SIR RANULPH FIENNES, regarded as the greatest living explorer, has received an honorary doctorate from Abertay University despite having few O levels and no A levels to his name.

Sir Ranulph made no secret of the fact when first approached by the university, as his academic failings had eventually blunted his life’s ambition to command the Royal Scots Greys.

Clutching his doctorate in his hands yesterday, he thanked Abertay for the recognition, saying, “From my point of view, the top Scottish university in terms of results is Abertay.

“To get an honorary degree from basically the top university in the UK after Oxford and Cambridge is particularly nice bearing in mind the fact that I found it extremely hard at school.”

The honorary doctorate of science is in recognition of his achievements in exploration, in adding to scientific knowledge of wilderness areas, expanding human knowledge and being a “great humanitarian” by raising considerable sums of money for charity.

Sir Ranulph’s father commanded the Scottish regiment, seeing action at Alamein and the landings at Salerno before being killed at Monte Cassino, and he was desperate to follow in his footsteps. He won a three-year commission—the longest possible without a Sandhurst education—and was able to renew that each year for five years before being “chucked out”.

He then embarked upon a career as an explorer, becoming the first man to visit both north and south poles by land and the first to totally cross Antarctic on foot.

Last year, he conquered his life-long fear of heights to scale the feared north face of the Eiger, raising £1.5 million for the Marie Curie cancer charity.

Although born in England, Sir Ranulph has spent a lot of time in Scotland having worked in public relations with oil company Occidental. He has also visited Dundee several times to give lectures.

After the ceremony he swapped academia for more familiar territory, visiting the polar exhibition at Dundee’s Sensation centre. There he was joined by his family for a guided tour of star exhibit, Vanishing Ice. It explores the polar regions to discover how climate change and the receding ice caps may affect the rest of the planet and what can be done to minimise the effect on the environment.

Afterwards he presented a polar helmet used on many of his expeditions to Sensation’s chief executive Paul Jennings, who praised Sir Ranulph’s never-say-die attitude. “An important quality needed by scientists is perseverance and… he has repeatedly demonstrated the seemingly impossible is achievable. We are sure our young visitors will find his visit inspiring.”

Sir Ranulph’s polar helmet will be on display at the exhibition until its conclusion at the end of August.