雷诺夫·范恩斯

雷纳夫·法恩斯爵士，第三代班伯里的费因斯从男爵（英语：Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet，/ˈrænʌlf ˈfaɪnz/，1944年3月7日—）是一位英国极地探险家和作家，是第一个徒步穿越南极大陆的人，主要作品有《极度深寒：地球最冷地域的极限冒险》（Cold: Extreme Adventures at the Lowest Temperatures on Earth）等。

Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet (born 7 March 1944) is an English explorer and writer who holds several endurance records.

Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years, including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the Army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North Pole and South Pole by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he reached the summit of Mount Everest.

Guinness Book of Records founding editor Norris McWhirter in 1984 named Fiennes as the greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as books on explorers Robert Falcon Scott and Ernest Shackleton.

Early life and education

Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes was born on 7 March 1944 in Windsor, Berkshire, nearly four months after the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes. While commanding the Royal Scots Greys in Italy, Fiennes' father trod on a German anti-personnel S-mine and died of his wounds 11 days later in Naples on 24 November 1943. He was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Fiennes' mother was Audrey Joan (died 2004), younger daughter of Sir Percy Newson. He inherited his father's baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes baronet at his birth.

After the war, his mother moved the family to South Africa, where he remained until he was 12. While in South Africa, he attended Western Province Preparatory School in Newlands, Cape Town. Fiennes then returned to be educated at Sandroyd School, Wiltshire, and later at Eton College.

Career

Army officer

After failing to gain entry into the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, Fiennes attended Mons Officer Cadet School. After completing several months' training, on 27 July 1963 he was granted a short service commission in his late father's former regiment, the Royal Scots Greys. He was later seconded to the Special Air Service where he specialised in demolitions.

Offended by the construction of a temporary sandbag dam built in Castle Combe, Wiltshire, by 20th Century Fox for the production of the 1967 film Doctor Dolittle, Fiennes with others plotted to blow up the dam but the police foiled the plan. Fiennes was fined £300 for conspiring to cause a public mischief, and £200 for unlawfully possessing explosives; he and a co-conspirator were dismissed from the SAS. He was initially posted to another cavalry regiment but was eventually permitted to return to the Royal Scots Greys.

Fiennes spent the last two years of his army career seconded to the Sultan of Oman's Armed Forces. At the time Oman was experiencing a growing communist insurgency supported from neighbouring South Yemen. After familiarisation, he commanded the Reconnaissance Platoon of the Muscat Regiment, seeing extensive active service in the Dhofar War. He led several raids deep into rebel-held territory on the Djebel Dhofar, and was decorated for bravery by the Sultanate.

After eight years' service Fiennes relinquished his commission on 27 July 1971.

Expedition leader

Since the 1960s Fiennes has been an expedition leader. He led expeditions up the White Nile on a hovercraft in 1969 and on Norway's Jostedalsbreen Glacier in 1970. A notable trek was the Transglobe Expedition he undertook between 1979 and 1982, when he and two fellow members of 21 SAS, Oliver Shepard and Charles R. Burton, journeyed around the world on its polar axis, using surface transport only. Nobody else has ever done so by any route before or since.