biography

“It is not often, indeed it is rare, in a man's life that one can say something unequivocally about someone, but you are one. You are rigorous-minded, conscientious, and focused in a way most high achievers can only dream about”. Note to Paul from Pen Hadow, first person to trek solo & unsupported to the North Pole from Canada.

Paul's passion for Earth's remote and wild places began on 20th April 1985 when he was thrown through the back window of a car in a high speed crash. Luckily, his head broke his fall.

A few hours later, whilst he was trying to remove a shard of glass that was lodged in his back, a police officer came up to Paul's hospital bed and told him, "You should have died today." With these words ringing in his ears, Paul made a promise to himself: that at the end of every subsequent day, he would be able to say "I've had a great day."

Two years later, when he was 17, Paul proposed and subsequently co-led a 47-strong team which cleaned up three decades of rubbish that had accumulated at the base of Mount Everest. Whilst picking up used medical equipment, discarded plastic containers, and empty tins of caviar, Paul looked up and wondered for the first time what the view was like from the summit.

Turning his back on a promising career in refuse collection, Paul went on to climb, trek and explore many of the world's most popular – and also some of its more esoteric – mountain regions. He also travelled to some decidedly non-mountainous destinations such as the Galapagos, Antarctica, and Mos Espa. Magazines and newspapers have published over 250 of Paul's articles about his experiences.

Everest remained at the core of many of his adventures. However, after becoming embroiled in the infamous 'Into Thin Air' tragedy on Everest in 1996, Paul gave up his dream to reach the top of the world, and vowed never to go back to the mountain.

But the dream refused to die. After a hiatus of eight years, Paul decided to return to Everest to make a final attempt to reach the summit. And 15 years after first looking up, he looked down on the rest of the world on a really great day.

Paul can't ski to save his life, gets seasick having a bath, and supports a highly unsuccessful soccer team. When he's not writing in private or speaking in public, Paul is most likely to be found in the kitchen failing to recreate an exotic dish from his most recent assignment.

An award-winning author and Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, Paul is an ebullient motivational speaker. He has spoken to audiences ranging from Motorola and ICI to Cancer Research UK and Cirque du Soleil.

Paul's aid & environmental policies include donating a minimum of 1% of his gross income to charitable causes, delivering a minimum of 10% of his talks pro bono, and carbon offsetting all his air travel.

Paul still picks up rubbish. But only on Thursdays.