Adventurers – Now I've Heard Everything

Iconic Big Game Hunter Peter Capstick and His Love of Africa

October 23, 2024October 19, 2024Bill Thompson

Peter Capstick had a promising future on Wall Street in the 1960s But business wasn’t his passion. Africa was, and more specifically, hunting in Africa.

Capstick became a professional hunter, leading safaris and writing books and articles about hunting.

Often drawing comparisons to Ernest Hemingway, Cap[stick built a reputation as a hunter and guide.

And hunters today will recognize his name from the .470 Capstick rifle cartridge.

I met him in 1987 while he was on tour for his book Peter Capstick’s Africa.

So here now, from 1987, Peter Capstick.

Peter Capstick died in South Africa in1996. He was 56.

High-Flying Adventure: How Two Balloonists Conquered the World

March 8, 2024March 3, 2024Bill Thompson

Brian Jones – Photo by John Mathew Smith

Hot air balloons, or lighter-than-air craft, have been around for centuries. But it wasn’t until March 1999 that humans were able to circumnavigate the entire world in a single hot air balloon flight.

The two guys who did it were British balloonist Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist.

They co-piloted a massive balloon called Breitling Orbiter 3, which launched March 1st,1999 from Switzerland and landed in Egypt 19 days and 27,900 miles laer.

Get your copy of Bertrand Piccard & Brian Jones’s book

I met them just eight months later, after they wrote a book about their adventure.

So here now, from November 1999, Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard.

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones remain active in ballooning.

And in 2016, Piccard was part of the first round-the-world solar flight in history, piloting the Solar Impulse 2 on one leg of its historic flight.

Will Steger’s Pioneering Journey to the North Pole

November 15, 2023November 12, 2023Bill Thompson

In today’s shrinking world, there are very few things left that no one has ever done before. But in 1986, explorer Will Steger did something no one had done before – he led the first ever dog sled journey to the north pole without resupply

It was an amazing, and in some ways death-defying expedition

As he described in his 1987 book N to the pole, it’s difficult when your face is frozen, you’re only allowed two pounds of food a day, and you have just a short window of opportunity to reach your goal.

We sat down in my well heated studio one day in December 1987 to talk. So here now, from 1987, Will Steger.

Will Steger Is 79 now. He is a popular public speaker and advocate for preservation of the Arctic

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Linda Greenlaw

November 1, 2021October 31, 2021Bill Thompson

Thirty years ago today, November 1, 1991, off the New England coast the six-man crew of the sword fishing boat the Andrea Gail were fighting, and losing, their battle with what has come to be known as The Perfect Storm.

A close friend of those six was fellow swordfishing boat captain Linda Greenlaw.

If you’ve seen the 2000 movie The Perfect Storm, Greenlaw was played by actress Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio.

Greenlaw eventually wrote three books of her own, including a 2004 called All Fishermen Are Liars.

So here now, from 2004, Linda Greenlaw.

Linda Greenlaw will be 61 next month. She is still a sword-fishing boat captain, and lives in Maine.

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Terri Irwin

June 30, 2021June 28, 2021Bill Thompson

In the ’90s and early 2000s, one of the most popular TV personalities in the world was Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin.

He happily and enthusiastically introduced his viewers to some of the world’s most exotic, and dangerous, wildlife.

Ultimately it was a fatal encounter with a stingray that prematurely ended his life in 2006. Steve was just 44.

The following year his widow Terri published a book called Steve And Me. And that’s when I met her.

So here now, from 2007, Terri Irwin,

Terri Irwin and the couple’s two children continue to operate Australia Zoo.

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Bertrand Piccard & Brian Jones

July 15, 2020July 14, 2020Bill Thompson

The two guys who did it were British balloonist Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard, a Swiss psychiatrist and balloonist.

They co-piloted a massive balloon called Breitling Orbiter 3, which launched March 1st,1999 from Switzerland and landed in Egypt 19 days and 27-thousand-900 miles laer.

I met them just eight months later, after they wrote a book about their adventure.

So here now, from November 1999, Brian Jones and Bertrand Piccard.

Bertrand Piccard and Brian Jones remain active in ballooning.

And in 2016, Piccard was part of the first round-the-world solar flight in history, piloting the Solar Impulse 2 on one leg of its historic flight.