Miles Hilton-Barber

Miles has been blind for since his early twenties, but has not let that stop him from challenging barriers. He has sought adventure and succeeded on expeditions to deserts, mountains and the polar regions.

He is an exceptional storyteller and corporate motivational speaker whose messages of "never give up", "expect the unexpected" and "think big to achieve big" come wrapped in a package of humour and profound personal insight.

He uses his experiences as an international adventurer to motivate and inspire others to achieve their potential. His words are not hollow generalisations - he offers practical ideas that work for everyone.

His presentations are entertaining, motivating and inspirational, sharing with his audiences the things he would want to hear if their roles were reversed. "I want them [the audience] to feel they are looking inside the hearts and minds of the people who worked together as a team, took risks, extended the envelope, and made an impossible dream a reality," he says.

Whether Miles is giving a keynote corporate presentation or an after dinner speech, his humour, timing and use of material is exceptional. He mixes in laughter, telling stories from his own rich experiences as a blind person covering such life-lesson themes as;

* Dream big to achieve big
* Expect the Unexpected
* Never Give Up
* The Importance of Teamwork
* Don't let your Past Determine Your Future
* Facing your fears
* Taking advantage of adversity
* Benefiting from failure

He has shared the speaking platform with such individuals as Rudi Giuliani, New York Mayor on 9/11, Olympic Medallist Roger Black, Jeremy Paxman, Melvin Bragg, and Lord David Puttnam addressing corporate and celebrity audiences around the world.

Despite being blind for over 25 years, Miles has still lived his dreams, encouraging us to realise that "The only limits in our lives are those we accept ourselves."

His remarkable adventures in recent years, setting numerous world records in the process, include:

* Attempting to be the first blind person to reach the South Pole, in the process man-hauling a sledge over 250 miles across Antarctica
* Completing "The Toughest Foot-race on earth" - 150 miles across the Sahara Desert in the Marathon des Sables
* Climbing to 17,500 feet in the Himalayas
* Climbing Mt Kilimanjaro and Mt. Blanc- Africa's/Europe's highest mountains
* Running the 11-day Ultra-Marathon race across China from Gobi Desert to Great Wall
* Completing the "Coldest Marathon on Earth"- the Siberian Ice Marathon
* Crossing entire Qatar Desert non-stop day/night in 78 hours without sleep
* Circumnavigating 38,000 miles around world using 80 forms of transport
* Setting Malaysian Grand Prix lap record for blind driver in 200kph Lotus
* Setting new British high-altitude record for a tandem microlight
* Completing more than 40 skydiving jumps to date

He is currently preparing to undertake a 35-day, 12,500 microlight flight more than half way around the world, from London to Sydney, Australia, with Storm Smith, relying on speech-output (developed by Software Express) on his instruments for navigation.