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He was a rubbish interview, stammering and not quite being able to enunciate what drove him. But when the cameras were off and we were just chatting, he was funny, extremely kind and driven by a quest for adventure so powerful that if you took out his soul, it could be used to light the world.

Since our meeting, he's gone properly berserk, setting 23 world sailing records and nine distance race records. And when he breaks a record, he doesn't do things by halves: when he crossed the Atlantic in 113 hours, he shattered the previous record by nearly two days.

Most people would have had their work cut out keeping ahead of the game in the world of sailing. But not Steve. Because during this time, he set a new record for crossing America in a non military jet. His average speed was 726mph.

And then he turned round, went back to the West coast and set a Transcontinental record for turbo props. Then he broke the record for crossing Australia. And then he broke one for flying round the world. Of seven world records for fixed-wing aircraft, Steve has three.

I have nowhere near finished.On top of this, he's broken 10 of the 21 world records for gliding. He's gone further than anyone else and he's been higher. 50, 727 feet. And then, just last year, he got back into a powered plane and flew round the world again without refuelling in 76 hours and 45 minutes. The longest flight in history.

He has competed in several triathlons, is one of only eight men to have done all of the world's 10 toughest ski races, he has done the 1,165-mile Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race in Alaska and he has piloted an airship at 71.5mph. Another absolute world record.

And I haven't even got to the ballooning yet. He was the first to cross the Pacific in a balloon and, after six attempts, the first to go all the way round the world. You get the impression he's circumnavigated the globe more often than most 747 pilots. Oh, and he's climbed six of the world's seven highest mountains.

He disappeared while on a flight looking for somewhere in Nevada where he could break the land-speed record. He had the car, 47-feet long and powered by an afterburning jet engine from a Phantom F4. He just needed somewhere to drive it.

A menace? A one-man carbon snowshoe? I don't think so. I dislike using the word 'hero' because I think it should be mainly reserved for soldiers. Or at the very least, people who risk their lives to help others. But in a way, that's exactly what Steve Fossett did. He risked his life to show that there's still some hope in the Liberal Democrat's stupid vision of a perfect golf-buggy-and-cotton-wool world.

At the very least, that makes him an inspiration.