10 memorable moments in a life of adventure
BEAR GRYLLS, REAL-LifE Action mAn
BEAR GRYLLS is TV’s action man – and now he’s bringing his derring-do to Scotland in the flesh.
He’s coming to the SSE Hydro in Glasgow on October 9 with amazing live show Endeavour. It’s an action and adventure feast involving aerial artists and stunt crew which Bear is taking to big arenas across the UK. Info and tickets from www.beargryllslive.com
It’s the latest project from ever-busy Bear, 42, whose series include The Island and Running Wild.
Here, Bear, who has three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke and Huckleberry with wife Shara, tells iN10 about the 10 big moments in his life.
FATHERLY BONDING
Climbing with my dad (politician Sir Michael Grylls) as a young boy on the sea cliffs on the Isle of Wight is definitely a treasured memory. They were only about 50ft but they felt like the highest mountains in the world to me. I wasn’t very good at them and was really scared but I loved being close to my dad, hanging out with him.
Climbing was something I became good at. It felt natural.
It taught me that life is about relationships. The bonds that you create with people, whether up a mountain or a little rock face, are special. It’s how we are made and it’s all about connection.
BELT OF HONOUR
As a teenager, getting my Second Dan karate black belt was a big moment. I didn’t have a lot of confidence as a kid. I wasn’t the most sporty or academic person but I loved karate – it was something I could really work hard at. I started with a whole bunch of friends.
They were all better than me at first but slowly they all dropped out and I just kept going. At 18 I was one of the youngest Second Dan black belts in the country and it was such a proud moment. It was the first thing I’d really achieved.
I still don’t necessarily think I’m that confident now. I have a quiet confidence when I’m out in wild places because I’ve become good at that, but I’m really not mega-confident in life. I have a faith that gives me a quiet strength, though.
ARMY DAYS
Getting my SAS beret at the end of selection was a formative moment. It gave me the belief that I had the ability to look after myself when the chips were down.
It had been a long, 11-month process with 120 people whittled down to four of us. The other three are still among my best friends.
A lot of the skills I learned there have stayed with me and I use them for my job now.
CRASHING TO EARTH
In 1996 in Zambia, I suffered a freefall parachute accident when my chute ripped. I spent 18 months in and out of army rehabilitation.
What happened taught me that you should never give up and you have to hold on to your dreams.
When I was coming down, I had no time to think how bad it was going to be. You’re in survival mode. Once I crashed, I didn’t even know if I’d be able to walk again.
That was a dark time and the start of a long, slow road to recovery where nothing was certain.
HITTING THE HEIGHTS
Taking on Everest had been an ambition of mine ever since I started climbing with my dad, aged eight. So conquering the world’s highest mountain was the culmination of a lifelong dream. Four climbers lost their lives on the way up. Two died of the cold and two fell.
Reaching the top was an incredible moment, seeing the curvature of the earth. You’re very aware you’re somewhere special and there were a lot of tears.
Following my accident, a big part of me had never really believed that I could do it, so standing on the summit was incredible – apart from it being minus-45 degrees with 60mph winds!
FAMILY MATTERS
I’d met Shara three months before leaving for Everest. Everyone told me not to propose too soon after I got back – classic mountain fever.
So I waited, and a year later I knew she was the one.
Our wedding day was really fun. We were young – just 25 – and pretty broke, so it wasn’t a flash wedding but it was a day of celebration and love. It’s lasted all this time and I’m proud of that.
My three boys are the source of my greatest pride.
They’re incredible boys, and the focus and the light for me in getting back in one piece from all these great adventures.
I tell them that you’ve got to go for things in life and be kind to each other. That’s the message I always try and give as a dad. I don’t know about them following in my footsteps – they’ve probably got more brain cells than that!
They’ll conquer the world in their own way. It’s just about finding something you really love.
ISLAND OF DREAMS?
My TV show The Island touches so many people.
Everyone wonders if they could go through it, or if their son, daughter, wife or husband could.
They think they can – until they get hit in the face by the wild and are starving, thirsty and scared.
That’s when you see what people are made of. The show sells all around the world and lots of countries make their own version. We never knew it was going to be such a hit.
To win a Bafta for it was testament to a great team.
I worry on all my shows – safety is the number one priority – but on most of them I can hold people’s hand every step of the way and have more of an influence.
With The Island they’re on their own and you’ve got to try to be twice as safe. But we’ve definitely had a few close calls.
MR PRESIDENT
The call from the White House revealing that President Barack Obama was a big fan and wanted to do my show Running Wild was a big moment.
I was pretty nervous beforehand but this was one I’d never forget.
My mum always used to say that, no matter who someone is, they always put their trousers on one leg at a time and they’ll be a normal guy. And that was true. He was a humble, family-centred guy and we had a great time. Safety is always paramount of course – and we had 65 Secret Service agents with us at all times, so that’s a big old crew!
SCOUTING FOR SKILLS
Being appointed Chief Scout was one of my proudest moments.
There are now 40 million Scouts around the world. It’s all about giving young people an adventure and an experience of the outdoors, learning new skills.
We all need a bit of that. It’s empowering, and the Scouts help people from the toughest areas get access to that adventure.
ENDEAVOUR TOUR
This is a really special show for me. It has taken two years to put together and a global tour starts in the UK.
It’s a show celebrating some of the greatest feats of exploration and the human spirit winning out over crazy adversity.
It’s fun that we can bring these arenas to life with videos and lights, so it seems like they are becoming a jungle, or the top of Everest, or a desert.
I’ll be flying around on wires. Cirque du Soleil have done the choreography.
We can recreate avalanches or crevasse falls. It’s a real spectacular and different to anything I’ve done before.
It’s fun, scary and uplifting. People can leave at the end feeling like they’ve conquered the world.