The Feather Men is a 1991 novel by the British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The book was initially published on 17 October 1991 by Bloomsbury Publishing. In 2011 it was loosely adapted into the film Killer Elite. In 1991, Fiennes - Old Etonian, ex-military, adventurer, polar trekker and author - published his ninth book.

A former officer, and Mike Kealy's closest friend since their days together at Sandhurst, ridicules the idea that an outsider could infiltrate himself into an SAS exercise. Ralph’s grandfather was the younger brother of my grandfather. There were eight children and our grandfathers were some of them. Ralph is great. He’s recently given a lot of money to a charity I run for cancer, and Joseph I’ve only met once or twice. I don’t know him very well. Fifteen years ago, I thought it would be nice if Ralph was in the film version [ Killer Elite] of the book that I wrote [ The Feather Men], but it didn’t work out. I haven’t yet seen it, though. But a friend of mine in Pittsburgh who did see it said he didn’t like the guy who played me before I ended up dead. I don’t understand this! I don’t see how I could be in the film, or how I could be dead!

A subheading in small print on the title page posed the question that Fiennes thereafter ducked: 'Fact or Fiction?'

Bruce Willis holds on tightly to his daughter Scout's hand as he spends Thanksgiving with his family amid his dementia battle

Gisele Bundchen showcases her toned tummy as she and rumored boyfriend Joaquim Valente enjoy Costa Rica getaway with her children Valour: Under fire in the desert, the sort of terrain in which Major Mike Kealy forged his heroic reputation We revealed Banksy's name 15 years ago - so why was the arty set still insisting last week that it's a...

Nicolas Cage reveals his bizarre new two toned hair colour for his new film The Surfer as he farewells Australia with his wife and baby daughter Before it was published in 1991, I sent copies of the manuscript to people named in the book then alive and to the next of kin of the deceased, including Major Mike Kealy's wife and mother.

Napoleon was six years younger than Josephine - so why are they played by Joaquin Phoenix, 49, and Vanessa... The author: Sir Ranulph Fiennes, pictured here in 1991 around the release of his controversial novel The Feather Men A vote for Nigel Farage's lot would put Starmer in No 10, warns Rishi Sunak... but he admits he's 'too busy' to watch the former UKIP leader on I'm A Celeb

Share this article

The latest barrage of truth bombs from Harry and Meghan's 'mouthpiece': Every claim from sneak peek of Omid Scobie's new book Another parallel with The Quiet American, where the first film to be made of the novel, the 1958 version, with Michael Redgrave and Audie Murphy, not the second version in 2002 with Michael Caine, ends up completely distorting the original story, making the English journalist, played by Redgrave, appear to be a naive and bumbling has-been and Pyle, the American agent played by Audie Murphy, is vindicated as righteous and far-seeing, in working towards the establishment of a 'third force' in Vietnam to defeat the communists and replace the effete and outdated French colonialists with the righteous forces of American freedom. I don't know if the director of that film, Joseph Mankiewitz, was still alive at the time of the final communist victory in Vietnam in 1975, but if he was, I hope he had the grace to feel at least slightly ashamed of himself for having so perverted the original film.) Neil Morrissey reveals his regret over Amanda Holden fling which led to her divorce from TV's Les Dennis: 'Don't f*** a gameshow host's wife' In a white-out worse than anyone could remember, he had ploughed on when others sought shelter. Hypothermia fuddled his brain and judgment. The author, Sir Ranulph Fiennes, has written an explosive account of a very experienced and efficient contract killer company, called The Clinic, headed by Daniel de Villiers. Eventually, it was hired by an Arab sheikh to avenge the deaths of his four sons. Such an action is known as a thraa'r, though seldom acted upon in the Arab world.