Explorer so gloriously out of time

A lifetime facing dangers at sea has not dimmed Tim Severin's taste for adventure, writes Donal Lynch

Donal Lynch

There's something gloriously out-of-time about Tim Severin. With his cravat just so, a voice like tarnished silver and a certain tweedy charm, he seems like an essential part of high tea at the Merrion. He looks like he stepped out of one of their oil paintings. They should pay him just to sit there and regale people with his anecdotes.