Edward MichaelBearGrylls(born 7 June 1974) is a Britishadventurer, writer and television presenter. He is best known for his television seriesMan vs. Wild, also known originally asBorn Survivor: Bear Gryllsin the United Kingdom, which ended in 2011. He is also involved in a number of television series in the United Kingdom and the United States on the theme of survival in the wild.In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest-everChief Scoutat the age of 35.Personal lifeGrylls grew up inDonaghadeeinCounty Down,Northern Ireland, until the age of 4 when his family moved toBembridgeon theIsle of Wight.[6][7]He is the son of the lateConservative partypoliticianSir Michael Gryllsand Lady SarahGrylls.[8]Lady Grylls was the daughter ofPatricia Ford,[9]briefly anUlster Unionist PartyMP, and cricketer and businessmanNeville Ford. Grylls has one sibling, an elder sister, Lara Fawcett, a cardio-tennis coach, who gave him thenickname Bear when he was a week old.[10]Grylls was educated at Eaton House,Ludgrove SchoolandEton College, where he helped start its firstmountaineering club,[11]andBirkbeck, University of London,[12]where he graduated with a degree, obtained part-time, inHispanicstudies in 2002.[13][14]From an early age, he learned to climb and sail with his father, who wasa member of the prestigiousRoyal Yacht Squadron. As a teenager, he learned to skydive and earned asecond danblack beltinShotokankarate. At age eight he became aCub Scout.[15]He speaks English, Spanish, and French.[16]Grylls is a Christian, describing his faith as thebackbone in his life.[17]Grylls married Shara Cannings Knight in 2000.[3][9]They have three sons: Jesse, Marmaduke,[18]and Huckleberry.[5]Military serviceAfter leaving school, Grylls briefly considered joining theIndian Armyand hiked in the Himalayan mountains ofSikkimandWest Bengal.[19]Eventually, Grylls joined theTerritorial Armyand, after passingselection, served as a reservist with theSASin21 SAS Regiment (Artists) (Reserve), for three years until 1997.In 1996, he suffered a freefall parachuting accident inZambia. Hiscanopyripped at 4,900 metres (16,000 ft), partially opening, causing him to fall and land on his parachute pack on his back, which partially crushed threevertebrae. Grylls later said: I should have cut the main parachute and gone to the reserve but thought there was time to resolve the problem.[20]According to his surgeon, Grylls came within a whisker of being paralysed for life and at first it was questionable whether he would ever walk again. Grylls spent the next 12 months in and out of military rehabilitation atHeadley Court[20]before being discharged from his medical treatment and directing his efforts into trying to get well enough to fulfil his childhood dream of climbingMount Everest.In 2004, Grylls was previously awarded the honorary rank oflieutenant commanderin theRoyal Naval Reserve;[21][22]and in 2013 he was awarded the honorary rank oflieutenant colonelin theRoyal Marines Reserve.[23]EverestOn 16 May 1998, Grylls achieved his childhood dream climbed to the summit of Mount Everest, 18 months after breaking three vertebrae in a parachuting accident.[24]At 23, he was at the time among the youngest people to have achieved this feat. There is some controversy around whether he was, as claimed, the youngestBriton to have done so, as he was preceded by James Allen—an Australian climber with dual British citizenship who reached the summit in 1995 at age 22.[25][26]The record was since been surpassed byJake Meyerand thenRob Gauntlettwho summitted at age 19.To prepare for climbing at such high altitudes in theHimalayas, in 1997, Grylls became the youngest Briton to climbAma Dablam, a peak once described bySir Edmund Hillaryasunclimbable.Other expeditionsCircumnavigation of the UKIn 2000 Grylls led the team to circumnavigate theBritish Isles onJet Skis,[22]taking about 30 days, to raise money for theRoyal National Lifeboat Institution(RNLI). He also rowed naked in a homemade bathtub along theThamesto raise funds for a friend who lost his legs in a climbing accident.[24]Crossing the North AtlanticThree years later, he led a team of five, including his childhood friend, SAS colleague, and Mount Everest climbing partner Mick Crosthwaite, on an unassisted crossing of the northAtlanticOcean, in an openrigid inflatable boat. Grylls and his team travelled in an eleven-metre-long boat and encounteredforce 8 gale windwith waves breaking over the boat while passing through icebergs in their journey fromHalifax, Nova ScotiatoJohn o Groats, Scotland.[27]Paramotoring over Angel FallsIn 2005, Grylls led thefirst[citation needed]teamever to attempt toparamotorover the remote jungle plateau of theAngel Fallsin Venezuela, the worlds highest uninterrupted waterfall. The team was attempting to reach the highest, most remotetepuis.Dinner party at altitudeIn 2005, alongside theballoonistandmountaineerDavid Hempleman-Adamsand Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team, Grylls created a world record for the highest open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot-air balloon at 7,600 metres (25,000 ft), dressed in fullmess dressandoxygen masks.[28]To train for the event, he made over 200 parachute jumps. This event was in aid ofThe Duke of Edinburghs AwardandThe Princes Trust.[29]Paramotoring over the HimalayasIn 2007, Grylls embarked on a record-setting Parajet paramotor in Himalayas near Mount Everest. He took off from 4,400 metres (14,500 ft), 8 miles south of the mountain. Grylls reported looking down on the summit during his ascent and coping with temperatures of −60 °C (−76 °F). He endured dangerously low oxygen levels and eventually reached 9,000 metres (29,500 ft), almost 3,000 metres (10,000 ft) higher than the previous record of 6,102 metres (20,019 ft). The feat was filmed forDiscovery Channelworldwide as well asChannel 4in the UK.[30]While Grylls initially planned to cross over Everest itself, the permit was only to fly to the south of Everest, andhe did not traverse Everest out of risk of violating Chinese airspace.[31]The expedition provoked some controversy. Grylls initially reported on his blog to have brokena new world record by flying over Mount Everest, when in fact – though reaching a height greater than Everest – he did not actually fly over the top of the mountain but was in fact some miles awayfrom it.[25]Some explorers have cast doubts on the veracity of other aspects of the flight, such asits purportedly record-setting height, which wouldhave put him into the death zone where the amount of oxygen in the air is insufficient to
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:18:54 +0000
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