Celebrity traveller

Sir Ranulph Fiennes OBE, 73, is a British explorer who has broken many endurance records over the past 50 years. He lives in Somerset with second wife Louise and has a daughter, Elizabeth.

WHAT IS YOUR MOST MEMORABLE HOLIDAY?

Antigua – my grandad was Governor General there back in the 1920s. During one visit, we met some old folk who remembered him and the work he did.

He had ignored orders and overspent the budget by building a water reservoir and a hospital for the homeless.

The Fiennes Institute for the Elderly was set up in 1929 and I am delighted to be their patron and I try to support them when I can with my fundraising.

Antigua’s a beautiful country – beautiful landscape, climate’s lovely and the people are great.

AND YOUR WORST?

My late wife Ginny and I just loved going in little rubber boats out to the islands off the north west coast of Scotland. On one occasion we didn’t understand the local weather forecast. It looked clear but we were near a whirlpool called Corryvreckan, which lies between the islands of Jura and Scarba. The weather turned nasty and a bad storm hit us. We were incredibly lucky to survive and make it back to Oban in one piece. And I wouldn’t really want to go back to the Splits on Nahanni River in Northern Canada – the world’s most dense mosquito population.

WHICH SOUVENIR DO YOU CHERISH MOST?

A bit of rock no bigger than your hand, which came back with me from