Jan Morris - RIP

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 Chopper 20 Nov 2020

Jan Morris who as James Morris of the Times, broadcast the news of the successful ascent of Everest has died aged 94:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-55021555

 Rob Parsons 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Chopper:

A fascinating life, and a bloody good innings.

OP Chopper 20 Nov 2020

Am I right in believing that she was the last survivor of the '53 team?

 toad 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Chopper:

Her Venice book was what inspired me to visit. I got horrible food poisoning, but it was still worth it

 Doug 20 Nov 2020
In reply to toad:

I was about to start a thread with https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/nov/20/jan-morris-historian-travel-w...

but saw this thread just in time. 

 Trangia 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Chopper:

Very sad news, but a very good innings. I remember her reports as James Morris from Everest and the wonderful news that arrived on the eve of the Coronation. One felt proud to be British in those days.

 Matt Podd 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Chopper:

Sadly missed. An amazing Travel writer and ambasador for Wales. Her late in life diaries broadcast on Radio 4 were wonderful.

 Postmanpat 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Doug:

  Sad news. She was a wonderful writer and brave person. In later life she revised some of her views on empire but her Trilogy of Empire remains a magnificent tour de force. Her travel writing combined an eye for detail with a love of place. 
  As mentioned above,her life diaries on R4 are a very good listen.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Yes, a wonderful writer, and her Pax Britannica trilogy is, as you say, a tour de force. And a very courageous person for all the obvious other reasons.

 Rob Exile Ward 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I don't suppose it's on YouTube, but I can still remember her being interviewed by the famously aggressive Robin Day. He diffidently tried to ask her about sex, which given the circumstances I didn't think was that unreasonable. Morris's response was quietly withering: 'How dare you be so impertinent.' Not many interviewees reduced Day to silence like she did!

When she was on the Everest expedition, she was asked to endorse her typewriter for a few quid, and asked her Times boss would that be a problem. The answer came straight back:'Yes disastrous, Times'.

A different world.

In reply to Chopper:

I knew of her story from a Sunday Times article at the time she launched her new identity and then I found some of her travel writing which was exquisite. This is a sad loss.

 profitofdoom 20 Nov 2020
In reply to Chopper:

> Am I right in believing that she was the last survivor of the '53 team?

If you mean the climbing team, then no. She was a journalist who went as far as base camp 

 Bob Aitken 20 Nov 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

Yes and no - she may not have been a member of the climbing team, but she went through the Icefall twice and was at Camp IV at the head of the Western Cwm when the summit pair came down.   Not bad for a self-confessed non-mountaineer.

 profitofdoom 21 Nov 2020
In reply to Bob Aitken:

> Yes and no - she may not have been a member of the climbing team, but she went through the Icefall twice and was at Camp IV at the head of the Western Cwm when the summit pair came down.   Not bad for a self-confessed non-mountaineer.

Sorry about that - I got that from the BBC obituary says "Morris brought the newspaper a world exclusive, travelling with Edmund Hillary as far as the base camp on Everest", no doubt you have a better source e.g. a Morris book. It was indeed "Not bad for a self-confessed non-mountaineer", twice through the Icefall

 Mick Ward 21 Nov 2020
In reply to Rob Exile Ward:

> I don't suppose it's on YouTube, but I can still remember her being interviewed by the famously aggressive Robin Day. He diffidently tried to ask her about sex, which given the circumstances I didn't think was that unreasonable. Morris's response was quietly withering: 'How dare you be so impertinent.' Not many interviewees reduced Day to silence like she did!

Good on her!

Mick

 Pete Pozman 21 Nov 2020
In reply to profitofdoom:

Going to Base Camp was a bit more "out there" in 1953.


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