So much happened, though, in our early, prechildren days, that served to turn our life around irretrievably.Much of it came from small, serendipitous, unlikely turns of events--like driving for many h...
So I got lucky. But then again, it took me many hundreds of rejections to manage to find that luck.I am sure there is a lesson n that somewhere.Someone had taken a punt and had faith in me. I wouldn’t...
Slova Edwarda Whympera jsou pravdivá dodnes: „Lez, jestli tě to baví, ale pamatuj si, že odvaha a síla neznamenají bez opatrnosti nic… S ničím nepospíchej, dávej pozor na každý krok a od začátku mysli...
People always value others who really listen to them. Quiet, considered and genuine listening is such a gift to give someone, and you will become recognized and loved for this skill.It is always empow...
Over the next few days we spent every waking moment together. We made up silly dances, did puzzles in the evening, and she stood smiling on the beach waiting for me as I took my customary New Year’s d...
On the third day, I asked if she would like to climb Ben Loyal with me--with anyone else who fancied coming along. None of the guys wanted to join me and I ended up with a group of four girls, includi...
Just before my accident, I had met a great girl who was a student at Cambridge.With my newly found wheels, I used to ride like a lunatic up the motorway to see her after our final evening parade at th...
I will never forget the day I finally passed SAS selection. At the end of the long, grueling process of elimination, where 140 recruits had steadily been whittled down to only four of us, I finally fo...
I have been so lucky to lead amazing teams to incredible places: the remote Venezuelan jungles of the Lost World in search of Jimmy Angel’s lost gold; or the remote white desert that is Antarctica to...
Give to friends who do amazing jobs but who earn very little, give to charities that move you, give to those the world overlooks, give as your heart tells you - and learn to listen to it.And by all me...
I remember in the North African desert once, when we were training with the French Foreign Legionnaires, that we had a particularly unpleasant night. The corporals took shifts to ensure that we were w...
You're not human if you don't feel fear. But I've learnt to treat fear as an emotion that sharpens me. It's there to give me that edge for what I have to do.
The line between life or death is determined by what we are willing to do.
You see, if you quit, you lose. But so long as you stick it out, you’re still in with a chance.As Harrison Ford once said: ‘Them that stick it out are them that win.
William Blake said: He was right. We need time and space and adversity to really get to know ourselves. And you don’t always find that in the grind, when your head is down and you are living someone e...
Whenever I got out of bed I had to wear a big metal brace that was strapped around me.I felt like an invalid. I was an invalid. This was crazy.As it was, I had done the worst of both worlds: I had nei...
Whatever doesn’t kill you only serves to make you stronger. And in the grand scheme of life, I had survived and grown stronger, at least mentally, if not physically.I had come within an inch of losing...
There’s a verse in the Gospel of Matthew that - regardless of your religious beliefs - we would do well to remember when we find our feet getting a little too big for our boots:
The Royal Marines description of me as happy-go-lucky is good for many things, but somehow it doesn’t wash with university applications.And with my mediocre A level results I was getting a hefty numbe...
That fine line between bravery and stupidity is endlessly debated – the difference really doesn’t matter.