Polar Exploration in 50 Objects

Arthur Blissett of Grantham – Captain Scott’s Discovery expedition

In July 1901, almost 125 years ago, Arthur Blissett left Britain on Discovery, as a member of Captain Robert Scott’s first Antarctic expedition. The expedition was a landmark in terms of both exploration and science and marked the beginning of the polar careers of Scott, scientist Edward Wilson, Ernest and others well-known explorers.

In this talk, Anne will draw on her on her latest polar book, A History of Polar Exploration in 50 Objects, and on her own visits to Antarctica and to New Zealand (where Blisset settled and died in 1955).

Anne, who lives in Cheltenham – home town of Edward Wilson – has also written biographies of Terra Nova expedition members Henry ‘Birdie’ Bowers (the first Scot to the South Pole) and photographer-filmmaker Herbert Ponting and Ice Floes to Battlefields which follows veterans of Scott’s expeditions into World War I.

Anne’s talk will be followed by a Q&A session and book-signing.

ANNE STRATHIE is an acclaimed polar historian and biographer. She has written three biographies of members of Captain Scott’s Terra Nova Antarctic expedition, all published by The History Press.