Footsteps of Courage: Ernest Shackleton and the Endurance expedition
John Roberts
- Regions:
- Gloucestershire, Bristol, Wiltshire, Somerset, Oxfordshire, West Midlands, Derbyshire, Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire, Swansea, Neath Port Talbot, Bridgend, Vale of Glamorgan, Cardiff, Rhondda Cynon Taf, Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent, Torfaen, Monmouthshire, Newport, Merthyr Tydfil
- Notice Period:
- Short (maybe less than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Hobby
- Fee:
- Paid: 50.00 Some consideration for travel expenses by agreement.
- Category:
- Humanities
- Updated:
- 11th March 2025
- Tagged:
- History | / Antarctic/ Exploration / Herorism | Biography
Sir Ernest Shackleton made three Antarctic trips: Discovery, with Scott (1901-3) and his own: the Nimrod (1907-9) and Endurance (1914-17) expeditions. Includes all three but concentrates on the latter, most ambitious, hazardous, desperate. A near-disaster that became an epic of determination, endurance and survival. Known to team members as The Boss, ES was, despite weaknesses, an extraordinary leader - "If you’re a leader … that other fellows look to, you’ve got to keep going".
"We had seen God in his splendours, we had heard the text that Nature renders. We had reached the naked soul of man."
It was one of the marvels of modern times that Shackleton emerged alive from his three expeditions. (Manchester Guardian 30 Jan 1922)
Views: 1009 | Enquiries: 1About John Roberts
W H Davies was my first subject, born out of COVID boredom. Now researching and writing them is a winter hobby. I have lived and worked in Newport, where Davies was born and now live near Nailsworth, where he died.
Most of my talks are about wanderers, adventurers, restless individuals, I suppose. Certainly they were men who rose to a challenge - in the case of Zeppelin, literally.
I have taught in every sector of education apart from special schools, and done quite a bit of other stuff, too.
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