between the cars. 871 00:59:44,149 --> 00:59:45,247 (LAUGHS) 872 00:59:45,282 --> 00:59:47,953 And it was right then when I realised, 873 00:59:47,988 --> 00:59:49,856 "Ah, this guy is crazy." 874 00:59:53,125 --> 00:59:54,388 -Hi, Will. -Afternoon, Sir. 875 00:59:54,423 --> 00:59:56,665 -You know Matt? -We've met on the phone. 876 00:59:56,700 --> 00:59:57,831 Hi, Matt. How you doing? 877 00:59:57,866 --> 01:00:00,801 -You wanna park up, don't you? -Yeah. 878 01:00:00,836 --> 01:00:02,803 Actually, the entrance is just there. 879 01:00:03,806 --> 01:00:05,300 WILL: There's been times, like, 880 01:00:05,335 --> 01:00:09,370 we'd have quite a serious conversation about money. 881 01:00:09,405 --> 01:00:11,680 And then he says... 882 01:00:11,715 --> 01:00:14,980 -So, Will... -"Will, what does woke mean?" 883 01:00:15,015 --> 01:00:17,015 (LAUGHS) 884 01:00:17,050 --> 01:00:18,885 What is... what is going on? 885 01:00:18,920 --> 01:00:21,756 What is Ranulph Fiennes asking me what "woke" means? 886 01:00:21,791 --> 01:00:24,220 (LAUGHS) 887 01:00:24,255 --> 01:00:26,893 This looks like solid chocolate. 888 01:00:29,898 --> 01:00:31,062 Mmm. 889 01:00:31,097 --> 01:00:34,362 You notice that I'm avoiding the entire cake. 890 01:00:35,332 --> 01:00:37,937 MATT: Why is that? 891 01:00:37,972 --> 01:00:42,139 Well, if I just have the icing and not the rest of the cake, 892 01:00:44,011 --> 01:00:47,474 my total chocolate input is less. 893 01:00:50,985 --> 01:00:52,446 That's it. 894 01:00:53,757 --> 01:00:55,988 Put that in there. 895 01:00:57,453 --> 01:01:01,521 MARYCLARE: I think Ran is the hero in his own story. 896 01:01:01,556 --> 01:01:04,359 If you find a photograph of a frostbitten hand... 897 01:01:04,394 --> 01:01:06,867 MARYCLARE: He is also the ringmaster. 898 01:01:06,902 --> 01:01:08,528 RAN: The most gory. 899 01:01:08,563 --> 01:01:11,003 (GASPING) 900 01:01:11,038 --> 01:01:14,270 (BEEPING) 901 01:01:20,817 --> 01:01:23,917 (INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER) 902 01:01:28,055 --> 01:01:31,089 NARRATOR: Ran and Charlie's final challenge. 903 01:01:31,124 --> 01:01:33,058 To get off the frozen ocean 904 01:01:33,093 --> 01:01:36,325 across the increasingly tenuous ice. 905 01:01:45,171 --> 01:01:49,943 RAN: 906 01:02:05,554 --> 01:02:09,798 RAN: As the summer progressed, the ice got more dangerous. 907 01:02:09,833 --> 01:02:12,427 I decided better to find an ice floe 908 01:02:12,462 --> 01:02:15,397 which was big enough to be fairly safe 909 01:02:15,432 --> 01:02:19,335 whilst there was still a big one. 910 01:02:19,370 --> 01:02:23,504 We wanted our ice floe to head off on a certain degree. 911 01:02:23,539 --> 01:02:26,540 Bloody ice floe went where it wanted. 912 01:02:26,575 --> 01:02:29,048 (DOGS BARK) 913 01:02:30,480 --> 01:02:36,550 Ginny was in North Greenland and I flew out to join her. 914 01:02:37,058 --> 01:02:38,893 Go away. 915 01:02:38,928 --> 01:02:41,995 Benjamin Bowring, Benjamin Bowring, Transglobe Nord. 916 01:02:42,030 --> 01:02:45,295 Benjamin Bowring, Benjamin Bowring, Transglobe Nord. 917 01:02:45,330 --> 01:02:48,496 ANTON: The general consensus amongst the experts 918 01:02:48,531 --> 01:02:52,434 was that it wouldn't be possible to actually go with the ship 919 01:02:52,469 --> 01:02:54,843 to where they were and pick them up. 920 01:02:54,878 --> 01:02:56,207 (INDISTINCT RADIO CHATTER) 921 01:02:56,242 --> 01:03:00,145 The experts in London and our committee in London 922 01:03:00,180 --> 01:03:02,048 felt that the aircraft should, 923 01:03:02,083 --> 01:03:03,984 while it could still land on this ice floe, 924 01:03:04,019 --> 01:03:06,085 pick them up, take them out of the Arctic, 925 01:03:06,120 --> 01:03:09,891 and that would be the expedition successfully concluded. 926 01:03:11,587 --> 01:03:15,259 RAN: At the very last moment of the three-year expedition, 927 01:03:15,294 --> 01:03:16,865 and seven years' planning, 928 01:03:16,900 --> 01:03:21,331 to have it ruined by being flown out was pretty dreadful. 929 01:03:26,602 --> 01:03:31,638 ANTON: The decision from the committee to airlift you out 930 01:03:31,673 --> 01:03:35,983 was thwarted because Ginny in her incredible way said, 931 01:03:36,018 --> 01:03:39,217 "I'm awfully sorry, Sir Evan, I can't hear what you're saying. 932 01:03:39,252 --> 01:03:41,120 It's a very, very bad line. 933 01:03:41,155 --> 01:03:43,221 I'm losing you. I'm sorry, I can't hear 934 01:03:43,256 --> 01:03:45,124 but I think you said 'press on'." 935 01:03:45,159 --> 01:03:47,357 -(LAUGHS) -"And we shall, we shall. 936 01:03:47,392 --> 01:03:48,523 We'll get there in the end." 937 01:03:48,558 --> 01:03:51,328 -And she put the receiver down. -Wonderful. 938 01:03:54,663 --> 01:04:00,073 RAN: Ginny used the ski-planes to ask us our opinions. 939 01:04:03,078 --> 01:04:04,473 -Switch it on. -CHARLES: It's always on. 940 01:04:04,508 --> 01:04:07,311 -It is on. -GINNY: I've lost my cigarette. 941 01:04:07,346 --> 01:04:10,644 RAN: No, that's your cigarette. I'm smoking it for you now. 942 01:04:10,679 --> 01:04:17,552 Now I agree to take personal responsibility for my own life 943 01:04:17,587 --> 01:04:22,095 in not hopping onto the aircraft while we have got the chance. 944 01:04:22,130 --> 01:04:24,064 And that's my opinion only, 945 01:04:24,099 --> 01:04:26,627 and so now for Charlie to tell you his. 946 01:04:26,662 --> 01:04:28,365 CHARLIE: If I wanted to get onto the plane, 947 01:04:28,400 --> 01:04:29,498 which I don't want to do, 948 01:04:29,533 --> 01:04:31,269 because I think it's so pointless. 949 01:04:31,304 --> 01:04:32,699 GINNY: Well, the point is, Charlie, 950 01:04:32,734 --> 01:04:34,338 that the committee have advised you. 951 01:04:34,373 --> 01:04:37,143 So they're saying that you're risking 952 01:04:37,178 --> 01:04:39,376 leaving yourself floating out 953 01:04:39,411 --> 01:04:42,610 in the Arctic Ocean forever and ever, amen. 954 01:04:42,645 --> 01:04:45,085 (RADIO STATIC) 955 01:04:51,126 --> 01:04:54,523 (WIND HOWLS) 956 01:04:57,429 --> 01:04:59,231 ANTON: About two months later, 957 01:04:59,266 --> 01:05:01,728 the aircraft wasn't gonna be able to land. 958 01:05:01,763 --> 01:05:04,071 There's no way they can be rescued. 959 01:05:06,570 --> 01:05:09,505 The ship had been trying on occasions 960 01:05:09,540 --> 01:05:12,607 to get into the ice and pick them up. 961 01:05:14,446 --> 01:05:16,281 It was impossible. 962 01:05:18,318 --> 01:05:20,956 We set out on another attempt. 963 01:05:31,100 --> 01:05:35,201 We're still going north-west. Still going north-west now. 964 01:05:35,236 --> 01:05:37,269 ANTON: We pushed and shoved and we got stuck. 965 01:05:37,304 --> 01:05:38,402 We waited a day or two. 966 01:05:39,801 --> 01:05:43,979 The ice closed in behind us. We pushed on again. 967 01:05:50,713 --> 01:05:54,649 We got to a position where the aircraft flew overhead 968 01:05:56,158 --> 01:05:58,653 and it can see Ran and Charlie in their camp, 969 01:05:58,688 --> 01:06:01,359 and it can see us at the same time. 970 01:06:04,100 --> 01:06:07,266 (INDISTINCT CHATTER) 971 01:06:13,109 --> 01:06:14,603 RAN: They sent a message, 972 01:06:14,638 --> 01:06:17,639 "We are X miles away from you. Come at once." 973 01:06:17,674 --> 01:06:19,806 We couldn't see the ship. 974 01:06:28,322 --> 01:06:31,686 The two of us were ridiculously weak by then. 975 01:06:34,625 --> 01:06:37,230 We were beginning to despair. 976 01:06:38,893 --> 01:06:43,104 Saw two matchsticks in the white horizon. 977 01:06:43,139 --> 01:06:44,864 The masts. 978 01:06:44,899 --> 01:06:47,834 And, you know, it even now 979 01:06:47,869 --> 01:06:49,440 makes me emotional to think of it. 980 01:06:53,347 --> 01:06:56,480 Failure was so close. 981 01:07:06,360 --> 01:07:09,229 The moment of getting on the ship... 982 01:07:13,466 --> 01:07:18,238 yeah, and seeing Ginny was amazing, yeah. 983 01:07:42,759 --> 01:07:44,924 REPORTER: On a sunny August Sunday, 984 01:07:44,959 --> 01:07:46,662 thousands come to Greenwich 985 01:07:46,697 --> 01:07:49,731 to greet the first men to circumnavigate the Earth 986 01:07:49,766 --> 01:07:51,568 via the South and North Poles. 987 01:07:51,603 --> 01:07:52,800 REPORTER 2: It was an adventure 988 01:07:52,835 --> 01:07:54,439 which took three years to complete. 989 01:07:54,474 --> 01:07:56,738 The planning began ten years ago. 990 01:07:56,773 --> 01:07:59,279 They've broken records, defied those who said 991 01:07:59,314 --> 01:08:01,908 they had neither the numbers nor the equipment... 992 01:08:01,943 --> 01:08:04,317 GINNY: I didn't want anything out of it myself. 993 01:08:04,352 --> 01:08:07,716 I haven't really any personal ambitions, so to speak. 994 01:08:07,751 --> 01:08:10,191 I'm really just, you know, a housewife. 995 01:08:12,822 --> 01:08:16,395 PRINCE CHARLES: Ginny was such an incredible support to him. 996 01:08:16,430 --> 01:08:17,792 She was absolutely crucial. 997 01:08:17,827 --> 01:08:20,663 She did so much of the work with the communications. 998 01:08:20,698 --> 01:08:24,172 She was ceaseless, absolutely ceaseless. 999 01:08:25,274 --> 01:08:26,603 And if it hadn't been for her, 1000 01:08:26,638 --> 01:08:29,276 I don't think any of this would have happened, really. 1001 01:09:05,281 --> 01:09:11,318 RAN: I always wanted what Ginny wanted, which was children. 1002 01:09:13,355 --> 01:09:18,457 We had decided one boy and one girl would be ideal. 1003 01:09:21,495 --> 01:09:25,200 We worked so hard at having children. 1004 01:09:26,797 --> 01:09:32,867 For 17 years, we went to IVF people. 1005 01:09:32,902 --> 01:09:37,410 And when that didn't work, we decided that we would adopt. 1006 01:09:38,941 --> 01:09:40,908 GINNY: Helping the chimney sweep. 1007 01:09:42,417 --> 01:09:46,782 RAN: We were told we were doing expeditions. 1008 01:09:46,817 --> 01:09:49,521 We didn't have a dependable income. 1009 01:09:54,792 --> 01:09:57,925 Ginny was very, very upset. 1010 01:10:07,706 --> 01:10:11,477 -ANTON: Um, Ran, coffee? -RAN: Yeah. 1011 01:10:11,512 --> 01:10:13,314 ANTON: Right, two coffees. 1012 01:10:18,079 --> 01:10:21,322 Gosh, I haven't been here for years. 1013 01:10:21,357 --> 01:10:24,655 When they first got the house, we used to come and visit. 1014 01:10:24,690 --> 01:10:26,756 It was a very long time ago 1015 01:10:26,791 --> 01:10:30,023 cos my girls are all in their thirties 1016 01:10:30,058 --> 01:10:33,829 and when we were here, they were tiny little people. 1017 01:10:33,864 --> 01:10:36,865 (CHILDREN CHATTER) 1018 01:10:42,642 --> 01:10:46,006 -(CHILD LAUGHS) -Mummy, look! 1019 01:10:46,041 --> 01:10:49,317 ANTON: We used to have the most amazing Christmases here. 1020 01:10:49,352 --> 01:10:54,355 RAN: Oh, look, the moment of maximum impact. 1021 01:10:55,787 --> 01:10:57,457 A blue flame. 1022 01:10:57,987 --> 01:10:59,855 A purple fire. 1023 01:11:02,794 --> 01:11:04,332 That's cute. 1024 01:11:04,994 --> 01:11:07,027 He called me Miniature. 1025 01:11:07,062 --> 01:11:10,833 Ginny was Big Ginny and I was Miniature. 1026 01:11:10,868 --> 01:11:14,837 And, you know, they were always, always part of our lives. 1027 01:11:14,872 --> 01:11:18,478 The pair of them were like second parents to us. 1028 01:11:18,513 --> 01:11:21,580 We were told off by them. 1029 01:11:21,615 --> 01:11:22,812 She would bark at anyone, 1030 01:11:22,847 --> 01:11:25,353 she would call herself the Witch of Exmoor. 1031 01:11:25,388 --> 01:11:28,917 The wickedest, sort of, sense of humour. 1032 01:11:28,952 --> 01:11:31,887 (CHILDREN LAUGH) 1033 01:11:31,922 --> 01:11:33,592 Life was just never boring 1034 01:11:33,627 --> 01:11:36,958 when you were spending time with the Fienneses. 1035 01:11:36,993 --> 01:11:39,796 They were definitely more family 1036 01:11:39,831 --> 01:11:42,931 than aunts and uncles and cousins. 1037 01:11:42,966 --> 01:11:46,836 He really is just a really big child. Absolutely great fun. 1038 01:11:48,004 --> 01:11:50,741 Stupid dog. 1039 01:11:50,776 --> 01:11:53,645 ANTON: The worst thing throughout his life 1040 01:11:53,680 --> 01:11:57,385 was that he didn't have children. 1041 01:11:57,420 --> 01:12:00,883 The best thing that ever happened to Ran for his career 1042 01:12:00,918 --> 01:12:03,457 was that he didn't have children. 1043 01:12:03,492 --> 01:12:05,789 -(PHONE RINGS) -(DOG BARKS) 1044 01:12:05,824 --> 01:12:07,087 RAN: At some point, 1045 01:12:07,122 --> 01:12:10,596 after we got back from Transglobe, the phone goes. 1046 01:12:10,631 --> 01:12:13,896 It was this guy Dr Hammer who'd sponsored our expedition. 1047 01:12:13,931 --> 01:12:17,834 Dr Hammer was so impressed, he took me on as his gofer. 1048 01:12:22,874 --> 01:12:24,643 (PHONE RINGS) 1049 01:12:27,010 --> 01:12:29,483 When he came into the office, I said to him, 1050 01:12:29,518 --> 01:12:32,145 "Ran, you do look a little bit nervous." 1051 01:12:32,180 --> 01:12:36,952 He said, "Yeah, well, it's my first office job in 40 years." 1052 01:12:36,987 --> 01:12:40,659 I'll call you back. Call you back next Monday, OK? 1053 01:12:40,694 --> 01:12:42,892 Ideally next Friday. 1054 01:12:42,927 --> 01:12:47,094 ALEX: He used to train avidly during his lunch-break 1055 01:12:47,129 --> 01:12:52,066 by packing copies of Dr Hammer's biography into a rucksack 1056 01:12:52,101 --> 01:12:54,838 and then running up and down the stairs 1057 01:12:54,873 --> 01:12:56,510 of his office building. 1058 01:12:56,545 --> 01:12:58,545 RAN: I worked for him for ten years. 1059 01:12:58,580 --> 01:13:00,976 When he took me on, Dr Hammer said, 1060 01:13:01,011 --> 01:13:03,077 "Three months every year I'll pay you 1061 01:13:03,112 --> 01:13:05,453 and you can go and do an expedition." 1062 01:13:05,488 --> 01:13:07,180 What could be luckier? 1063 01:13:16,697 --> 01:13:19,764 When we went back towards the North Pole, 1064 01:13:19,799 --> 01:13:21,029 it was in the '80s. 1065 01:13:21,064 --> 01:13:23,735 The thing that really hit Ran and myself 1066 01:13:23,770 --> 01:13:25,770 was how the ice had changed. 1067 01:13:27,235 --> 01:13:29,642 There was a lot more open water around. 1068 01:13:30,942 --> 01:13:34,075 The ice was not nearly as thick 1069 01:13:34,110 --> 01:13:36,715 and the temperatures were a little bit kind of warmer. 1070 01:13:36,750 --> 01:13:39,784 They were minus 35 as opposed to minus 50. 1071 01:13:39,819 --> 01:13:41,489 And that makes a big difference. 1072 01:13:41,524 --> 01:13:45,526 (♪ "HURDY GURDY MAN" BY DONOVAN) 1073 01:13:45,561 --> 01:13:47,220 You said last time you were here 1074 01:13:47,255 --> 01:13:49,992 that if this one didn't work, never again. 1075 01:13:50,027 --> 01:13:51,224 That's correct, yeah. 1076 01:13:51,259 --> 01:13:53,160 -What happened? -I changed my mind. 1077 01:13:53,195 --> 01:13:54,964 (WOMAN LAUGHS) 1078 01:13:55,833 --> 01:13:57,571 MAN: It must be a tantalising feeling. 1079 01:13:57,606 --> 01:14:00,167 You got within a hair's breadth of the Pole. 1080 01:14:00,202 --> 01:14:02,873 Tantalising. Very frustrating. 1081 01:14:12,852 --> 01:14:16,183 He really wanted to get there first. 1082 01:14:16,218 --> 01:14:19,219 There'd be a phone call saying, "What do you think? 1083 01:14:19,254 --> 01:14:20,528 What do we do different? 1084 01:14:20,563 --> 01:14:22,827 What, where, how do we go? Let's go again." 1085 01:14:26,998 --> 01:14:28,162 RAN: 1086 01:14:28,197 --> 01:14:30,230 FLO: 1087 01:14:30,265 --> 01:14:33,134 RAN: Failing on the way to the North Pole 1088 01:14:33,169 --> 01:14:34,839 is something you can keep doing 1089 01:14:34,874 --> 01:14:38,073 cos the other people are failing too. 1090 01:14:38,108 --> 01:14:39,910 JEREMY PAXMAN: Frostbitten, half-starved 1091 01:14:39,945 --> 01:14:41,109 and more dead than alive, 1092 01:14:41,144 --> 01:14:42,748 the polar explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 1093 01:14:42,783 --> 01:14:44,552 and Dr Michael Stroud tucked into 1094 01:14:44,587 --> 01:14:46,818 a hearty breakfast of eggs this morning. 1095 01:14:46,853 --> 01:14:48,853 This time I have no reason 1096 01:14:48,888 --> 01:14:53,220 for feeling any more confident than previous times 1097 01:14:53,255 --> 01:14:55,123 other than a sort of hunch. 1098 01:15:01,329 --> 01:15:03,230 Thermos and mug. 1099 01:15:03,265 --> 01:15:05,298 WOMAN: 1100 01:15:08,006 --> 01:15:09,775 WOMAN: OK. (LAUGHS) 1101 01:15:18,016 --> 01:15:19,345 ANTON: He hates it when other people 1102 01:15:19,380 --> 01:15:21,050 do something that he hasn't done. 1103 01:15:23,153 --> 01:15:28,156 He likes to be the one in front in almost all circumstances. 1104 01:15:33,900 --> 01:15:37,033 (WIND HOWLS) 1105 01:15:47,210 --> 01:15:52,081 RAN: Mike and I knew we must avoid always trying to do solos. 1106 01:15:52,116 --> 01:15:54,248 But because we were always trying 1107 01:15:54,283 --> 01:15:56,019 to break the newest record, 1108 01:15:56,054 --> 01:15:58,120 and the Norwegians had beaten us, 1109 01:15:58,155 --> 01:16:01,156 well, we didn't believe they had, 1110 01:16:01,191 --> 01:16:03,961 unsupported with two people, 1111 01:16:03,996 --> 01:16:07,767 the record was nobody had done it unsupported with one person. 1112 01:16:11,135 --> 01:16:15,137 I don't like solo expeditions. I just don't. 1113 01:16:15,172 --> 01:16:18,008 I think there's too many parameters that can go wrong 1114 01:16:18,043 --> 01:16:20,142 and it can be pretty sort of... 1115 01:16:21,750 --> 01:16:24,146 (SIGHS) ...terminal. 1116 01:16:31,760 --> 01:16:34,321 I did the communications for him. 1117 01:16:34,356 --> 01:16:37,159 And he called me on the radio... 1118 01:16:41,704 --> 01:16:44,298 And I picked it up. It was like, "Hi, Ran." 1119 01:16:44,333 --> 01:16:49,809 And I heard this voice and I'd never heard him scared. 1120 01:16:49,844 --> 01:16:53,340 Normally it's, "Hello, Flo. Yes, blah, blah, blah, blah." 1121 01:16:53,375 --> 01:16:57,179 And this was more like, "Yeah, I got a problem here." 1122 01:16:57,214 --> 01:16:59,885 And he, I could tell it in his voice, 1123 01:16:59,920 --> 01:17:03,185 he was still being his methodical, professional self, 1124 01:17:03,220 --> 01:17:06,287 but I could tell that he was seriously hurt. 1125 01:17:08,863 --> 01:17:11,160 RAN: Everything went wrong. 1126 01:17:11,195 --> 01:17:13,030 The sledge fell into the water 1127 01:17:13,065 --> 01:17:16,033 and everything vital was on board, you know. 1128 01:17:17,036 --> 01:17:20,235 I managed to slide down, 1129 01:17:20,270 --> 01:17:24,008 grab the sledge, which was now sinking in the water, 1130 01:17:24,043 --> 01:17:25,845 managed to pull it out. 1131 01:17:27,079 --> 01:17:28,881 My hands got wet. 1132 01:17:28,916 --> 01:17:32,379 Very quickly I lost all feeling in both hands. 1133 01:17:34,119 --> 01:17:38,385 That was a desperate situation. Very desperate. 1134 01:17:40,125 --> 01:17:43,456 It was about a week later I managed to get to a hospital. 1135 01:17:57,406 --> 01:17:59,241 REPORTER: He's triumphed over adversity 1136 01:17:59,276 --> 01:18:01,749 in some of the most remote places in world 1137 01:18:01,784 --> 01:18:04,884 but today, simply opening a letter is a struggle. 1138 01:18:04,919 --> 01:18:07,018 Sir Ranulph Fiennes will lose the tips 1139 01:18:07,053 --> 01:18:09,185 of four of his fingers on his left hand. 1140 01:18:09,220 --> 01:18:13,486 RAN: The surgeons will cut, um, a bit below the mummified areas 1141 01:18:13,521 --> 01:18:16,423 in order to have skin to put over the new stumps. 1142 01:18:16,458 --> 01:18:19,096 MAN: You're very stoic about it all. 1143 01:18:19,131 --> 01:18:20,229 No, I mean, it's, you know, 1144 01:18:20,264 --> 01:18:22,396 there's no point in crying over spilt milk. 1145 01:18:24,400 --> 01:18:27,467 -MATT: Faithful old shed? -Yeah. 1146 01:18:29,207 --> 01:18:31,240 Forty years. (CHUCKLES) 1147 01:18:34,542 --> 01:18:39,182 The amputation was fixed but not for five months. 1148 01:18:39,217 --> 01:18:42,086 And every time I touched something, it was agony. 1149 01:18:42,121 --> 01:18:44,550 Ginny said, "Well, you're getting very irritable." 1150 01:18:44,585 --> 01:18:46,255 Which I was. 1151 01:18:46,290 --> 01:18:49,522 So, we got a Black and Decker workbench. 1152 01:18:49,557 --> 01:18:55,066 Put your hand in it. Ginny would tighten up so it couldn't move. 1153 01:18:55,101 --> 01:18:59,070 Start that way, turn it through about that much. 1154 01:18:59,105 --> 01:19:02,040 Try a bit more, then try a bit more 1155 01:19:02,075 --> 01:19:05,505 until you've gone right the way round. 1156 01:19:05,540 --> 01:19:09,113 It did sort of rather hurt because of getting too close in, 1157 01:19:09,148 --> 01:19:12,512 but after a bit, you get good at doing it. 1158 01:19:12,547 --> 01:19:17,022 That one and that one, made a bit of a botch-up job. 1159 01:19:17,057 --> 01:19:20,157 That one, because of the big bone in the middle, 1160 01:19:20,192 --> 01:19:21,829 that took over a day. 1161 01:19:51,520 --> 01:19:54,191 Beautiful. No rain. 1162 01:19:56,063 --> 01:19:59,834 Hardly believe it's Wales. (LAUGHS) 1163 01:20:07,536 --> 01:20:10,438 No matter what you might have done in the past, 1164 01:20:13,113 --> 01:20:15,146 when age catches up with you, 1165 01:20:15,181 --> 01:20:18,017 your teeth, your eyes, your ears, 1166 01:20:20,582 --> 01:20:24,617 then obviously, if you're human, you're gonna object. 1167 01:20:24,652 --> 01:20:27,587 (INDISTINCT CHATTER) 1168 01:20:35,938 --> 01:20:38,499 RAN: The mind wants to do things, 1169 01:20:40,569 --> 01:20:45,506 but then suddenly finds that your body's falling to bits. 1170 01:20:45,541 --> 01:20:49,411 -Bear, good to see you again. -Well done. You're such a star. 1171 01:20:49,446 --> 01:20:53,184 -You been OK? -Yeah, I'm... If you feel that. 1172 01:20:53,219 --> 01:20:56,517 That's not muscle, that's a heart... blood... 1173 01:20:56,552 --> 01:20:59,190 -Oh, my God! -From Cromwell Hospital. 1174 01:20:59,225 --> 01:21:00,587 They wouldn't let me out. 1175 01:21:00,622 --> 01:21:03,029 So I said, "If you let me wear the thing for 24 hours..." 1176 01:21:03,064 --> 01:21:04,426 There's a battery in there. 1177 01:21:04,461 --> 01:21:07,429 These are plugged into heart plugs, 1178 01:21:07,464 --> 01:21:09,530 or whatever you call them. 1179 01:21:09,565 --> 01:21:12,071 And after this, we've gotta return all their stuff 1180 01:21:12,106 --> 01:21:14,337 to Cromwell Hospital on the way home. 1181 01:21:14,372 --> 01:21:15,602 You're unbelievable. 1182 01:21:15,637 --> 01:21:18,308 They won't insure you for anything when... 1183 01:21:18,343 --> 01:21:20,343 So, are you meant to be there now? 1184 01:21:20,378 --> 01:21:22,147 Yes. For 24 hours, yeah. 1185 01:21:40,563 --> 01:21:42,629 Those were the days. 1186 01:21:48,736 --> 01:21:52,540 MATT: Do you think there is a heaven, a hell and all that? 1187 01:21:52,575 --> 01:21:55,147 RAN: Maybe, maybe not. 1188 01:21:55,182 --> 01:21:59,052 I used to be frightened of death. 1189 01:22:02,585 --> 01:22:07,555 But ever since I had a massive heart attack, 1190 01:22:07,590 --> 01:22:09,557 which I didn't feel, no pain at all. 1191 01:22:09,592 --> 01:22:13,066 I just suddenly woke up three and a half days later 1192 01:22:13,101 --> 01:22:17,037 and Ginny told me in the hospital bed with wires, 1193 01:22:17,072 --> 01:22:19,402 "You had a heart attack three days ago, 1194 01:22:19,437 --> 01:22:22,207 on an aeroplane, which hadn't taken off, 1195 01:22:22,242 --> 01:22:24,407 and you were taken to the A&E." 1196 01:22:24,442 --> 01:22:28,279 And so I knew that I had been dead 1197 01:22:28,314 --> 01:22:31,381 for three days and nights. 1198 01:22:31,416 --> 01:22:34,186 And how many angels did I see? None. 1199 01:22:34,221 --> 01:22:38,223 It was just complete wonderful nothingness. 1200 01:22:42,064 --> 01:22:43,624 Thirteen times your heart stopped? 1201 01:22:43,659 --> 01:22:45,230 Thirteen times my heart stopped. 1202 01:22:45,265 --> 01:22:47,562 And they told her if they did manage to resuscitate me, 1203 01:22:47,597 --> 01:22:50,730 I'd probably have some sort of brain damage. 1204 01:22:50,765 --> 01:22:53,304 She later said that didn't make much difference. 1205 01:22:56,408 --> 01:23:02,709 My problem was that I was due to do a major project 1206 01:23:02,744 --> 01:23:06,053 with a friend of mine, Dr Michael Stroud. 1207 01:23:06,088 --> 01:23:11,553 Seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. 1208 01:23:11,588 --> 01:23:14,622 This had to start only three and a half months 1209 01:23:14,657 --> 01:23:16,360 after the operation. 1210 01:23:17,858 --> 01:23:24,830 I got a phone call from Ran on the intensive care unit 1211 01:23:24,865 --> 01:23:27,701 and, you know, he basically said, 1212 01:23:27,736 --> 01:23:31,573 "Don't cancel the marathons. 1213 01:23:31,608 --> 01:23:36,413 They're telling me that my heart wasn't much damaged." 1214 01:23:36,448 --> 01:23:39,482 Sir Ranulph, who had heart bypass surgery in June, 1215 01:23:39,517 --> 01:23:42,320 is raising money for the British Heart Foundation. 1216 01:23:43,686 --> 01:23:48,755 RAN: The choice was slightly not selfish but personal. 1217 01:23:48,790 --> 01:23:53,100 The British Heart Foundation had saved my life. 1218 01:23:53,135 --> 01:23:55,432 -(BLOWS WHISTLE) -Go, guys. 1219 01:24:03,706 --> 01:24:05,244 REPORTER: Sir Ranulph Fiennes 1220 01:24:05,279 --> 01:24:07,576 and fellow Antarctic explorer, Dr Mike Stroud, 1221 01:24:07,611 --> 01:24:10,414 are trying something no one's ever attempted. 1222 01:24:10,449 --> 01:24:12,647 If they complete all seven marathons, 1223 01:24:12,682 --> 01:24:15,650 they'll have run 183.4 miles 1224 01:24:15,685 --> 01:24:19,588 and travelled 45,000 miles by air. 1225 01:24:19,623 --> 01:24:21,656 WOMAN: There are gonna be people watching this 1226 01:24:21,691 --> 01:24:25,759 and listening to you thinking what you're doing is suicidal. 1227 01:24:25,794 --> 01:24:27,563 RAN: I didn't want to push myself. 1228 01:24:27,598 --> 01:24:29,664 I didn't want to, at any point, 1229 01:24:29,699 --> 01:24:33,305 have my heart beating more than a 130 beats a minute. 1230 01:24:33,340 --> 01:24:34,636 WOMAN: Did it? 1231 01:24:34,671 --> 01:24:38,145 I forgot to take the pulse machine, 1232 01:24:38,180 --> 01:24:40,213 so I don't know whether it did or it didn't. 1233 01:24:40,248 --> 01:24:41,412 You forgot to bring that? 1234 01:24:41,447 --> 01:24:43,447 Isn't that a vital piece of equipment? 1235 01:24:43,482 --> 01:24:45,317 Yeah, that was very stupid. 1236 01:24:50,555 --> 01:24:53,589 Ran was doing his seven marathons, 1237 01:24:53,624 --> 01:24:56,724 which was batty, really. 1238 01:24:58,695 --> 01:24:59,760 Ginny was gonna come up 1239 01:24:59,795 --> 01:25:01,927 and watch him do the one in London. 1240 01:25:04,734 --> 01:25:07,240 -But she didn't come. -We're off. 1241 01:25:07,275 --> 01:25:08,439 (CHEERING) 1242 01:25:08,474 --> 01:25:09,935 Good luck! 1243 01:25:13,215 --> 01:25:15,413 FIONA: So I rang her up that evening. 1244 01:25:17,285 --> 01:25:20,649 "Why didn't you come?" She said, "Oh, well, I had backache." 1245 01:25:22,653 --> 01:25:24,257 Anyway, I rang her up the next day 1246 01:25:24,292 --> 01:25:25,753 and said, "How is your backache?" 1247 01:25:25,788 --> 01:25:28,492 She said, "Well, it wasn't backache." 1248 01:25:29,792 --> 01:25:32,892 So I said, "Well, Ginny, for goodness' sake, 1249 01:25:32,927 --> 01:25:34,795 why don't I come down and pick you up? 1250 01:25:34,830 --> 01:25:36,632 And I can bring you back to London 1251 01:25:36,667 --> 01:25:38,799 and be there when Ran comes back." 1252 01:25:40,737 --> 01:25:46,807 Um, and she said, "No, I can't. But you mustn't tell him." 1253 01:25:48,041 --> 01:25:49,942 So it was simply awful. 1254 01:25:51,649 --> 01:25:54,254 But that's the way she wanted to do it. 1255 01:26:11,966 --> 01:26:16,441 RAN: I can remember it very, very clearly indeed. 1256 01:26:17,378 --> 01:26:18,971 (GASPS) 1257 01:26:26,387 --> 01:26:29,982 I don't know how long she'd had cancer for. 1258 01:26:38,399 --> 01:26:39,794 GINNY: One, two, three, four, five. 1259 01:26:39,829 --> 01:26:41,400 Five, four, three, two, one. 1260 01:26:41,435 --> 01:26:43,534 One, two, three, four, five. Five, four, three, two, one. 1261 01:26:43,569 --> 01:26:47,274 All my love and look forward to seeing you then. 1262 01:26:47,309 --> 01:26:49,639 RAN: Thank you very much, my love. That's excellent. 1263 01:26:49,674 --> 01:26:51,674 And that's good graft. Over. 1264 01:26:51,709 --> 01:26:54,809 GINNY: Well, I love you very much. Speak to you later. 1265 01:26:54,844 --> 01:26:56,646 RAN: Nighty night. Bye. 1266 01:27:03,457 --> 01:27:07,789 ANTON: The phone rang here at home and it was Ran. 1267 01:27:10,090 --> 01:27:15,632 And he said, "I've got really, really bad news." 1268 01:27:25,611 --> 01:27:29,778 He said she'd died about 15 minutes ago. 1269 01:27:29,813 --> 01:27:32,451 "She's still in my arms." 1270 01:27:40,054 --> 01:27:41,658 I think I've massacred this rose. 1271 01:27:41,693 --> 01:27:43,088 I don't know what to do with it. 1272 01:27:43,123 --> 01:27:45,365 ANTON: He was very business-like about everything 1273 01:27:45,400 --> 01:27:48,533 because that's how he dealt with it. 1274 01:28:21,469 --> 01:28:24,635 RAN: My problem is it is the only topic 1275 01:28:24,670 --> 01:28:26,868 which makes me emotional 1276 01:28:30,643 --> 01:28:35,481 and so I have to, inside, force myself not to get that way 1277 01:28:37,947 --> 01:28:40,948 because the love was huge 1278 01:28:43,150 --> 01:28:47,086 and therefore time doesn't heal it, really. 1279 01:28:48,694 --> 01:28:50,991 It sort of sits. 1280 01:28:55,998 --> 01:28:58,405 FIONA: It was a terrible time for him. 1281 01:29:00,475 --> 01:29:02,068 And poor Ran, 1282 01:29:02,103 --> 01:29:06,710 he had three really close family who all died. 1283 01:29:09,143 --> 01:29:10,780 His sister was cancer 1284 01:29:10,815 --> 01:29:14,421 and his mother fairly shortly after Ginny. 1285 01:29:19,120 --> 01:29:22,088 RAN: I can't remember when and where 1286 01:29:22,123 --> 01:29:24,794 I gave to actually crying. 1287 01:29:28,536 --> 01:29:33,440 I can remember at night, going up and talking to the animals 1288 01:29:33,475 --> 01:29:35,838 using the names that she had for them, 1289 01:29:35,873 --> 01:29:38,170 and Julia, and so on and so forth. 1290 01:29:39,107 --> 01:29:42,108 And just desperately wanting 1291 01:29:42,143 --> 01:29:46,684 to get out of a mood of zero nothingness. 1292 01:30:04,968 --> 01:30:07,067 FIONA: Ginny said, you know, "This is such a shame 1293 01:30:07,102 --> 01:30:09,773 because he was going to try and ease off a bit 1294 01:30:09,808 --> 01:30:12,908 and we were gonna have more time together and more holidays." 1295 01:30:12,943 --> 01:30:14,910 -I think he would have. -Push, push, push. 1296 01:30:14,945 --> 01:30:16,549 Well, I don't know, actually. 1297 01:30:16,584 --> 01:30:19,486 Knowing Ran, he probably would have carried on doing something, 1298 01:30:19,521 --> 01:30:24,084 but I think it certainly drove him to just go flat out. 1299 01:30:24,119 --> 01:30:25,657 MAN: Well done, Ran. Well done, Ran. 1300 01:30:25,692 --> 01:30:27,153 Keep it going as long as you can. 1301 01:30:27,188 --> 01:30:30,860 Come on, push it on. Push, push, push, push, push. That's good. 1302 01:30:30,895 --> 01:30:33,764 RAN: I worked and worked and worked and worked 1303 01:30:33,799 --> 01:30:35,601 so as to be away from home. 1304 01:30:40,773 --> 01:30:44,742 Life was completely second-rate. 1305 01:30:46,779 --> 01:30:51,243 Now, terribly sad, last year, your wife died. 1306 01:30:51,278 --> 01:30:54,180 You'd been together since you were...? 1307 01:30:54,215 --> 01:30:56,655 Well, she was nine, I was 12. 1308 01:30:56,690 --> 01:31:00,186 We knew each other for about 48 years. 1309 01:31:00,221 --> 01:31:02,188 Do you think that your drive to keep going 1310 01:31:02,223 --> 01:31:03,629 even now with the marathons 1311 01:31:03,664 --> 01:31:06,995 and so on and future exhibition, expeditions 1312 01:31:07,030 --> 01:31:08,326 has anything to do with the fact 1313 01:31:08,361 --> 01:31:10,603 that you just want to keep yourself busy? 1314 01:31:10,638 --> 01:31:12,000 I don't want to think any more. 1315 01:31:12,035 --> 01:31:13,837 I don't want to have time to think. 1316 01:31:13,872 --> 01:31:18,303 So, the more I can do, it's good. Yeah, keep busy. 1317 01:31:24,179 --> 01:31:25,948 He went up Everest. 1318 01:31:27,721 --> 01:31:30,183 (SIGHS) Um... 1319 01:31:30,218 --> 01:31:35,155 But he told me that it was a sort of not an easy way out, 1320 01:31:35,190 --> 01:31:38,763 but if he dropped off a cliff or fell asleep in the snow, 1321 01:31:38,798 --> 01:31:42,360 it would be an option, 1322 01:31:42,395 --> 01:31:46,001 because he had no motivation to go on after Ginny died. 1323 01:31:49,809 --> 01:31:55,142 But he turned back because he felt his heart going. 1324 01:32:01,216 --> 01:32:04,954 That's the most heroic thing I know that he's done, 1325 01:32:04,989 --> 01:32:06,285 given who he was. 1326 01:32:14,900 --> 01:32:20,673 His instinct to survive is stronger than his, um, grief. 1327 01:32:57,272 --> 01:33:04,915 RAN: Just getting ready to, um, go into the sea 1328 01:33:06,985 --> 01:33:10,657 to get rid of suspected Parkinson's. 1329 01:33:13,057 --> 01:33:16,663 I've tried what the doctor suggested, 1330 01:33:16,698 --> 01:33:19,391 and it didn't stop the shaking. 1331 01:33:19,426 --> 01:33:23,098 And basically, I saw on TV, 1332 01:33:23,133 --> 01:33:30,776 that you can make your own body protein by getting cold. 1333 01:33:30,811 --> 01:33:33,845 The exact opposite to what I became quite good at, 1334 01:33:33,880 --> 01:33:37,849 which was staying warm. (CHUCKLES) 1335 01:33:37,884 --> 01:33:41,017 (♪ "THE COLD SONG" BY KLAUS NOMI) 1336 01:34:12,182 --> 01:34:16,822 I can remember with Anton and Jill and Ginny, 1337 01:34:16,857 --> 01:34:19,385 Paris holiday. 1338 01:34:19,420 --> 01:34:24,390 We decided we would have a look in the catacombs. 1339 01:34:25,767 --> 01:34:27,800 And you walked down. 1340 01:34:29,067 --> 01:34:31,529 And on that side and that side, 1341 01:34:31,564 --> 01:34:34,741 each person is bones and a skull, 1342 01:34:34,776 --> 01:34:38,074 bones and a skull, bones and a skull. Twelve high. 1343 01:34:41,178 --> 01:34:42,815 Millions. 1344 01:34:44,346 --> 01:34:47,820 What's the name of that one? What's the name of that one? 1345 01:34:47,855 --> 01:34:49,822 Did that one worry? 1346 01:34:51,122 --> 01:34:55,190 What you worry about is just utterly pointless. 1347 01:34:55,225 --> 01:34:57,291 It's not going to affect anything. 1348 01:34:57,326 --> 01:34:59,931 You're gonna end up like one of them. 1349 01:35:02,265 --> 01:35:04,364 MATT: But you'll have a name cos you'll be... 1350 01:35:04,399 --> 01:35:06,531 People will remember what you've done. 1351 01:35:09,272 --> 01:35:12,306 Maybe ten years or something. Very unlikely. 1352 01:35:14,145 --> 01:35:17,344 But I don't mind about that because of what I've just said. 1353 01:35:17,379 --> 01:35:20,952 It's just irrelevant. 1354 01:35:20,987 --> 01:35:24,318 We have a time down here and when it's done, it's done. 1355 01:36:14,568 --> 01:36:17,338 For 16 years since Ginny died, 1356 01:36:19,210 --> 01:36:22,343 I probably only come into the house 1357 01:36:22,378 --> 01:36:25,852 for, like, a bath, or watching TV. 1358 01:36:30,023 --> 01:36:33,123 I thought that it was that way but it obviously isn't. 1359 01:36:33,158 --> 01:36:37,127 So, I started advertising to sell Greenlands 1360 01:36:37,162 --> 01:36:39,063 about three years ago. 1361 01:36:39,098 --> 01:36:41,626 I tell you, I'm gonna start hitting it. 1362 01:36:44,565 --> 01:36:48,567 This house, this was Ginny. 1363 01:36:51,539 --> 01:36:56,278 Now Ginny's gone, the house has lost that anchorage. 1364 01:36:57,446 --> 01:37:00,282 But the place brings back the memories. 1365 01:37:05,091 --> 01:37:08,224 GINNY: The view out of the sitting room window. 1366 01:37:08,259 --> 01:37:10,028 It's quite pretty. 1367 01:37:12,461 --> 01:37:19,664 And Ran's clearing away the clinker from the chimney. 1368 01:37:22,141 --> 01:37:23,437 RAN: God. 1369 01:37:25,210 --> 01:37:28,277 GINNY: And at the back of the house, some barns. 1370 01:37:28,312 --> 01:37:30,576 It's got cupboards and fitted shelves. 1371 01:37:30,611 --> 01:37:33,480 RAN: It's lovely hearing her voice like this. 1372 01:37:33,515 --> 01:37:36,318 -Tea up, pussy cat. -OK. 1373 01:37:36,353 --> 01:37:38,353 Tea up. 1374 01:37:38,388 --> 01:37:41,455 Is there any tea leaves? Teabags? 1375 01:37:43,393 --> 01:37:44,425 RAN: This is wonderful. 1376 01:37:44,460 --> 01:37:46,592 -(HOWLS) -(DOG BARKS) 1377 01:37:52,633 --> 01:37:56,041 -(HOWLS) -(DOG BARKS) 1378 01:38:04,084 --> 01:38:06,150 Darling, are there any teabags? 1379 01:38:07,780 --> 01:38:11,287 -Teabags? -GINNY: No. Finished them all. 1380 01:38:11,322 --> 01:38:13,685 (LAUGHS) 1381 01:38:13,720 --> 01:38:16,094 That's so funny. That's so wonderful. 1382 01:38:17,130 --> 01:38:20,197 Walkies time. Come on. 1383 01:38:20,232 --> 01:38:23,497 Come on. (WHISTLES) Puppy. 1384 01:38:23,532 --> 01:38:25,631 It's just amazing how time... 1385 01:38:27,272 --> 01:38:28,535 Huh. 1386 01:38:31,672 --> 01:38:36,411 Just a memory which you've totally forgotten ever existed 1387 01:38:38,712 --> 01:38:42,054 and all the happiness that was involved. 1388 01:38:47,556 --> 01:38:53,065 How many other times have I forgotten that were lovely? 1389 01:38:58,567 --> 01:39:01,469 But we had our time. 1390 01:39:04,672 --> 01:39:07,981 We made it the way Ginny wanted it to be. 1391 01:39:12,548 --> 01:39:19,421 And, um, when we withdraw, we'll leave them with the atmosphere. 1392 01:39:25,099 --> 01:39:29,068 When, you know, not long before she died, 1393 01:39:29,103 --> 01:39:30,201 she looked at me and said, 1394 01:39:30,236 --> 01:39:32,368 "I've said to Ran that he must remarry 1395 01:39:32,403 --> 01:39:34,271 and have a child." 1396 01:39:36,572 --> 01:39:37,670 You know, that was it. 1397 01:39:37,705 --> 01:39:40,046 She was desperate for him to have a child 1398 01:39:40,081 --> 01:39:43,280 cos she knew that's what he wanted more than anything. 1399 01:39:45,119 --> 01:39:48,054 So, uh, yeah, she did want him to move on. 1400 01:40:08,274 --> 01:40:10,274 Cor, stiff. 1401 01:40:10,309 --> 01:40:13,772 Trouble with not being able to straighten up. 1402 01:40:13,807 --> 01:40:17,875 The first time I've spent the entire night tied in. 1403 01:40:17,910 --> 01:40:22,418 And that's the sort of, shall we say, lavatory. 1404 01:40:38,469 --> 01:40:42,768 2007, when we climbed the North Face of the Eiger together, 1405 01:40:42,803 --> 01:40:45,441 he was realising that, 1406 01:40:45,476 --> 01:40:46,739 you know, he wasn't the man 1407 01:40:46,774 --> 01:40:50,380 that he was in his thirties and forties. 1408 01:40:50,415 --> 01:40:56,353 He was coming to terms with that sort of fragility. 1409 01:40:58,522 --> 01:41:00,357 You know, his own internal battle 1410 01:41:00,392 --> 01:41:03,591 that his body wasn't the impregnable fortress 1411 01:41:03,626 --> 01:41:05,560 that perhaps it once was. 1412 01:41:07,234 --> 01:41:11,269 Often find I literally can't do moves 1413 01:41:11,304 --> 01:41:13,799 which other people can do 1414 01:41:13,834 --> 01:41:16,802 where there's a particularly tricky grip 1415 01:41:16,837 --> 01:41:19,178 which has to be on the left hand. 1416 01:41:19,213 --> 01:41:20,311 IAN: Yeah. 1417 01:41:21,281 --> 01:41:23,281 RAN: That really foxes me. 1418 01:41:32,292 --> 01:41:34,160 Don't want to lose my axe. 1419 01:41:44,271 --> 01:41:45,798 -Careful. -Why? 1420 01:41:45,833 --> 01:41:47,800 Well, it'll cut the rope. 1421 01:41:47,835 --> 01:41:49,901 -That wouldn't be good. -No. 1422 01:41:53,808 --> 01:41:57,942 So Ran's basically hanging completely above the void. 1423 01:41:57,977 --> 01:42:00,945 Not liking it one bit, I tell you. 1424 01:42:00,980 --> 01:42:03,915 -What did you reckon to that? -Hair-raising, I'm afraid. 1425 01:42:03,950 --> 01:42:07,754 Not my cup of tea at all. Very frightening. 1426 01:42:11,496 --> 01:42:13,925 KENTON: It was a pretty interesting, rich time 1427 01:42:13,960 --> 01:42:16,334 to be around Ran. 1428 01:42:18,503 --> 01:42:20,239 You know, he's still going through 1429 01:42:20,274 --> 01:42:22,439 all the emotional rigmarole of Ginny's loss 1430 01:42:22,474 --> 01:42:27,741 and I think it was his sister was about to pass away and... 1431 01:42:27,776 --> 01:42:34,682 So he was dealing with a lot of that emotional imbalance. 1432 01:42:36,554 --> 01:42:38,884 And, you know, it was also the time 1433 01:42:38,919 --> 01:42:41,953 that he first got together with Louise. 1434 01:42:48,500 --> 01:42:51,468 He rang to say that he'd met somebody. 1435 01:42:51,503 --> 01:42:54,273 And he was going to marry them. 1436 01:42:55,738 --> 01:43:00,708 And I said, "You've gotta do what you're happy doing, 1437 01:43:00,743 --> 01:43:02,380 because you just want someone 1438 01:43:02,415 --> 01:43:04,712 to be happy that you love, don't you?" 1439 01:43:10,423 --> 01:43:15,921 Ran's plans to climb the Eiger have absolutely terrified me. 1440 01:43:15,956 --> 01:43:18,924 It's not my idea of something particularly pleasant. 1441 01:43:18,959 --> 01:43:23,335 And after how ill Everest made him, 1442 01:43:23,370 --> 01:43:24,732 you would have thought 1443 01:43:24,767 --> 01:43:28,032 that he would be less inclined to do such things. 1444 01:43:28,067 --> 01:43:30,408 REPORTER: And for the first time on this expedition, 1445 01:43:30,443 --> 01:43:32,674 he has a bigger reason than ever before 1446 01:43:32,709 --> 01:43:33,873 to get back down alive. 1447 01:43:33,908 --> 01:43:36,942 His four-month-old daughter, Elizabeth. 1448 01:43:46,855 --> 01:43:51,297 Those of us who were close friends of his 1449 01:43:51,332 --> 01:43:56,665 were told that because he was marrying again 1450 01:43:56,700 --> 01:43:59,800 that, you know, his life was going to change. 1451 01:43:59,835 --> 01:44:02,968 Those particular chapters have closed 1452 01:44:03,003 --> 01:44:05,971 involving old army friends like me, 1453 01:44:06,006 --> 01:44:09,678 and that he was setting off on a new a new life. 1454 01:44:13,079 --> 01:44:15,783 JEAN: Everything was separate in Ran's life. 1455 01:44:15,818 --> 01:44:18,753 -I think he's, you know... -PETER: Compartmentalised. 1456 01:44:18,788 --> 01:44:21,921 JEAN: Yeah, every part of his life. 1457 01:44:25,960 --> 01:44:28,961 We're in a compartment, aren't we? 1458 01:44:28,996 --> 01:44:30,402 PETER: Hmm. 1459 01:44:30,437 --> 01:44:33,372 JEAN: And Louise is definitely in a compartment. 1460 01:44:37,477 --> 01:44:40,841 RAN: My whole world, every person she spoke to, 1461 01:44:40,876 --> 01:44:43,349 would bring up Ginny and this and that, 1462 01:44:43,384 --> 01:44:45,076 and Ginny and that, and so on. 1463 01:44:45,111 --> 01:44:48,013 I wouldn't have liked it if I'd been Louise. 1464 01:44:53,790 --> 01:45:01,565 I'm fearful that I lose the close warmth of my wife 1465 01:45:01,600 --> 01:45:03,798 because of her thinking, "Oh, dear, 1466 01:45:03,833 --> 01:45:06,669 he's still living back in those times." 1467 01:45:40,540 --> 01:45:43,134 Ran doesn't run away. He doesn't run away. 1468 01:45:44,170 --> 01:45:46,808 The competitive instinct kicks in. 1469 01:45:46,843 --> 01:45:49,107 He's, "I'm gonna climb that bloody hill." 1470 01:45:51,881 --> 01:45:54,717 It's third time lucky for the explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes 1471 01:45:54,752 --> 01:45:57,654 who's become the oldest Briton to scale Everest. 1472 01:45:57,689 --> 01:45:59,755 This morning, the 65-year-old 1473 01:45:59,790 --> 01:46:02,659 finally made it to the top of the world. 1474 01:46:04,157 --> 01:46:07,631 RAN: 1475 01:46:08,799 --> 01:46:12,801 (LAUGHTER) 1476 01:46:12,836 --> 01:46:15,507 Is that it, or do you have any more mountains 1477 01:46:15,542 --> 01:46:16,904 that you want to conquer? 1478 01:46:16,939 --> 01:46:20,105 I'm not going near any more mountains, 1479 01:46:20,140 --> 01:46:22,206 not even for Marie Curie. 1480 01:46:22,241 --> 01:46:23,812 I hate them. 1481 01:46:23,847 --> 01:46:25,517 Fifteen hundred feet on Exmoor 1482 01:46:25,552 --> 01:46:27,717 is quite high enough. So, that's it. 1483 01:46:33,659 --> 01:46:35,054 (COW MOOS) 1484 01:46:49,708 --> 01:46:51,774 That was when they had 1485 01:46:51,809 --> 01:46:55,976 the Guinness World Hall of Fame in London. 1486 01:46:56,011 --> 01:46:59,947 The world's greatest musician, Paul McCartney. 1487 01:46:59,982 --> 01:47:03,555 The world's greatest sportsperson, 1488 01:47:03,590 --> 01:47:05,953 Billie Jean King. Myself. 1489 01:47:05,988 --> 01:47:09,792 And lastly, that gentleman who was a cuckoo clock salesman 1490 01:47:09,827 --> 01:47:11,992 who had an amazing ability 1491 01:47:12,027 --> 01:47:16,601 to walk over a hundred yards on red-hot coals with no shoes on. 1492 01:47:16,636 --> 01:47:19,604 Scientists tried to work it out but they couldn't. 1493 01:47:21,102 --> 01:47:24,642 That's Bothie coming in from the sunlight. 1494 01:47:25,711 --> 01:47:27,172 That's Ginny. 1495 01:47:27,207 --> 01:47:31,550 That is Charlie Burton, a wonderful guy, 1496 01:47:31,585 --> 01:47:35,246 at the base camp in Antarctica, just before setting out. 1497 01:47:42,794 --> 01:47:44,090 Sorry, I thought you wanted 1498 01:47:44,125 --> 01:47:46,257 to photograph what I was pointing at. 1499 01:47:50,362 --> 01:47:53,638 That's, um, last year. 1500 01:47:53,673 --> 01:47:58,005 That's Elizabeth. She would have been 13 coming on 14. 1501 01:47:58,040 --> 01:48:00,711 And Louise. 1502 01:48:00,746 --> 01:48:03,714 And me looking, or trying to look smart. 1503 01:48:05,212 --> 01:48:08,015 We're a happy family, as they call it. 1504 01:48:10,217 --> 01:48:12,954 MATT: How do you find parenting? 1505 01:48:14,089 --> 01:48:18,289 RAN: I find it's, um, wonderful 1506 01:48:18,324 --> 01:48:23,261 and it means that you've had a complete life. 1507 01:48:24,396 --> 01:48:27,738 And seeing someone who is your blood, 1508 01:48:27,773 --> 01:48:31,104 and the blood of the someone you love, 1509 01:48:32,679 --> 01:48:36,043 is just a great process all the time. 1510 01:48:38,047 --> 01:48:40,619 When we were having little mock fights, 1511 01:48:40,654 --> 01:48:44,282 Elizabeth used to always go for your nose. 1512 01:48:44,317 --> 01:48:47,857 She was happiest when she managed to get Daddy's nose, 1513 01:48:49,190 --> 01:48:52,290 about the size of which she was usually rude. 1514 01:48:54,426 --> 01:48:57,834 Her nickname is Mouse or Totty Mouse. 1515 01:48:59,266 --> 01:49:02,707 Louise's nickname is Lollick. 1516 01:49:02,742 --> 01:49:06,337 I asked her the other day, "Why do I call you Lollick?" 1517 01:49:06,372 --> 01:49:08,944 She thought for a bit and said she couldn't remember. 1518 01:49:08,979 --> 01:49:10,979 And I can't remember either. 1519 01:49:30,330 --> 01:49:35,399 I've made a plan based on statistics. 1520 01:49:40,076 --> 01:49:43,077 I'll do what I've always been doing every year 1521 01:49:44,410 --> 01:49:47,246 which is to climb Crib Goch 1522 01:49:48,854 --> 01:49:50,920 until I'm 85. 1523 01:49:58,996 --> 01:50:02,228 86th year I'll have to find something else. 1524 01:50:07,367 --> 01:50:09,169 I might try Ben Nevis. 1525 01:50:10,876 --> 01:50:13,745 I'm not sure if I'll be allowed to drive then. 1526 01:50:21,480 --> 01:50:23,854 (PHONE LINE RINGS) 1527 01:50:29,455 --> 01:50:30,421 Hello, sweetheart. 1528 01:50:30,456 --> 01:50:33,765 I'm leaving early. I'm leaving now. 1529 01:50:35,769 --> 01:50:38,099 Right, darling. 1530 01:50:38,134 --> 01:50:43,170 Very, very much love to you and give Mouse a kiss. 1531 01:50:43,205 --> 01:50:45,942 LOUISE: She's amazing. 1532 01:50:45,977 --> 01:50:48,846 RAN: Lovely Mouse. Lots and lots of love. 1533 01:50:50,014 --> 01:50:53,180 -Love you very much. -I love you. 1534 01:50:53,215 --> 01:50:55,985 Love you, sweetheart. Darling. 1535 01:51:03,489 --> 01:51:07,931 (♪ "TICKLE ME PINK" BY JOHNNY FLYNN SHOWBAND) 120667

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