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Fiennes: Return to the Nile: With Ranulph Fiennes, Joseph Fiennes. In this three part series, award winning actor Joseph Fiennes and his cousin, legendary explorer Ranulph, embark on an odyssey following the course of the Nile.
- (68)
- 2019-02-27
- Documentary, Adventure
- Ranulph Fiennes, Joseph Fiennes
29 ott 2018 · Fiennes: Return to the Nile andrà in onda su Nat Geo negli Stati Uniti nel 2019 e in 172 paesi in tutto il mondo.
- Overview
- Fifty years in the making
- The Fiennes Factor
- Indiana Jones meets The Odd Couple. In Land Rovers
- Expedition initiation
- The future of exploration
Two cousins—one an acclaimed actor, one the world’s greatest living explorer—got acquainted by taking the trip of a lifetime. But did they take to each other?
In London this evening, these two look unlikely expedition partners. One very tall, a bit crumpled, a conspicuous tear in one of his shoes and a generally duffed-up demeanour. The other much younger, slighter, soft-spoken, and slick in a sharp suit. One was nominated for a BAFTA after playing Shakespeare; one sawed off his own frost-bitten fingers in the garden shed. It’s an easy guess which is which.
One thing they do have in common is their surname—and now, also, a journey, which airs this month in three parts on National Geographic. Fiennes: Return to the Nile follows the Guinness world record-holding explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes and his cousin, actor Joseph Fiennes, as they journey the length of the great river discovering a culture, an ancient civilisation, and—presumably—a little about each other along the way. Because although they are cousins, prior to this intense immersion in North Africa the two had barely met.
Now ‘Ran’ and ‘Joe’ chat with easy familiarity, peppered with the sort of nostalgic banter that only comes from many miles spent in each other’s company.
Return to the Nile is a ‘return’ because the show's route follows that of Ran’s first major expedition in 1969—overland from Alexandria, to the source of the White Nile in Uganda. Under time pressure, occasionally on the wrong side of the law and dodging local conflict at every turn, it would kick-start a career of adventure the 74-year old is still pursuing. And while it might be tempting to think it was Ran who enlisted a protesting, stage-soft Joe into the peril-infested desert, the reality was rather closer to the other way around.
“I would love to take the blame for this,” says Joe. “It was actually someone called Robert Taylor, at my agency in London, with whom I had been playing with the theme of somehow ensnaring Ran for some adventure. It was his idea to retrace Ran’s book [of the 1969 expedition] A Talent for Trouble and look at that journey fifty years on.”
Despite only meeting Ran at a family gathering ‘about 20 years ago’, 48-year old Joe—who is Ran’s third cousin, once removed—knew well of his intrepid relative. “My parents would mention his exploits, I read some of his books… and a big part of my childhood dream was to go on an adventure with my cousin, whose legacy is legendary,” he says. “And to have that come true in Egypt was remarkable.”
“Egypt is certainly a place that I’ve thought about, but I’ve always felt that it would be overwhelmingly touristic,” Joe continues. “Which sadly wasn’t the case. I say sadly, because a lot of Egypt depends on tourism as a part of their economy. So anyone who wants to go, go. Amazing, beautiful people, beautiful culture. If you can get there, get there.”
The family lineage is distinguished, to say the least. Distantly connected to British royalty, the family’s seat is Broughton Castle in Oxfordshire—with their historic threads revealing characters both illustrious and notorious, from revolutionaries to nobles to scoundrels. Ran’s surname which, like Joe’s, is Twisleton-Wykeham-Fiennes on more formal occasions, believes a distant relative is pictured and referenced on the Bayeaux Tapestry, that another was involved in the murder of Edward II—and yet another was beheaded by Henry VIII. All are, amongst many others, entertainingly profiled in Ran’s book Mad Dogs and Englishmen: An Expedition Round my Family. Sir Ran himself was born with his Third Baronet title, inherited from his father, also Ranulph—a Royal Scots Greys commander—when he was killed at war in 1943 four months before Ran was born. A moving scene in Return to the Nile shows Ran and Joe discussing the father he never knew, at El Alamein, where Sir Ran Sr. had fought.
“It was a great privilege to experience this location and landscape. But what I take away is connecting with a family member.”
ByJoseph Fiennes
So is it all in the genes? Joe is sceptic. “I don’t think being a Fiennes means anything—to be who you are and to fulfil your destiny is far more important than a name.” he says. “Although we certainly are a strange genetic pool.”
The actor’s side of the Fiennes family is no less distinguished. He’s one of six high achievers: his older brother is Oscar-winning actor Ralph, sisters Martha and Sophie both writer-directors, twin Jacob a conservationist and brother Magnus a composer. Joe’s fame went international with his BAFTA-nominated turn in the title role of 1998’s Shakespeare in Love, and he was recently nominated for an Emmy for his role in the acclaimed The Handmaid’s Tale. So what can actor and explorer learn from each other’s vocations?
“Ran is all about the long game. Slow and steady,” says Joe. “He is impeccable at pacing himself. There were times when it was very hot and very arduous, I would rush in like a fool and Ran would be cool as a cucumber. So it’s no surprise to me that he can survive the Arctic, Antarctic, ice floes, crevasses, polar bears...”
Fast-forward to 2019, in a nod to the original expedition’s principal method of transport, a classic Land Rover Defender was sourced, and—after a few necessary upgrades to ensure both the survival of it and its occupant—set off along the Nile, followed by a rather newer model in support. As Ran remembers, there were a few vivid bumps in the road.
“I was driving along in my [modern] Discovery on a very narrow tarmac road at about 60mph, Joe was ahead in the Defender, and quite suddenly, like the front wheel had burst, he went off the tarmac and down into the sand—60mph to nothing, just like that." He remembers, with a clap of his hands for emphasis. "So I knew that he was either dead or had gone through the windscreen or god knows what. I was incredibly frightened.”
The ‘tests’ Joe refers to are a kind of apprenticeship-initiation the older Fiennes gave his inexperienced cousin in what you might call expedition craft. Far from a couched tour, Return to the Nile is a rollicking, rough-and-tumble journey with its fair share of mishap. Both Land Rovers take to the air on separate occasions, and a memorable scene sees the pair introduced to a menagerie of venomous creatures in the interests of ‘preparation.’ The Fienneses also get extraordinary access to a recently discovered tomb at Al Minya—complete with intact mummies. The extraordinary sequence isn’t for the claustrophobic, or squeamish.
“We were following Dr Mohamed [Wahballa] up into what he had excavated and looked to me very unsafe,” remembers Ran. “You’re crawling deep inside and you can see sand falling down… it was unique. Only eight weeks after he discovered it, we would be the first people to film and see these people who had been buried there for two and half thousand years.”
Joe nods. “It takes your breath away to come face to face with a mummified corpse in an open sarcophagus.”
“And they must have had very good dentists,” continues Ran. “These smiling skeletons still had all their teeth.”
Asked what he makes of the experience, Joe is unequivocal: “Connection. It was a great privilege to experience this location and landscape. But what I take away is connecting with a family member who reminds me of my dad, who I miss… and I loved getting to know Ran and his legendary exploits. It’s right up there with one of the best moments of my life.
He continues: “and also I think that might translate to another audience out there who might have a member of their family, who has done something—which doesn’t have to be so epic—but who they respect and admire. Taking a journey might give them the opportunity to go and hear that person’s narrative. And to be connected.”
Of Joe, Ran says: “I found that he was just the most excellent companion, and good fun. I was very immensely impressed—if all actors are as calm when things go completely wrong, my respect for all actors has gone up several notches.”
Having found each other and ‘connected,’ in terms of the pair’s future Fiennes exploits, Ran is cryptic—but positive. “I am really keen on getting Joe on one specific expedition. But I think it might be in an element that he’s not terribly keen on. So I have a bit of persuasion to do.”
Joe is shaking his head, but game. “I’d love to. Bottom line, if I could get to repeat this experience, I would in a heartbeat. But perhaps not in -20 degrees [C].”
Not for the first time Ran is frowning, like a crotchety professor. “-10 degrees,” he corrects.
13 feb 2019 · Sir Ranulph and Joseph Fiennes return to the Nile in a documentary series for National Geographic | Tatler. Features. Sir Ranulph and Joseph Fiennes return to the Nile with National Geographic. By Annabel Sampson. 13 February 2019. How are Ralph, Ranulph and Joseph Fiennes all connected?
Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes gather at the port of Alexandria where they prep their Land Rovers for the voyage ahead, recreating Sir Ran's first ever expedition along the River Nile. Their journey to Cairo includes a crash course in survival techniques and a visit to see meat eating spiders, highly venomous scorpions and snakes.
Season 1. Sir Ranulph Fiennes & Joseph Fiennes gather at the port of Alexandria where they prep their Land Rovers for the voyage ahead, recreating Sir Ran's first ever expedition along the River Nile. Wednesday 15 May at 10.00am. Saturday 18 May at 03.00pm.
Sir Ranulph Fiennes and Joseph Fiennes gather at the port of Alexandria where they prep their Land Rovers for the voyage ahead, recreating Sir Ran's first ever expedition along the River Nile. Their journey to Cairo includes a crash course in survival techniques and a visit to see meat eating spiders, highly venomous scorpions and snakes.
