To his neighbours in his quiet street, Roy Homard was the dapper, unassuming gentleman seen walking his dogs or pottering in his garden.

They would never have guessed that the smart pensioner was in fact one of Britain’s most intrepid adventurers with a mountain named after him and who has been honoured by the Queen,

He braved the worst elements that both ends of the world could throw at him and became the only second serving British officer to reach the South Pole after the ill-fated Captain Lawrence Oates famously told Captain Scott that he was going outside and “might be some time”.

Despite all his scrapes, Major Roy Homard, of Lingley Drive, Wainscott, lived to the age of 94. But the real-life Boy’s Own hero, whose death merited a half-page obituary in the Daily Telegraph was modest about his achievements.

Even at his funeral at All Saints’ Church in Frindsbury, some mourners were unaware of his illustrious past.

His son Richard, 51, described his father as” a very modest man”, adding: “I don’t think he really appreciated what he had done in his life.”

Although he had lived in his smart semi with his beloved late wife Enid for more than 50 years, Richard said there were people “on the doorstep” who knew nothing of his well-documented adventures.

Richard, an electrical technician who also lives in Wainscott, said “You could say he was the best kept secret in Wainscott, or even Medway.”

To his 11-year-old granddaughter, Honey Clark, he was simply “the best grandad in the world” who took her out for walks in the nearby countryside and encouraged her to be adventurous,

Honey, who lives in Rochester and is a pupil at Chattenden Primary School, said: “He was my role model.

“He gave me a little patch in his garden and helped me to grow strawberries. “

Born in Dover, Desmond Edgar Lemuel Homard, or “Roy” as he was later to be known, was an unlikely explorer.

He spent an impoverished childhood in Sheerness as his blind father struggled to support his young family.

Naturally inquisitive and with a love of the outdoor life, he was not constrained for long after leaving school at the age of 15.

After short spells of working at the Co-op in Sheerness and at Short Brothers in Rochester, he found the outlet for his energies in the Army.

His brothers-in-arms at the Army Technical School in Chepstow quickly decided that his Christian name Desmond did not suit and nicknamed him “Roy” – short for “Romancer” because of his habit daydreaming about foreign capers.

They were not wrong and the Boy’s Own-type fantasies were soon to become realities.

After Second World War service in Africa, Sicily and Italy with the Royal Army Ordnance Corps and Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers, the chance cropped up to join the British North Greenland Expedition in 1952.

It was an assignment that was to test his endurance to the limit. One colleague died after falling into a crevasse. A supply plane crashed and Roy had to service Weasel tracked vehicles with his bare hands in blizzards and temperatures below minus 50C.

On two occasions he diced with death. Once when he sustained carbon monoxide poisoning and another when he set himself alight by igniting petrol fumes.

But remarkably he was still struck by the “polar bug” and yearned for more exploration.

On receiving his Polar Medal from the young Queen Elizabeth, he grabbed the opportunity to ask her to put in a good word for him about joining the next big adventure,the Trans Antarctic Expedition between 1956 and 1958.

When Vivian Fuchs announced his plans to venture thousands of miles across Antarctica, the young engineer wanted to be in the team.

The monarch’s recommendation appeared to have worked and he played a vital role in somehow keeping vehicles going in near-impossible conditions.

Such was his contribution, that he was awarded both the Arctic and Antarctic clasps to his Polar medal, adding to his increasing collection of honours.

And to top it all, he has a 3,900ft peak, Mount Homard named after him in the Shackleton Range of Antarctica.

Major Homard came out of the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers in 1972 having risen through the ranks from boy soldier to acting major.

He had hoped to enjoy a quiet life as a civilian in a REME workshop at Wainscott but was promoted to a post at the engineering branch of the Ministry of Defence in London.

He finally retired in 1985, devoting his time to gardening. painting, charitable work – and the love of his life Enid.

The couple met in Sheerness and were married within six weeks at the town’s Holy Trinity Church. They were together for 60 years and have two sons Richard and Kent, 57, who is a gardener and lives in Strood.

Richard said: “He proposed on a jetty and he threatened to pick her up and throw her in the water if she turned him down.

“They adored each other and when she died five years ago a part of him also died.

“He spent a lot of time in his garden and until a few years ago had an allotment.

“My father was very hardworking. When he was working in London, he would come home make tea, go to his allotment and be up to catch the bus at 5.30am.

“He was a very loving, caring man and we shall all miss him, but at least he led a very full life.”

Roy kept a daily diary of his expedition years which the family hope to have published.