Sir Ranulph Fiennes led a team called the Transglobe Expedition to circumnavigate the world along the Greenwich Meridian (Charles Burton was the only other member to travel every leg but there were other support team members). They left London and traveled through the South Pole first. This was the first polar circumnavigation.

The entire trip took two years, (Although serious planning and gathering of sponsorships had begun four years before that.) and ended in 1982.

Large parts of the journey were completed using motorised vehicles although significant parts weren't - on the final strech out of the arctic for instance they couldn't get their icebreaking ship close enough to pick them up so they had to traverse on foot and by canoe to an ice floe which they floated on until they reached open water.

Sir Ranulph is a professional adventurer and so still does speaking events on the topic (you might well be able to find a video or recording. I find him quite funny). The initial expedition was funded entirely by sponsors providing equipment and staff volunteering time.

The official expedition website is http://transglobe-expedition.org For primary sourcing you might care to view (one of) Sir Ranulph's book: To the Ends of the Earth: The Transglobe Expedition, the First Pole-to-pole Circumnavigation of the Globe.