Simon Murray, CBE is a Hong Kong-based British businessman, adventurer, author, and former French Foreign Legionnaire. He was the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported, at the age of 63.
Early life
Murray was born in Leicester, England into a family with some tradition of military service. His father belonged to a wealthy family. Murray's grandfather on his father's side retained a permanent suite at the Connaught Hotel, while his grandmother retained a similar suite at Claridges Hotel. Murray's father abandoned the family early on and Murray claims to have had no recollection of him at that time. An uncle paid for Murray to attend Bedford School, an independent school in Bedford in Bedfordshire. In 1960, he joined the French Foreign Legion, and served for five years in the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment. During his service, he fought in the Algerian War against the Front de Libération National. After rising to the rank of Chief Corporal, he turned down an offer to attend Officers' School in France, and left the Legion in 1965 after completing his service. He wrote of his experiences in the Legion in the book Legionnaire, published in 1978. And later, based on his book he produced the autobiographical movie "Deserter" which only came as a DVD.
Business career
On leaving the Foreign Legion in 1965, he got married and moved to Hong Kong where he worked for Jardine Matheson for fourteen years. After that, he left to start his own company, Davenham Investments, a project advisory company. N.M.Rothschild took a 50% stake in Davenham. Amongst many high-profile deals, Davenham went on to represent Mitsui in the Singapore Mass Transit Railway project. In 1984, Davenham was sold to Li Ka-Shing for US$20 million as a precursor to Murray becoming group managing director of Hutchison Whampoa. He stayed for ten years, initiating Hutchison's acquisition of Hong Kong Electric, and negotiating their entry into the oil business through their acquisition of Husky Oil. Whilst CEO of Hutchison, he founded a mobile phone company and, after turning it into the global brand "Orange", it was sold in 1999 for US$36 billion to Mannesmann. From 1994 to 1998, Simon was the Executive Chairman of the Deutsche Bank Group in Asia. He then established his own company, General Enterprise Management Services Ltd, a mid-sized investment group operating across Asia. In addition to this Simon was a founder of Distacom which made a number of mobile telecoms investments including Madacom in Madagascar, Spice Telecom in India and Sunday Communications in Hong Kong. He has also invested in other mobile operations in New Zealand, San Marino, Papua New Guinea and elsewhere. Murray was the chairman of Glencore from 2011 to 2013. He later became chairman of Gulf Keystone Petroleum from 2013 to 2015. He has served on boards and held advisory positions with a number of other large companies, including Vodafone, Tommy Hilfiger Corporation, Vivendi Universal, Usinor SA, Hermes, General Electric, China National Offshore Oil Corporation, Macquarie Bank, N.M. Rothschild, and Bain. He continues to serve on the advisory board of Lightbridge Corporation, and was on the Development Advisory Board of Imperial College, London. Murray is currently the Executive Chairman of GEMS, and a board director of Cheung Kong Holdings Ltd, Orient Overseas Ltd, Wing Tai Properties Ltd, Arnhold Holdings Ltd, Richemont SA, Essar Energy plc, Omnicorp Ltd and IRC Ltd.
Adventurer
Following a suggestion by his wife, Murray joined Pen Hadow for a trek to the Geographic South Pole. The 1,200 km trek started in early December 2004 at Hercules Inlet on the Zumberge Coast, Antarctica and was completed when they reached the South Pole about two months later. They climbed up to 2,835 m above mean sea level on the way. Murray became the oldest man to reach the South Pole unsupported.
Honours
He has been appointed a CBE by H.M. The Queen, and the Order of Merit of the French Republic and is a "Chevalier de La Legion d’Honneur". He holds an honorary degree in law, from the University of Bath and attended the Stanford Executive Program in the US.
Television
In the 80s, Murray presented a documentary on the French Foreign Legion, where he explained the traditions and folklore that surround this elite force. He also appeared and contributed on the documentary seriesEscape to the Legion and Weaponology.
Personal life
In 1965, he married his long-time girlfriend, pilot Jennifer, with whom he has three children and six grandchildren. She was the first woman to fly around the world in a helicopter.
