Sir Ranulph Fiennes has climbed the Eiger and Mount Everest. He has crossed both Poles on foot. He has been a member of the SAS, and fought a bloody guerrilla war in Oman. And yet he confesses that his fear of heights is so great that he'd rather send his wife up a ladder to clean the gutters than do it himself.

In Fear, the world's greatest explorer delves into his own experiences to try to explain what fear is, how it happens and how he has overcome it so successfully.

He examines key moments from history where fear played an important part in the outcome of a great event. He shows us how the brain perceives fear, how that manifests itself in us, and how we can transform our perceptions, shedding new light on one of humanity's strongest emotions.

In today's episode, Sir Ranulph looks back at the fears that haunted him while a schoolboy at Eton.

Read by Sir Ranulph Fiennes
Produced by David Roper
A Heavy Entertainment production for BBC Radio 4. Show less