A friend once asked me what qualities were needed for SAS. I would say to be self-motivated and resilient; to be calm, yet have the ability to smile when it is grim; to be unflappable, be able to react fast and to have an ‘improvise, adapt and overcome’ mentality.

Survival can be summed up in three words - never give up. That's the heart of it really. Just keep trying.

I hang out all the time with kids and young scouts and I never meet kids who don't want adventure.

I think fire is so critical in the wild. You can cook with it, you can make tools, you can deter a predator, you can dry your clothes and you get that element of morale that matters so much when you're stuck in the middle of nowhere.

Sometimes an ember is all we need.

Our dreams are just wishes, if we never follow them through with action. And in life, you have got to be able to light your own fire.

The hardest thing about my job isn't the snake bites or the crocodiles, it's being away from my children. I have a really religious satellite phone call every day back to the boys, wherever we are, whatever time zone, to say goodnight.