International   

Polar explorer dead

Sir Wally Herbert, the polar explorer whose life read like a Boy's Own adventure, and who in 1969 became undisputedly the first man to walk to the North Pole, has died in hospital near his Scottish home, aged 72. Sir Wally reached the North Pole in April 1969 with three companions and 40 dogs, and then led his team on to complete the 6,000-km expedition from Alaska to Norway across the frozen ocean. On Wednesday night, Sir Ranulph Fiennes - who campaigned successfully for Herbert's knighthood - called him ``the greatest of all polar travellers''. Sir Ranulph, who said his own career owed much to Sir Wally's advice, added: His name lives on in the mountains named in his honour in both the Arctic and Antarctic, where he mapped for the first time thousands of miles of icy wastes and travelled 37,000 km on foot. —

© Guardian Newspapers Limited 2007

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Hamas set to overrun Gaza
Red Cross officials meet Rajapaksa
BAE "faces'' probe in U.S.
U.S. officials' presence in Pakistan unusual?
Provision to abolish monarchy
Extortion cases against Hasina
Thai crisis deepens
Sporadic attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq
Polar explorer dead
Limited clearance for big African ivory sale
Waldheim is dead
The case of the judge's trousers
For crisper photos even in poor light
Apple's iPhone goes on sale
Pluto's pitiable plight
Manmohan breaks tradition: Pakistan paper
India to apply for membership in Washington Accord
Prominent artists, intellectuals, public figures urge release of Iranian scholar

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu