When it comes to choosing the perfect crew for a polar expedition there are some obvious characteristics people need to have – determination, grit and a never say die attitude to name but a few. I’ve come up with some people that’d make my dream team who had these qualities in spades.

Ernest Shackleton
Shackleton is a well-known figure from the heroic age of polar exploration. If you ever found yourself in a tight spot Shackleton would be the man to get you out of it.

Roald Amundsen
As you’d expect from the man who led the first Antarctic expedition to reach the South Pole he was a stickler for meticulous planning.

John Rae
A Scottish explorer so tough he even had his own Inuit name – Aglooka ‘he who takes long strides’. He succeeded in everything he did but never got the recognition he deserved.

Chay Blyth
The first person to sail non-stop westwards around the world, Chay is stubborn as a mule and never, ever gives up.

Duncan Nicol
Duncan is my old rowing partner from back when we rowed across the Atlantic Ocean together. He’s too busy doing great things at BT to come rowing this time but he makes it on to my dream team.

Well, not quite!

An acquaintance of mine, from University days, Lord Henley was sponsoring one of our Durham University alumni functions. I always make a big effort to get to these functions since Durham University had a large influence in fashioning and shaping me as a person.

The university currently has the leading geography department in the UK, including the world recognised Institute of Hazard and Risk Research. The Institute is going to be deeply involved in some of the environmental work planned for our expedition.

Our Vice Chancellor Chris Higgins was in ‘full flow’ and the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole was mentioned three times to a respectful audience.

The University recognise the project as a major opportunity for them and a great way of keeping the Durham and North East flag flying high.

Exact details will be revealed at a later date!

When I was asked to think about where we could film a short video for the Old Pulteney Row to the Pole expedition, I immediately thought of places that have inspired the expeditions of past explorers. The Old Royal Naval College came to my mind first, and one of my favourite places The National Maritime Museum at Greenwich.

Stepping inside the museum you feel you are inside history itself. All around you are examples of people from a far tougher age than our own who achieved success despite great adversity.

My expedition to reach the Magnetic North Pole has been inspired by great men like Sir James Clark Ross, who first located the position of the Magnetic North Pole in 1831. His portrait hangs in the gallery as a testament to his achievements as a naval officer and explorer.

The museum also charts the progress of polar exploration. They have a chart from the early 1900s that shows a blank space in the area we will be travelling across.

The replica of the open lifeboat, the James Caird, represents one of history’s greatest feats of rowing endurance. It was in this boat that Shackleton sailed with five other men for 800 miles from Elephant Island to South Georgia after the loss of their ship Endurance.

Shackleton is one of my heroes and I hope we can live up to his achievement on our own epic polar row.