Ian Birrell

The courage of a madman: Maurice Wilson’s doomed assault on Everest

Ed Caesar describes how an engaging maverick set out to conquer Everest in 1934 with a crippled arm, no crampons and a defective altimeter

Maurice Wilson was such an inexperienced pilot that when he left for Everest he nearly crashed by taking off in the wrong direction with the wind. Credit: Getty Images 
issue 14 November 2020
  • Comments

  • The Moth and the Mountain: A True Story of Love, War and Everest

    Ed Caesar

    Viking, pp. 320, £18

GIF Image

Disagree with half of it, enjoy reading all of it

TRY 3 MONTHS FOR $5
Our magazine articles are for subscribers only. Start your 3-month trial today for just $5 and subscribe to more than one view

Read next

Trending

Steerpike

Watch: Reform MP blasts Phillips over grooming scandal

To the Commons, where Reform MP Lee Anderson has taken a pop at Labour over Britain’s grooming gang scandal. First blasting Home Office minister Jess Phillips for not backing a full national inquiry, Anderson went on to question whether she was ‘part of the cover up’. Then the Ashfield MP took to Twitter to slam

More on biography

Also by Ian Birrell

Latest

Comments

Join the debate for just £1 a month

Be part of the conversation with other Spectator readers by getting your first three months for £3.

Already a subscriber? Log in