TC,
I got the impression they were funding it themselves, and raising money for charity at the same time. I could be wrong about that; I'm not certain. Jennifer certainly isn't poor, and that's definitely an understatement!
If public money is funding this, you certainly have a point. If I'm right, then people either contribute or they don't, as with any charity donations.
As for my long ago trip, I tried to do it quietly. Word got around, the media got interested, and I was too young and naive to realise that I would soon become public property. I hated it, tried to back off, and refused to do a BBC TV interview the day after I got back - which infuriated many people, but I didn't care. I wrote the book some years afterwards because...I wanted to.
It hasn't made me famous, or been talked about as much as the walk was at the time. I'd actually just hoped it would make me rich, or at least fund my helicopter addiction, but it didn't do that either.
