A whodunnit below zero

The more one reads about polar exploration in previous centuries, the more one comes to the conclusion that men were different in times gone by, stronger, wilder, possessed of an almost perverse capacity to withstand cold and hunger. They travelled without the benefit of radios, thermal underwear or light-weight sledges; when things went wrong no aeroplanes would zoom in to rescue those in danger. Captain Scott and three of the four men who accompanied him on the final slog to the South Pole were well on their way to the grave by the time the return journey began. Oates and Scott had gangrene from frostbite, and Taff Evans was losing his mind – he gave up the struggle after the descent of the Beardmore Glacier – but then, he was not a product of the public schools.

Ernest Shackleton was equally a giant of endurance. When his ship was crushed by ice he undertook a rowing boat excursion and subsequent land trek of 800 miles to reach safety.