Sir. Ranulph Fiennes & Charlie Burton
Transglobe Expedition 1979-1982
The first Circumnavigation of the Globe along the Polar Axis
The Transglobe Expedition
London - Paris
Signed Commemorative Cover
c/w Expedition Related Details - Card Insert
Cover Franked / Dated :- 15th September 1979
Carried from Greenwich to Paris by the Transglobe Expedition Land Group on the M.V. Benjamin Bowring, and overland in Range Rovers, Stamped and cancelled in Paris.
GENUINE / AUTHENTIC / ORIGINAL and HAND SIGNED by
Sir. Ranulph Fiennes (1944) – Expedition Leader - Ice Team
and
Charlie Burton (1943-2002) - Expedition Mechanic / Cook - Ice Team
Please refer to the attached photo’s for the description and condition of this item, or if you require further assistance please do not hesitate to contact me via EBAY messenger service, whereupon I will endeavour to respond to any questions as requested.
A Rare and Historic Collectable Item.
The Transglobe Expedition
The 100,000-mile route took the Transglobe Expedition team across the Sahara via Tombouctou, through the swamps and jungles of Mali and the Ivory Coast, over huge unexplored crevasse fields in Antarctica, through the inhospitable North West Passage, graveyard of so many famous venturers, and into the unpredictable hazards of the Arctic Ocean. Ranking alongside the journeys of Amundsen, Scott and Peary the Transglobe endeavour, a chance dream in 1972, became, on its completion ten years later, a truly historic voyage.
Ranulph Fiennes - Expedition Leader / Ice Team
Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, 3rd Baronet, OBE (born 7 March 1944), commonly known as Ranulph (Ran) Fiennes (/ˈrænʌlf ˈfaɪnz/), is an English adventurer and holder of several endurance records. He is also a prolific writer.
Fiennes served in the British Army for eight years including a period on counter-insurgency service while attached to the army of the Sultanate of Oman. He later undertook numerous expeditions and was the first person to visit both the North and South Poles by surface means and the first to completely cross Antarctica on foot. In May 2009, at the age of 65, he climbed to the summit of Mount Everest. According to the Guinness Book of World Records in 1984, he was the world's greatest living explorer. Fiennes has written numerous books about his army service and his expeditions as well as a book defending Robert Falcon Scott from modern revisionists.
Fiennes was born in Berkshire, shortly after the death of his father, Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes, commanding the Royal Scots Greys, who died of wounds on 24 November 1943. His mother was Audrey Joan (died 2004), younger daughter of Sir Percy Newson, Bt. Fiennes inherited his father's baronetcy, becoming the 3rd Baronet of Banbury, at his birth. Fiennes is the cousin of Mark Fiennes, whose children include actors Joseph and Ralph Fiennes, and is a distant cousin to the British Royal Family.
After the war his mother moved the family to South Africa, where he remained until he was 12. While in South Africa he attended Western Province Preparatory School in Newlands, Cape Town. Fiennes then returned to be educated at Sandroyd School, Wiltshire and then at Eton, after which he joined the British Army.
Charles Robert Burton (13 December 1942 – 15 July 2002) was a British explorer, best known for his part in the Transglobe Expedition, the first expedition to circumnavigate the globe from pole to pole. Serving as cook, radio operator, and mechanic, he was the only member of the team to accompany the expedition's leader, Ranulph Fiennes, on the entire route.
Burton was born in Cape Town, South Africa. He attended Millfield school in Somerset, where he excelled more in sports than academics. From 1961-1967, he was a soldier in the British Army, serving with the elite Special Air Service and traveling to the Middle East, Northern Ireland, Malta, and Germany. After his military career, Burton held odd jobs, mainly with various private security firms.
While bartending at The Admiral Codrington pub in Chelsea in 1975, he met Fiennes, with whom he spent some four years organizing and raising money for the Transglobe Expedition. After the expedition, which lasted from 1979-1982, Burton returned to the security business. Ten years later, he helped Fiennes organize another expedition, but declined to participate.
Burton married Thelma "Twink" Petts in April 1981 in Sydney, Australia, while on the Transglobe Expedition. He died of a heart attack on 15 July 2002 at his family home in the village of Framfield in Sussex.
Notes:
This auction is for the original signed cover ONLY, as all other images are freely available to download via the internet.