Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

Andrew Cooney,

FRGS The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

, AFRIN, of the Royal Logistic Corps, Territorial Army, was the youngest man to walk to the

South Pole The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole, Terrestrial South Pole or 90th Parallel South, is one of the two points where Earth's axis of rotation intersects its surface. It is the southernmost point on Earth and lies antipod ...

. A native of

Thurgarton Thurgarton is a small village in rural Nottinghamshire, England. The village is close to Southwell, and Newark-on-Trent and still within commuting distance to Nottingham. It is served by Thurgarton railway station. According to the 2001 censu ...

, he attended

Southwell Minster School The Minster School is a Church of England secondary school with sixth form in Southwell, Nottinghamshire, England, for children aged 11 to 18. There are approximately 1600 students on roll. Text was copied from this source, which is available u ...

, which he left at age 16 to study electronic and computer engineering at

Southampton Institute Solent University (formerly Southampton Solent University) is a public university based in Southampton, United Kingdom. It has approximately 10,500 students (2019/20). Its main campus is located on East Park Terrace near the city centre and th ...

, earning his BA (Hons) in Maritime Leisure Management. Cooney joined the Scouts and earned the highest scouting award (the Queen Scout), later completing the Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards under the aegis of the

Duke of Edinburgh's Award Scheme The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

. He has since founded his own business, delivering presentations, workshops and university lectures across the UK to young people.

Affiliations

* Fellow,

Royal Geographical Society The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...

* Associate Fellow,

Royal Institute of Navigation The Royal Institute of Navigation (RIN) is a learned society and a professional body for navigation. The RIN was founded in 1947 as a forum for mariners, pilots, engineers and academics to compare their experiences and exchange information. Toda ...

References

* http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/nottinghamshire/6382175.stm * http://newsroom.haas.berkeley.edu/article/berkeley-mba-students-plan-pioneering-polar-expedition Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Royal Logistic Corps officers People educated at Southwell Minster School People from Newark and Sherwood (district) Alumni of the University of Southampton Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society {{UK-army-bio-stub