BRITAIN'S best-known mountaineer says he is ready for his new challenge - taking a leading role at Lancaster University.

Sir Chris Bonington's red and gold robe is ready for his installation as Lancaster University's new Chancellor today (Wednesday).

Having been on 19 Himalayan expeditions - including four to Mount Everest - the 70-year-old is prepared to 'climb' the chancellor challenge.

"I was very surprised, honoured and excited when I was asked to take the role," says Sir Chris, awarded an honorary degree in 1983 by the university and knighted in 1996.

"My primary role is as a figurehead but I am certainly looking forward to starting and meeting with the university senate to see what goes on because it is a steep learning curve for me. It's a large and complex organization and my first job is to get around that."

As a 'commoner' he says he hopes he can help, adding: "I would certainly also like to find a means of direct access and to be accessible to students to help where I can and to promote the university in different ways."

He has lived with his wife Wendy, a freelance illustrator of children's books, in Cumbria for 38 years. The couple have sons Daniel and Rupert.

Sir Chris says he knows the university relatively well and believes the recent expansion is 'nothing short of amazing'.

"I think it is witness to the success of the university. What has impressed me is that I have been here several times now and the spirit I have detected is amazing. It is friendly, welcoming and not over formal or stuffy. It has a really good feeling and that makes me all the more excited to take the role."

Educated at Sandhurst Military School in 1956, Sir Chris was commissioned in the Royal Tank Regiment and later spent two years at the Army Outward Bound School as a mountaineering instructor. It was during this time that he started climbing in the Alps.

He has a series of trips coming up, including two weeks in Nepal to mark the 20th anniversary of his first successful Everest expedition in 1986.

Sir Chris was due to be installed in a ceremony closely echoing the installation of Princess Alexandra as the first Chancellor in 1964.

A service was to be held at the Lancaster Priory Church followed by a procession through the city led by The King's Division Normandy Band to the Town Hall.

During the ceremony, the Chancellor was expected to confer honorary degrees on Dame Janet Smith (Doctor of Laws) and Professor Lord Robert Winston (Doctor of Science).