A Talk By by John Killingbeck
Bere Alston Bowling Club – 13th January at 19:30 bar opens from 19:00
ALL WELCOME £1 payable at the door
John was the last person to drive a team of huskies in Antarctica. He worked for two and a half years as Base Leader in the South Shetlands and was invited by the British Antarctic Survey to undertake a last sledge journey on the continent as the representative of hundreds of past drivers.
This is his account of that trip!
Born in the countryside of Devonshire, England, he studied Geography in Bristol and made his M.Phil in Polar studies at the Scott Polar Research Institute at Cambridge.
In 1960, at the age of 23, he first time voyaged down to the Antarctic on the Royal Research ship, John Biscoe, to work for two and ½ years with the British Antarctic Survey. He was the base leader and magistrate of Deception Island, South Shetlands and in charge of building the historical hangar at Base B, which is now a historic monument.
In 1962 he spent a year as dog driver, supporting first survey to Adelaide Island, where he lived in a small base of six persons and 54 dogs. After his time in Antarctica he worked as a teacher for polar history and as adult University Lecturer at the University of Exeter. In 1993 he was invited back to Antarctica to sledge the last dogs on the continent. During this time he took 10 m ice core temperatures for climate studies.