After an almost delinquent childhood the author followed his passion for adventure into the Royal Scots Greys, the SAS (from which he was thrown out for blowing up an American film set), and then two vicious years as a volunteer fighting Communist insurgents in Oman He has been short-listed to play James Bond and awarded medals for his explorations, but it is for the Transglobe Expedition across the axis of the earth that he is best known