Sir Ernest Shackleton was born this day, 15 February, 137 years ago and Google paid homage to him today with this neat homepage graphic.
It’s a nice gesture but surely there should be some other way of celebrating his achievements?
Thankfully, mountaineer Stephen Venables is currently touring 17 venues throughout the UK with his retelling of Shackleton’s Antarctic expedition. His lecture is called ‘In the Steps of Shackleton’ and is part of a wider range of talks by Speakers From The Edge. In the last ten years, Stephen has twice repeated Sir Ernest Shackleton’s famous crossing of South Georgia and so is best placed to re-tell the expedition.
Watch a teaser of the talk here on Vimeo.
Dates and venues for Stephen’s tour include:
Fri 18th FELIXSTOWE Spa Pavilion 01394 282126
Sat 19th ST ALBANS The Maltings Arts Theatre 01727 864 511
Mon 21st OXFORD Town Hall 0114 2508048
Tue 22nd CREWE Crewe Lyceum 01270 537333
Wed 23rd RADLETT The Radlett Centre 01923 859291
Thu 24th BRECON Theatr Brycheiniog 01874 611622
Sat 26th ILFRACOMBE Landmark Theatre 01271 32 42 42
Shackleton’s adventures have gained recent attention after crates of whisky found under the Cape Royds hut were flown back to the UK to distillers Whyte & Mckay. The whisky is currently being nosed, tasted and analysed by Master Blender Richard Paterson with the aim of seeing whether it will be possible to recreate the whisky Sir Ernest and his team drank. Once the analysis is complete, the bottles will be transported back to New Zealand by private plane and to Shackleton’s hut, unlikely to ever leave the ice again.
The best place for up-to-date information is from the mouth of the man who’s sampling the whisky and you can read Richard’s blog at www.whyteandmackay.co.uk/blog
For more information on the Antarctic Heritage Trust click here
Here’s to raising a glass…to Sir Ernest Shackleton!
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