Is explorer royalty. Infamous for his use of the Black and Decker for some home surgery of frost bitten damaged fingers, Ranulph is from the breed of tough military men (ex SAS ) who have led many an expedition.

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 climbed to the summit of Mount Everest.

Even after double heart bypass surgery he managed 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents. A shout out should also go to Dr Mike Stroud doctor and participant on the 7x7X7 challenge and an unsupported crossing of Antartica.

Ranulph also completed an adventure with another one of our unsung heroes Rebecca Stevens.

Helen is one of our unsung heroes of travel.

You probably know her from Country File and Blue Peter, sticky backed plastic and all all that , but wouldn’t necessarily associate her with explorers. What you might not know is that Helen was (and hopefully still is) quite the adventurer - racking up the records such as the fastest 1000km across Antarctica - kite skiing, on route to the South Pole.

In early 2010, Skelton kayaked the entire length of the River Amazon, which is an amazing feat, as these are potentially very dangerous places - even today

In 2009 she completed the 78 mile ultra marathon becoming the 2nd women only to ever have done so.

She also kayaked 2,010 miles (3,230 km) on a solo journey from Nauta in Peru to Almeirim, Brazil, on route to achieving two entries in the Guinness Book of World Records including longest distance covered in 24 hours in a Kayak, and not a bit of sticky backed plastic in sight!

Michael would probably laugh to up there with explorer greats such as Ranulp Finnes, and Sir Francis Chichester - but he deserves to be at the top table. The BBC and Mr Palin popularised explorer travel for the masses and who doesn’t remember Pole to Pole or his around the world in 80 Days. As early as 1980 Michael was delighting us with Great Railway Journeys of the World - a tongue in cheek look at UK rail - but spawning a whole generation of rail inspired documentaries. Michale came full circle in 1997 in which he circumnavigated the globe on an anti-clockwise journey of some 50,000 miles (80,000 km. He is still making travel programmes, and may he continue to do so.

Ray is a champion of survival and bushcraft. A passionate outdoorsman, story teller and TV personality. Rays pragmatic and softly spoken approach and his work with indigenous peoples reminds us a lot of Frijol Nansen and John Rae, exalted company which I am sure Ray would be delighted to be in. his work with fellow outdoors man Lars Fält and the book Out on the Land -bushcraft skills from the Northern Forests - is one of our personal favourites. We have several items in our museum from Rays bushcraft school and they represent the best in simple bushcraft survival. Rays documentary on building a birch bark canoe is one of the all time classic, using skills and materials that are sadly disappearing.

When we first saw his tiny boat in Greenwich in the 1960’s we didn’t think it was possible. but now like many firsts it has spawned a whole new generation of transatlantic single handed sailors.

What many people don’t know was that Sir Francis was also an early aviator in the 1920’s flying out of Brooklands in the UK.

A pioneer of the technique ,he wrote the navigation manual that allowed the pilots of single-handed aircraft to navigate using kneeboard navigation.

On 27 August 1966 Sir Francis sailed his ketch Gipsy Moth IV from Plymouth in the United Kingdom and returned there after 226 days of sailing on 28 May 1967, having circumnavigated the globe.

Rebecca isn’t probably the first person you think of when thinking of extraordinary people, and many of you will have no idea who she is! Like many firsts - it’s alway tougher going first - the 3 minuet mile - first person to the North Pole, well Rebecca was the first British woman to climb or we should say summit Mount Everest.

She was also the first British woman, to climb the seven highest summits on each continent from the Messner list, including Mt McKinley, Aconcagua and Mount Vinson in Antartica. Rebecca has also sailed to the South Magnetic Pole and Antarctica and crossed the South Atlantic island of South Georgia.

Together with the polar explorers Ranulph Fiennes and Mike Stroud, she competed in an eight-day Eco-Challenge, which consisted of running, biking and canoeing across the Canadian Rockies.

Henry was one of the breed of tough ex millitary men like Ranulph Fiennes, and he pioneered a route though the transantarctic mountains following in the footsteps of the earlier Shackleton Nimrod Expedition of 1907-1909.

Henry tragically died attempting the solo crossing of Antarctica. Famous for his last broadcast which was "When my hero, Ernest Shackleton, was 97 miles from the South Pole on the morning of January the 9th 1909, he said he'd shot his bolt.

"Well, today I have to inform you with some sadness that I too have shot my bolt."

Henry covered 913 miles (1,469 km) in 69 days, and had only 30 miles (48 km) to go, but he had pushed himself beyond the limits of human endurance.

Henry was rescued but a sadly died shortly after and on the 24th of January 2016 Henry died of complete organ failure in Punta Arenas in Chile.

He was deservedly awarded posthumously The Polar Medal.

Steve Ashton’s 1980’s book Scrambles in Snowdonia is the bible of free climbing in this part of Wales. Unlike Wainwright - who’s excellent books were about hiking in the Lakes - Steves book pushed the boundaries of what was possible without ropes and a safety net!.

His simple grading of 1, 2, 3 for difficulty and *** for quality was spot on. Great route descriptions - but easy to go off piste of some routes such as the challenging Parsons Nose on the fabulously named Clogwyn Y Person Arête *** 3 in the Snowden Group.

The route gives you an escape from the seemingly inescapable Cwm Glas valley onto Crib Y Ddysgl (1065m) on one of the finest natural routes. One of our favourites, but not for the feint hearted.

Another being the exposed Cniefion Arête ** (3) on Cwm Cniefion between Glyder Fawr and the Gribin. The initial 30 meters is more rock climbing than scrambling, (V.Dif), but it gives a tremendous feeling of exposure and excitement.

Thanks Steve.

Ben inspired a whole generation of sports climbers, and helped to popularise the sport - leading to a plethora of Indoor climbing walls. Now we can’t claim Ben did that on his own, but he certain led from the front.

A leading climber of his generation Ben pushed the boundaries of what was possible for sports climbing and was credited with being the fist to 8c on Hubble

We’ve bouldered with Ben in the 1990’s in the Llanberis Valley North Wales- great teacher and at his peak he could do a 9a - (how is that even possible?)

Spiderman eat your heart out!