Michael Banks, born in Chippenham, Wiltshire on 22nd December 1922, was a member of the Royal Marines, noted explorer and author. Banks joined the Royal Marines in 1942, which he remained a member of until his retirement in 1968. In 1952 he joined the North British Greenland Expedition, a British led 2 year expedition which aimed to explore and carry out a range of scientific studies on the North Greenland Icesheet. A senior member of the expedition, Banks led one of the teams which traversed the ice sheet using Weasel tracked military vehicles.

On returning from the expedition Banks wrote and published High Arctic: the Story of the British North Greenland Expedition which cronicled and critiqued the expedition. Banks was also able to undertake further exploration and climbing exploits during, and after, his military career. This included leading an expedition which made the first summit of the Himilayan mountain Rakaposhi, and in 2000 at the age of 77 became the oldest person to successfully climb the Old Man of Hoy.