Bear Grylls
Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls (born 7 June 1974) is an English mountaineer and adventurer as well as best-selling author, television presenter, and international motivational speaker. Grylls, a former member of the British armed forces, made his name with his claim to have become, at the age of 23, the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest and return alive in 1998[1], though it was later revealed a younger British man may have completed this feat before him.[2] He holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UK's Royal Naval Reserve.[3][4]
He hosts the television programme Born Survivor: Bear Grylls (also known as Man vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel in the US). He was formerly the host of the television show, Escape to the Legion which was shown on Channel Four in the UK & on the Military Channel. Grylls is currently filming new HD episodes of the series.
Personal life
He is the son of Conservative party politician Sir Michael Grylls and his wife Sally. He was educated at Eton College and studied for a degree in Hispanic Studies from London University, before serving for three years in the British Armed Forces and two further years in the British SAS before a parachuting accident broke his back in three places, forcing him to retire.
Eighteen months later, he went on to become a renowned adventurer and has since led many expeditions and world record attempts. Grylls owns an island on the Welsh coast, which includes a nature reserve. He lives on a converted barge on the River Thames with his wife Shara and his sons Jesse and Marmaduke.
Career
Military
Grylls passed UK Special Forces Selection, serving as a sabre soldier, trained in unarmed combat, desert and winter warfare, combat survival, medics, parachuting, signals, evasive driving, climbing and explosives.
He served for 3 years in 21 SAS, one of two Territorial Army regiments in the Special Air Service referred to as the "SAS(R)". 21 SAS is a special forces battalion that specializes in Close Target Reconnaissance(CTR). During his time with 21 SAS Grylls served actively in North Africa twice. His military career ended abruptly, however, in 1996, when a routine parachute exercise in southern Africa went wrong. His canopy ripped severely and caused him to spiral towards earth from 16,000ft at twice the normal speed, leaving him with three broken vertebrae and unable to feel his legs.[5] Grylls spent the next 18 months in rehabilitation and, with his military career over, directed his efforts into trying to get well enough to fulfill his childhood dream of climbing Everest.
Grylls no longer serves in the British armed forces but he now holds the honorary rank of Lieutenant Commander in the UK's Royal Naval Reserve.[6]
Television appearances
Grylls's first television appearance was in an advert for Sure for Men deodorant featuring his ascent of Everest compared with what really made him sweat (giving a motivational talk to an audience). He has been a guest on many television programmes, including Friday Night with Jonathon Ross on Friday, June 1, 2007 but has also gone on to host and produce two television series of his own, Escape to the Legion and Born Survivor: Bear Grylls. During an interview with chef Gordon Ramsay, Jonathan Ross cooked some maggots and then invited Grylls to come and eat some along with Ross and Ramsay.
Escape to the Legion
Grylls filmed a four-part documentary in 2005 called Escape to the Legion which followed Grylls and 11 other UK recruits in the French Foreign Legion as they endured the month-long basic desert training in Morocco. The show was broadcast in the UK on Channel 4,[7] and in the USA on the Military Channel.[8]
Man vs. Wild
Grylls hosted an 8-part documentary series known in the US on Discovery Channel as Man vs. Wild, and titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls for Channel Four and Discovery Channel in the UK. The series features Grylls being dropped into some of the most inhospitable places on earth and showing viewers how to survive. Season 2 premiered in the US on June 15th, 2007 [Discovery Channel].
In one noteworthy episode, he urinated on a cloth and wrapped it around his head to help stave off the desert heat. Bear eats living animals on this show. In Alaska he bites a fish to death, in another, he bites off the head of a water snake. He also did push ups in the nude and rubbed ice on his body to warm up after falling into an icy lake. He also took elephant dung and squeezed it over his mouth for water. All of this, perhaps, pales in comparrison to an episode filmed in Africa where he tore raw chunks of meat off of a dead zebra with his teeth. (He did have a knife that he used as well).
Books
Grylls' first book titled Facing Up, went into the UK top 10 best-seller list, and was launched in the USA titled, The Kid Who Climbed Everest. Its subject is his expedition, at 23 years old, to climb to the summit of Mount Everest. The book details the climb, from his first reconnaissance climb on which he fell in a crevasse and was knocked unconscious, coming to swinging on the end of a rope, to the grueling ascent that took him over ninety days of extreme weather, sleep deprivation and almost running out of oxygen inside the death zone.
Grylls' second book Facing the Frozen Ocean was shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award 2004, it describes how - with a team of five men - he completed the first unassisted crossing of the frozen North Atlantic, Arctic Ocean in a rigid inflatable boat.
A book was also written to accompany the series Born Survivor: Bear Grylls. It was published under the same title as the television series, featuring survival skills learned from some of the world's most hostile places. This book reached the Sunday Times Top 10 best-seller list.
Motivational speaking
Bear Grylls also works as an international motivational speaker.[citation needed]
Famous firsts and world records
Grylls first entered the record books in 1997 by being the youngest Briton to summit Ama Dablam in the Himalayas, a peak famously described by Sir Edmund Hillary as "unclimbable".
Then in 1998, Grylls claimed another record of becoming the youngest Briton, at 23, to summit Mount Everest. Both these achievements are made even more remarkable by the fact that a mere two years earlier he almost severed his spinal cord in a near fatal parachuting accident in Africa.[1] Following the ascent and subsequent death of the 22-year-old Briton Michael Matthews in 1999, Grylls amended his claim to: "the youngest Briton to summit and return alive". However, this claim is controversial as it later transpired that Grylls may not have been the youngest Briton to climb Mount Everest.[2] In 1995, 22-year-old James Allen successfully summitted the mountain. He later wrote a letter to UK Summit Magazine, issue 40, 2005, complaining that his achievement was not recognised by Grylls. "I climbed as an Australian [but] I also hold a British passport," he wrote. "I was born in Britain, educated here, work here, married here and have children here. If it is statistics people want then my climb consequently made me the youngest Briton to climb Everest until Jake Meyer [in 2005]." At the time of Grylls' ascent, there was some confusion over Allen's nationality as he was living in Australia at the time and some Everest organisations still list him as being Australian.[9] Grylls does not acknowledge Allen in interviews or on his website despite being made aware of Allen[citation needed] and continues to claim that he was the youngest Briton to climb the mountain. However, on a recent interview with David Letterman (June 2007) Letterman calls him "The youngest Briton to summit Everest" and Bear corrects him by saying another man did it the following year but died on the way down, and regardless of his death it's his record.
In 2000 Grylls led the first team to circumnavigate the UK on personal watercraft, to raise money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) Lifeboats. Three years later he Led a team of five British men on the first unassisted crossing of the north Atlantic Arctic Ocean, in an open rigid inflatable boat. The team was hampered by giant waves, icebergs and storms.
In 2005 Grylls led the first team ever to attempt to paramotor over the remote jungle plateaux of the Angel Falls in Venezuela. The team was attempting to reach the highest, most remote high tepuis, made famous by Conan Doyle's Lost World.
In 2007 Grylls claimed a new world record by flying a petrol-powered paraglider over the Himalayas, higher than Mount Everest. He had to cope with temperatures of -60C and dangerously low death zone oxygen levels to reach a claimed 29,500 feet, almost 10,000 feet higher than the previous record of 6,102m (20,019ft), which was set by Ramon Morillas Salmeron over Spain on October 6, 2006. The record is yet to be independently verified.[10] The record is unlikely to be ratified by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), which has very strict criteria[11] because the feat was not witnessed by an FAI accredited observer. The flight instruments also froze during the ascent.[12] The original plan was to attempt a flight over the summit of Everest. The pair changed their plans, keeping several miles from the mountain, attributing the change to the fear of imprisonment if they strayed into Chinese airspace.[13] The stunt raised $1 million for the charity Global Angels. Grylls described the expedition as "the hairiest, most frightening thing" he had ever done.[13]
Alongside balloonist and mountaineer David Hempleman-Adams, Bear Grylls attempted to create a world record for the highest ever open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot air balloon at 25,000 feet, dressed in full mess kit and oxygen masks.
Charitable works
Grylls has a close relationship with several charitable organisations; many of his expeditions and stunts raise large sums of money for them.
Global Angels, a UK charity which seeks to aid needy children around the world, were the beneficiaries of his 2007 attempt to take a powered paraglider higher than Everest.
Grylls's attempt to hold the highest ever dinner party at 25,000 feet was in aid of The Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme and launched the 50th anniversary of the Awards.
His attempt to circumnavigate the UK on personal watercraft raised money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution Lifeboats. Andrew Freemantle Chief Director of the RNLI said the following on this contribution:
We were very impressed by, and, indeed, most grateful to Bear Grylls and his team, for their innovative and enthusiastic support to the RNLI. We are always reaching out to the younger generation and Bear has helped so much to achieve this objective.[14]
Grylls' Everest climb was in aid of SSAFA Forces, a British-based charitable organisation set up to help former and serving members of the United Kingdom armed forces and their families.
His 2003 Arctic expedition detailed in the book Facing the Frozen Ocean was in aid of The Prince's Trust, an organisation which provides training, financial, and practical support to under-privileged young people in Britain. He has now been made an ambassador for The Prince's Trust and presented the awards at The Prince's Trust's 25th anniversary alongside HRH The Prince of Wales.
His 2005 attempt to paramotor over the Angel Falls was in aid of the charity Hope & Homes for Children[15]
Grylls is also vice president for The JoLt Trust, a small charity that takes disabled, disadvantaged, abused or neglected young people on challenging month-long expeditions.
Grylls used his story of how his Christian faith came alive as a teenager, and images from a climb of Mount Snowdon for the promotion of the Alpha course, a popular Christianity for beginners course used by many Christian denominations.
See also
References
- ^ a b "GKN Mission Everest - Bear Grylls". GKN. 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Everest Honours". Telegraph Media Group.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Bear Grylls.com". 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "News and Events: Royal Navy". The Royal Navy. 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ channel four on the parachuting accident and filming 'escape to the legion
- ^ "News and Events: Royal Navy". The Royal Navy. 2006.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Escape to the Legion". Channel 4.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Military Channel: TV Listings: Escape to the Legion". The Military Channel. 2007.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Everest Summits 1995". Everestnews.com.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Explorer Hits Heights". Telegraph Media Group.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "How to Do Records". British Microlight Aircraft Association.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Flying Into A Dream". Telegraph Media Group.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ a b "Bear Grylls Glides Over Himalayas". Telegraph Media Group.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accessmonthday=ignored (help); Unknown parameter|accessyear=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ Bear Grylls's Charity connections and RNLI comments [1] retrieved May 26, 2007
- ^ Murray Norton (2005). "Fancy An Adventure". Webchats.tv.
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