In the category of, "there will always be an England," or, "is the Times running fiction in the obituary section now?
"Setting off down the Thames in a bright red boat on Sept. 2, 1979, from the east London borough of Greenwich, the expedition sought to circle the world, but not by an east-west route. Instead, Mr. Burton and his colleagues followed the imaginary meridian line that connects the Royal Observatory in Greenwich from which longitude and Greenwich Mean Time are calculated to the North and South Poles.They actually did what they set out to do, returning three years later to a welcome by Charles. I'm hoping the terrier made it all the way as well, although the paper neglects to tell us.The expedition was led by an old Etonian baronet, Sir Ranulph Twisleton-Wykenham-Fiennes, and besides Mr. Burton comprised Sir Ranulph's wife, Ginnie, the family terrier, Bothy, and a former beer salesman, Oliver Shepard. The expedition's patron, the Prince of Wales, described its members as "refreshingly mad" as he bid them farewell.