Fulfilling a chilly childhood dream

SINCE I was 10 years old, I have had two ambitions.

One was to go the Moon, the other was to visit Antarctica.

Sadly, I will never look down upon the earth like the Apollo astronauts, but this week I’m heading south to follow in the footsteps of one of the greatest polar explorers, Sir Ernest Shackleton.

I’m sure “The Boss”, as he was affectionately dubbed by his men, would have smiled at the thought of tourists travelling to the Antarctic where his ship, The Endurance, became trapped in the ice and sank.

He and his men then made

a desperate journey, in tiny lifeboats, to the barren Elephant Island. Shackleton then embarked on an extraordinary 800-mile journey to South Georgia to get help and have the rest of his men, left behind on Elephant Island, rescued. It’s an...