Robert Swan
Robert Swan, OBE, BA, FRGS was born in 1956 in Durham, England and attended Sedbergh School (1969-1974) before completing a BA in Ancient History (1976-1979) at Durham University. Fascinated by the story of Robert Falcon Scott's epic journey to reach the South Pole in 1911-12, in which he and his companions died shortly after finding they'd been beaten to their goal by the Norwegian team led by Amundsen, Swan decided to recreate the journey.
He arrived at the South Pole on 11 January 1986 with his companions Roger Mear and Gareth Wood. There, they received the bad news that their supply ship, the Southern Quest had been crushed by pack ice and had sunk. There was much criticism of the adventure from the scientists working in Antarctica as time and money had to be spent in flying the party back out to New Zealand. However Swan returned in 1987 to remove all traces of his base, rubbish and remaining stores.
In 1989 he reached the North Pole, making him the first man to walk to both poles. Since then he has devoted his time to organising expeditions to raise awareness of the issues affecting the polar environments and has founded the Robert Swan Foundation - a registered charity for the promotion of youth and scientific endeavour in the environment. His walk to the North Pole encompassed Icewalk, an International Student Expedition which included 22 participants from 15 nations, and in 1996-97 he organised One Step Beyond, The South Pole Challenge, which brought 35 young adventurers from 25 nations together in Antarctica.
He was awarded the Polar Medal in 1987 by HM Queen Elizabeth II and the OBE in 1995. Robert Swan's organisation Mission Antarctica continued his work with expeditions in 2002 to remove 1,000 tons of rubbish from the Russian Antarctic base Bellingshausen Station, another expedition in March 2003 to continue his ongoing commitment to the preservation of the continent and in 2004 his yacht '2041' participated in the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race. His work continues to this day.