Sir Ranulph Fiennes can trace his lineage back to Charlemagne and he's related to Jane Austen. Eustache Fiennes fought for William the Conqueror - but other Fiennes' were on Harold's side. One of his relatives, Geoffrey de Saye, was at the signing of the Magna Carta. Thomas Fiennes sat on the Jury at Anne Boleyn's trial, and was later hanged for deer poaching.

Celia Fiennes wrote a journal of her horseback exploration of England and inspired the nursery rhyme 'Ride a cockhorse to Banbury Cross to see a Fiennes [fine] lady upon a white horse'. Ranulph's grandfather, was a fur trapper, a Canadian Mountie and later served as Private Secretary to Winston Churchill. Ranulph's father was killed in Italy in 1943, four months before he was born.

MAD DOGS AND ENGLISHMEN is Sir Ranulph's personal expedition to trace the roots of this extraordinary family, which has been intimately involved in the major events of English history. His often eccentric ancestors have been an inspiration for his own life of adventure, and this personal history reveals another side to Ranulph himself.

(P)2009 Hodder & Stoughton