Background

Edward Michael Grylls was born on June 7, 1974, in London, to the family of politician Sir Michael Grylls and his wife Lady Sarah "Sally" (née Ford). He was nicknamed "Bear" by his elder sister, Lara Fawcett, when he was just one week old. Bear's grandfather Neville Ford and great-great-grandfather William Augustus Ford were first-class cricketers.

Bear was raised in Donaghadee, Northern Ireland. When he was four years old, his family moved to the Bembridge village on the easternmost part of the Isle of Wight. When he was a child, he was trained to climb and sail by his father. He became a cub scout when he was eight years old.

Education

Grylls received was educated at Ludgrove School and Eton College. He initiated the establishment of a mountaineering club at Eton. He went on to study Spanish and German at the University of the West of England, Bristol and at Birkbeck College, where he graduated with a 2:2 bachelor's degree

By 18, Bear had learned to climb, skydive, and had been awarded his Second Dan black belt in Shotokan Karate. One of the youngest ever in the United Kingdom at the time.

Career

After education, Grylls joined the British Army reserves with 21st Regiment SAS and worked at the Special Air Service unit of the army for three years. He was a combat survival instructor and learned demolitions, parachuting, unarmed combat, evasive driving, and close-quarter fighting.

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. He underwent medication and rehabilitation in order to recover from the injury. Doctors weren't sure if he could walk again.

Under a year later, and not listening to the dream-stealers, Bear pushes himself through intense rehab to get back up on his feet, Bear climbs a Himalayan peak that Edmund Hillary once described as unclimbable. Grylls became the youngest Briton to climb Ama Dablam.

He went on a fundraising expedition for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution and led a team on Jet Skis to circumnavigate the United Kingdom in the year 2000. This was a pioneering initiative, and the expedition took 30 days to complete. He also rowed naked in a homemade bathtub along the Thames to raise funds for a friend who lost his legs in a climbing accident.

In 2000, his first book The Kid Who Climbed Everest was published. The book narrated his journey to the peak of the mountain. He then penned another book titled Facing the Frozen Ocean. He has also authored books, such as Born Survivor: Bear Grylls and Bear Grylls Outdoor Adventures.

In 2003, he went on an expedition to the north Atlantic Arctic Ocean, accompanied by a team comprising five members. They sailed from Nova Scotia to Labrador, Greenland, Iceland, and then Scotland. This adventurer created a new record in 2005 when he organized the highest open-air formal dinner party. He organized the party along with mountaineer David Hempleman-Adams and Lieutenant Commander Alan Veal, leader of the Royal Navy Freefall Parachute Display Team. The same year, he appeared in the television series Escape to the Legion.

He undertook an expedition and led a team to para-motor over Angel Falls, which is the highest waterfall in the world in 2005. In 2006, his TV-series Man vs. Wild was launched. The show was initially titled Born Survivor: Bear Grylls and was broadcast in the United Kingdom. Over the years, a series of wilderness adventures where he gets dropped into some of the world’s most inhospitable places and has to demonstrate some of his extreme survival skills, went on to become popular all over the world.

In 2007 Grylls decides to give a record-setting paramotor attempt another shot and this time, to fly over the height of Everest in the Himalayas. Battling with temperatures of −60 °C and enduring dangerously low oxygen levels – he eventually reached an estimated 29,250 ft. The following year, he was accompanied by double amputee Al Hodgson and Scotsman Freddy MacDonald when he created a Guinness World Record for the longest continuous indoor freefall.

In the year 2009, he was made the chief scout of The Scout Association when he was 35 years old. Thus, he became the youngest individual to hold the position of the chief scout. His appointment was extended until 2020, making him the longest-serving chief scout in the history.

This voyager, accompanied by a team of five, embarked on Northwest Passage expedition in a rigid-inflatable boat sailing through 2,500 miles in 2010. The same year, he appeared in a Discovery channel show named Worst-Case Scenario. The following year, he featured in the show Bear’s Wild Weekend.

In 2011, his book Scouting For All was published. He also wrote a series of books under the title Mission Survival. This series consists of books, such as Mission Survival: Gold of the Gods, Mission Survival: Way of the Wolf, Mission Survival: Sands of the Scorpion, Mission Survival: Tracks of the Tiger, and Mission Survival: Claws of the Crocodile. The explorer inked his autobiography Mud, Sweat and Tears: The Autobiography in the year 2012. This was followed by the publication of books, such as A Survival Guide for Life and True Grit.

In 2013, he presented the show Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls. The same year, a show titled Bear Grylls: Escape From Hell premiered on TV. The following year, he hosted the show The Island with Bear Grylls which featured 13 men in a desolate island in the Pacific.

In 2014, his show Running Wild with Bear Grylls was launched. In this prime time hit adventure series, Bear takes celebrities on two-day journeys in the wild. It featured celebrities like Tamron Hall, Zac Efron, Tom Arnold, Ben Stiller, Deion Sanders, and Channing Tatum.

Fascinated by the psychology of survival, he launches his first televised experiment observing island castaways on C4’s The Island with Bear Grylls. Narrated by Bear Grylls, it features participants placed on remote uninhabited Pacific islands as a test of their survival skills.

He hosted another reality show titled Bear Grylls: Mission Survive in 2015. The show featured eight celebrities who had to perform certain tasks in order to survive in the show. The winner of the first season was DJ and model, Vogue Williams. The show was back with a new season in 2016 which was won by Arsenal F.C player Alex Scott. The show was then canceled due to poor ratings.

In 2015, Bear went on an adventure into the Alaskan Wilderness with the then United States President Barack Obama to look at the effects of Global warming and climate change. He has also journeyed through the Jim Corbett National Park alongside Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for a special episode, which was aired in 2019.

Bear has also written adult fiction books which include The Ghost Flight (2015) and Burning Angels (2016). Bear was appointed as the first-ever chief ambassador of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in 2018.

Achievements

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  Bear' television show Man vs. Wild achieved a huge success, and made Grylls an international celebrity. The show ran for five years and had seven seasons in total.
  
  In 2004, Grylls was 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.

Works

More photos

• book

  • Mission Survival: Way of the Wolf

    (Beck Granger and his anthropologist uncle are on their wa...)

    2009
  • Facing the Frozen Ocean: One Man's Dream to Lead a Team Across the Treacherous North Atlantic

    (Shortlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year ...)

    2004
  • Mission Survival: Sands of the Scorpion

    (When Beck Granger and his friend, Peter, join Beck's Uncl...)

    2009
  • Soul Fuel: A Daily Devotional

    (In Soul Fuel, Bear shares the backstories behind many of ...)

    2019
  • A Survival Guide for Life: How to Achieve Your Goals, Thrive in Adversity, and Grow in Character

    (An indispensable survival guide to some of life's toughes...)

    2012
  • Burning Angels

    (A prehistoric corpse entombed within an Arctic glacier, c...)

    2016
  • Mission Survival: Tracks of the Tiger

    (Young survival expert Beck Granger is supposed to be enjo...)

    2010
  • The Kid Who Climbed Everest: The Incredible Story of a 23-Year-Old's Summit of Mt. Everest

    (The Kid Who Climbed Everest is a tale of courage and dete...)

    2000
  • Bear Grylls: Ghost Flight

    (Will Jaeger's family are gone, and they're not coming bac...)

    2015
  • Mission Survival: Gold of the Gods

    (Bruno is on a trip to Colombia during his school holidays...)

    2008
  • Mud, Sweat, and Tears: The Autobiography

    (Bear Grylls has always sought the ultimate in adventure. ...)

    2012
  • Mission Survival: Claws of the Crocodile 2013

• TV series

  • Bear's Wild Weekends

    (Bear Grylls takes Miranda Hart & Jonathan Ross, two of Br...)

    2011
  • The Island with Bear Grylls

    (Bear Grylls abandons a group of British men and women on ...)

    2014
  • Get Out Alive

    (Get Out Alive with Bear Grylls is a larger-than-life adve...)

    2013
  • Man vs. Wild

    (Bear Grylls takes on the elements in some of the toughest...)

  • Bear Grylls Escape From Hell 2013

Religion

Both Bear and his wife Shara are committed Christians, and Bear describes his faith as the 'backbone' of his life. Bear authored a Christian devotional titled Soul Fuel.

Politics

Bear Grylls once spoked out against Brexit: "At such a time for the UK to retreat, run and cut ourselves loose from Europe, when there are so many challenges on our doorstep, to me just doesn't feel either courageous or kind," he said. "Europe has many flaws, but I also believe the way to help resolve many of those tough issues is from within... I have never been a good quitter and I am so proud of the UK and our values: tolerance, kindness, respect, courage, and resilience. This is why I want us to stay together and Remain in Europe."

Views

Bear is actively involved in charity. He has attempted and finished several demanding projects in order to raise funds for numerous charity organizations. His Everest climb was in aid of SSAFA Forces Help, an organization that provides help to serving men and women and veterans from the British Armed Forces. Global Angels, a British organization that raises funds for children around the world, received money from Grills' paramotor flight over the Himalayas and his passage through the Northwest Passage.

Grylls is also an ambassador for Care for Children.

Quotations: "You don’t always have to travel to the ends of the earth to experience incredible adventures and mind-blowing landscapes. Sometimes the best things are found right here, at home, in Great Britain."

"A man’s pride can be his downfall, and he needs to learn when to turn to others for support and guidance."

"The line between life or death is determined by what we are willing to do."

"All my life the only thing I’ve been good at has been climbing and throwing myself off big things."

"To me, adventure has always been to me the connections and bounds you create with people when you’re there. And you can have that anywhere."

"You only get one chance at life and you have to grab it boldly."

"I am not fearless. I get scared plenty. But I have also learned how to channel that emotion to sharpen me."

Membership

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  The Scout Association

Personality

Bear Grylls is a privately humble and honest family man. Sharing his optimism and his skills in maintaining a cool head even in dangerous situations have become a trademark of this unbelievable person. Bear Gryll’s speeches have inspired many in more than just extreme situations in nature. Bear Grylls has managed to inspire people in believing in themselves, their abilities, and the future of our Earth.

Physical Characteristics: Adventures are accompanied with risks and demand immense physical as well as mental strength. Not surprisingly, Bear has sustained many injuries and has even injured his spine. Apart from recovering from his physical injuries, this courageous individual has overcome his psychological hindrances as well.

Interests

• hiking, playing the piano

• Sport & Clubs

  swimming, karate

• Athletes

  Roger Federer

• Music & Bands

  Tony Bennett

Connections

Bear married Shara Cannings Knight in the year 2000. Together the couple has three sons, Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry. The family has a houseboat which is moored by London’s Battersea Bridge on the River Thames, and also own the remote Saint Tudwals Island West off Abersoch on the Llŷn Peninsula, North Wales.

Father:

Michail Grylls

Mother:

Sarah Grylls

Wife:

Shara Cannings

Son:

Jesse Grylls

Son:

Marmaduke Grylls

Son:

Huckleberry Grylls

Sister:

Lara Fawcett

Acquaintance:

Julia Roberts

Acquaintance:

Barack Obama

Friend:

Charlie Mackesy

References

• Bear Grylls