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Sir Ranulph Fiennes 'Used Military Explosives to Blow Up Dam'

Sir Ranulph Fiennes joined the SAS in the mid-1960s (Picture: SWNS).

Explorer and former member of the SAS, Sir Ranulph Fiennes has admitted he once avoided jail time for trying to blow up a dam.

He said that while on leave in the 1960s, he used leftover explosives from his military days to help a friend attempt to destroy the 20-foot concrete structure on the film set of Doctor Doolittle.

Sir Ranulph said years later he discovered that he had narrowly missed spending seven years in prison for the incident.

The confession came as he was awarded an honorary Doctorate of Law degree at the University of Bristol.

"Unfortunately, while on leave back in the UK in the mid-1960s, I got phoned up by an old Eton friend," Sir Ranulph told graduates.

"He had moved to a place called Castle Combe in Wiltshire, which had just been voted Britain's prettiest village.

"And this beautiful village was being attacked by 20th Century Fox, who were making a film there called Doctor Dolittle.

"This involved turning the stream into a dirty great lake with a 20-foot concrete dam, ruining the village."

Castle Combe, Wiltshire. Photo by: SWNS — Castle Combe, the Wiltshire village where the incident took place (Picture: SWNS).

Sir Ranulph continued: "My friend decided to bring this outrage to the general attention by blowing up the entire concrete dam the night before the film started.

"I had just completed an Army explosives course, where you learn to blow up as much as you can using as little as possible.

"And I was pretty good at this. So he asked me to stand in," Sir Ranulph joked.

"Unfortunately, everybody was caught, we all ended up in Chippenham prison, and I was on police probation in Salisbury for six months."

Finishing his speech, Sir Ranulph said: "15 years after the Chippenham Assizes which found us guilty and fined us heavily, I went to the Isle of Wight.

"I met with the wonderful judge who had not put us in jail, and he said if we had done that one year later, he would have had to have given us seven years minimum."

Sir Ranulph concluded: "So today, to get Doctorate of the Law - I feel just wonderful."