A Ran fan

I've been an avid follower of Sir Ranulph Fiennes for about a decade. In 2002 I scraped together my pennies (I had very, very few of them at the time) to buy a ticket for a seat at a breakfast function where he was a guest speaker. I had a few words with Ran after the breakfast, during the book signing. Yes, I have a very treasured, signed-copy of 'Mind of Matter', Ran's account of his epic trans-Antarctic man-haul expedition with Mike Stroud (I've got Mike's book too).

I've got a good number of Ran's books - stories of expeditions, biographies... I recently discovered that my copy of 'Atlantis of the Sands', Ran's story about finding the lost city of Ubar in Oman, is missing. If you've got it, please return it...

Although Ran is not on my dream-date list, which is currently topped by Alexander Skarsgard and Felix Baumgartner, I would absolutely love to have dinner with him. Or lunch. Or brunch. Or just coffee. Or even five-minutes sitting on a park bench. We'd have so much to talk about. He also just seems like a nice chap.

Anyway, last week, while working on FEAT for Cape Town in Feb, I thought I'd drop Ran an email. Imagine having 'The Worlds Greatest Living Explorer' at FEAT! I have such a super topic in mind for him.

I received a reply from Ran last night - the best invitation decline I've ever received.

Many thanks for your kind invitation of FEAT. Sadly my 2010-2014 diary is jam-packed with expedition preparation, charity fundraisers and paid conference events. But my thanks for thinking of me as a presenter.

I replied to say that I hoped to catch him in 2015, by which time FEAT would be a global phenomenon, celebrating adventurers around the world.

Of interest, Ran is now 66 years young and still going strong.

2015 is only four years away. I look forward to meeting him then ;)