Obituary:
Sir Angus Friscot-Dervine
Sir Angus
Friscot-Dervine, the first man to push a piano up K2, has died
attempting to recreate his dramatic achievement half a century
on. It is believed that Sir Angus slipped just six foot off
the peak, and was slain when both he and his Steinway Grand
Piano plunged into a gully.
Sir Angus made the inside back pages of many newspapers in the
summer of 1953, when just two weeks after Sir Edmund Hillary
and Sherpa Tenzing Norgay reached the summit of Everest. Far
from feeling aggrieved at having to play second fiddle to his
illustrious colleagues, Sir Angus applauded their achievements
as ‘almost as fantastic as my own.
The Scottish-born explorer, who also was the first person to
catapult himself across the Atlantic and to cross Antarctica
wearing only ski shoes, was 98.
Sir
Angus is survived by his pregnant wife, Prunella, 22, and an
estimated 37 children.
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10
Facts about Explorers and Expeditions*
Miscellaneous:
- Chad
has more grains of sand to a square mile than any other
African nation.
- In
1998 Transpco installed the first conveyor belt linking
Canada with the North Pole. Since 2002, an estimated
100,000 explorers have utilised this facility
-
The words traveller, tourist, twat and explorer are
interchangeable.
-
Since its discovery in 1846 no explorer has set foot
in the Bronx.
-
The Everest Summit Gift Shop has sold over half a million
national flags and roles of camera film since 1968.
-
A total of 50,000 explorers have attempted to row across
the Atlantic in a barrel. The same number have given
up and taken a Jumbo to meet lecture tour commitments.
-
Explorers are banned from shaving during expeditions
under international law. Female explorers must wear
false beards to comply with the legislation.
-
Norwegian Piers Hendersen became the first explorer
to visit Disney World in Florida in June 2002.
-
In May 1927 Francois Merde became the youngest explorer
never to have visited Antarctica. He was 37.
-
The average explorer expels 11,000,000 cubic gallons
of hot air during a typical mid-morning talk show interview.
-
In July 1973 Timbuktu closed its city gates to all comers
in an effort to keep out explorers.
(* from Brave but Boring, by E.P.Pondu,
Chamberlain Press: 2003) |
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