In the Wake of Drake

I first met Colonel John Blashford-Snell CBE back in 1992, so thirty-four years ago. I had recently finished two Hall of Fame projects for the Mail on Sunday's YOU Magazine, when it was more National Geographic than the cooking recipes it runs now. One was the Cricket Hall of Fame, for which I gathered together sixty-six of the finest players ever to play for England for a once-in-a-lifetime photograph at Lord's, followed by a fabulous and raucous lunch in aid of The Lord's Taverners. The second was the Olympic Gold Hall of Fame, celebrating all the living gold medal winners at that time. It followed the same format as the cricketers' event, so was also followed by lunch, but this one I found rather boring.

My thoughts turned to who I would really love to have a lunch or a dinner with, and without doubt it was people who had changed the world. People who had achieved world firsts. They are a breed of their own. Extremely brave, intrepid and possibly a bit mad, but truly inspirational. So I came up with the idea of a Hall of Fame of Human Endurance, and with the help of Harvey Mann, my pal at the Mail on Sunday, the ball started rolling. He introduced me to Britain's real live Indiana Jones, Colonel John Blashford-Snell, or Blashers as he is widely known. He is the stuff of boys' own adventures, taken to the very dangerous extreme. We all had lunch at Scribes in Kensington, and he brought along a couple of generals for good measure. A fabulous lunch, with wonderfully stimulating conversation.

I can't tell you what a thrill it was having Buzz Aldrin leave messages on my answerphone.

Blashers, who has two world firsts of his own, said he would help me assemble the most intrepid of the world-first explorers. He said a good place to start was the Explorers Club in New York, of which he is a member and which has a community of chapters around the world. The Explorers Club has been supporting scientific expeditions of all disciplines, and uniting members in the bonds of good fellowship, for over a century. First on his list were Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, and they all agreed to come together one time, one place.

Sadly, in those days we were without Google and had to use a very large brick as a mobile phone. Nevertheless, through endless research, we gathered together over a hundred of these amazing people, including Dr Christiaan Barnard, General Chuck Yeager, Lord Shackleton, Sir Roger Bannister, Jacques Cousteau, Sir Edmund Hillary, Dr Jane Goodall, Valentina Tereshkova, Lord John Hunt, Nelson Mandela, and Jim Watson, Francis Crick and Maurice Wilkins, who discovered the structure of DNA. The list is very long but this is just a flavour, and it obviously included Blashers and Sir Richard Branson.

Then, of course, I had to start looking for sponsorship, and right off the bat Richard Branson invited Blashers and me for lunch with him at his house in Holland Park. He was thrilled by the whole idea, and by the thought that he would meet and stand with his heroes in the special photograph. He immediately offered to fly everyone in from wherever they were in the world for the one-off event. So far, so extremely good. It was never a problem getting these achievers together, as they all wanted to meet their own heroes and be part of something special to celebrate each other.

For the next two or three years I tried relentlessly to get the overall sponsorship. It was considered a brilliant proposal by every international business I presented it to, and they all appreciated that the event could be developed into educational programmes for schools and universities, led by these incredible people. At one point Disney said they would like it as an event to open Euro Disney. Negotiations went on from 1992 to 1994 but came to nothing, due to a number of serious teething problems. At the end of the day all the top brands around the world said the concept was too big for them. Not the best excuse I have heard, but possibly the most original. I think that now it would be quite easy to do, and to secure the sponsorship money required, but sadly the biggest names are now dead.

The exceptional Blashers

He is one of Britain's most celebrated explorers, renowned for leading some of the world's most ambitious expeditions. In 1968, at the invitation of Emperor Haile Selassie, he was commissioned by the British Army to select, train and lead a sixty-strong expedition to make the first ever descent of Ethiopia's legendary Blue Nile. The success of this pioneering venture established his reputation as an exceptional expedition leader and opened the door to even greater challenges.

Among his many achievements were the first ever vehicle crossing of the formidable Darién Gap between Panama and Colombia in 1971 and 1972, and the exploration of almost the entire 2,700-mile Zaire, now Congo, River in 1974 and 1975. These expeditions combined adventure with important environmental, scientific and medical research, leaving a lasting legacy far beyond exploration itself.

Over the course of his remarkable career, Blashers has organised and led more than one hundred expeditions across some of the world's most remote and inhospitable regions. A practical engineer, inspirational leader and gifted communicator, he also pioneered innovative techniques for navigating white water in inflatable boats, methods that have since been widely adopted around the world.

Following the success of the Blue Nile expedition, he founded the Scientific Exploration Society in 1969 to promote scientific exploration around the world. With the patronage of the then HRH The Prince of Wales, now HRH King Charles, he went on to lead the internationally acclaimed Operation Drake from 1978 to 1980, bringing together four hundred young people from twenty-seven nations to work alongside scientists on research projects in sixteen countries aboard the brigantine Eye of the Wind. This pioneering initiative inspired the creation of Operation Raleigh, through which more than ten thousand young people from fifty countries took part in challenging expeditions and community projects between 1984 and 1992.

Since retiring from the Army in 1991, Blashers has continued to lead scientific and humanitarian expeditions to remote regions of the world, while championing opportunities for young people and supporting environmental conservation. He remains President of the Scientific Exploration Society, has founded several charitable initiatives, and continues to inspire new generations of explorers.

His achievements have been recognised with numerous honours, including the MBE, the OBE, and in 2019 appointment as a Commander of the Order of the British Empire for services to scientific research overseas and to young people in the UK. Today he is widely regarded as Britain's greatest living explorer, and an inspirational speaker whose stories of courage, leadership and adventure captivate audiences worldwide.

I am therefore delighted that my old friend has agreed to speak for the Torbay Civic Society. His talk, In the Wake of Drake, will be followed by a question and answer session. It is an event not to be missed, and you are sure to enjoy his highly humorous stories.