Sir Ranulph Fiennes / Men's Health

I interviewed Sir Ranulph Fiennes, then about to turn 75, for the “Wise Guys” feature in the age-themed May 2019 issue of Men’s Health. So impressed was I by the incredible feats and matter-of-factness of “the world’s greatest living explorer”, still living and exploring long after Guinness bestowed that title upon him in 1984, that I also wrote a piece for Mr Porter to coincide with the release of an updated version of his autobiography Mad, Bad & Dangerous To Know. Standouts include being asked to audition for Bond, running seven marathons on six continents in seven days (Antarctica was called off due to bad weather) at the age of 59 - four months after undergoing emergency heart bypass surgery - and getting kicked out of the SAS for planning to blow up a damn over a trout stream in a Wiltshire Village. What a hero.