Talk:Ranulph Fiennes

Some suggestions

I removed the sentence about him taking taxis on Long Drag because it is absolutely ridiculous. Doing so would be impossible as it is done overland and the only roads in the area 9which are few and far between) are patrolled during Long Drag as candidates are not allowed to even walk on them. Seriously, even if he made that claim in his autobiography it is absolutely fucking ridiculous.

Some suggesions (which I'd make myself, were I surer of the facts):

• I didn't know that Dr Dolittle thing. Some more info, or ideally an exlink, would be welcome
• Didn't he recently blow up (or was it threaten to) the bells of a neighbouring church, citing campanological-noise nuisance?
• If memory serves, wasn't the antarctic run supposed to really be on the contenent proper (one assumes on the antarctic penninsula) but they had to fall back to the Falklands due to bad weather?

THanks, -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:42, 15 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thanks for taking a look at our work.

Dolittle: Not much detail around - see this google search [1] - the South African Sunday Times link indicates that Fiennes himself has spoken about this so the facts are likely to be right.. although I wouldn't be surprised if things have got exaggerated over the years

Church bells: Hadn't heard about this, quick search didn't reveal anything, but I am sure you wouldn't make it up!

Yes I think that's right - will update.

Pete/Pcb21 (talk) 14:02, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Thanks. No, I can't find anything about the Church Bell thing either. I'm sure it's not my imagination, but perhaps it was some _other_ ex-SAS demolitions dude with a short fuse (sic). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 23:02, 16 Apr 2004 (UTC)

Ah hah. He appeared on BBC's Top Gear this week, and discussed the dam incident at length. I've added all I can remember. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 00:44, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

In the same appearance, he also talked about losing his heart rate monitor, chopping his fingers off, and being rejected as James Bond - I've added a teeny bit on each of these. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 01:27, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Excellent work. He's quite a character! Pcb21| Pete 11:57, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Is "quite a character" meant to say "completely insane"? But seriously, I don't recall any mention of the church bell thing. It'd be helpful to know if you have an idea where you heard it... -Grim-

And completely stupid, blew up a temporary damn that was in place for a movie shoot. Guess he thought the movie would be filmed over decades.70.241.242.229 (talk) 10:23, 4 March 2008 (UTC)

Knighthood

The article said Fiennes was knighted in 1993, but every cite I've found says he was awarded an OBE then (which despite what [2] says ain't the same thing at all) (so I've been bold and changed it). I can't find any mention of his receiving a knighthood, and this one page [3] (note: that page seems to have white text on a white background - select the invisible text to read it) says it's hereditary. I've never heard of an hereditary knighthood, so I've asked Lord Emsworth if he knows whazzup. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 03:16, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

There are almost 1000 individuals made OBEs each year; unfortunately, I know of no source that lists all living ones. But searching the internet indicates that numerous sources give 1993 as the date. I would not worry about corroborating this assertion. The letters "Bt" indicate that he is a Baronet. Baronetcies are hereditary titles. Though they carry with them the title "Sir," they are not strictly speaking knighthoods. Sir Ranulph Fiennes, 3rd Baronet was born in 1944, shortly after his father Lieutenant Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykham-Fiennes, 2nd Baronet was killed in World War II. Thus, Sir Ranulph Fiennes became a baronet at the moment of his birth. -- Emsworth 03:25, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

The London Gazette [4] is usually the best place to find honours. He was appointed an OBE in The Queen's Birthday Honours List of 1993 "For Human Endeavour and for charitable services". Proteus (Talk) 09:32, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Excellent, thanks both. I've integrated this into the article, and it makes the article a great deal better. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:06, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Thanks to you all. I dimly remember being confused about this when bashing out the original article. Thanks to McW for making this article much better. Pcb21| Pete 11:57, 3 Aug 2004 (UTC)

Does anyone know where he is 3rd Baronet of? Or is he just a 3rd Baronet? -Grim- —Preceding unsigned comment added by 195.194.182.10 (talk) 15:39, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

He is the 3rd Baronet in the line of descent since the first Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was made a baronet. Dabbler (talk) 15:49, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

According to this Sir Eustace Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 1st Baronet, he inherited the baronetage from his Grandfather, who died after his father. Surely it then means he's the 2nd Baronet, and it doesn't matter his father died before him.Petsco (talk) 16:31, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

It seems that there is some contradiction between his grandfather's article and the one on the Baronetage. It seems that he is the 2nd Baronet and his grandfather died after he was born, not before as suggested in the article. I will try and fix. Dabbler (talk) 17:07, 15 January 2008 (UTC)

The Wikipedia page for his grandfather, the 1st Baronet, says he died in Feb 1943. Since Ran was born in March 1944, if you count back his father was still alive in July 1943, so he was the 2nd Baronet for a few months before being killed in the war. Hope this helps. --Katy4650 (talk) 04:10, 14 January 2010 (UTC)

Oh, sorry, I meant to ask is he a baronet of anywhere? Many lords with such titles have some sort of land attached to their name, and I would like to know. -Grim-

I have been checking around and it is pretty certain that he is the 3rd Baronet after all (of Banbury in Oxfordshire, if the truth be told but Baronets don't usually add the place name). So I have been doing a bit of fixing. Dabbler (talk) 18:00, 29 January 2008 (UTC)

From the article, Baronet: 'A baronet is styled "Sir", but a baronetcy is not considered an order of knighthood.' Sir Ranulph is a baronet; he was not knighted but inherited the right to be addressed as Sir Ranulph. I have altered the article to reflect correct (customary) forms of address. Spathaky (talk) 21:01, 22 August 2009 (UTC)

Charles Burton

The Charles Burton link is to Charles E. Burton, the Irish astronomer (d. 1882). Should there be a disambiguation page and a link to a stub article on the correct Charles Burton? -- MarkBrooks 16:44, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Yes indeed, if this Charles Burton is really interesting enough to warrant an acticle. If he isn't, maybe we should just unlink the name. -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:41, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

Britannica has an article about him [5], so we clearly should have one too (only bigger, better, and with topless photos too). -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 17:43, 23 September 2005 (UTC)

NPOV topless photos only, please. Pcb21| Pete 08:57, 24 September 2005 (UTC)

The Victoria Falls Expedition

Its started!!!

It currently (when this was written) on it's third day. This is the site.[[6]] and the photo gallery is at this page[[7]] and to contact them clicky here[[8]]

First person to both poles???

The assertion that Sir Ranulph was the first person to visit both poles is not technically correct. That honor belongs to Roald Amundsen (South Pole - 14 December, 1911; North Pole - May, 1926). Fiennes was the first person to visit both poles by land transportation. This claim should be modified in the article. Also, Fiennes trek of 97 days in the Antarctic is not the longest journey in south Polar history, Amundsen's journey was 99 days in duration (19 October, 1911 - 25 January, 1912) and there may well have been others that were longer.

Given that there is no land at the North Pole the sentence "He was the first man to visit both the north and south poles by land" cannot be technically correct. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 87.105.187.197 (talk) 14:34, 5 May 2008 (UTC)

Works of Fiction

Isn't The Secret Hunters a novel? The write up here makes Derek Jacobs sound like a real person. --JBellis 19:35, 15 January 2007 (UTC)

It had to be categorised as fiction because of legal/copyright issues surrounding the original diary. Read it and make up your own mind!

I think the description needs to be removed on several grounds. The description text is largely a copy of the Amazon Product Description and therefore is close to a copyright violation. It doesn't follow NPOV. Also credible sources like the Scott Polar Research Institute have cataloged the work as fiction. And since the only source for the existence of journal is Fiennes himself it is unverifiable. I'll remove the content in a couple of days. Addere 22:05, 27 January 2007 (UTC)

Doctor Dollitle

Does anyone know if he did actually blow up the dam in the Doctor Dollitle film set or not? The article suggest he laid the charges but didn't actually detonate them. This [9] seems to suggest he did in fact blow it up, but it mentions it too briefly really. I'm trying to find a reputable source that goes into a bit more detail about it. Norman22b (talk) 13:29, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

See [10] for his own account given in an interview. To quote: "I was asked to create a diversion, which I did, using incendiaries." Still rather brief, but perhaps helpful enough to clarify the article somewhat? Fyndir (talk) 12:31, 30 May 2008 (UTC)

He gave another account of this on Top Gear: [11], which seems to suggest that he did blow up the dam. Quote: "...my friend decided to bring this to the general attention by blowing it up, so I laid all the charges, and it was quite successful". Again however, this is quite vague. --BobLoco (talk) 13:17, 29 August 2008 (UTC)

In his autobiography, "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know", he says that he left off some diversionary flares, but his friend didn't follow through with blowing up the dam. There is also a pictures of newspaper articles about his arrest. --Katy4650 (talk) 04:03, 14 January 2010 (UTC)'

He did NOT use his evasion skills to get away, he was busy doing said training when the others were caught from what I understand from watching Top Gear's episode with him.

Heir...

I'm not sure, but surely his young son is now the heir to his baronetage? Barters (talk) 23:05, 2 April 2008 (UTC)

I believe that his son is actually a stepson, son of his second wife. I don't think he can inherit the baronetcy. Dabbler (talk) 00:37, 3 April 2008 (UTC)

Trapped on an iceberg?

I have a vague memory that Fiennes and one other were trapped on an iceberg for some time in 1982; as I recall, they had a radio which worked some of the time and that they'd found out that the UK was at war (the Falkland war was underway) but they couldn't find out who the UK was fighting - after some discussion, they assumed it was France!

This sort of ties in with the Transglobe journey, except there were three of them - if someone can confirm he was trapped on the berg, it might be worth a mention - they apparently both expected not to survive. Apepper (talk) 21:37, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

Yes, it was mentioned in his biography "Mad, Bad and Dangerous to Know" that they spent four months on an iceberg. This was the only way for them to get from near the North pole through the broken ice floes south to meet up with their ship and finish the trip. They started out the journey with a group of three, but one guy left after the Antarctic leg so only two of them were on the iceberg. They were in radio contact with Ran's wife Ginny, who would have told them about the Faulkland war. Apparently one of the newspapers went on about two ex-SAS men avoiding being called up for service by being on an iceberg! --Katy4650 (talk) 10:41, 15 January 2010 (UTC)

Actor

We can hardly justify a section called "Actor" when he has never done any acting, and the only role he was ever considered for, he was rejected. -- JackofOz (talk) 22:02, 8 July 2009 (UTC)

Ran Fiennes

The introduction to this article says that he is also known as 'Ran' so shouldn't we redirect this name to this page? I'd do it but I can't make them without authorization and it'd be good to verify the nick name first. Tyciol (talk) 23:15, 24 October 2009 (UTC)

Removed autobiography, notability and spam Tags

For no stated or obvious reasons, someone I cannot identify on the history recently tagged this article for autobiography, notability and spam. Fiennes is interesting, well-known and honoured in the UK, so I doubt that the tagger knows what they are doing; if so, perhaps they would kindly give some explanation here, please, to justify these tags? In the meanwhile I have simply removed them. If simple removal and talkpage is not the appropriate Wikiprocedure for this situation, I apologise and would be happy to be pointed at the relevant policies, please! Jezza (talk) 16:08, 6 April 2010 (UTC)

Nationality

Would it not be more appropriate to state his nationality as British? Most articles refer to him as either English or British as he came from an English family and grew up there. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.18.159.249 (talk) 04:56, 7 April 2011 (UTC)

Absolutely, but the Scottish nationalists who go around and mark someone as Scottish if they've so much as been on a day-trip to Scotland would never allow such a thing. Nonetheless, I have made the change. Made a silly typo in the log, having just read the 'not to be confused with' line. D'oh. --Bloodloss 01:56, 8 May 2011 (UTC)

I saw Mr.Fiennes give a lecture at a business event this week, during which he mentioned that he was born in Windsor, England. This contradicts the statement here that he was born in Scotland. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 62.50.199.254 (talk) 19:53, 13 July 2011 (UTC)

SAS service

Prior to being RTU'd from SAS, had Fiennes actually been badged? My memory of his autobiography was that he hadn't completed all his training and was later badged with Territiorial SAS. Can anyone confirm/correct me on this? (79.190.69.142 (talk) 19:37, 9 October 2011 (UTC))