Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes is a badass. With a name like that, you either conquer the world or descend into inbred irrelevance. Fiennes chose the former and the adventure culture is a better place for it. He was the first man to circumnavigate the globe vertically, starting in England and heading south, eventually getting to Antarctica and across the South Pole, then north until he crossed the North Pole and went back to Greenwich for a well-earned spot of tea after three years and 52,000 miles.

He’s a demolition expert, prankster, and former counter-insurgency expert. He summited Everest last year at age 65. After a doctor told him to leave his frostbitten dead fingertips alone for a couple of months before amputation, he got tired of the pain and cut them off himself with a saw from his local hardware store. He discovered the lost Oman city of Ubar and he ascended the White Nile in a hovercraft. Oh, and he’s found the time to write 13 books.

Now he’s written a little story called “Me and My Goldfish”. It’s animated by Foreign Office and well worth watching.

Tagged as: polar