Product Description

Having experienced the deprivations, the stress and the sheer physical pain that Scott endured, Sir Ranulph Fiennes is well qualified to write the biography of Captain Scott; he has endured all but the final tragedy of the much-maligned Scott and is determined to set the record straight. As well as providing a biographical account of Scott's life - written with the full and exclusive co-operation of the Scott Estate, this book traces the way that Scott's reputation has been attacked and his achievements distorted.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #340362 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10-13
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 508 pages

About the Author
Sir Ranulph Fiennes was the first man to reach both poles (by surface travel) and the first to cross the Antarctic Continent unsupported. In the 1960s he was removed from the SAS Regiment for misuse of explosives but, joining the army of the Sultan of Oman, received that country's Bravery Medal on active service in 1971. He is the only person yet to have been awarded two clasps to the Polar medal for both Antarctic and the Arctic regions.

Fiennes has led over 30 expeditions including the first polar circumnavigation of the Earth. In 1993 Her Majesty the Queen awarded Fiennes the Order of the British Empire (OBE) for ‘human endeavour and charitable services,' because, on the way to breaking records, he has raised over £5 million for charity.

Customer Reviews

Finally a book that restores Scott's reputation !
This book is a biography of Captain Scott's ill fated attempt to reach the South Pole - but it does not read like a dry biography - more like a thriller. You know the ending but the way the story is written you get a real sense of just how close Scott came to getting home safely.
I would take the opinion of Ranaulph Fiennes on Scott over any of Scott's detractors because of what he has done himself - including a frank admission he would have died on one occaision but for modern communications.
This is a great story, well told , about a leader and his team who achieved so much in Antarctic exploration and died in the end attempting a feat of strength and courage that can rarely, if ever , be matched.
I'm delighted to have read this book and for its copious use of notes taken at the time to restore the reputation of a very brave man
Scotts last words in his note to the public make the book worth reading because they set his actions in context - read the book and see what I mean

A Reputation Restored
I cannot praise this book enough. Like many people, I had accepted the modern day version of Scott's explorations - misguided, amateurish and marred by Scott's wayward and boorishness personality, leading on to predictable tragedy.

Rannulph Fiennes proves not only that this is total nonsense, but reveals Scott as a thoughtful, caring and inspired leader, fully deserving of the heroic reputation he held until it was damaged and disparaged in recent years by a hack journalist, Roland Huntford, so desperate to add some colour and scandal to his books, he fundamentally distorted the true story of Scott and his breathtaking achievements.

Anyone interested in polar adventure, in tales of courage or in simple justice should snatch this book up. It is a tremendous read and fully deserving of its five stars.

This book needed to be written
I believe that R Fiennes has written a very important book.

I have been collecting Antarctic literature, for the period between 1901 - 1922 since the early eighties. I have all the journals, several biographies, many first editions and even one of Scott's first expedition signed by Peter, whom I also knew and visited in Slimbridge. I was fortunate enough to spend 17 days camped, with a friend and Argentinian colleague, just a stone's throw from Scott's hut when part of the NZ Antarctic Research Team of January 1996. I spent many, and happy, hours just sitting in the hut as I had been given the key for the whole period.

All of my "knowledge", and opinions, of this period has come from the various journals and biographies written. I do not claim any expertise, just a love of the period and of Antarctica itself .

I have never been able to understand why biographers believe that there was rivalry between Scott and Shackleton or why, in order to revere one of the explorers of this time it is necessary to pour scorn on another. Why each explorer of this period cannot be admired for their own individual contributions to Antarctic exploration. For myself, I have always regarded Scott as the amateur and Amundsen as the professional, but without denigration or honour being applied to these words. Much like the Players versus the Gentlemen in sixties cricket parlance, or ProAm golf today.

There can be no doubt that Huntford did a huge disservice to the memory of Scott without really adding anything to the understanding of polar exploration. It was as unnecessary as it was transparently erroneous. I sincerely hope that Fienne's book will be widely read, it deserves to be both for the additional material and insights it has brought to the subject as well as re-dressing the balance of Scott's achievement.