George MacDonald Fraser - RIP.

[Pervert]

Nope. Earlier than that.

If it helps, Ming the Merciless also featured---but not at the South Pole.

[Trumpton]

I'm sure Sir will know.

[Pervert]

If Steve saw it, I'm certain he will.

But for extra points you'd have to name the actors

[steve56]

Scott of the Antartic?

[Pervert]

It was about Scott, but not called that.

The Last Place On Earth

with Martin "Doyle" Shaw as Scott

Stephen "Marvin" Moore as Wilson

Richard "Flashman" Morant as Oates

Sylvester "Doctor" McCoy as Birdie Bowers

Pat "Bomber" Roach as Evans

and Max "Ming" Von Sydow as Nansen

It was based on Roland Huntford's scathingly critical biography of Scott and Amundsen, basically blaming Scott's amateur approach for the whole fiasco. He paints a convincing picture, but failed to make allowances for the worst conditions in Antarctica in decades. The fact remains, Scott set up food depots for a four-man expedition, and ended up taking five. That decision doomed the project.

Huntford's biography of Shackleton is a very good read. Although he was more of a showman, and could be incredibly petty, Shackleton didn't lose any people in his expedition of 1914-16. Check out the web for incredible photos from that expedition, and a story that would have seemed unbelievable if used in a boys' adventure comic.

[Trumpton]

Caractacus wrote:

> Huntford's biography of Shackleton is a very good read.
> Although he was more of a showman, and could be incredibly
> petty, Shackleton didn't lose any people in his expedition of
> 1914-16. Check out the web for incredible photos from that
> expedition, and a story that would have seemed unbelievable if
> used in a boys' adventure comic.

There was a TV movie about this shown on CH4 a couple of years ago. There was talk of a full length feature film, but as yet nothing has materialised.

[wayne]

"The last place on earth" a good bit tv which has the dubious prilevege of being more "balanced" than the grubby book on which it is based.

[wayne]

doh just read the other posts!

[Pervert]

I'm just glad I'm not the only one who remembered it, Wayne.

A look at the reviews on Amazon, or checking Ranulph Fiennes' views on Scott, show just how polarised (see what I did there ) opinion is on the hero of the Antarctic. For what it's worth, and having read several accounts, I think RFS screwed up quite badly in many respects, but you can't help but admire the guy's pluck.

[Arginald Valleywater]

My mother used to work with GMF when he was a journo in Carlisle. Everyone seemed to like him. He was a very quiet, unassuming bloke, polite and the opposite of Flashman.
I notice he only got and OBE in 1999, obviosuly selling millions of books and writing successful screeplays doesn't merit a sniff from the intellectual snobs.