Bear Grylls the Adventurer

Bear GRYLLS

Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls (born 7 June 1974) is a British adventurer, writer and television presenter from Northern Ireland. He is widely known for his television series Man vs. Wild (2006–2011), originally titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls in the United Kingdom. Grylls is also involved in a number of wilderness survival television series in the UK and US. In July 2009, Grylls was appointed the youngest-ever Chief Scout in the UK at age 35.

Grylls was born in Donaghadee, County Down, Northern Ireland. He grew up in Donaghadee until the age of four, when his family moved to Bembridge on the Isle of Wight.

He is the son of Conservative politician Sir Michael Grylls, who was implicated in the cash-for-questions affair, and Sarah, Lady Grylls. Lady Grylls is the daughter of politician Patricia Ford, briefly an Ulster Unionist Party MP, and cricketer and businessman Neville Ford. Grylls has one sibling, an elder sister, Lara Fawcett, an interior design public relations agent and cardio-tennis coach, who gave him the nickname 'Bear' when he was a week old.

From an early age, he learned to climb and sail with his father, who was a member of the prestigious Royal Yacht Squadron. As a teenager, he learned to skydive and earned a second dan black belt in Shotokan karate. He speaks English, Spanish, and French. He is Anglican,and has described his faith as the "backbone" in his life.

Grylls married Shara Cannings Knight in 2000. They have three sons.

In August 2015, it was reported that Grylls had deserted his young son, Jesse, on Saint Tudwal's Island along the North Wales coast, as the tide approached, leaving him to be rescued by the RNLI. The RNLI later criticised him for the stunt, saying its crew "had not appreciated" that a child would be involved.

After leaving school, Grylls briefly considered joining the Indian Army and hiked in the Himalayan mountains of Sikkim and West Bengal. From 1994–1997, he served in the British Army with 21 SAS.

In 1996, Grylls suffered a freefall parachuting accident in Zambia when his parachute failed to inflate.

In 2004, Grylls was previously awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant commander in the Royal Naval Reserve; and in 2013 he was awarded the honorary rank of lieutenant colonel in the Royal Marines Reserve.

For more information:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bear_Grylls