Who's Bear Grylls

Adventurer enters international society guide

Survival expert and mountaineer Bear Grylls has scaled new heights after making it into the latest edition of Who’s Who, the international society guide to anyone who is anyone.

Grylls is one of 1,000 new names in the 2010 edition, which lists biographies of over 33,000 influential people.

The 35-year-old adventurer – real name Edward – broke records in 1998 when, at the age of 23, he became the youngest person to conquer Mount Everest. An impressive feat considering two years earlier, during a stint with the SAS, Grylls suffered multiple spinal fractures in a sky-diving accident. 

Seemingly addicted to record breaking Grylls was, in 2003, the first to cross the North Atlantic ocean in a rigid inflatable boat, in 2005 he held the highest ever open-air dinner party in a hot-air balloon at 25,000ft and two years later he became the first person to fly a paramotor, a powered paraglider, over the Himalaya at an altitude higher than Everest.

In recent years he has become a household name, penning a number of best-sellers and appearing on TV screens in programmes such as Man vs Wild and Born Survivor. In 2008 the latter drew criticism after a former crew-member revealed the tough conditions Grylls appeared to endure on-screen were not quite what they seemed – he responded by saying it was entertainment and not a documentary.
Earlier this year the UK’s scouting community helped Grylls stick a further two-fingers up at the naysayers by appointing him chief scout of the UK’s 500,000 member-strong Scout Association.

The 162nd edition of Who’s Who lists the adventurer’s interests as mountaineering, paragliding, sailing, yoga and martial arts. He rubs shoulders with other British newcomers to the guide including comedians Mat Lucas and David Walliams, and TV presenters Ant and Dec.