Bear Grylls

Some Lesser Known Facts About Bear Grylls

• Does Bear Grylls smoke?: Not Known

• Does Bear Grylls drink Alcohol?: Yes

• His father, Sir Michael Grylls was a politician who was implicated in the cash-for-questions affair, and his Mother, Sarah Lady Grylls was the daughter of a politician, Patricia Ford.

• His grandfather, Neville Ford and his great-grandfather, William Augustus Ford, were the first-class cricketers.

  

• Although he was born in London, he was raised in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland until the age of 4. Later, his family moved to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.

  

• Bear Grylls has one sibling, an elder sister, Lara Fawcett, a cardio-tennis coach, who gave him the nickname ‘Bear’ when he was a week old.

• In childhood, he learned to climb and sail with his father who was a member of the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron. In his teenage, he learned skydiving and earned a second Dan Black Belt in Shotokan Karate.

• Grylls is a very religious person. Once, he described his religion as a backbone of his Life.

• He is a linguist. He can speak English, Spanish, German, and French fluently.

• After leaving school, he wanted to join the Indian Army to have an opportunity to reach the summit of the Himalayan Mountains.

• In 1996, Grylls survived a freefall parachuting accident in Zambia. His parachute ripped at 4,900 meters, partially opened, causing him to fall. Somehow, he managed to survive, but the fall partially bruised his three vertebrae.

• On 16 May 1998, at the age of 23, Grylls accomplished his childhood dream of climbing the Mount Everest.

  

• In 2000, Grylls had circumnavigated the British Isles by a water scooter. He had taken 30 days for this journey and accumulated money for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI).

• In 2003, he crossed the North Atlantic Ocean from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada to John o’ Groats, Scotland. During this journey, he encountered force 8 gale winds.

• In 2004, he was given the honorary rank of lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve.

  

• Two years later, alongside the balloonist and mountaineer, David Hempleman-Adams and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal who is the leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team, Grylls created a world record of having the highest open-air formal dinner party, which they did under a hot-air balloon at 7,600 meters (25,000 ft), dressed in full mess dress and oxygen masks.

  

• Grylls has set a record of paramotoring over the Himalayas in 2008. He took off from 4,400 meters (14,500 ft), 8 miles south of the mountain and reached 9000 meters almost 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) higher than the previous record of 6,102 meters (20,019 ft). To achieve this feat, he coped with −60 °C temperature.

• Grylls, along with two amputees, Al Hodgson and Freddy MacDonald, set a Guinness World Record in 2008 for the longest continuous indoor free-fall.

• In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest-ever Chief Scout in the United Kingdom at the age of 35.

• In the jungle, he eats almost everything, which is not poisonous.

• In his first book, “The Kid Who Climbed Everest,” he described his expedition and achievements while climbing the Mount Everest. His second book, “Facing the Frozen Ocean,” was shortlisted for the ‘William Hill Sports Book of the Year’ Award in 2004. His third book is “Born Survivor,” this book features survival skills learned from some of the world’s most hostile places.

  

• In 2012, Grylls released his autobiography, “Mud, Sweat and Tears.”

  

• In 2013, he was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Royal Marines Reserve.

• Grylls is the ambassador for ‘The Prince’s Trust,’ an organization, which provides training, financial, and practical support to young people in the United Kingdom. He is the vice president for the ‘JoLt Trust,’ a small charity that takes disabled, disadvantaged, abused or neglected young people on challenging month-long expeditions.

• His show, Man vs. Wild, has 76 episodes including 10 special episodes.

• In December 2015, American President Barack Obama came together with Bear Grylls on Television in Alaska.

• Apart from Barack Obama, other famous personalities have also participated in the ‘Running Wild with Bear Grylls’ (TV series). These personalities are- Zac Efron, Channing Tatum, Ben Stiller, Michael B. Jordan, Kate Winslet, Kate Hudson, Michelle Rodriguez, and James Marsden.

• In August 2019, the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi was featured on his show, ‘Running Wild with Bear Grylls’ in Jim Corbett National Park, Uttarakhand, India.

• Bear Grylls has also appeared in ‘Bear Grylls: Mission Survive,’ ‘Bear Grylls Survival School,’ ‘Survivor Games,’ ‘Bear’s Mission,’ etc.

• Apart from being a TV presenter, he is also a motivational speaker.

• During the 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, Bear Grylls supported England to remain the part of the European Union.

• He was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2019 Birthday Honours for services to people, charity, and media.