The Royal Geographical Society - the word’s most storied explorers’ and adventurers’ club (albeit with a rather chequered past, which I’ve written about before - see the "Tales" section of this site...). They’ve hosted Livingstone on Africa, Hillary on Everest, Shackleton on Antarctica, Darwin on evolution…

...and now Benfield and Horsey on the yeti - seriously? I was half convinced we were going to be a laughing stock. It was unlikely to be an easy crowd either, no doubt full of people with double-barrelled names who’d spent years in the Hindu Kush and had a penchant for, inter alia, slipping Latin phrases into sentences for absolutely no good reason. Well at least Richard’s triple-barrelled brain would be on hand for the questions…

The moment had come, this was finally it, the big crazy break - so I told myself to stop worrying, they were finally taking us seriously, they wouldn’t have invited us to talk if not. And it was the Royal Geographical Society after all, serious people, it wasn’t like anyone here was going to start making comparisons with looking for the Loch Ness Monster. So, one last deep breath, and try to fake some confidence as you walk onto that famous stage…