[1][2] Having been abandoned as a baby, McClean started life as an orphan at Bethany Home in Dublin, Ireland.

[3] He spent much[dubious – discuss] of his teenage years working on a farm until he was bored and enlisted in the British Army.

He holds the world record as the first man to row across the Atlantic Ocean from west to east solo which he did in 1969.

In 1985 McClean lived on Rockall from 26 May to 4 July and thereby reaffirmed[dubious – discuss] the United Kingdom's claim to the island.

McClean's most recent feat was the construction, in 1996, of a boat shaped like a giant whale, which completed a circumnavigation of Britain.