Book description
Throughout their history, the Guardian and the Observer
have avidly reported the worlds of exploration and adventure travel.
In the 19th century, they covered the British and European explorers
who were trying to fill in the 'blanks on the map' - crossing deserts,
racing to the poles, searching for the source of the Nile and trying
to be the first to master the peaks of the Alps, and, later, the
Himalaya. By the turn of the 20th century, interest turned to Everest,
the 'third pole', to the deserts that needed to be conquered, and also
to the new ways of exploring that opened up a whole new world of
adventure - airships over the North Pole and Citroen driving across
the Sahara in the 1920s, to name but two. In the post-war period,
explorers upped the ante - who would be the first to row across the
great oceans? Travel unsupported to the Poles? Climb Everest without
oxygen? Add to this the vogue for recreating great voyages (the most
famous being the Kon Tiki and Vinland expedition to Greenland) and
soon the newspapers were brimming with tales of derring-do.
This collection draws together a unique collection of first person
accounts, news reports and - inevitably - obituaries that demonstrate
the awe-inspiring lengths to which explorers and adventurers have gone
to push back the boundaries of human endeavour.
- Gordon Laing's doomed journey to Timbuctoo in 1828
- Captain Webb's epic swim across the English Channel in 1875
- Wilfrid Thesiger's 1940s crossing of the Rub' al Khali,
- Aron Ralston's harrowing experience in 2003, when he amputated his
lower right arm in order to free himself from a rockfall
Capturing not only the adrenaline rush the adventurers feel when
stepping out into the unknown but also the fear and trepidation that
set in when things start to go wrong, Those Who Dared is an
adventure anthology that will satisfy the yearnings of the hardened
explorer and armchair traveller alike.
Richard Nelsson is chief librarian of the
Guardian
and the
Observer
. He is chair of the Association of UK Media Librarians and has
contributed to two editions of the
British Librarianship and
Information Work
.He lives in Tulse Hill in South London with his partner and two
daughters, swims at Tooting Bec lido all year round and climbs whenever
he can.
