Sir Ranulph Fiennes interview: ‘Too many people want to climb Everest now, it’s ridiculous’

As far as other sorts of exploration, though, he seems to take my point. At 79, he’s driving himself harder than ever, embarking on gruelling book tours, raising huge amounts for charity and enduring the challenges of a relatively late-in-life father – his daughter, Elizabeth, with his second wife, Louise, is 17. “We’ve certainly not left people many polar challenges to complete. “We try to beat the Norwegians, but we don’t raise money,” Fiennes recalls telling the Prince with a laugh. And since then we’ve raised many, many millions.” Everest was the obvious next target for Fiennes, who had conquered the two-dimensional world.