Jennifer grew up in rural Cheshire, England, and went to art
school in London. She married her cousin, Simon Murray, and the two of them
spent 30 years living in Hong Kong, building a successful business. In her youth
Jennifer was quite adventurous; she ran marathons and went trekking in Nepal and
Bhutan. But she did not learn to fly a helicopter until the age of 54.

 In 1994 Simon Murray bought a half-share in a
Robinson R44 helicopter. But he did not have time to learn to fly it, so he
suggested that Jennifer took flying lessons instead. From the start Jennifer
loved flying, and did so whenever she could. Finally Simon found time to learn
to fly too, and the two of them went on longer and longer flights. Jennifer
began to think about flying round the world, and in 1997 she did so, in the
company of Quentin Smith (‘Q’) who had taught her to fly helicopters. She was
the first woman ever to do so.

Jennifer’s real dream was to fly around the world solo, and
after extensive preparations, she managed this in 2000, again in an R44. She was
accompanied by Colin Bodill, who flew a microlight round the world at the same
time, also gaining a record, and ‘Q’ who flew a back-up R44 helicopter. Jennifer
had another world record!

 Colin Bodill then got his helicopter licence, and he
accompanied Jennifer in the London to Sydney Air Race. The two adventurers then
decided to try to fly round the world in a helicopter via both poles, a feat
which had never yet been achieved. They began in late 2003, flying a Bell B407
helicopter. But in December of that year, after reaching the South Pole, they
crashed in white-out conditions. Both were injured and the helicopter was
completely destroyed. But after being rescued, the intrepid pair vowed to try
the same feat again.

 After a great deal of difficulty, they managed to leave for
the second time in late 2006, and successfully completed the polar
circumnavigation in May 2007. They had done it…and entered the record books yet
again.

Jennifer and Colin’s first attempt to set this record ended in near-fatal
disaster in December 2003 when the two pilots crashed in whiteout conditions in
Antarctica. Jennifer recounts that drama – one that was covered by media around
the world – and in her subsequent book  Broken Journey.

Following on from Broken Journey, Polar First is their
extraordinary story of finding the courage to set off again to the ends of the
earth, journeying from the searing heat of the Atacama desert, over the high
Andes and the hostile southern oceans and finally to once again confront the
great unforgiving splendour of the remote polar regions.

Jennifer says, “The journey is over, it has taken three and a half years to
finish what we set out to do back in 2003, to do what no pilots have ever done
before, to fly a helicopter around the world by the South and North Poles, but
we did it, we have laid to rest the ghosts. Would I do it all again? Not a
hope.” 

You can read more about Jennifer’s journeys at

www.polarfirst.com

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