'World's greatest living explorer' discovers Shrewsbury on latest tour

Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 78, who is named as the greatest by Guinness World Records, reportedly sawed off the frost-bitten finger tips on his left hand after being told that he had become irritable through the pain.

On an expedition to the North Pole in 2000 he had plunged his hand into the icy waters to rescue equipment after the ice had given way. The attempt to walk solo and unsupported to the North Pole had to be abandoned.

Sir Ranulph's Living Dangerously tour started out on in London on July 24 and will wend its way up and down the country before ending in Glasgow on April 30, next year.

Sir Ranulph is set to be on stage at Shrewsbury's Theatre Severn on October 31.

"I’ll be talking about my life: my childhood and schooling, and training with the SAS and being chucked out of the SAS!," said Sir Ranulph.

"I’ll be talking about my very first posting with the British Army, and being the youngest captain in the British Army – even though I didn’t deserve it! – and how that inspired my love of exploring."

He's also due to talk about some of his favourite expeditions, one of which was finding an Arab city with his first wife Ginny that they had spent 26 years looking for.

In the year after they got married they did a 2,000 mile boat trip down one of the toughest rivers in the world, in a rubber dinghy.

"There’s so much to talk about that I can only briefly touch on being the oldest Brit up Everest and the oldest pensioner in Great Britain to go up the north face of the Eiger! I’ve tried to get a good mix of polar exploring, and my other adventures," he said.

Named by the Guinness Book of Records as “the world’s greatest living explorer”

Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Living Dangerously offers a personal journey through the legendary explorer’s life, from his early years to the present day, showcasing his pursuit of extreme adventure, risking life and limb in some of the most ambitious private expeditions ever undertaken.

Amongst his many record-breaking achievements, writer and poet Sir Ranulph was the first to reach both Poles, the first to cross the Antarctic and Arctic Ocean, and the first to circumnavigate the world along its polar axis.

Both light-hearted and strikingly poignant, Living Dangerously spans Sir Ranulph’s childhood and school misdemeanours, his army life and early expeditions, right through the Transglobe Expedition to his current Global Reach Challenge - his goal to become the first person in the world to cross both polar ice caps and climb the highest mountain on each of the seven continents.

Sir Ranulph said: “I’ve been privileged to see so many parts of our planet, and I’m looking forward to being able to get back on the road and share stories I’ve amassed in that time with audiences around the UK.”

Sir Ranulph adds: "There is one thing that I wish I had tried doing earlier.

"At the moment, I still hold the world record of being the only person to have crossed the whole of that Antarctica ice cap, the whole of the northern ice cap and to climb the highest mountain. It's called the Global Reach Challenge and I'm the only person to ever have done it.

"There are two other people who have nearly done it, a Norwegian and a Belgian, both of whom I am friends with now.

"The record I would like to have broken is to cross all the ice caps and climb all seven of the highest mountains. Everest is the most difficult, I've done that.

"And if when I'd done Everest I had done the minor ones, that would have been no problem. It was 2009 and I was in my 60s and quite fit, but when you’re a bit older, things start to go wrong.

"The mountains that you can actually climb when you are in your 70s have to be much lower than the ones you could have climbed before. There are only three of them out of seven I haven't done, so it's very annoying. I'm sure someone else will complete it soon."

He also speaks of finding the body of his Sherpa's father in the snow at Everest.

"The body of my Sherpa’s father appeared in the snow, as he had previously died trying to climb Everest.

"There hadn't been that much snow that year so the bodies just reappear. It was awful. The next year, 2009, by which time I was an OAP, I had worked out why I had failed twice: I was being too competitive.

"The next time I tried, I went with a Sherpa who was so fit, there was no point in trying to be competitive. I went very slowly that time."

Sir Ranulph admires polar explorer Captain Robert Falcon Scott, who died during his ill-fated attempt to reach the South Pole.

"I’ve just written a book on him that tries to get to the truth of his wonderful career, as there are a lot of lies and rumours about him.

"He first discovered that Antarctica was a continent! But he had bad luck with the weather on his expeditions, and died in his tent.

"I also really admire the explorer Wilfred Thesiger, who carried out lots of expeditions in intense heat."

Tickets for Sir Ranulph Fiennes: Living Dangerously are on sale now, available at www.fane.co.uk and sirranulphfiennes.co.uk