From a child hiding in the bushes to attack his parents’ visitors with a bow and arrows to the High Sheriff of Essex, August Courtauld’s approach to life was both idiosyncratic and oddly straightforward. Born into a wealthy family, Courtauld’s single incursion into employment was a disaster. Instead he flung his energy and abilities into Arctic exploration, hard-driven yachting and conscientious public service. Aged 26 he spent five months alone on the Greenland icecap, the final weeks buried underground with his food and fuel exhausted, singing in the dark, dreaming of his fiancée and his ideal yacht, never doubting he would be saved.

In this autobiography, dictated as he battled multiple sclerosis, Courtauld describes himself as “just an ordinary chap” from a “very humdrum” family. His inspirational legacy and that family’s generosity has established Duet as the longest serving sail-training vessel in the UK, enabling hundreds of young people to build their confidence and self-knowledge through challenging adventures. His own extraordinary individuality deserves to be remembered.