Fiennes has no plans to hang up his ice pick

Ranulph Fiennes has survived many tight spots as the world’s greatest living explorer, but one of the first risks he took landed him in trouble with the law in Ireland. Almost 50 years before he became the oldest Briton to climb Mt Everest, having already crossed the Arctic and Antarctica, he was detained by gardaí in Dublin. His offence?

“Trying to climb up onto the roof of your Dáil... the Victorian drainpipes were particularly good if you put wet socks on your hands,” he laughs.