A man described as “the world’s greatest living explorer’ got one of the country’s biggest literature festivals off to a fine start The description of Sir Ranulph Fiennes came from the Guinness Book of World Records and he was in West Yorkshire to talk about his own personal heroes at the start of the Ilkley Literature Festival last Friday.

Sir Ranulph, who became the oldest Briton to reach the summit of Mount Everest in 2009 and the first person to reach the top of the mountain and cross both polar ice caps, spoke to a packed audience at the King’s Hall, as the first performer at the festival, which runs until Sunday, October 16.

His own heroes include polar survivors and MI5 double agents.

On Friday night, poet Simon Armitage officially opened the festival and unveiled the words to his Stanza Stones poems, which will be carved into stone across several moors across the Pennine Watershed, including Ilkley Moor.

At the weekend people flocked to the town to see and hear high-profile figures such as Lord Digby Jones and Janet Street-Porter.

Lord Jones, a renowned face from the business world, took the opportunity to promote his new book, Fixing Britain.

He then delivered a speech to a packed King’s Hall with his renowned, no-nonsense, straight-talking approach.

The festival is continuing, with the town looking forward to a visit from Jeremy Paxman today For more details about the festival and ticket information, go to ilkleyliteraturefestival.org.uk, or call the box office on (01943) 816714.

See today's Ilkley Gazette for a chance to win a bumper selection of Literature Festival books.