PUPILS in Winchester gave a warm welcome to adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes when he visited their school to talk about his life.

St Swithun’s School’s 580-seat performing arts hall was brimming with pupils, parents, former pupils and members of the community as Sir Ranulph eased the audience into his escapades with some jokes, and dry wit.

The explorer started off with what motivation means to him, outlining his mischievous childhood and lack of qualifications through to a career in the British Army, the Special Air Service and the Sultan’s Army in Oman. The military gave him a taste for adventure and in 1969 he led the first hovercraft expedition up the Nile.

Then he was off – outlining his many life-threatening and record-breaking challenges, including his unsupported journey to the South Pole in 1992-93, his assent of Everest at 65 in 2009 and his seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. He has no plans to stop and at 72 is aiming to raise money for Marie Curie by completing the Global Reach Challenge, which would see him become the first person to have crossed both polar ice caps and climbed the highest mountain on every continent. However, he maintained his greatest accomplishment was his 34-year marriage to his first wife who died in 2004.

Sixth-form student Florence de Jersey Lowney said: “Learning about his incredible record-breaking experiences, as well as his charity work, inspired me and a whole queue of people to buy his new book.

We wish him all the best with his next challenge and it was brilliant to see how one can achieve and inspire so much even with no O or A-Levels.”

Event organiser and politics teacher Kathryn Batten said: “Sir Ranulph entertained us with a gripping and dynamic talk.

“His determination, energy and positivity toward everything that he undertakes and encounters was inspirational.”